Markets and the companies operating in markets are linked by information. Increase in the amount of information available to the companies can lead to the complex decision making environment. Lack of proper information at the company’s end will make the process of decision making a mere guess work. Though guess work is a cheaper way of decision making, it comes with a great price. One wrong decision can lead to major mistake and even the closure of the company in some cases. Thus, marketing managers need to take more calculated decisions in a dynamic environment. The marketing management will need timely, accurate, valid and reliable information which can be used in the decision making as well as in making good plans. The accuracy of information is very essential in making correct decisions while avoiding costly mistakes by intuitive guess work. Accurate, valid and reliable information is very essential for a marketing planning and implementation control to survive.
Marketing managers often face a two-fold dilemma. The first issue is when adequate or no information is available to take a proper decision. The second issue is that, information is available in abundance to take a decision, but the information is not available in a standard format. In both the cases, decision making for marketing managers becomes a tough job. These information gaps must be reduced so that the process of decision making is not hampered.
The significance of information in Marketing Management
Time is one of the major constraints in the scarce and competitive markets. Taking quick decisions is as important as taking right decisions. In many cases taking right decision requires time and taking a hasty decision does not require time. So, a management must strike a balance between taking the right decisions and taking them in time. The management has to deal with lack of information in some situations and availability of information in others. The decisions in both these situations are time bound. The need for reliable information can be explained with these instances. Information management is therefore focused on collecting, maintaining and accessing available data for management decisions.
Data that is available can be pertaining to external environment and internal environment. These include
External Information | Internal Information |
Macro Environment | Micro-environment |
Economy | Top management |
Technology | Financial |
Socio-cultural | Production and technical |
Legal-Institutional | Human resources |
International | Purchasing |
Market Environment | Public relations |
Consumers | Marketing, markets, products, communication and prices |
Intermediaries | |
Competitors | |
Suppliers | |
| |
Both Internal information and External information help in Marketing Decision making.
One of the central area of work in Information in Marketing Management is converting data into information. We know that data is raw in nature. The data in its raw form cannot be read that easily. This data must be processed into meaningful information which can make sense. Whenever a survey is conducted by a company, the data that is collected is arranged according to the given criteria. This data is processes with the criteria in mind and the information thus obtained can aid in the decision making process.
With the improvements in technology, the collection and processing of information has become a less complex task. Thus the role of information management has improved dramatically with their significance in decisio making.
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You can also refer to our older articles on Marketing which include Product Life Cycle, Market Analysis, Customer Relationship Management, Customer Lifetime Value
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