Intuition is widely used as a technique of marketing decision-making. Intuition ist he use of “gut feeling” in selecting a particular course of action. Webster defines intuition as “the power of knowing or the knowledge obtained without recourse to inference or reasoning.” “While making decision on the basis of intuition a marketing manager may say,” “I do not think we should introduce this new product line: “my intuition tells me that it would not succeed.” Is he right? He might be, but if he is, it is only through chance. Valuable past experience may have had a hand in this intuitive felling but to judge by intuition is a course of action still highly prone to error and totally non-scientific.

Why. then, many managers resort to intuition instead of research? Actually there are several conditions that may cause a manager to rely on intuition instead of more objective methods of decision-making. The main conditions are as follows:

(a)    Lack of Time

A manager may lack necessary time to make a scientific decision. He may not have adequate time to conduct MR in scientific manner. Decisions on certain issues may be required quickly but scientific research within a very short time is impossible. So the manager has to resort to using intuition.

(b)    Lack of Money

Lack of moment is another reason for using intuition than research. There may not be sufficient funds in the budget to conduct a research study on problem at hand. Sometimes the manager feels that he can save money by acting on intuition.

(c)    Lack of Expertise

Lack of marketing research expertise is still another reason for relying on intuition. The executive may not be capable of conducting or even getting it conducted through others owing to lack of expertise (that is, necessary knowledge, qualifications and experience).

(d)    Ignorance

A manager may be unaware of the potential benefits of properly conducted research. Therefore, he may rely upon the traditional methods for decision-making

In India, many executives resort to intuitive decision-making because of one or more of the above mentioned reasons. The method of intuition is also a very common method of avoiding uncertainty and clutter of conflicting concepts in mind. The intuition generally plays a dominant role in decision-making when quick decisions are needed. The intuition method for quick decision-making is used repeatedly to guarantee stable beliefs. This method represents’ an appeal to self-evident propositions so apparently true that the understanding of their meaning becomes the connection of their truth. According to the method of Intuition, a proposition is accepted or rejected in accordance with the “gut feeling of the decision maker.

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