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Assessing how information affects cognitive maps of strategic issues
Fisher, Donna 
Publisher:
ISBN10: 0599975008 ISBN13: 9780599975002

Summary

Strategic decision making is particularly difficult relative to research investments where the uncertainty inherent in research and lengthy time lags requires investments to be made far before outcomes are known. The primary goal of the research is to analyze changes in cognitive maps of soybean industry decision makers to determine the effectiveness of using the visualization of information from a large-scale system dynamics model of future protein consumption. A cognitive map is the set of strategic issues that a respondent identifies in answer to open ended questions about important topics and actions for the soybean industry. The map changes if the strategic issues change as a result of exposure to the visualization of complex information. The Protein Consumption Dynamics (PCD) model uses scenarios driven by income and population growth to determine the future appetite for commodities related to the soybean industry over time. The model is designed to impact strategic decision making. Its purpose is to get decision makers to consider and include an expanded set of factors in their decision making. Through formal experiments with decision makers in the soybean sector, the effects of the PCD system are formally evaluated. The evaluation uses pre- and post-treatment questionnaires to assess how cognitive maps change as a result of exposure to the PCD model. Content analysis is used to describe and analyze the cognitive maps of the participants. Statistical measures of association show that the visualized presentation of information shifts decision makers' cognitive maps of strategic issues facing the industry. Results indicate that the visualization of complex data is effective in shifting decision makers' perspectives to a more global marketing focus, thus influencing their budget allocation decisions. This suggests that exposure to the simulation model results and the visualization of complex information successfully raises the participants' awareness and sensitivity to demand enhancing strategic issues.

Notes

Adviser: Randall E. Westgren. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000. Electronic reproduction.Ann Arbor, MI :ProQuest Information and Learning Company,2003.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.Available via World Wide Web.Digital version of: Assessing how information affects cognitive maps of strategic issues.

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