سیستم های اطلاعات جغرافیایی به‌عنوان فناوری سیستم اطلاعات بازاریابی

Marketing information systems (MKIS) are decision support systems targeted at marketing-specific decisions. One of the most widely disseminated MKIS models divides the marketing decision universe into four domains and links these domains to each other and to other marketing activities. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on the construction of specific MKIS targeted at problems in these domains or to the construction of integrated MKIS that span domains. This paper advocates the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a DSS generator for constructing MKIS. The paper reviews the technical capabilities of GIS and shows how these capabilities align with accepted elements of MKIS. We see that a unique advantage of GIS over other MKIS technologies is its ability to integrate information from disparate sources and spanning multiple decision domains when a single decision requires this capability. The paper then uses a decision making resource-based approach and the four elements of the marketing mix to propose a research agenda for increasing our understanding of GIS as an MKIS technology.

The concept of marketing information systems (MKIS)1 originated in the 1960s as a technique for applying new (at the time) data processing technologies to marketing-specific decisions. In many ways, the history of MKIS has paralleled that of MIS with new technologies and new conceptual approaches extending the support provided to decision makers. Unfortunately, though, specific techniques for constructing MKIS have not delivered on the potential inherent in the MKIS idea [32] and [33]. One indicator of this phenomenon has been a decline in the coverage of MKIS in the Marketing literature in the 1990s, though interest in the concept has become more pronounced in mainstream MIS journals such as this one. This paper asserts that a new use for an increasingly popular information system technology can fundamentally alter the cost and effectiveness of marketing decision making. The technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), uses stored data to create customized computer-based maps showing location and attribute information about objects of interest to a decision maker. In particular, GIS is a specific software technology that Sprague and Carlson [31] call a decision support system generator, a tool used to create decision support systems (DSS) for use with specific decision making needs. DSS have been shown to be important tools for supporting marketing operations [4], [8], [15], [24] and [26] and a DSS generator with capabilities directly relevant to marketing decision making is especially valuable. GIS provide value for marketing decision making through two mechanisms: 1. GIS provide a way to analyze internal or external marketing intelligence data in a format particularly suited to marketing decision making; and 2. GIS provide the ability to integrate both internal and external marketing intelligence data to greatly improve the effectiveness of these marketing decisions. This paper will show how these capabilities result in a competitive advantage through the ability to leverage internal data and specific knowledge of market factors through the easy application of effective visualization techniques and the integration of external data. To the extent that the firm can internalize and institutionalize these capabilities, the firm's competitive advantage may become both sustainable and strategic. Further, the paper will show that these capabilities have important implications not only for marketing practice but also for research. We begin the paper by reviewing marketing information systems and introducing a framework that organizes the rest of the paper. Next, we provide some background on GIS and highlight some of the most relevant technical capabilities. This discussion highlights the specific data visualization and integrating capabilities and stresses their use in marketing decision making. Next, we use the MKIS framework to examine the usefulness of GIS with respect to specific elements of an MKIS. We then revisit the same GIS capabilities in terms of the ‘Four Ps’ of marketing, product, pricing, placement (location), and promotion and see that these capabilities are relevant from this perspective as well. Finally, we will examine how the capabilities of modern GIS can affect both theory and practice in marketing and outline some issues for future research.

This paper introduced GIS technology as a component of marketing information systems and proposed an increased role for the technology based on the fit between the technology and elements of the marketing mix. We accomplished this goal by presenting some of the technology's capabilities, specific examples of the technology in practice, and an overview of research questions centered on GIS. Some implications of this presentation are relatively straightforward while others are subtler. We wish to conclude this paper by highlighting some of these implications. First, there is clearly a role for GIS in marketing. Our presentation of the four elements of the marketing mix in the previous section showed that there is a geographic component to each element and it is natural to expect that spatially oriented technologies will help with decision making in these areas. The earlier presentation focused around the K/BB model of MKIS provided specific ways in which GIS can fill roles in the model. This discussion also provided anecdotal examples of GIS capabilities in action. Second, one of the most easily realizable benefits of integrating GIS into MKIS is the ability to provide map-based presentations of data relationships for decision makers. MIS research has shown that decision makers are more effective when the data they need is presented in a manner appropriate to the decision context. GIS performs admirably in this role when the decision making context involves geographic relationships. Third, one of the most important capabilities of GIS is its ability to integrate disparate data using geography as the common key. The K/BB model highlighted this need and we explained the GIS technological features giving rise to this capability. Fourth, and less obviously, we feel that GIS is still in its infancy as a MKIS component. Even though the specific technology has been with us for over 20 years, the availability of end-user interfaces; personal computer, client-server, and Internet-capable versions of GIS software; and, most importantly, widely available data is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is this unrealized potential that we feel makes GIS so interesting as a marketing decision making tool and as an important research topic.