Page 145 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Information Analysis and Repackaging

Notes The extent to which customers are currently ignorant of what one might argue they should want—
which is dicey because whether it can be acted upon affordably depends on whether or how soon
the customers will learn, or be convinced, otherwise. IT hardware and software capabilities and
automobile features are examples. Customers who in 1997 said that they would not place any value
on internet browsing capability on a mobile phone, or 6% better fuel efficiency in their vehicle,
might say something different today, because the value proposition of those opportunities has
changed.

Organizational Orientation

In this sense, a firm’s marketing department is often seen as of prime importance within the functional
level of an organization. Information from an organization’s marketing department would be used to
guide the actions of other departments within the firm. As an example, a marketing department
could ascertain (via marketing research) that consumers desired a new type of product, or a new
usage for an existing product. With this in mind, the marketing department would inform the R&D
department to create a prototype of a product/service based on consumers’ new desires.
The production department would then start to manufacture the product, while the marketing
department would focus on the promotion, distribution, pricing, etc. of the product. Additionally,
a firm’s finance department would be consulted, with respect to securing appropriate funding for
the development, production and promotion of the product.
Inter-departmental conflicts may occur, should a firm adhere to the marketing orientation. Production
may oppose the installation, support and servicing of new capital stock, which may be needed to
manufacture a new product. Finance may oppose the required capital expenditure, since it could
undermine a healthy cash flow for the organization.

Herd Behaviour

Herd behaviour in marketing is used to explain the dependencies of customers’ mutual behavior. It
shared mechanisms to increase impulse buying and get people “to buy more by playing on the herd
instinct.” The basic idea is that people will buy more of products that are seen to be popular, and
several feedback mechanisms to get product popularity information to consumers are mentioned,
including smart card technology and the use of Radio Frequency Identification Tag technology.
A “swarm-moves” model was introduced by a Florida Institute of Technology researcher, which is
appealing to supermarkets because it can “increase sales without the need to give people discounts.”
Other recent studies on the “power of social influence” include an “artificial music market in which
some 19,000 people downloaded previously unknown songs” a Japanese chain of convenience stores
which orders its products based on “sales data from department stores and research companies;” a
Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social networking to improve sales; and online
retailers who are increasingly informing consumers about “which products are popular with like-
minded consumers” .

Further Orientations

An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained
and managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impacts the acquisition and retention of
customers, see also employer branding.
Diffusion of innovations research explores how and why people adopt new products, services, and
ideas.

140 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY