The role of IT in the reshaping of marketing

Fiona Leverick (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK)

Dale Littler (Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK)

Dominic Wilson (Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK)

Margaret Bruce (Department of Textiles, UMIST, Manchester, UK)

Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science

ISSN: 1355-2538

Publication date: 1 June 1997

Abstract

There would appear to be a view in common currency that IT is revolutionizing marketing, offering the possibilities of enhanced operational efficiency, the facilitation of the development of innovative products and services as well as the potential for reconfiguring marketing in the organization. Addresses the manner in which IT has affected and may significantly affect marketing by references to an empirical study of the existing and projected impact of IT on marketing activities, as well as analysing the factors which are likely to facilitate or impede the process. IT can be the handmaiden to the erosion of marketing as a major organizational function, with many of the traditional customer oriented activities being more widely diffused throughout the organization. On the other hand, it may be that marketing retains its position by adopting the role of guardian of the customer orientation, taking responsibility for defining the form and content of information that is an acceptable basis for organizational discourse.