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| The Marketing Information Revolution | By Robert C. Blattberg, Rashi Glazer and John D.C. Little, editors |
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Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994 ISBN 0-87584-329-8 Order from Amazon Books |
|
| The Marketing Information Revolution | By Robert C. Blattberg, Rashi Glazer and John D.C. Little, editors |
|
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994 ISBN 0-87584-329-8 Order from Amazon Books |
"There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a satisfied customer," asserted Peter Drucker in 1954.
Today, the advanced technologies of the information revolution allow virtually unlimited knowledge of customer behavior—and competitive advantage belongs to those organizations best able to harness these technologies to deliver value to their customers. In this book, 23 experts—pioneers in marketing information science—assess the vast body of knowledge gained in the past decade. As the authors detail the driving principles and diverse uses of marketing information systems, they describe the insights gained from the experiences of leading American firms, including Quaker Oats, Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Borden, Colgate, and Maytag.The Marketing Information Revolution focuses on the five stages of the information value chain:
Data collection and transmission. Computers and telecommunications have lowered the costs of data collection, significantly changing both store- and household-level knowledge about consumers, both of which are studied here.
Data management. The sheer quantity of raw data—once collected—has begun to overwhelm users, necessitating mechanisms to manage that data. Contributors examine the myriad challenges of data management, and evaluate current database-management technologies.
Data interpretation. To be useful, data must be meaningful to the user. Examples of expert systems that analyze data through models or exception-reporting systems are highlighted; also described is an alternate modeling system that uses new graphic representation tools to display its analysis.
Models. By using statistical models, vast quantities of data can be reduced to relatively simple equations, which can then be used for decision making. Contributors study how to integrate a variety of factors—such as market share, price elasticity, and cannibalization measures—to generate individual, household, and industry decision-support models.
Decision support systems. In recent years, a fifth stage of the value chain has been identified—the decision support system (DDS)—a computer-based system that integrates data management techniques, models, and analytical tools to support decision making. One key example follows an advertising agency's use of an expert system to elicit copywriting recommendations, while another question how to integrate a manager's intuition into a sucessful DSS.
Throughout, the contributors raise several provocative questions: How can we reduce the lag between technology and managers' abilities to reap its benefits? What are the legal and ethical issues raise by our ability to collect, store and process information on today's scale? What does the Japanese example teach us about the relationship among culture, customer behavior, and marketing information technologies? And finally, the future: Will marketing become the indispensable foundation for sound business strategy? These authors predict that it will, and with this book, bring marketing, MIS, and other top executives closer to that day.