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MkIS support for the marketing management process:: perceived improvements for marketing
management
Jari M. Talvinen Timo Saarinen
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Jari M. Talvinen Timo Saarinen, (1995),"MkIS support for the marketing management process:", Marketing Intelligence &
Planning, Vol. 13 Iss 1 pp. 18 - 27
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Spiros P. Gounaris, George G. Panigyrakis, Kalliopi C. Chatzipanagiotou, (2007),"Measuring the effectiveness of marketing
information systems: An empirically validated instrument", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 25 Iss 6 pp. 612-631
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02634500710819978
Nicholas J. Ashill, David Jobber, (2001),"Defining the information needs of senior marketing executives:
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making-oriented systems. Correspondingly, operational MkIS and the marketing management process
MkIS can be classified as operational, sales and The objective in MkIS development has been to
marketing process-oriented systems. implement MkIS which cover almost all management
activities in the sales and marketing functions, and to
The first era (1970-1980) in MkIS development was to produce timely and accurate information to be used in
provide standardized reports with multiple sources of decision making. According to Martell (1988), MkIS can
information to multiple users within large firms (Choffray be seen as a part of the so-called management
and Lilien, 1986). MkIS were seen as tools especially for information systems (MIS) concept, which deals in
analysing internal and external effectiveness of particular with marketing strategy and operations. This
marketing and for controlling marketing activities and MIS approach is suitable for traditional bureaucratic
environment. From the marketing management point of hierarchical organizations which, however, will be
view, MkIS were tools for managing marketing
complemented increasingly by new flexible organization
information, marketing research, marketing planning,
forms, such as strategic partnerships and networks.
modelling marketing transactions, decision making in
marketing, budgeting, analysing different courses of
The MIS approach can be misleading, since with this kind
action, and for reporting and control (Higby and Farah,
of thinking, developers may omit important issues –
1991; Li et al., 1993; Morris et al., 1989; Vandermerwe and
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Improvements of MkIS usage Harvard Business Review article by Moriarty and Swartz
The objective of this section is to summarize the results of (1989) covered several examples of well-known early
prior studies concerning improvements of MkIS usage adopters of MkIS that had achieved 10 to 30 per cent
and above all to relate the authors’ research ideas to increases in sales and return on investment often
earlier studies (Talvinen, 1993). Expectations of typical exceeding 100 per cent. They maintained that these
potential improvements derived from marketing systems could automate the work of a single salesperson,
literature are summarized in Table I. a single marketing activity like direct mail, or a
company’s entire marketing and sales operations.
The improvements are classified into three groups:
improvements in marketing, improvements in sales and However, even if the concept of MkIS is mature and well
overall organizational improvements. Marketing known, there is little systematic empirical knowledge
literature abounds with examples of successful MkIS available of the realized improvements of MkIS usage.
