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1. Introduction
The purpose of this article is to better understa nd which are the right using of knowledge in
the different marketing processes and in which way the CRM can help this integration between
knowledge and marketing management.
Before starting with the hypothesis analysis of the key factors for the right development of a KM-based CRM it is necessary to focus on the identification of antecedents and consequences of the changing management approach required during the CRM introduction and implementation.
The antecedents are, from one side, the kind of know ledge is implicated in the development of this software and, from the other side, it has to be analysed the marketing tools connected with the CRM acquisition. As consequences it’s necessary to benchmark which are the knowledge processes connected with it and, as final step, in which position of the marketing information system we are re-defining the business intelligence key factors.
For these reasons the article has been divided in 2 different areas, the first one will be on the Marketing Intelligence, where it will be analysed the rule of knowledge in the marketing processes
passing through the concepts of Marketing Information System and e-business strategy; the second one will be focused on the main concept of Customer Relationship Management looking at all the different Marketing Knowledge Management aspects correlated with it: CRM introduction, the rule of KM, intelligent agents using, knowledge sharing and business implementation aspects.
The reasons of this choice are because it has b een supposed there is a gap between the current
practice of marketing strategic functions and the support of informati on systems; or in other words, it has been noticed that the levels of CRM integr ation inside the Business processes are connected
with the relationship between the right use of knowledge (f.i. codificati on and personalization
strategy) in the different levels of marketing management processes (strategic, operative, etc.).
2. Marketing Knowledge Management
The knowledge-based view of the firm suggests that knowledge is the firm’s key resource
for creating and sustaining market development. This perspective raises an important question for marketers: What is marketing knowledge? We argue first that marketing knowledge resides in three key marketing processes: product development management, customer relationship management, and supply chain management. Secondly, we argue that marketing knowledge is the extent of understanding of these three market ing processes, an extent which can be measured by evaluating awareness of factors, control of factors, and application of knowledge in new markets. We will analyse this conceptualization of marketin g knowledge and examine its relationship with knowledge itself.
Starting with the analysis the first two important questions we have to put for clarifying the
purpose of this article is: “What is knowledge?” and “what is knowledge management?”. Looking at the theory and in the academic papers it’s possible to quote Darroch and McNaughton to have a clear idea about the real signi ficance of knowledge: “…the process that creates or locates knowledge and manages the sharing, dissemination a nd use of knowledge with in the organisation.
When knowledge is used, learning takes place, which, in turn, improves the stock of knowledge
available to the firm.” (Darroch and McNaughton, 2001).
So looking at this first definition of Knowledge we can try to understand better what we
mean for Knowledge Management. Effective knowledge-management practices are, in themselves, organisational routines that are oriented toward the management of knowledge. As mentioned
previously in the knowledge-definition, effective knowledge management also enables a firm to
make good use of knowledge and other tangible and intangible resources. Whenever a routine
changes, innovation is said to occur (Nelson and Winter, 1982). For this reason, and the fact that
knowledge in itself often contains new ideas, effec tive knowledge management is often cited as an antecedent of innovation (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995).
So now a new very important question grows up: “What is Marketing Knowledge?” and in
particular: “What is Marketing Knowledge Management?”
Srivastava in the 1999 proposed a framework that redefines marketing as a phenomenon embedded in three core marketing pro cesses: product development management (PDM), supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM). These processes create customer value through, respectively, the developm ent of new customer solutions, the enhancement of input acquisition and output transformation, and the creation of relationships with market entities. The three processes thus encompass the f undamental marketing tasks that are critical to attracting and retaining customers (which are the core objectives of marketing in most business organizations). In accordance with the conceptualizations of marketing and knowledge discussed above, marketing knowledge management is de fined as the extent of understanding of the marketing processes embedded in PDM, SCM and CRM. We propose that marketing knowledge can be measured by tapping, for each of these processes, three general knowledge levels: awareness of factors roughly; control of factors and application of knowledge, which requires a higher degree of knowledge.
The idea of what is exactly marketing knowledge should be defined and conceptualized as
“market information” which needs to be processed through knowledge acquisition, knowledge
sharing, knowledge learning, information distributi on, information interpretation and organizational memory (Huber, 1991; Moorman and Miner, 1997, 1998). Li and Ca lantone (1998) operationalized “market knowledge competence”, which encompassed customer knowledge process, marketing-R&D interface and competitor knowledge.
Knowledge is increasingly recognised within marketing management as a critical resource that can
be managed to enhance the competitive position and financial performance of a firm.
Acquiring knowledge about customers and competitors and sharing this information between
functional areas within a firm are key dimensions of a market orienta tion (Kohli and Jaworski,
1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). Resource theory, a significant influence on marketing management theory, also postulates a key role for knowledge (Fahey and Smithee, 1999).
Thus we can say that there are strong parallels between a knowledge-management orientation and a market orientation. For example, in Kohli and Jaworski’s (1990) seminal wo rk, a market orientation was defined as the organisation-wide generation, dissemination and responsiveness to market intelligence pertaining to the current and future needs of customers. Narv er and Slater (1990) suggest that a firm with a market orientation ga thers information about customers and competitors and demonstrates strong in ter-functional coordination.
What is not clear from the above discussion is the exact relationship between a market
orientation and a knowledge-management orientat ion. A knowledge-management-orientated firm
could collect knowledge about market and non-mark et factors such as knowledge about some new technology for which it has no use in the markets it currently serv es, knowledge from employees about their attitudes toward the or ganisational culture, or knowledge about internal fi nancial issues.
In this case, a market orientat ion is a sub-set of a knowledge-man agement orientation. However, the constructs could be s lightly overlapping in which case a fi rm could be knowledge management-oriented but not emphasise the management of knowledge about the market. Alternatively, a firm could be market-oriented and not emphasise the management of knowledge about non-market factors. Therefore, in determining the exact rela tionship between the two constructs one must look to the types of knowledge manage d by those within the firm.
We maintain that knowledge plays a critical role in innovation of market. Through a continuous
dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge, firms find new ways to solve business problems and innovation is created (Nonaka, 1994) . Likewise, marketing knowledge enables the firm to better define current customers and more accurately target non-existing ones.
Besides, marketing knowledge should also provide firms with better understa nding of the business environment, which will enable them to fore see the needs of potential new customers.
This will consequently encourage firms to seek radically superior products and services in order to
pursue new customers, despite the risk of loos ing existing ones. Additionally, marketing knowledge should enable firms to identify competent business partners so as to build capabilities. This concurs with Hamel (1998), who argues that strategy innovation can be derived by setting the right set of preconditions; marketing knowledge can be one of th e preconditions that lead to more innovative ideas.
The marketing knowledge construct is conceptualized as levels of understanding ranging
from awareness of business process (PDM, SCM and CRM), to control of process outputs, and
ultimately to using the knowledge in th e new business settings (Calantone, 2003).
From this graph we can recognise the conceptualization of ma rketing knowledge in
represented by a second order factor structure, this structure groupe d knowledge scales together per marketing process, and then grouped the three processes together to form the marketing knowledge construct. This can be interpreted to mean that there is specialization in the three marketing processes of PDM, SCM and CRM; and that marketing knowledge is an entity that requires the integration of knowledge across thes e three areas. The integration of these specializations is of
special interest to managers, over and a bove the management of each separately.
2.1. Marketing Information System
There is a growing tendency of using com puter based information systems to support
marketing routine function; however, the application of information systems for marketing strategic function has not been well documented.
Marketing activities conventionally are centred on sales functions. Th is function-oriented
marketing view exhibits its limitations when a company operates in a complex and dynamic
environment, which requires the company to deve lop a capability to anticipate changing market
needs and to respond to the changes rapidly via increased innovation. A ne w concept of marketing that focuses on managing strategic partnerships and positioning the organization in a competitive market with the aim of delivering superior value to customers has emerged (Mitchell, 1997). So we can conclude that marketing should be an organizational orientation which transcends narrow functional activities and informs all illuminates every aspect of organizational strategy and operations ( strategic support). In short, marketing seeks to understand the changes of the dynamic market environment and to illuminate organisational strategy in order to effectively respond to changes. Additionally, but a secondary level, marketing is also conceptualized as a series of specific functional activities (advertising, product develo pment, supply chain and so on…) which are traditionally the provide of a specific marketing department (functional support ). An organization’s strategic management process should be informed by the marketing prospective. The emphasis of the strategic role of marketing could lead to establish, build, defend and maintain
competitive advantage.
Looking at these descriptions we can say that current Marketing Information System failed
to support the strategic function, in fact, the application appear s to concentrate on functional
support, rather than strategic support. The func tion of “lead handling”, “telesales/telemarketing”,
“direct mail” have received better support from Ma rketing Information System than the function of “competitor intelligence”, “market analysis” and “campaign management”. Marketing has
important responsibilities for positioning the business in the market place, developing the strategy
of the company and building cross-functional relati onships. Working only at the functional level the database centred Marketing Information System creates a lot of data overload problems.
After a long literature compared analysis we can affirm that marketing managers perceive
the marketing strategic function as very important. From other empirical research
(http://www.emerald-) it’s possible to say that the traditional 4Ps remain the primary
marketing activities, but they have not been equally performed. Other functions such as positioning,
strategic planning, SWOT analysis have not been supported from the advanced of IT.
Behind a Marketing Information System there are some lacks, in particular: lack of strategic
sense and vision, lack of marketing culture, lack of knowledge. As usual there is too much
information available and the necessary skill is to find the information which is most reliable and accurate.
2.1.1. Marketing Informati on System (MkIS) implementation
The strategic role of marketing has not been fully recognised by some of the non-marketing
senior managers. The finding suggests that developing marketing strategic vision among senior
managers and articulating the vision to illuminate the marketing operation is essential to develop
strategic marketing. But implementing marketing strategic function also re quires cultural change.
So it’s necessary to identify the gap which exists between the current practise of marketing strategic function and the support of IS (Mark Lu, 1999).
One of the reason for not using Marketing Information System to support marketing strategic
function is that current system do not have the functionality to support marketing strategic activities and this problem grows up from the lack of external intelligence .
Market environmental factors such as market size, market share, brand loyalty, competitors,
concentration of the industry, barr iers to entry, market trends s hould be selectively identified. The
core point for the functionality of the MkIS is how to convert tac it knowledge into explicit knowledge to guide organization-wide information scanning.
And as J. Rowley and R. Calantone suggest the next step for new marketing era is the complete
integration between the Marketing Information Sy stem and the Strategic Decision Support. So we
can try to design a new conceptual model for st rategic oriented Marketing Information System:
The reporting system i
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