Document Type

Closed Project

Publication Date

Winter 2001

Instructor

Dundar Kocaoglu

Course Title

Decision Making in Engineering and Technology Management

Course Number

EMGT 530/630

Subjects

Automobiles -- Purchasing -- Decision making, Decision support systems, Engineering -- Management

Abstract

In the modem society, automobiles are ubiquitous, and they are the personal transportation of choice. An average consumer in the advanced economy makes a car purchase decision every few years, and the financial outlay for such a purchase consumes a large portion of an average person's income. Next to a house purchase, it is the second most significant expense for most people. Yet, one observes that the car purchase decision is not conducted in a systematic manner for most people. In many cases, a car is "sold" by the sophisticated Madison Avenue marketers rather than "bought" by an ordinary consumer.

A decision theory based approach may be applied to a car purchase decision addressing such concerns as the kinds of car one should choose. In this sense, a question is posed with regard to the criteria used in this decision theory based approach. The criteria in question may be affected by the buyer's age, gender, number of passengers, and so forth. An attempt is made in this project to come up with an alternative decision model in purchasing a car. A buyer's profile such as age, gender, driving pattern, etc. will be considered along with the buyer's requirements such as the number of passengers, vehicle horse power, and other matters. The decision model has the purchaser's utility maximization as the immediate objective by selecting one model along with some suggested alternative car models.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

This project is only available to students, staff, and faculty of Portland State University

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/24842

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