ASSIGNMENT

MS-07
Course Code : MS-07
Course Title : Information Systems for Managers
Assignment No. : MS-07/SEM-I/2011
Coverage : All Blocks

Note: Answer all the questions and send them to the Coordinator of the Study Centre you are attached with.

1. Explain the difference between the following:

a. High-Level and Low level languages

b. Applications and Utilities
c. Shareware, Open source software, Freeware

2. Discuss the relationship between data and information, information and knowledge. Also explain the concepts of
cost and value of information by the help of an example.

3. Explain the major marketing subsystems and enumerate the advantages of the use of computers in such
subsystems.

4. Describe the significant features of each of Visual Basic, Java, HTML, Excel and COBOL briefly.

5. Define decision support system in your own words. Also illustrate the concept using your organizational context.

1.explain the difference between the following:

a. High-Level and Low level languages

b. Applications and Utilities
c. Shareware, Open source software, Freeware

HIGH LEVEL

An advanced computer programming language that isn't limited by the computer or for one specific job and is more easily understood.
Today, there are dozens of high-level languages; some commonly used high-level languages are BASIC, C, FORTAN and Pascal.

LOW LEVEL

a low-level programming language is a programming language that provides little or no abstraction from a computer's instruction set
architecture. The word "low" refers to the small or nonexistent amount of abstraction between the language and machine language;
because of this, low-level languages are sometimes described as being "close to the hardware."
Low-level languages can be converted to machine code without using a compiler or interpreter, and the resulting code runs directly on
the processor. A program written in a low-level language can be made to run very fast, and with a very small memory footprint; an
equivalent program in a high-level language will be more heavyweight. Low-level languages are simple, but are considered difficult to
use, due to the numerous technical details which must be remembered.
By comparison, a high-level programming language isolates the execution semantics of a computer architecture from the specification of
the program, which simplifies development.
Low-level programming languages are sometimes divided into two categories: first generation, and second generation.
=========================================

APPLICATION

the act of putting to a special use or purpose: the application of common sense to a problem.
the act of bringing something to bear; using it for a particular purpose; "he advocated the application of statistics to the problem";
utility
A basic service such as electricity, gas, or water, or the company that provides such a service. Utilities are often regulated by the
government.

SHAREWARE
Software distributed on the basis of an honor system. Most shareware is delivered free of charge, but the author usually requests that
you pay a small fee if you like the program and use it regularly. By sending the small fee, you become registered with the producer so
that you can receive service assistance and updates. You can copy shareware and pass it along to friends and colleagues, but they too
are expected to pay a fee if they use the product.
Shareware is inexpensive because it is usually produced by a single programmer and is offered directly to customers. Thus, there are
practically no packaging or advertising expenses.
Note that shareware differs from public-domain software in that shareware is copyrighted. This means that you cannot sell a shareware
product as your own.

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is available in source code form for which the source code and certain other rights
normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, and improve the
software.
Some open source licenses meet the requirements of the Open Source Definition. Some open source software is available within the
public domain.
Open source software is very often developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source software is the most prominent example of
open-source development and often compared to (technically defined) user-generated content or (legally defined) open content
movements.[1]

FREEWARE
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost

#########################################
2.Discuss the relationship between data and information, information and knowledge. Also explain the
concepts of cost and value of information by the help of an example.

Data is a collection of facts, figures and statistics related to an object. Data can be processed to create useful information. Data is a
valuable asset for an organization.
Data can be used by the managers to perform effective and successful operations of management. It provides a view of past activities
related to the rise and fall of an organization. It also enables the user to make better decision for future. Data is very useful for
generating reports, graphs and statistics.

Example
Students fill an admission form when they get admission in college. The form consists of raw facts about the students. These raw facts
are student's name, father name, address etc. The purpose of collecting this data is to maintain the records of the students during their
study period in the college.

Information
The manipulated and processed form of data is called information. It is more meaningful than data. It is used for making decisions. Data
is used as input for processing and information I output of this processing.

