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In the late 1980s, companies in a wide variety of industries began to implement segmented marketing strategies using database marketing (DBM) systems. Several surveys noted that some organisations were developing sophisticated DBM systems to achieve competitive advantage, while others, in similar marketplaces, seemed unable, or unwilling, to exploit the potential benefits of these powerful systems. Alternatively, evidence from industrial reports suggested that most companies were failing to fully exploit the capabilities oftheir systems. Hence, this research was designed to determine the factors affecting levels of sophistication in database marketing (DBM) systems. First, theories from marketing and information systems were synthesised to develop a generic model of DBM systems. Next, notions about the sources of competitive advantage were reviewed to identify potential factors promoting the development of sophisticated DBM systems. This review resulted in four such factors being hypothesised: market orientation as a specific organisation culture, database size (i.e. number of customers) as a key resource, locus of control of the senior marketing manager as an important individual characteristic, and the difference between consumer and business markets as a factor in firms' external environment. Empirical data were collected from two random samples of senior marketing managers in US catalogue companies using postal surveys. Data from the first sample (36 observations) were used to develop a valid and reliable construct to measure the level of sophistication in DBM systems. Further data were collected from a second random sample using two further postal surveys (69 observations), which confirmed and replicated the results obtained from the first sample. Overall, the research findings show that the development of sophisticated DBM systems is positively associated with two factors: market orientation of organisation culture, and database size. The other two factors - locus of control and type of market - failed to show any association with the level of sophistication in DBM systems. Further data analyses revealed a strong association between the elements of sophisticated OBM systems and marketing notions of sources of competitive advantage.

Everyone makes decisions, some simple, others complex. In business-to-business (B2B) marketing environments, decision-making becomes even more complicated. The decision-makers require an adequate set of facts to support their decision-making. In order to provide the necessary decision-support, B2B organisations invest huge amounts of money in information systems such as enterprise resources planning applications, customer relationship management software, and other types of databases. These systems store, analyse, manipulate and/or integrate internal data and perhaps force-feed it to the decision-makers; what we call a foie-gras approach. On the other hand, organisations may allow the decision-makers to search for the desired facts or decision-support by themselves; what we refer to as anarchic resources utilisation. Alternatively, the decision-makers may utilise resources with a combination of the two approaches. Previous studies have shown that many factors may influence the resources utilisation; however, not many studies have been conducted in the B2B context. This research, therefore, aims to provide a better understanding of how decision-makers utilise the available resources by firstly identifying B2B factors affecting the resources utilisation, and then explaining how these factors influence them. Results from in-depth interviews with the marketing decision-makers from three case studies show that the value of customers, supplier-customer relationships, and the nature of demand are the most influential B2B factors affecting the resources utilisation of the decision-makers. Other factors such as experience, nature of decisions, and management style are also found to have considerable impact on the approach the decision-makers adopt. In order to provide adequate decision-support, the providers may need to consider these factors and understand their effects on the decision-makers in the organisation, and design or choose the right information system(s); this should then result in better quality decisions.

Os avanÃos na Tecnologia da InformaÃÃo e no desenvolvimento dos Sistemas de InformaÃÃo proporcionam um ambiente propÃcio para a operacionalizaÃÃo dos Sistemas de InformaÃÃo de Marketing que sÃo sistemas capazes de coletar dados, processÃ-los e gerar a partir desses, as informaÃÃes necessÃrias relativas aos ambientes interno e externo da organizaÃÃo. O uso desses sistemas tem se tornado cada vez mais necessÃrio nas organizaÃÃes dado a sua capacidade de gerar informaÃÃes oportunas e dispor os gestores com elementos para tomada de decisÃo. Por meio da aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrio procurou-se conhecer a realidade de uso desses sistemas nas grandes indÃstrias de Fortaleza. A coleta dos dados se deu atravÃs da aplicaÃÃo de um questionÃrio no qual a identificaÃÃo da utilizaÃÃo e da importÃncia das informaÃÃes de marketing foi medida atravÃs de uma escala de Likert buscando analisar o posicionamento do gestor. Procurou-se tambÃm identificar as principais fontes de informaÃÃo utilizadas pelos gestores no processo de tomada de decisÃo e conhecer tambÃm a percepÃÃo do gestor em relaÃÃo aos benefÃcios advindos pela utilizaÃÃo dos Sistemas de InformaÃÃo de Marketing nas organizaÃÃes. Os resultados obtidos indicam que as empresas ainda nÃo possuem Sistemas de InformaÃÃes de Marketing formais implantados, mas indicam que os gestores reconhecem a importÃncia e a necessidade dos mesmos no processo de tomada de decisÃo. Foi possÃvel tambÃm identificar qual o posicionamento das empresas pesquisadas no que diz respeito ao microambiente, macroambiente, de atividades de marketing, registros e sistema de apoio à decisÃo. Adicionalmente, os resultados permitiram gerar uma sÃrie de hipÃteses sobre SIM, merecedoras de apreciaÃÃo em estudos futuros.