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`Man can embody truth, but he cannot know it' (W. B. Yeats)
Introduction
In today's intensely competitive global business environment managers believe that the effective use of information can lead to competitive advantage. In this ever-changing environment the dynamic essential core of any business enterprise is its interaction with information and its ability to collate and analyse "relevant" information. From this perspective, where information is the key dynamic force, the marketing function can be viewed as a conduit that operates at the boundary between two information processing organisms: the business enterprise and society.
Marketing is at the interface between the firm and its markets. Marketing information is a critical element in this management process and is seen as the basis for effective decision making. It has been referred to as the fifth critical resource of the firm; the other four being money, materials, machines and men (Kotler, 1994: 124). Marketing practitioners within an organisation are the key actors in this exchange process between the organisation and its business environment. An essential aspect of a marketing practitioner's job is to monitor environmental changes and to facilitate the putting in place of correct strategic options. Information is the key force in this monitoring process.
The utilisation of market intelligence (long term focus) and marketing research (relatively immediate focus) has become a central issue for corporations who are striving to become more market oriented (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). The marketing concept is evidenced by the existence of a marketing orientation which is defined by Kohli and Jaworski (1990) as intelligence generation and dissemination and responsiveness to information. Some marketing academics would argue that good information is a facilitator of successful marketing and that marketing management is first and foremost an information processing activity (Christopher, McDonald and Wills, 1980). The priority that a company affords to information concerning its markets, its competitors and its environment appears to be a key barometer of its marketing orientation. This view is reflected in the Marketing Science Institute's (1990) compilation of research priorities for the 1990s. Their ranking scheme gives top position to "improving the utilisation of market information".
Scientific and Narrative Information
As a linguistics term, information is used interchangeably with such terms as news', 'knowledge' and 'data'. The Oxford...