Example
Data collected from census is used to generate different type of information. The government can use it to determine the literacy rate in
the country. Government can use the information in important decision to improve literacy rate.

knowledge as, "a fluid mix of framed experience, contextual information, values and expert insight that provides a framework for
evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information." Notice that there are two parts to their definition:
o First, there is content: "a fluid mix of framed experience, contextual information, values and expert insight." This includes a number
of things that we have within us, such as experiences, beliefs, values, how we feel, motivation, and information.
o The second part defines the function or purpose of knowledge, "that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new
experiences and information." Notice how this relates back to Locke's definition — we have within us a framework (one idea) that we use
for evaluating new experiences (the second idea).
Explicit knowledge can be articulated into formal language, including grammatical statements (words and numbers), mathematical
expressions, specifications, manuals, etc. Explicit knowledge can be readily transmitted others. Also, it can easily be processed by a
computer, transmitted electronically, or stored in databases.
Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge embedded in individual experience and involves intangible factors, such as personal beliefs,
perspective, and the value system. Tacit knowledge is hard to articulate with formal language (hard, but not impossible). It contains
subjective insights, intuitions, and hunches. Before tacit knowledge can be communicated, it must be converted into words, models, or
numbers that can be understand. In addition, there are two dimensions to tacit knowledge:
o Technical Dimension (procedural): This encompasses the kind of informal and skills often captured in the term know-how. For
example, a craftsperson develops a wealth of expertise after years of experience. But a craftsperson often has difficulty articulating the
technical or scientific principles of his or her craft. Highly subjective and personal insights, intuitions, hunches and inspirations derived
from bodily experience fall into this dimension.
o Cognitive Dimension: This consists of beliefs, perceptions, ideals, values, emotions and mental models so ingrained in us that we take
them for granted. Though they cannot be articulated very easily, this dimension of tacit knowledge shapes the way we perceive the world
around us.
o Socialization: from tacit to tacit — Sharing experiences to create tacit knowledge, such as shared mental models and technical skills.
This also includes observation, imitation, and practice. However, “experience” is the key, which his why the mere “transfer of
information” often makes little sense to the receiver.
o Internalization: from explicit to tacit — Embodying explicit knowledge into tacit knowledge. Closely related to “learning by doing.”
Normally, knowledge is verbalized or diagrammed into documents or oral stories.
o Externalization: from tacit to explicit — The quintessential process of articulating tacit knowledge into explicit concepts through
metaphors, analogies, concepts, hypothesis, or models. Note that when we conceptualize an image, we express its essence mostly in
language.
o Combination,: from explicit to explicit — A process of systemizing concepts into a knowledge system. Individuals exchange and
combine knowledge through media, such as documents, meetings, and conversations. Information is reconfigured by such means as
sorting, combining, and categorizing. Formal education and many training programs work this way.
Artifacts derived from knowledge creation are facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles.

this 'knowledge management strategy' is a training and development programme.

Of course, it is wrapped up in the many of the modern jargons of the day:
THE SIMPLE PROCESS IS
• 'Development of a structure of competency types and levels;
• Defining the competencies required for particular jobs;
• Rating the performance of individual employees in particular jobs based on the competencies;
• Implementing the knowledge competencies in an online system;
• Linkage of the competency model to learning offerings.'

THERE ARE MANY TOOLS AVAILABLE TO IMPLEMENT

AND ENABLE THE PARTICIPANTS TO FULLY EXPLOIT.
======================================================
After action review
A process that helps teams to learn quickly from their successes and failures and share their learning with other teams. Involves
conducting a structured and facilitated discussion after a task or project has been completed to review what should have happened, what
actually happened and why it happened; this allows participants to learn how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses in
subsequent tasks or projects.

Balanced scorecard
A business model developed by Kaplan and Norton as a tool to measure organisational performance against both short and long-term
goals. The balanced scorecard is designed to focus managers' attention on those factors that most help the business strategy and so
alongside financial measures, it adds measures for customers, internal processes and employee learning. Some organisations have used
the balanced scorecard model in setting and measuring knowledge management strategies.

Benchmarking
The practice of comparing the performance of your organisation, department or function against the performance of 'the best' - whether
they be other organisations, industry standards or internal departments. The aim is to look at how well you are doing compared to others
in the same field or industry, and to learn from their best practices as a basis for improving your own.

Best practice (or: Good practice)

A process or methodology that has been proven to work well and produce good results, and is therefore recommended as a model. Some
people prefer to use the term 'good practice' as in reality it is debateable whether there is a single 'best' approach.

Coaching
A one-to-one relationship that aims to bring about individual learning and performance improvement, usually focusing on achieving
predefined objectives within a specific time period. The role of the coach is to create a supportive environment in which to challenge and
develop the critical thinking skills, ideas and behaviours of the person being coached, so that they might reach their full potential. Related
term: Mentoring.

