FUZZ & AUTOMOBILE CURTAINS PRODUCE CLARITY OF VIEW TO THE ADEPT MARKETER

When the consumer purchases a product, his/her preference of the product attributes is a subjective judgment. The values assigned in the questionnaire in which the respondents indicated their preferences often contain fuzziness and imprecision. Based on Fishbein's multiple‐attribute utility model, this paper uses the fuzzy‐set theory to build upon the Fuzzy Multi‐Attribute Utility Model (FMAUM). Furthermore, the FMAUM is used to analyze the purchasing behavior of automobile buyers in Taiwan. The results showed that the attributes which the consumers were concerned with were different under different purchasing situations (having a car already vs not having a car). U.S. automobile markets can use this FMAUM to determine which attributes consumers prefer or which attributes produce a clearer cognition, and emphasize those attributes in their advertisements. In addition, by using this model, marketers can determine the attributes consumers preferred most in one particular market and use this information as a guideline when they enter into that market.