Gathering Marketing Intelligence

Chapter 2

Marketing Research: Dancing in the Dark

SLIDE 2-1

Bright

Flash of vs.Candle

Light

Intense

Finite time period

Specific problem

Low intensity

On-going

General purpose

PROJECT APPROACH SYSTEMS APPROACH

Using Project vs. Systems Approach for Profiling Competitors

• Background

• Finance

• Products

• Pricing

• Markets

• Facilities

SLIDE 2-2

Systems Approach vs. Project Approach

Information Dimensions Systems-Based Project-Based

Focus general specific

Purpose understanding of competitive understanding how competitors forces which drive the industry may influence the success of a given project

Time horizon on-going bound by the time constraints imposed by the project

Definition of given by firms which produce restricted to those competitors competitors substitute products; traditional relevant to the specific project industry boundaries; intra- (narrow)

industry definition (broad)

End results assessment of general nature strength/weakness profiles of of competition in the industry; relevant competitors based onstrength/weakness profile of assessment of the potential ofspecific competitors; industry project successanalysis document

SLIDE 2-3

Systems Approach vs. Project Approach

Information Dimensions Systems-Based Project-Based

Utilization of input for annual strategic input for the formulation and output planning efforts implementation of a given

project’s plans

Organizational ideally, all; typically corporate any level in the organization, levels initially; restricted to project involved team, during implementation stage; possibly many

# people involved large typically small-project team

Who collects staff and line project team; tap staff expertise information where necessary

Storage and computer-based system report-then integrated into accesscomputer base

Complexity many variables less complex; restricted toproject success factors

Structure high lowSLIDE 2-4

Marketing Information System (MIS)

• “A set of procedures and methods for the regular planned collection, analysis, and presentation of information for use in making marketing decisions.”

SLIDE 2-5

Decision Support System (DSS)

• “A coordinated collection of data,systems, tools and techniques with supporting hardware by which an organization gathers and interprets relevant information from business and the environment and turns it into a basis for marketing action.”

SLIDE 2-6

Comparison of MIS and DSS Systems

MIS• Standardized report format

• Decision makers need to disclose information needs and decision processes

• Batch processing at scheduled intervals

• Useful for structured problems

• Programmer specified models

DSS• Flexible and evolutionary

report formats

• Users can change information needs and decision processes

• Interactive processing done in real time

• Useful for ill-structured problems

• Dialog system allows manages to specify models

SLIDE 2-7

Components of a Decision Support System

Information

Dialog System

Model SystemData System

SLIDE 2-8

Trends in Obtaining Marketing Intelligence

• Chief Information Officers

• Linking Marketing Intelligence to Other Business Intelligence Enterprise resource planning (ERP) Customer relationship management (CRM)

SLIDE 2-9