Simulation based decision support for strategic communication and marketing management concerning the consumer introduction of smart energy meters

• Main Authors: Jeroen STRAGIER, Charlotte B.A. KOBUS, Maarten C.A. VAN DER SANDEN, Koen H. VAN DAM
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Etudes Scientifiques Spécialisées Appliquées aux Communications Humaines, Economiques, Sociales et Symboliques 2013-07-01
• Series: Essachess
• Subjects: strategic communication and marketing management; decision support; agent-based simulation; consumer behaviour/technology adoption; smart energy meter; digital city
• Online Access: http://www.essachess.com/index.php/jcs/article/view/195/208

Communication and marketing professionals make strategic decisions in highly complex and dynamic contexts. These decisions are highly uncertain on the outcome and process level when, for example, consumer behaviour is at stake. Decision support systems can provide insights in these levels of uncertainty and the professional process of decision making. However, literature describing decision support tools for strategic communication and marketing management that provide clear insights in uncertainty levels is lacking. This study therefore aims at developing a consumer behaviour simulation module as an important element of such a future decision support tool. The consumer behaviour simulation we propose in this paper is based on data collected from a survey among 386 households with which a behavioural change model was calibrated. We show how various decision scenarios for strategic communication and marketing challenges can be explored and how such a simulation based decision support system can facilitate strategic communication and marketing management concerning the introduction of a smart energy meter.