3.2 The marketing information system (MIS)
The marketing research process is only one of the sources of information for the MIS. It is worth remembering that it is all the sources of information which contribute to the MIS which help us understand our customer's needs and wants; that information does not come just from our marketing research activities.
The MIS is part of the larger information system in an organisation ¾ the management information system. The distinction between the MIS and management information system is important. The management information system focuses on information relevant to all aspects of an organisation's operation: for example, personnel records, payroll data, financial ratios, financial investment analyses, inventory records, sales and market data, market share, buying trends, and so on. The MIS focuses on only the marketing aspects of the management information system.
Quester et al. (2004, p. 136) defines the MIS as:
an organised way of continually collecting, accessing and analysing information that marketing managers need in order to make better decisions.
Similarly, your textbook's (Kotler et al. 2004, p. 207) definition of an MIS is a system that:
consists of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyse, evaluate and distribute needed, timely accurate information to marketing decision-makers.
Consider this
Read the above definition again. What does it identify as the key characteristics of an MIS? What makes an MIS a 'system' as distinct from a haphazard collection of different pieces of data? How would you explain the distinctive characteristics of an MIS to someone else?
Figure 3.1 provides reasons why we need to have an MIS to help us become effective managers. However, designing and implementing an MIS so that it performs the way it should is not always an easy task. After all, an MIS has to meet the needs of its customers (users) and, to do that, those needs must first be assessed. Kotler et al. (2004) make the useful distinction between:
- identifying what information managers would LIKE to have
- identifying the information they actually NEED
- identifying what information it is FEASIBLE to offer them.
Figure 3.1 Reasons for obtaining information
Source: Evans and Berman (1992, p. 85)
Turn now to the reading to expand on what an MIS can provide for a marketing manager and to review some of its key features.
In your text
Kotler et al. (2004) Chapter 6, pp. 204-215, 'Information management and marketing research' and 'The marketing information system'.
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