Double-loop learning (or: Generative learning)

In contrast to singleloop learning , which involves using knowledge to solve specific problems based on existing assumptions and often
based on what has worked in the past, double-loop learning goes a step further and questions existing assumptions in order to create
new insights. For example,
the supply chain failures in an organization. <\l >

E-Learning
The use of electronic information systems (especially internet technologies) to deliver learning and training.

Extranet
A website that links an organisation with other specific organisations or people. Extranets are only accessible to those specified
organisations or people and are protected via passwords.

Groupware
Computer software applications that are linked together by networks, and so allow people to work together and share electronic
communications and documents

Information
Data that has been organised within a context and translated into a form that has structure and meaning. (Note: while most people have
an idea about what information is, it is rather difficult to define in a meaningful way).

Intranet
A computer network that functions like the internet, but the information and web pages are located on computers within an organisation
rather than being accessible to the general public.

Continuous --Learning organisation

An organisation that views its success in the future as being based on continuous learning and adaptive behaviour. It therefore becomes
skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting and retaining knowledge and then modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and
insights.
Mentoring
Mentoring is a one-to-one learning relationship in which a senior member of an organisation is assigned to support the development of a
newer or more junior member by sharing his or her knowledge, experience and wisdom with them. Related term: Coaching (Note: While
the strength of mentoring lies in transferring the mentor's specific knowledge and wisdom, in coaching it lies in the coach's ability to
facilitate and develop the other's own personal qualities.)

Organisational learning
The ability of an organisation to gain knowledge from experience through experimentation, observation, analysis and a willingness to
examine both successes and failures, and to then use that knowledge to do things differently. While organisational learning cannot
happen without individual learning, individual learning does not necessarily produce organisational learning. Organisational learning
occurs when an organisation becomes collectively more knowledgeable and skillful in pursuing a set of goals.Single-loop learning (or:
Adaptive learning)

Single-loop learning involves using knowledge to solve specific problems based on existing assumptions, and often based on what has
worked in the past.
etc etc etc

METRICS FOR KNOWLEDGE WORK

The tenth step measuring return on knowledge investment (ROKI) must account for both financial and competitive impacts of knowledge
management on your business.

Focus on the following:

1.Understand how to measure the business impact of knowledge management, using a set of lean metrics

2.Calculate returns on investment (ROI) for knowledge management investments

3.Decide when to use benchmarking as a comparative knowledge metric

4.Evaluate knowledge management ROI using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) method

5.Use quality function deployment for creating strategic knowledge metrics

6.Identify and stay clear of the seven common measurement pitfalls, and identify what not to measure

7. Review and select software tools for tracking complex metrics.

#############################################
3.Explain the major marketing subsystems and enumerate the advantages of the use of computers in such
subsystems.

AT THE MICRO LEVEL , THE SUBSYSTEMS ARE,

*Marketing Concept.
*Importance of Marketing to Strategic Management and the
Organization Success.
* strategic marketing management
*Understanding the Marketing and Competitors.
* marketing research.
*market forecast.
*The importance of knowing Buyer Behavior.
*consumer behavior
*organizational buyer behavior.
*Marketing Strategy
*Strategic market Planning
*Market Development.
*marketing environments
*marketing strategies
* marketing planning.
*TRADE MARKETING MANAGEMENT
*Marketing Plan.
*developing a marketing plan.
*executing/implementing a marketing plan.
*market segmentation
*market targeting.
*market positioning.
*product marketing
*Channel marketing
*New Product Development & Strategy.
*new product development process.
*new product commercialization.
*Product Pricing Considerations and Approaches.
*pricing principles.
*pricing strategy
*Marketing Logistics
*marketing channels.
*physical distribution.
*Marketing Decision Making
*Marketing Mix.
*promotions
*selling
*publicity
*online marketing
*direct marketing.
*marketing communication
*branding
*advertising
*telemarketing
*test marketing
*product planning
*sales development
*sales planning
*sales organization
*trade marketing
*merchandising
*retail marketing
*customer servicing
*SELF SERVICE MARKETING

AT THE MACRO LEVEL, THE SUBSTEMS ARE

Marketing research

Market Research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about a particular target market, competition, and/or
environment. It always incorporates some form of data collection whether it be secondary research (often referred to as desk research)
or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent.

The purpose of any market research project is to achieve an increased understanding of the subject matter. With markets throughout the
world becoming increasingly more competitive, market research is now on the agenda of many organisations, whether they be large or
small.

The Market Research Process

To conduct market research, organisations may decide to undertake the project themselves (some through a marketing research
department) or they might choose to commission it via a market research agency or consultancy. Whichever, before undertaking any
research project, it is crucial to define the research objectives i.e. what are you trying to achieve from the research? and what do you
need to know?

