Abstract
Despite the importance attached to MI and other marketing information functions, surprisingly few studies have explicitly examined the relationship between MI and strategic marketing decision-making. This article reports on a study conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between marketing intelligence (MI) and strategic marketing in South African organisations. A quantitative survey was conducted among 166 South African marketing decision-makers. The findings suggest a substantial gap between the importance and availability of key types of MI. Marketing decision-makers found the traditional MI and marketing tools of great value in supporting marketing decision-making, but the value of several of the newer MI tools and technologies was less clear. An analysis of MI practices suggested that MI quality and particularly information and communication technology (ICT) support for MI are areas requiring further attention.
Highlights
The marketing concept states that organisations will be successful if they consistently address the needs of their customers better than their competitors (Walker, Mullins & Larréché, 2008)
What is the relationship between marketing intelligence (MI) quality and strategic marketing?
The study set out to answer three research questions (1) What is the relationship between the availability of MI and strategic marketing? (2) What is the relationship between the use of MI-related tools and technologies and strategic marketing? and (3) What is the relationship between MI quality and strategic marketing?
Summary
Many organisations expend a great many resources on efforts to better understand their customers’ needs and the nature of the markets they serve Given this dependence on external information, it is not surprising that the marketing function has played a leading role over many years in shaping the organisational processes for providing decision-makers with decisionsupport information. The focus of Wee’s study was on the use of the web for MI purposes and the use of web-generated MI in strategic planning Both studies confirmed the important contribution of MI to strategic marketing, suggesting that further research on the nature of the relationship between MI and strategic marketing could be beneficial to understanding how MI could better serve strategic marketing decision-makers
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