Search results

Marketing staff in Australian food manufacturing firms were questioned on use of and expenditure on advertising and marketing information services, on the sources from which they derive new ideas, and on favoured strategies for different aspects of their work. The thirty replies are presented in the framework of marketing theory and of Australian food marketing practice. Some clear contrasts arise between high and low information users though the sample is too small to reveal systematic variations according to size of firm, type of industry, etc. The most striking findings are the high value placed by the marketers on product movement data, the difficulty in getting expenditure data, and the lack of use of formal external information sources, especially the online databases, whether those specialising in marketing data or those with demographic and general economic data of relevance.

Online use of external databases by Australian manufacturing companies has been growing rapidly since 1979. A survey of online users in some chemical and food companies found that in one‐third of the companies scientists and technologists performed searches. They did not search as many databases as the librarians in the other companies. They are, however, obtaining more information than before. All companies considered online searching cost effective, citing the rapid retrieval of information and the fact that searches need only be conducted when information is wanted, as evidence of cost‐effectiveness. Implications for manufacturing industry in Australia of current trends in the online industry are discussed and the potential of the new technology for equalising access to information among companies of all sizes is noted.