The author presents a framework for thinking about the impact of information and information technology on marketing. The focus is on the concept of “information” or “knowledge” as both an asset to be managed and a variable to be researched. After developing a particular operationalization of the value of information in marketing contexts, which can be used to describe firms in terms of their relative levels of “information intensity,” the author presents a series of propositions examining the consequences of increasing information intensity for some key components of firm strategy and organizational structure. The concepts discussed are illustrated with a description of the transaction-based information systems that are being implemented in a variety of firms in pursuit of competitive advantage.
Conventional product differentiation strategies prescribe distinguishing a product or brand from competitors’ on the basis of an attribute that is relevant, meaningful, and valuable to consumers. However, brands also successfully differentiate on an attribute that appears to create a meaningful product difference but on closer examination is irrelevant to creating that benefit—“meaningless” differentiation. The authors examine how meaningless differentiation can produce a meaningfully differentiated brand. They argue that buyers may infer that a distinguishing but irrelevant attribute is in fact relevant and valuable under certain conditions, creating a meaningfully differentiated brand. They outline the consumer inference process and develop a set of hypotheses about when it will produce meaningful brands from meaningless differentiation. Experimental tests in three product categories support their analysis. They explore the implications of the results for product differentiation strategies, consumer preference formation, and the nature of competition.
This paper describes a phenomenon called "locally rational" decision-making, in which the mere presence of information may have dysfunctional consequences even if decision makers do not process the information incorrectly. Using the results from an experiment conducted with a strategic market simulation game, we find that the accessibility of information results in a disposition to focus on those components of decision-making most clearly addressed by the information. If these are not the components most closely tied to success, overall performance may in fact suffer. The decision-making process is thus "locally rational" since it may be optimal with respect to specific components of a larger plan, but globally suboptimal with regard to ultimate outcomes and for the organization as a whole. We describe the implications of the phenomenon for the use of market-related data in managerial decision-making.decision making, rationality, strategy, information, performance, marketing simulation
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