After considering the objectives, Market Researchers can utilise many types of research techniques and methodologies to capture the
data that they require. All of the available methodologies either collect quantitative or qualitative information. The use of each very much
depends on the research objectives but many believe that results are most useful when the two methods are combined.

Marketing planning
Product specific, market specific, or company-wide plan that describes activities involved in achieving specific marketing objectives within
a set timeframe. A market plan begins with the identification (through market research) of specific customer needs and how the firm
intends to fulfill them while generating an acceptable level of return. It generally includes analysis of the current market situation
(opportunities and trends) and detailed action programs, budgets, sales forecasts, strategies, and projected (proforma) financial
statements. See also marketing strategy.
---------------------------------------------------

Marketing channels.

Path or 'pipeline' through which goods and services flow in one direction (from vendor to the consumer), and the payments generated by
them flow in the opposite direction (from consumer to the vendor). A distribution channel can be as short as being direct from the vendor
to the consumer or may include several inter-connected (usually independent but mutually dependent) intermediaries such as
wholesalers, distributors, agents, retailers. Each intermediary receives the item at one pricing point and moves it to the next higher
pricing point until it reaches the final buyer. Also called channel of distribution or marketing channel.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Marketing mix
The marketing mix and the 4 Ps of marketing are often used as synonyms for each other. In fact, they are not necessarily the same
thing.
"Marketing mix" is a general phrase used to describe the different kinds of choices organizations have to make in the whole process of
bringing a product or service to market. The 4 Ps is one way – probably the best-known way – of defining the marketing mix, and was
first expressed in 1960 by E J McCarthy.
The 4Ps are:
• Product (or Service)
• Place
• Price
• Promotion
A good way to understand the 4 Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define you marketing mix. Here are some questions that
will help you understand and define each of the four elements:
Product/Service
• What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
• What features does it have to meet these needs?
• Are there any features you've missed out?
• Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
• How and where will the customer use it?
• What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
• What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?
• What is it to be called?
• How is it branded?
• How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
• What is the most it can cost to provide, and still be sold sufficiently profitably? (See also Price, below).
Place
• Where do buyers look for your product or service?
• If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via a catalogue?
• How can you access the right distribution channels?
• Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?
• What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?
Price
• What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
• Are there established price points for products or services in this area?
• Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible,
and so gain you extra profit margin?
• What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
• How will your price compare with your competitors?
Promotion
• Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?
• Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshot?
Through PR? On the Internet?
• When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider environmental issues that suggest or
dictate the timing of your market launch, or the timing of subsequent promotions?
• How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?
The 4Ps model is just one of many marketing mix lists that have been developed over the years. And, whilst the questions we have listed
above are key, they are just a subset of the detailed probing that may be required to optimize your marketing mix.
SALES MANAGEMENT
Systematic process involving: (1) formulation of sales strategy through development of account management policies, sales force
compensation policies, sales revenue forecasts, and sales plan, (2) implementation of sales strategy through selecting, training,
motivating, and supporting the sales force, setting sales revenue targets, and (3) sales force management through development and
implementation of sales performance, monitoring, and evaluation methods, and analysis of associated behavioral patterns and costs.
----------------------------------------------------------------
TRADE MARKETING
Trade marketing is a discipline of marketing that relates to increasing the demand at wholesaler, retailer, or strategies distributor level
rather than at the consumer level. However, you need to continue with your Brand Management to sustain the need at the consumer
end. A consumer is the one who identifies and purchases a product to the retailers, also. Trade marketing might also include offering
various tangible/intangible benefits to retailers. The alignment of sales and marketing discipline to profitability. It is used to satisfy the
needs and wants of the consumers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CUSTOMER SERVICING
Customer service is an organization's ability to supply their customers' wants and needs.
=========================================
Components of a marketing information system
A marketing information system (MIS) is intended to bring together disparate items of data into a coherent body of information. An MIS
is, as will shortly be seen, more than raw data or information suitable for the purposes of decision making. An MIS also provides methods
for interpreting the information the MIS provides. Moreover, as Kotler's1 definition says, an MIS is more than a system of data collection
or a set of information technologies:
"A marketing information system is a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyse,
evaluate, and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing
planning, implementation, and control".
Figure illustrates the major components of an MIS, the environmental factors monitored by the system and the types of marketing
decision which the MIS seeks to underpin.
Figure -The marketing information systems and its subsystems

