Information-Driven Marketing Decisions: Development of Strategic Information Systems

The problem is not "information overload" as some contend, says Samli, but "data overload." Data have almost no value in and for themselves. What's important is how data are used to create the information marketers need in order to make knowledgeable decisions. Thus, Samli's newest book dwells on the art and science of information generation and on how to convert it to practical knowledge. Without information and knowledge -- and another essential ingredient, wisdom -- "the firm faces great risk in the marketplace and its survival probabilities in the long run are very low," says the author. Samli starts by presenting the key elements that contribute to an information gap in the use of data for marketing decisions. He describes the evolution of information in decision making, the distinction between data and information, and the reasons why data gathering and processing have become so sophisticated and difficult to use. Samli goes on to discuss data collecting techniques, the dimensions and uses of internal data and their parameters, and identifies the best but most underrated data gathering method: observation. Surveys, experimentation, and research are covered next, including attitude and motivation research, with a careful analysis of how the research operation, as well as its products, should be managed. He goes on to explain how information is elicited from data and how it should be used; then, the various control mechanisms for information systems overall, and ends with his own "agenda" for the improvement of the entire information-driven marketing decision process. A clear, systematic presentation that marketing managers, and their MIS colleagues (who appreciate the need to make data and information "decision-maker friendly"), will find valuable and immediately beneficial.A. Coskun Samli is the author of 'Information-Driven Marketing Decisions: Development of Strategic Information Systems', published 1996 under ISBN 9780899309767 and ISBN 0899309763.