implementations. According to earlier research the The above research findings, however, present individual
impact of MkIS usage is remarkable. For example a success stories but what is the reality of perceived
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Marketing
Cost savings from marketing programmes Bovitz and Dunn (1987), Burns and Ross (1991), Graham (1987),
Fletcher (1982), Moriarty and Swartz (1989), Mayros and Dolan (1988)
Management of marketing programmes Moriarty and Swartz (1989), Townend (1989)
Improved decision making Fletcher (1982), Jobber and Watts (1988), Moriarty and Swartz (1989),
Morris et al. (1989), Townend (1989)
Improved targeting of marketing activities Moriarty and Swartz (1989), Bovitz and Dunn (1987), Townend (1989),
Burns and Ross (1991)
Improved analysing of marketing activities Graham (1987), Mayros and Dolan (1988), Bovitz and Dunn (1987),
Townend (1989)
On time marketing records Graham (1987), Morris et al. (1989)
Improved marketing planning Mayros and Dolan (1988)
Sales
Cost savings from sales programmes Bovitz and Dunn (1987), Burns and Ross (1991), Graham (1987),
Fletcher (1982), Mayros and Dolan (1988), Moriarty and Swartz (1989)
Improved sales Graham (1987), Ferreira and Treacy (1988), Moriarty and Schwartz (1989)
More efficient sales time Graham (1987)
Improved forecasting and follow-up of sales Graham (1987), Ferreira and Treacy (1988), Fletcher (1982),
Mayros and Dolan (1988), Morris et al. (1989)
Better prepared sales visits Bertrand (1988)
Improved sales sensitivity Bovitz and Dunn (1987), Mayros and Dolan (1988), Morris et al. (1989)
Organizational improvements
Improved internal information volume and Ferreira and Treacy (1988), Fletcher (1982), Jobber and Watts (1988),
communication Mayros and Dolan (1988), Morris et al. (1989)
Improved customer information Ferreira and Treacy (1988), Moriarty and Swartz (1989)
Improved customer satisfaction Graham (1987)
Organizational time savings Jobber and Watts (1988)
Reduced working pressure Jobber and Watts (1988)
Reduced paper work, reporting Bertrand (1988)
MKIS SUPPORT FOR THE MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROCESS 21
improvements of MkIS usage overall? For example, what, Figure 2. Detailed framework of the study
if any, are the improvements for marketing management
of MkIS usage in the sales and marketing functions? Operational MkIS
Salesperson
productivity system
Research framework
Based on the above discussion we constructed a two-stage
framework for analysing MkIS information content, its Direct mail and
fulfilment system
support for five complementary steps in the marketing
Implementing
management process and the perceived improvements of and controlling
MkIS usage. The overall framework (Figure 1) is focused on Telemarketing
system
marketing efforts
operational MkIS sub-systems which would be important operational MkIS usage. Second, not even the best plans
for improving effectiveness of the fifth step in the work without efficient implementation, monitoring and
marketing management process, implementing and corrective actions when needed. Implementing and
controlling marketing efforts, and subsequently yielding controlling marketing efforts is a most critical step in this
improvements for the organization (Figure 2). We have split process – a moment of truth.
operational MkIS into the four sub-systems presented by
Moriarty and Swartz (1989) and referred to earlier. The fifth
step consists of tasks like developing a marketing
organization, staffing it, assigning responsibilities for Empirical survey
implementing all the activities in the plan, monitoring the Research methodology
plan’s performance, and taking corrective action when it is This article is part of a larger and cumulative research
warranted (Kotler, 1994). project on IS in marketing at the Helsinki School of
Economics – other reports from the project include
There were two major reasons to concentrate on this Talvinen (1993, 1995) and Sääksjärvi and Talvinen, 1993).
specific step of the marketing management process. First The aim has been to obtain an overall picture of MkIS
there is a lack of empirical knowledge on the relationship usage in Finland and to gain new insights on the efficient
between the marketing management process in general but use of MkIS in practice. We first conducted a mail survey
especially between this step and the perceived impact of the
in Finnish wholesale companies followed by in-depth
case studies in two organizations. In the mail survey our
unit of analysis was senior marketing management and
Figure 1. Overall framework of the study in the case studies the entire marketing organization.
Marketing management process The business sector chosen for our empirical studies is
wholesale companies, since according to earlier research
Analysing market
structure in Finland, wholesale companies have invested much
and behaviour
more to build up MkIS than other sectors. It is also more
likely that within the same business sector, systems are
Researching and more likely to be similar. By standardizing and by
selecting market
opportunities Perceived focusing the study only to one business sector, the results
improvements
MkIS of MkIS usage are likely to be meaningful and reliable.
Developing ● Overall
Information Sales
contents marketing ●
● Marketing This article is based on data collected in a mail survey.
strategies
● Organizational These analyses of empirical data are based on simple
statistical techniques and original questionnaire items. We
Planning
marketing
wanted to avoid the shortcomings of using constructed
tactics variables and sophisticated multivariate techniques
inherent in this study due to the relatively small sample
Implementing
size. We conducted the same analyses using constructed
and controlling variables and sophisticated multivariate techniques and
marketing efforts
the results were the same as reported here.
