Making Sense of Complex Marketing Decision Systems: Decision System Analysis

Decision system analysis (DSA) is a conceptually simple technique that maps the process of group decisions over time. The data are gathered in a variety of ways, but most often some form of protocol analysis is the foremost tool. The data are then condensed and depicted as a flow chart for a specific decision. If several such flow charts can be assembled within an industry, they can be melded together to form a generic guide that is very useful to practitioners and very interesting to theorists. Here, a brief history of the development of the technique leads to a description of the process. This is followed by a comparison to cognitive mapping, a similar technique applied to mapping thought processes rather than physical processes, and an illustrative longitudinal example of DSA.