Abstract:

The complexity of modern business is such that it is sometimes necessary for us to stand back and try to find an underlying theory or concept on which to hang all the various otherwise dissociated problems and events. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate one such approach, to highlight the position of marketing, marketing information and market research in this theory and to demonstrate, by way of a case history, how one company is striving to put some of the theory into practice by the formation of Marketing Information Department. The paper is in two parts. The first part deals with the central role of Marketing as a total company viewpoint, the view of a company as a feedback control system and the marketing information requirements of such a system. The second part deals with Electric Power Storage Ltd. , the development of the company, an internal communications survey to study the flows of marketing information, the Department which evolved and our experience to date in moving away from the individual specialist departments of market research, forecasting, market intelligence etc. , to one centralised and totally involved marketing information organisation. The presentation of the paper will use colour slides to summarise the theory and elaborate on the developments of E.P.S. Marketing Information Department which are even now taking place. A summary of any additional problems encountered since the paper was written in March 1969 will be included.