22 MARKETING INTELLIGENCE & PLANNING 13,1
analyses. This was felt to be acceptable. meaning. Correspondingly these variables with means
and standard deviations are shown in Table III.
Variables used
Information content of MkIS. Empirical studies of the MkIS sub-systems in implementing and controll ing
information content of MkIS are scarce. However, based marketing efforts. In order to study what operational
on our prior studies and other studies that have discussed MkIS sub-systems have contributed to improved
MkIS use (see Higby and Farah, 1991; Li et al., 1993; effectiveness of the fifth step in the marketing
McLeod and Rogers, 1982, 1985; Moriarty and Swartz, management process, implementing and controlling
1989; Morris et al., 1989; Vandermerwe and Carney, 1987), marketing efforts, we divided operational MkIS into four
we derived potential variables describing MkIS sub-systems i.e. salesperson productivity tools, sales and
information content. After test interviews and on the marketing management systems, direct mail and
basis of the literature review, our final instrument telemarketing systems proposed by Moriarty and Swartz
consisted of 12 categories of different types of (1989) referred to in Figure 2. We asked for the marketing
information that can be included in a MkIS. managers’ perceptions of the overall usage of these four
Correspondingly in our mail survey, we asked what sub-systems within their marketing organizations.
information components of those 12 categories are Operationalized variables with means and standard
included in their own MkIS. The variables with means deviations are shown in Table IV.
and standard deviations are shown in Table II.
Perceived improvements of MkIS usage. We based our
evaluation on the marketing managers’ perceptions. We
Table II. Variables measuring information content of the measured them by two types of variables. First we
MkIS (scale 1 = no information available; 7= a lot of
measured the overall perceived improvements in
information available)
marketing management of MkIS usage. In addition, we
divided the improvements into three categories:
Standard
MkIS information content Mean deviation
Table VI. Correlations between information content and perceived support of MkIS in the marketing management process
Furthermore, some information included in the MkIS, effectiveness information, needed to achieve improve-
product information and distribution information, does ments in this step of the process.
not correlate significantly with perceived support of
MkIS in the marketing management process. We should This finding, however, requires a more detailed analysis
bear in mind the sector chosen for our empirical studies of the operational MkIS sub-systems supporting
was wholesale companies, which sell to retailers, other implementation and controlling of the marketing efforts.
selected wholesalers, and industrial users but do not sell We have to note that our unit of analysis was senior
in significant terms to ultimate consumers. Therefore marketing managers. Normally they do not themselves
correlations (e.g. between customer (end-user, consumer) use these operational MkIS sub-systems and therefore we
or potential customer (prospect) information and should keep this in mind when analysing the results.
perceived support of MkIS in the marketing management However they do have, as team leaders, a very good
process) were very weak. insight into operational sales and marketing tasks.
Perceived improvements and support of MkIS in the The detailed framework of the study
marketing management process. Table VII contains Use of operational MkIS sub-systems for implementing
correlations between perceived improvements and and controll ing marketing efforts. Table IV gives
support of MkIS in the marketing management process. descriptive statistics of the variables measuring the use of
There are lots of significant correlations implying that, if MkIS sub-systems for implementing and controlling
marketing managers perceive support in the marketing marketing efforts. As the means show, operational,
management process of MkIS usage, they see many salesperson productivity tools, and sales and marketing
improvements realized in sales and organizational levels management systems were extensively used. But direct
but especially in marketing. mail and telemarketing systems were not so common.
However, it is striking to observe that perceived support Use of operational MkIS sub-systems for implementing
in the implementing and controlling of marketing efforts and controlling marketing efforts and the consequent
did not have higher correlations with the perceived perceived support in this step of the process. Table VIII
improvements in sales activities. This may be partly gives the correlations between use of operational MkIS
because the information content of the studied MkIS did sub-systems for implementing and controlling marketing
not yield high improvements in these sales tasks (Table efforts and the consequent perceived support in this step.
V). By comparing Tables II, VI, and VII there seems to be
insufficient information, especially concerning sales The correlation between direct mail and fulfilment
leads management information and overall marketing systems and perceived support in implementing and
MKIS SUPPORT FOR THE MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROCESS 25
Table VII. Correlations between perceived improvements and support of MkIS in the marketing management process
Marketing
Cost savings from marketing programmes 0.23 0.45** 0.15 0.20 0.14
Management of marketing programmes 0.71** 0.51** 0.57** 0.58** 0.27*
Improved decision making 0.73** 0.28* 0.64** 0.72** 0.26*
Improved targeting of marketing activities 0.58** 0.52** 0.57** 0.60** 0.34*
Improved analysing of marketing activities 0.50** 0.45** 0.32* 0.38** 0.35**
On time marketing records 0.35** 0.28* 0.33* 0.43** 0.20
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Sales
Cost savings from sales programmes 0.33* 0.28* 0.33* 0.21 0.14
Improved sales 0.36** 0.38** 0.39** 0.40** 0.20
More efficient sales time 0.39** 0.32* 0.28* 0.28* 0.32*
Improved forecasting and follow-up of sales 0.69** 0.31* 0.66** 0.64** 0.28*
Better prepared sales visits 0.43** 0.44** 0.32 0.35** 0.28*
Improved sales sensitivity 0.41** 0.45** 0.39** 0.21 0.28
Organizational improvements
Improved internal information volume and
communication 0.55** 0.56** 0.63** 0.49** 0.44**
Improved customer information 0.27* 0.60** 0.37** 0.35** 0.28*
Improved customer satisfaction 0.33* 0.47** 0.43** 0.39** 0.34*
Organizational time savings 0.41** 0.31* 0.50** 0.53** 0.30*
Reduced working pressure 0.36** 0.33* 0.52** 0.41** 0.36**
Decreased paperwork, reporting 0.42** 0.44** 0.52** 0.45** 0.37**
Table VIII. Correlations between use of operational MkIS controlling marketing efforts was rather high, but other
sub-systems for implementing and controlling marketing correlations were insignificant. This indicates that these
efforts and the perceived support in this step of the marketing types of systems could be used to gain improvements in
management process marketing but also in sales activities.
Implementing
Use of operational MkIS sub-systems and controlling Discussion
marketing efforts
The objectives of this empirical survey among Finnish
wholesale companies were as follows. First, we evaluated
Operational, salesperson productivity system 0.08 which information contained in Marketing Information
Direct mail and fulfilment system 0.45** Systems (MkIS) has been important in supporting the
Telemarketing system 0.26* marketing management process. Second, we analysed
Sales and marketing management system 0.19 what improvements in marketing and sales have been
realized by implementing MkIS supporting the
Note: Significance levels **=0.01, *=0.0.5 marketing management process. Third, we investigated,
in more detail, which operational MkIS sub-systems have
26 MARKETING INTELLIGENCE & PLANNING 13,1
contributed to improved effectiveness in implementing one of the most high-risk, high-visibility projects that a
and controlling marketing efforts. company can undertake and in addition sales
representatives are a particularly difficult group to
According to our findings the correlations between include in MkIS development and daily use (Ferreira and
information content and perceived improvements for Treacy, 1988). Therefore, close contact between end-
senior marketing management in marketing and in sales users, managers and designers is needed to build up an
tasks were correlated partly with different information effective, functionally and technically integrated MkIS
components. Based on our earlier studies, MkIS is often wholeness if competitive advantage is to be achieved.
implemented as a “compromise” between these two
purposes. As a consequence, information content of MkIS
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Jari M. Talvinen is Senior Lecturer and Timo Saarinen is Associate Professor at the Department of Business Information
Systems, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki, Finland.
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