The explanation of this model of an MIS begins with a description of each of its four main constituent parts: the internal reporting
systems, marketing research system, marketing intelligence system and marketing models. It is suggested that whilst the MIS varies in
its degree of sophistication - with many in the industrialised countries being computerised and few in the developing countries being so -
a fully fledged MIS should have these components, the methods (and technologies) of collection, storing, retrieving and processing data
notwithstanding.
Internal reporting systems: All enterprises which have been in operation for any period of time nave a wealth of information. However,
this information often remains under-utilised because it is compartmentalised, either in the form of an individual entrepreneur or in the
functional departments of larger businesses. That is, information is usually categorised according to its nature so that there are, for
example, financial, production, manpower, marketing, stockholding and logistical data. Often the entrepreneur, or various personnel
working in the functional departments holding these pieces of data, do not see how it could help decision makers in other functional
areas. Similarly, decision makers can fail to appreciate how information from other functional areas might help them and therefore do not
request it.
The internal records that are of immediate value to marketing decisions are: orders received, stockholdings and sales invoices. These are
but a few of the internal records that can be used by marketing managers, but even this small set of records is capable of generating a
great deal of information. Below, is a list of some of the information that can be derived from sales invoices.
• Product type, size and pack type by territory
• Product type, size and pack type by type of account
• Product type, size and pack type by industry
• Product type, size and pack type by customer
• Average value and/or volume of sale by territory
• Average value and/or volume of sale by type of account
• Average value and/or volume of sale by industry
• Average value and/or volume of sale by sales person
By comparing orders received with invoices an enterprise can establish the extent to which it is providing an acceptable level of customer
service. In the same way, comparing stockholding records with orders received helps an enterprise ascertain whether its stocks are in
line with current demand patterns.
Marketing research systems: The general topic of marketing research has been the prime ' subject of the textbook and only a little more
needs to be added here. Marketing research is a proactive search for information. That is, the enterprise which commissions these
studies does so to solve a perceived marketing problem. In many cases, data is collected in a purposeful way to address a well-defined
problem (or a problem which can be defined and solved within the course of the study). The other form of marketing research centres
not around a specific marketing problem but is an attempt to continuously monitor the marketing environment. These monitoring or
tracking exercises are continuous marketing research studies, often involving panels of farmers, consumers or distributors from which the
same data is collected at regular intervals. Whilst the ad hoc study and continuous marketing research differs in the orientation, yet they
are both proactive.
Marketing intelligence systems: Whereas marketing research is focused, market intelligence is not. A marketing intelligence system is a
set of procedures and data sources used by marketing managers to sift information from the environment that they can use in their
decision making. This scanning of the economic and business environment can be undertaken in a variety of ways, including2
Unfocused scanning The manager, by virtue of what he/she reads, hears and watches exposes him/herself to information that may
prove useful. Whilst the behaviour is unfocused and the manager has no specific purpose in mind, it is not unintentional

Semi-focused scanning Again, the manager is not in search of particular pieces of information that he/she is actively searching but does
narrow the range of media that is scanned. For instance, the manager may focus more on economic and business publications,
broadcasts etc. and pay less attention to political, scientific or technological media.

Informal search This describes the situation where a fairly limited and unstructured attempt is made to obtain information for a specific
purpose. For example, the marketing manager of a firm considering entering the business of importing frozen fish from a neighbouring
country may make informal inquiries as to prices and demand levels of frozen and fresh fish. There would be little structure to this search
with the manager making inquiries with traders he/she happens to encounter as well as with other ad hoc contacts in ministries,
international aid agencies, with trade associations, importers/exporters etc.

Formal search This is a purposeful search after information in some systematic way. The information will be required to address a
specific issue. Whilst this sort of activity may seem to share the characteristics of marketing research it is carried out by the manager
him/herself rather than a professional researcher. Moreover, the scope of the search is likely to be narrow in scope and far less intensive
than marketing research
Marketing intelligence is the province of entrepreneurs and senior managers within an agribusiness. It involves them in scanning
newspaper trade magazines, business journals and reports, economic forecasts and other media. In addition it involves management in
talking to producers, suppliers and customers, as well as to competitors. Nonetheless, it is a largely informal process of observing and
conversing.
Some enterprises will approach marketing intelligence gathering in a more deliberate fashion and will train its sales force, after-sales
personnel and district/area managers to take cognisance of competitors' actions, customer complaints and requests and distributor
problems. Enterprises with vision will also encourage intermediaries, such as collectors, retailers, traders and other middlemen to be
proactive in conveying market intelligence back to them.
Marketing models: Within the MIS there has to be the means of interpreting information in order to give direction to decision. These
models may be computerised or may not. Typical tools are:
• Time series sales modes
• Brand switching models
• Linear programming
• Elasticity models (price, incomes, demand, supply, etc.)
• Regression and correlation models
• Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) models
• Sensitivity analysis
• Discounted cash flow
• Spreadsheet 'what if models
These and similar mathematical, statistical, econometric and financial models are the analytical subsystem of the MIS. A relatively
modest investment in a desktop computer is enough to allow an enterprise to automate the analysis of its data. Some of the models used
are stochastic, i.e. those containing a probabilistic element whereas others are deterministic models where chance plays no part. Brand
switching models are stochastic since these express brand choices in probabilities whereas linear programming is deterministic in that the
relationships between variables are expressed in exact mathematical terms.
Marketing information systems are intended to support management decision making. Management has five distinct functions and each
requires support from an MIS. These are: planning, organising, coordinating, decisions and controlling.
Information systems have to be designed to meet the way in which managers tend to work. Research suggests that a manager
continually addresses a large variety of tasks and is able to spend relatively brief periods on each of these.
Given the nature of the work, managers tend to rely upon information that is timely and verbal (because this can be assimilated quickly),
even if this is likely to be less accurate then more formal and complex information systems.
Managers play at least three separate roles: interpersonal, informational and decisional. MIS, in electronic form or otherwise, can support
these roles in varying degrees. MIS has less to contribute in the case of a manager's informational role than for the other two.
Three levels of decision making can be distinguished from one another: strategic, control (or tactical) and operational. Again, MIS has to
support each level. Strategic decisions are characteristically one-off situations. Strategic decisions have implications for changing the
structure of an organisation and therefore the MIS must provide information which is precise and accurate. Control decisions deal with
broad policy issues and operational decisions concern the management of the organisation's marketing mix.
A marketing information system has four components: the internal reporting system, the marketing research systems, the marketing
intelligence system and marketing models. Internal reports include orders received, inventory records and sales invoices. Marketing
research takes the form of purposeful studies either ad hoc or continuous. By contrast, marketing intelligence is less specific in its
purposes, is chiefly carried out in an informal manner and by managers themselves rather than by professional marketing researchers.

Marketing Information Systems

-product group sales
-customer total sales
-territory sales
-regional sales
-national sales
-channel sales
- Average value and/or volume of sale by CUSTOMER
- Average value and/or volume of sale by type of CHANNELt
- Average value and/or volume of sale by COUNTRY
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2A].Your promotional activities by individual territories / total promotional spend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2B].COMPETITIVE ACTIVITIES BY regions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2C] MONTHLY IMPORTS into the country
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2D].MARKET INTELLIGENCE BY region
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 E]MONTHLY TOTAL SALES VS TARGET [ % ACHIEVEMENT ]
YEAR TO DATE SALES VS TARGET [ % ACHIEVEMENT ]
=========================================================
2F]BUSINESS INFORMATION TRENDS.
2G]COMPETITIVE INFORMATION.
2H]ANY SIGNIFICANT MARKET TRENDS.
2I ]POLITICAL TRENDS/CHANGES
2J] LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
2K] FISCAL POLICIES TRENDS/CHANGES
2L] MONETARY POLICIES TRENDS/CHANGES
2M] TRADE POLICIES TRENDS/ CHANGES.
2N] ECONOMIC POLICIES TRENDS/ CHANGES
2O] TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES [ that could affect the sales]
=========================================================
2P] Economic - rate of growth of GNP, level of inflation, incomes
2Q] Social - people, demographics, culture, subculture
2R] Political - risk, instability, attitudes to "foreigners"
2S] Technology - current, rate of change, infrastructure
2T] Resources - money, manpower, materials, acquisitions, joint ventures
2U ] Fiscal - taxes, exchange rates
2V] Institutions - money markets
2X] Managerial - funds
2Y] MARKET ANALYSIS
-customer attitudes/behavior
-spending power
-per capita income
-channels of distribution /effectiveness
-market potential
-media potential/effectiveness
-Economic - rate of growth, structure, conduct, capital, economic blocs, (SADC), GNP, GDP, Nl
-Political/Legal - laws, regulations, investment, "climate", government ideology, stability
-Competition - type, structure, operations, strategy plans, programmes, acquisitions, mergers
-Terms of access - quotas, tariffs, duties etc
-Inflation rate

#########################################