Learning to Thread the Needle: Information Technology Strategies

Abstract

This paper examines the role of information technology-enabled communications in driving market orientation and learning orientation toward marketing productivity and operational performance. Our study of 233 marketing managers found evidence of an indirect relationship in which organizational learning mediated the effects of IT-enabled communications on market orientation, which, in turn, affected perceptions of marketing productivity and operational performance. We also found evidence of a direct relationship between IT-enabled communications and marketing productivity and performance. These findings suggest that two IT-enabled roles are perceived within the marketing function. First, IT-enabled communications are guided by the strategic percepts of organizational learning and market orientation to provide superior customer value. Second, IT-enabled communications, unguided by organizational learning and market orientation, are used tactically to provide information and control in support of managerial efforts to lower costs and increase factor utilization.