D.Comm. / The marketing concept has been widely accepted as the most important component of marketing academia and practice since the 1950s. Over the decades the marketing concept has grown in stature - from being described as the old marketing concept to the new marketing concept. This was an evolutionary process that catapulted the marketing concept to a philosophy of conducting business that is considered the central tenet of a successful organization. The customer became the dead-end of all corporate efforts. However, the elevation of the marketing concept to the position of such unprecedented importance, and the articulation of market orientation as the implementation construct of the marketing concept represented the genesis of modern marketing and paved the way for generations of practitioners, consultants, and academic researchers. Most academic researchers cast doubt on the veracity of the concept among other issues and the marketing concept’s application and applicable areas became sticking points of argument. Despite much research undertaken, albeit mostly in the Western world, the marketing concept’s acceptance in the ICT sector in South Africa is a case in point. The purpose of the study was to test the adoption and implementation of the marketing concept in the ICT sector in South Africa, as envisaged in literature. The major elements of the study were to find the extent of the chosen respondents’ agreements in terms of the 39 questions in a questionnaire that represented the six pillars of the 21st century marketing concept, as defined in this study. Thereafter, the other sections of the questionnaire detailed the practical adoption and implementation of the marketing concept. The last section required of respondents to rank the six pillars of the marketing concept in terms of importance, the purpose being to lay a foundation for developing a framework that would be used for adoption and implementation of the marketing concept in the ICT sector. The major findings indicated that the ICT sector has accepted the marketing concept to an extent and that there are no differences in acceptance between the major subgroups, i.e. (i) services and manufacturing organizations and (ii) subsidiaries of international organizations and local South African organizations. The results show startling revelations about the ICT sector’s management philosophy. A framework for the adoption and implementation of the marketing concept in the ICT sector in South Africa was developed.

Due to changes which are occurring in the information technology sector, the way businesses are being carried out and also the development of the Internet. I have set out in this dissertation to identify the perception of customers regarding Internet as a promotional medium. Primarily, I set out to give an overview of marketing issues related to promotion, issues including the customer's perception, buying influences and the decision process, placing a highlight on the marketing mix influences particularly on promotion. I proceeded by giving an outline of the e- commerce and e-business, identifying the different categories within e-commerce, the steps involved in developing e-business within an organisation. The study identified a number of findings related to the perception of customers regarding the Internet as a promotional medium. Some of the most relative findings indicate that customers still perceived the traditional method of advertising as the best type. A positive feedback has been received regarding the Internet as a marketing tool but there seems to be a lack of trust, which has to be dealt with by companies to make customers overcome this obstacle. Finally customers feel that the human interaction is an important element which has to be made present on website.Companies have to do their best to make utmost use of latest technologies and developments, such as the Internet, so as to maximise organisations goals. To do this the whole organisation has to be committed and the implementation has to be a comprehensive one. Furthermore companies have to ensure that such a development should be used not only to communicate to the customers, but with the customers, benefiting from their feedback.

To survive and succeed in the very competitive business environment, firms should have a clear business strategy supported by appropriate information technology (IT) and marketing strategies. Whilst many prior studies argue that strategic alignment between, for example, business strategy and IT strategy generally enhances organisational performance, strategic alignment including multiple factors has received little attention and strategic orientation of firms is rarely considered. This research, drawing on configurational theory and strategic management literature, aims to understand the performance impact of triadic strategic alignment between business, IT, and marketing strategies based on strategic orientation of firms. A number of hypotheses are proposed to examine the relationship between triadic strategic alignment and organisational performance through the use of structural equation modelling, and to identify generic types of triadic strategic alignment. The hypotheses are tested through MANOVA using data collected in a questionnaire survey of 242 managers in Yemen. The findings indicate that (1) there is an ideal triadic strategic alignment for prospectors and defenders; (2) triadic strategic alignment has a positive impact on organisational performance; and (3) triadic strategic alignment provides a better indication of the nature and performance impact of strategic alignment. Follow-up interviews were also conducted to support the arguments and to clarify how strategies should be aligned. This research also contributes to managers’ knowledge and understanding by suggesting how a firm should coherently align its strategies to improve organisational performance.

This thesis focuses on the problematics of CRM system solution for the public limited company KONZULTA Brno. It assesses the current condition and proposes effective solutions for the database systems for the company KONZULTA Brno, plc.