Subsystems of marketing information systems. Marketing Information System

10.10.2019

Introduction 2

1. The concept of a marketing information system 3

2. The role and tasks of the MIS in the organization's marketing 5

3. Benefits of a marketing information system 9

Conclusion 13

References 14

Introduction

The modern economy is characterized by the interaction of its three main subjects: the producer, the consumer and the state. Each of these participants in economic processes has specific goals, in accordance with which they build their activities. In the conditions of a market economy, for the successful work of its subjects, deep knowledge of the market and the ability to skillfully apply tools to influence the situation that is developing on it are of particular importance. The totality of such knowledge and tools form the basis of marketing.

Marketing is one of the types of management activities and affects the expansion of production and trade by identifying consumer needs and satisfying them. It links the possibilities of production and sale of goods and services with the aim of purchasing products by the consumer. Marketing doesn't start where production ends. On the contrary, the nature and scale of production are dictated by marketing. Efficient use of production facilities, new high-performance equipment and progressive technology is predetermined by marketing.

Marketing is used not only by manufacturing enterprises, but also by trade organizations, service organizations, and individuals. Therefore, marketing is not some kind of universal, unified concept, on the contrary, the directions and methods of its implementation require adaptation to the type of organization, conditions and possibilities of its application.

In order to function properly in a marketing environment, it is necessary to obtain adequate information before and after decisions are made. There are many reasons why marketing information should be collected when developing, implementing, and reviewing a firm's marketing plan or any of its elements. It is not enough to rely on the intuition of the judgment of leaders and the experience of the past.

1. The concept of a marketing information system

In successful enterprises, marketing information is collected, analyzed and distributed within the marketing information system (MIS), which is part of the enterprise management information system.

MIS is a set of personnel, equipment, procedures and methods designed to collect, process, analyze and distribute timely and reliable information necessary for the preparation and adoption of marketing decisions.

The concept of a marketing information system is illustrated in Fig.1.

Fig.1. Marketing Information System

The internal reporting subsystem is the basis of the MIS. It reflects information about orders, sales, prices, stocks, receivables and payables, etc. The analysis of internal information allows the marketing manager to identify promising opportunities and pressing problems of the enterprise.

While the internal reporting subsystem contains and provides data about what has already happened, the marketing surveillance system subsystem provides information about the situation in the market at the moment.

Marketing research, unlike marketing observation, involves the preparation and conduct of various surveys, analysis of the data obtained on a specific marketing task facing the enterprise. In other words, marketing research is conducted periodically, not continuously, as certain problems arise.

The MIS also includes a subsystem for providing marketing solutions, which is an interconnected set of data systems, tools and techniques with which the enterprise analyzes and interprets internal and external information. However, IIAs are expensive, and the necessary initial costs are high. The use of MIS in strategic marketing for monitoring the competitive environment and making appropriate decisions is shown in Figure 2.

Fig.2. Using MIS to Make Marketing Decisions

2. The role and tasks of the MIS in the marketing of the organization

The use of market research varies widely depending on the company and the type of information required. Although most firms conduct research in one form or another, research departments are found in large rather than small firms. Typically, a US firm with annual sales of $25 million or more spends about 3.5% of its marketing budget, while a company with sales of less than $25 million spends about 1.5%. In addition, consumer goods firms spend more on market research than manufacturing firms.

Good information allows marketers to:

get specific benefits

reduce financial risk and sample hazards

define consumer attitudes

monitor the environment

coordinate strategy

evaluate performance

get decision support

reinforce intuition

improve efficiency.

If you approach the collection of marketing information as a random, rare event that is needed only when you need to obtain data on a specific issue, you can run into a number of problems.

For example, a situation may arise when:

the results of previous studies are stored in a form that is inconvenient for use;

changes in the environment and the actions of competitors are imperceptible;

unsystematized collection of information is carried out;

there are delays when a new study is needed;

for a number of time periods, there are no data necessary for analysis;

marketing plans and decisions are analyzed inefficiently;

actions are only reactions, not foresight.

Marketing research should be considered as part of a permanent integrated information process. It is essential that the firm develops and maintains a system of continuous monitoring of the environment and storage of data so that they can be analyzed in the future. A marketing information system can be defined as a set of procedures and methods designed to generate, analyze, and disseminate information for proactive marketing decisions on a regular, ongoing basis.

First, the firm sets the company's goals, which determine the general direction of marketing planning. These goals are influenced by environmental factors (competition, government, economy). Marketing plans include the controllable factors identified in the previous sections, including target market selection, target marketing, type of marketing organization, marketing strategy (product or service, distribution, promotion, and price), and management.

Once the marketing plan is in place, an information network that includes research, ongoing observation, and data collection can be used to refine and satisfy the overall information needs of the marketing department. Marketing research provides accurate information to solve research problems. It may require stored information (internal secondary data) or collection of external secondary and/or primary information. Continuous monitoring is a procedure by which the changing environment is regularly analyzed. This may include reading news bulletins, receiving regular feedback from employees and consumers, attending industry meetings, and observing the actions of competitors. Data storage is the accumulation of all kinds of meaningful internal information (such as sales volume, costs, personnel performance, etc.), as well as information collected through market research and ongoing surveillance. This data helps to make decisions and is stored for future use.

Depending on the firm's resources and the complexity of the information needs, the HIS may or may not be computerized. Small firms can effectively use such systems without computers. The necessary ingredients for the success of any system are consistency, thoroughness and good technique storage.

Marketing plans should be implemented based on data obtained from the information network. For example, as a result of continuous monitoring, a firm may conclude that the cost of raw materials will increase by 7% over the next year. This will give the company time to explore marketing options (switching to substitutes, reallocating costs, accepting additional costs) and choosing one of the alternatives to implement. If there was no observation, then the firm could be caught off guard and take on additional costs without any choice.

3. Benefits of a marketing information system

In general, a marketing information system provides many advantages:

organized collection of information;

avoiding crises;

marketing plan coordination;

speed;

results expressed in quantitative form;

cost and profit analysis.

Building a marketing information system can be tricky business. The initial costs of time and human resources are large, and great difficulties can be associated with the creation of a system.

Even though merchants need more and more marketing information, there is not enough of it. Marketers complain that they cannot collect enough of the accurate and useful information they need. In an attempt to solve this problem, many firms develop special marketing information systems (media).

Any company has internal reporting that reflects the indicators of current sales, the amount of costs, the volume of inventories, cash flows, data on receivables and payables. The use of computers has allowed firms to create excellent internal reporting systems that can provide information services to all their departments.

The information collected should make it easier for brand managers to make decisions about how much to spend on advertising by knowing the number of people already aware of the brand, knowing the size of advertising budgets and the strategic attitudes of competitors, the relative effectiveness of advertising in the promotional package, and so on.

The system for collecting external current marketing information provides managers with information about the latest developments. This is a set of sources and methodologies through which managers receive day-to-day information about events occurring in the commercial environment.

Executives gather outside current marketing information by reading books, newspapers, and trade publications, talking to customers, suppliers, distributors, and others outside the firm, and exchanging information with other managers and employees of the firm itself. Well-organized firms take additional steps to improve the quality and quantity of external current information they collect. First, they educate and encourage their salespeople to capture and report what is happening. After all, sales agents are the “eyes and ears” of the company. They are in an exceptionally favorable position to collect information that cannot be obtained by any other methods.

Second, the firm encourages distributors, retailers, and other allies to share important information with it. Some firms specifically appoint specialists responsible for collecting external current marketing information. In particular, firms send so-called "imaginary" buyers to the field, who monitor retail staff. You can learn a lot about competitors:

a) by purchasing their goods;

b) visiting "open days" and specialized exhibitions;

c) reading the reports published by them and attending meetings of shareholders;

d) talking to former and current employees of competing organizations, their dealers, distributors, suppliers, and freight agents;

f) reading newspapers and documents of professional associations.

Third, the firm purchases information from third-party providers of external current information. Clipping bureaus are used for a fee to obtain compilations of competitors' ads, information about their advertising costs and the range of advertising media they use.

Fourth, a number of firms have special departments for the collection and dissemination of current marketing information. Employees of these departments help managers in evaluating newly incoming information. Such services can dramatically improve the quality of information coming to marketing managers.

The marketing information analysis system is a set of advanced methods for analyzing marketing data and marketing problems. However, a number of firms consider this approach either too technical or too academic.

The basis of any marketing information analysis system is a statistical bank and a bank of models.

Statistical bank - set modern techniques statistical processing of information, which allows to most fully reveal the relationships within the data collection and establish the degree of their statistical reliability. These techniques allow management to get answers to questions like:

What are the main variables that affect my sales, and what is the significance of each?

What happens to sales if the price of a product is raised by 10% and advertising costs by 20%?

What traits are the most likely indicators that these consumers will buy my branded product over a competitor's product?

What are the best variables to segment my market, and how many segments are there?

These methods of statistical processing of information are described in many sources.

Bank of models - a set of mathematical models that contribute to the adoption of more optimal marketing decisions by market actors. Each model consists of a set of interrelated variables representing some real-life system, some real-life process or result. These models can help answer questions like “what if?” and “which is better?”. Over the past twenty years, marketing scientists have created a huge number of models to help marketing executives better manage the activities of establishing territory boundaries and sales plans, choosing the location of retail outlets, selecting the optimal mix of advertising and forecasting the sale of new products.

Conclusion

In the modern concept of marketing, the study of markets is of particular importance. These studies serve as the basis for the strategy and tactics developed by the enterprise to enter the markets, to conduct a targeted product policy.

The purpose of any market research is to assess the current situation (conjuncture) and develop a market development forecast. The program of such a comprehensive study depends on the characteristics of the goods, the nature of the enterprise, the scale of production of export goods and a number of other factors.

Market research is not an end in itself, but a source of information for making an effective management decision. This decision can apply to any aspect of foreign trade and marketing activities, so it is irrational to limit the cost of such research due to "cost savings": the losses caused by the wrong decision are usually 10 to 100 times greater.

List of used literature

Bozhuk S.G., Kovalik L.N. Marketing research. - M., St. Petersburg: "Peter", 2003.-298p.;

Golubkov E.M. Marketing research: theory and practice M.: - ed. Finpress, 2000;

Golubkov E.P., "Marketing Research: Theory, Practice and Methodology", Moscow, 2004;

Goldstein G.Ya., Kataev A.V. "Marketing", Moscow, 2005;

Romanova A.N. "Marketing", Moscow, 2000;

Utkina E. A "Marketing", Moscow, 2002.

Marketing information is collected, analyzed and distributed within the marketing information system, which is part of the organization's management information system.

The concept of this system arose and it began practical implementation in the early 70s.

A marketing information system (MIS) is a set (single complex) of personnel, equipment, procedures and methods designed to process, analyze and distribute reliable information at a set time necessary for the preparation and adoption of marketing decisions (Fig. 3.2).

MIS transforms data obtained from internal and external sources, into the information needed for managers and specialists of marketing services. MIS distributes information among managers and specialists of marketing services who make appropriate decisions. In addition, MIS, in collaboration with other automated systems enterprise, supplies the necessary information to the heads of other enterprise services (production, R&D, etc.). Internal information contains data on product orders, sales volumes, product shipments, inventory levels, payment for shipped products, etc. Data from external sources is obtained on the basis of marketing intelligence (from the current external information subsystem) and marketing research.

Marketing intelligence is a continuous activity, based on the use of certain procedures and sources of information, to collect current information about changes in the external marketing environment, which is necessary both for the development and adjustment of marketing plans. While internal information focuses on the results obtained, marketing intelligence explores what can happen in the external environment.

Sources for obtaining current external information can be of a very different nature; formal and informal procedures are used to collect it. Similar information is obtained by studying books, newspapers, trade publications; as a result of conversations with customers, suppliers, distributors and other persons external to the organization, who should be effectively motivated to collect the necessary information; based on conversations with other managers and employees, such as employees of the sales services of this organization; by conducting industrial and commercial espionage (although foreign books write a lot about the ethical problems of marketing research).

Marketing research, unlike marketing intelligence, involves the collection and analysis of data on specific marketing situations that the company has encountered in the market. Actually, the study of the goals, content, procedures, methods and practices of implementing marketing research is the subject of this book.

Such information is not collected in the two previously discussed systems. Such activities are carried out periodically, and not continuously, as certain problems arise, based on the use of special methods collecting and processing the collected data.

The MIS also includes a marketing decision support subsystem, in which, using certain methods (for example, correlation analysis models, break-even point calculation), based on the created marketing database, access to the information necessary for managers to make decisions, as well as its analysis in a given direction .

This system answers questions like: “what if?” gives immediate answers used in making marketing decisions.

The marketing decision support subsystem may include a set of procedures and logical algorithms based on the experience of experts and called expert systems.

The idea of an expert system is as follows. While traditional accounting programs deal only with facts, expert systems rely on "professional culture". Speaking of professional culture, they mean the whole set of informal heuristic techniques, guesses, intuitive judgments and the ability to draw conclusions that are difficult to analyze explicitly, but which, in fact, form the basis of the expert's qualification acquired by him throughout his professional activity. . Usually the expert himself is not fully aware of its presence and poorly understands exactly how it works. However, despite the incomprehensibility of expert knowledge, it has been possible to put it into computer programs, thanks to which they can today compete in terms of competence with highly skilled practitioners.

Modern expert systems are able to give advice in such diverse areas of knowledge as the diagnosis of diseases, exploration, payment income tax and the functioning of the defense system, marketing problems. In each of these areas, you have to deal with information that is not rigorous, extremely complex, which makes it difficult to use conventional software; however, expert systems cope with it often better than purely formalized systems. The knowledge used in each such system has been obtained from experts in the field in the form of rules, usually many hundreds of them, which together form the "knowledge base" of the computer. An expert system consists of a knowledge base and an "inference" mechanism - a program that is able to find logical consequences from the entire set of rules in the system.

Some of these rules are completely unambiguous and look like: "IF so-and-so AND so-and-so, THEN some result is obtained."

Other rules are less specific and involve probabilistic estimates: "IF (to a certain extent) so-and-so AND (to a certain extent) so-and-so, THEN (to a certain extent) some result is true."

Acting in accordance with the rules laid down in its knowledge base, the computer requests the necessary information from the user, and then reports its conclusions and recommendations.

Thus, the expert system developed by the author of this book at the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation contains an algorithm for conducting marketing research. Before the researcher in a certain logical sequence questions are raised (most of which are included in the questionnaires given in this book) that determine the content and procedure for conducting marketing research. The answers to these questions the researcher gives himself, if necessary, collecting additional information. Depending on the content of the answers to the questions, the program evaluates the feasibility of conducting sales activities in the markets under consideration and ranks individual products according to their level of preference.

MIS is intended for:

early detection possible difficulties and problems;

identifying opportunities;

finding and evaluating strategies and activities of marketing activities;

estimates based on statistical analysis and modeling the level of implementation of plans and implementation of marketing strategies.

We can suggest the following sequence of steps for designing MIS. First of all, the organization of marketing at the enterprise, the distribution of tasks, rights and responsibilities in the marketing management system are studied. Next, the needs of managers for marketing information are determined. Based on these data, sources of information are identified, procedures and tools for obtaining and analyzing it are determined. Next steps: developing a plan for future research, designing the format of the final report and a system for presenting the results to interested parties. Along with this, measures are being developed to create and maintain a data bank, a system for ensuring and evaluating the functioning of the MIS.

Obviously, there is no single standard model of MIS. The management of the organization and its marketing services makes its own specific requirements for information, it is guided by its own ideas about both its own organization and its external environment; he has his own hierarchy of information needs and his own individual style leadership, depending on the personal and business qualities of the employees of the management apparatus and the relationships that have developed between them. Moreover, an effective IIA can only be the result of the gradual development of the original system.

Below, as an example, a description of the information collected as part of the functioning of the MIS of the hotel company "No liday Inns" (USA) is given.

Survey of clients and potential clients. It is carried out in the following directions:

continuous study of the degree of satisfaction of guests;

annual study of the opinions of businessmen;

based on the study of the annual survey results of travelers, familiarity with the typology of trips, attitudes towards trips and the purposes of their implementation.

The study of the activities of competitors is carried out in the following areas:

collection of information on the availability of free and occupied rooms, their quality and price (sindicative information - see section 4.9.1);

visits to competitors by prominent political figures, artists, businessmen, etc.;

visiting key competitors under the guise of customers;

compilation of special files containing marketing information for a number of competitors.

In addition, by studying statistical reports on the economic situation in various regions of the country, obtaining information about the political and socio-economic climate.

This HIS also uses internal information on the number of available rooms and customer complaints, on the results of inspections and suggestions from managers.

The results of a study of the degree of use of IIAs by the top 500 US companies (Fortune 500 Companies) are given below. A special questionnaire was developed, which was answered by 132 heads of marketing services, which amounted to 26.4% of those surveyed.

Figures 3.3 and 3.4 provide data characterizing the degree of use of IIAs depending on income and type of company, respectively.

Fifty-nine percent of managers consider internal company data to be the most important source of marketing information, twenty-one percent of managers consider marketing intelligence to be the most important source of data, and twenty percent the results of specifically conducted marketing research (Figure 3.5).

On fig. 3.6 indicates the percentage of firms conducting marketing intelligence on individual components of the external environment.

As for support in the performance of individual marketing functions, such information in the context of individual elements of the marketing mix is shown in Fig. 3.7.

From the point of view of management functions, MIS is most often used for planning and control purposes, indicated by 51 and 36% of respondents, respectively (Fig. 3.8).

To the question: “Does the use of IIAs give a competitive advantage?” - 56% of respondents answered positively. A negative answer was given by 44% of the respondents.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed indicated that their firms have a formal, written marketing plan.

Further development of MIS will lead to its transformation into a marketing decision support system that is more flexible, easier to use, based on interactive procedures, and focused on making non-standard creative decisions.

Marketing Information System

To make absolutely any management decision, from changing prices to opening a new outlet, information is needed. As a rule, marketing research is carried out to satisfy the information need (we do not consider cases where the decision is made on the basis of the widely used, but not very reliable method of "scientific poke"). However, decisions are made constantly, therefore, information for their adoption is also required constantly, and marketing research is carried out at fairly long intervals. At the same time, the company often has almost all the necessary information at its disposal, it is simply not systematized and not ready for use. You can organize and prepare this information for use by implementing marketing information system (MIS), which is an algorithm that allows regularly collect the information necessary for decision-making from various external and internal sources, and transfer it to interested parties.

An example of using a marketing information system.

In a clothing store, sales suddenly plummeted; urgent need to determine the cause and take countermeasures. In the absence of MIS, it is necessary to conduct a survey of buyers, find out their opinion (it is fraught with a loss of time and a further drop in sales). And if MIS is established in this store, then it is enough for management to familiarize themselves with the weekly reports of sellers (in which they record the most frequent comments and statements of buyers) in order to see that the air conditioning system in the store failed in the midst of the summer heat, with which and associated with a drop in sales. Thus, as a result of the use of MIS, both time and money are saved.

The main functions of the MIS are data collection, analysis, storage and transfer to interested parties. With the help of a marketing information system, the necessary information is collected from various sources (external and internal), processed and transmitted to decision makers (see the scheme of work of the MIS).

The marketing information system itself consists of four subsystems:

Internal reporting system responsible for the collection, processing and analysis of internal data. The company always has very valuable information about stocks, sales volumes, advertising costs, revenues. The internal reporting system allows you to save this data and convert it into a form convenient for work, as a result of which you can analyze the profitability of specific goods / services, distribution channels, consumers, sales dynamics, etc.

Internal marketing information analysis system is a one-time analysis of inside information carried out to achieve a specific goal (for example, an analysis of the change in the sales volume of a product after a change in its price or an advertising campaign). Such an analysis is carried out whenever the need arises.

Surveillance system for the external environment includes tracking changes in legislation, the economic state of the country/region and the level of income of citizens, changes in the production technology of the company's goods, the emergence of new technologies and new competitive products, etc. For example, a billiard company operating in the St. Petersburg market needs to monitor changes in federal and local legislation, changes in the level of well-being of city residents, trends in changing forms of leisure activities, a decrease / increase in the popularity of playing billiards, the emergence of new technologies in the manufacture of billiard tables, balls, cues and other equipment, and other factors. All these parameters in the future may affect the company's business, so it is necessary to recognize them in a timely manner and adjust activities in accordance with their change.

Marketing research system: special marketing research is an integral part of the marketing information system and differs from systematic monitoring of the external environment in its target orientation - marketing research, as a rule, is carried out to obtain information on a specific issue to solve a very specific problem.

The four subsystems of MIS, working in a coordinated manner, make it possible to highlight all the processes and events taking place both inside and outside the company, and serve as an indispensable basis for developing its strategy.

Thus, the marketing information system:

Enables executives and managers to make more informed decisions and reduces the chance of errors by providing the right information to all those who need it.
It allows the company to timely catch all the changes taking place in the market and quickly respond to them.
Disciplines employees, teaches them to monitor ongoing events and see how they can affect the development of their company.

Lack of MIS at the enterprise: a real life example

“The disposition is banal and familiar to everyone: the company has a sales department, there is a marketing department. The first are “frontline fighters”. The second are analysts-strategists. The former bathe daily in a sea of information. The second need her like a breath of air
Sellers know everything about everything - but they have no time to analyze the data. Marketers, in order to “keep their finger on the pulse”, are forced to look for information anywhere - because sometimes they don’t know their own sellers by sight.
The Chief, No. 7, 2002

Theoretical and practical aspects of designing a marketing information system in an enterprise are considered. Evaluation in progress modern methods processing and transformation of marketing information. The concept of a marketing information system and the main methods for analyzing multidimensional data are specified.

Integration of the marketing approach in common system management at the enterprise requires, first of all, a revision of the basic principles of management. This is largely due to the need to increase the flexibility of internal business processes and their coordination with the overall strategy of the company. The concept of managing individual business processes, which allows timely adaptation to changes in the external environment, is becoming increasingly relevant. At the same time, priority attention is paid to improving the efficiency of information communications between the internal and external environment of the enterprise.

The business process management system should consider the changing needs of the external environment as a basic element, and the marketing management system as the main information circuit. Information-based management provides for the determination of quantitative proportions and dependencies between market phenomena and the factors that affect them. Based on the conclusions and recommendations obtained during the analysis stage, strategic planning marketing, the structure of the marketing mix is specified, and an assessment is made of the correspondence between actual and forecasted indicators.

The works of foreign and domestic scientists are devoted to the research of methodological aspects of assessing the role of information in the decision-making process. However, despite the relevance of the problem, the literature practically does not consider the principles of enterprise management based on marketing information. In this regard, it is important to study the mechanism of information transformation, as well as the possibility of its practical use for making managerial decisions.

The integration of various processes into a single information space of the enterprise involves the use of a systematic approach to organizing the collection, processing and subsequent analysis of data. The marketing information system (MIS) is designed on the basis of the complexity and balance of all components of its subject area, which is achieved through the use of modern means computer and information technology. The first definition of MIS was given by Cox D.F. and Good R.E. (1967), according to which MIS can be considered as a set of procedures and methods for planned analysis and presentation of information for decision-making.

Further study of this issue was associated with the search for a universal definition of IIA based on common tasks facing the marketing service. The disadvantage of this approach is a significant simplification and formalization of information processes. In this regard, it seems important to determine the main functions of the MIS, taking into account the structure of the marketing management cycle at the enterprise (Fig. 1).

Thus, the functions of MIS in the structure of an enterprise can be represented as marketing system decision support (MDSS - marketing decision support system), which is the initial and final element of information processes.

It should be noted that the structure and functionality of the MIS should largely depend on the specifics and scale of the enterprise. F. Kotler distinguishes four main blocks in the structure of the MIS: the subsystem of internal reporting, the subsystem of marketing observation, the subsystem of marketing analysis and marketing research.

Separate works describe in sufficient detail the classification of these subsystems and the main sources of information. At the same time, the basic methods of transformation and the sequential process of information transfer are taken out of the scope of this issue.

To fill this gap, the interaction between subsystems must be presented as a sequential process of collecting, storing, processing and analyzing information necessary for making managerial decisions. The efficiency and functionality of MIS will largely depend on the degree of automation of these processes. Conventionally, two levels (stages) of system automation can be distinguished. At the first level (characteristic of small and medium enterprises) there is no centralized information transfer scheme. In this case, the information content of the MIS is produced from various sources: the internal reporting subsystem - data from CRM and (or) ERP systems (executors - sales department and production), as well as from systems financial statements, subsystem of external observation and subsystem of marketing research - data collected by the marketing department (executors - marketing managers). Storage and analysis of information is often carried out using office applications (MS Access and MS Excel) or application programs. The transformed information is typically used at the senior management level to make strategic decisions. At the second level of automation ( large companies and holdings) there is a consolidation of internal and external information of the company on the basis of corporate information systems (CIS) (marketing is one of the components of the system) or unified marketing information systems. The effectiveness of marketing services is achieved through the regulation of processes for the exchange of information with other departments.

As the basis of the MIS model, we will consider the basic concepts of process automation, such as databases, OLAP analysis (on-line analytical processing), information analysis using statistical models and data-mining systems.

The implementation of a centralized exchange of information between departments of the enterprise is based on the possibility of using the same data by different users. Formation of own databases allows solving a number of specific applied problems that arise in the course of practical activities. Information in databases is structured in the form of tables, which are a set of rows and columns, where the rows correspond to an object instance, a specific event or phenomenon, and the columns correspond to the attributes (features, characteristics, parameters) of this object or phenomenon (Table 1).

In the above example, the columns "Date", "Customer", "Product" (product group, manufacturing method, etc.) are qualitative parameters, and the columns "Price", "Quantity", "Amount" (cost, marginal profit, profitability and etc.) contain a quantitative assessment of these parameters.

Such tables in one form or another are the most common form of storing information about sales, customers (CRM systems), production receipts, etc. For marketing analysis, it will be relevant to evaluate the qualitative parameters in various sections of such a table using quantitative parameters (the customer "Zak.1" purchased the goods "Commodity 1" with a total of 20 units for a total of 200 units).

It should be noted that the fields containing qualitative characteristics can contain a number of enumerated values and can also be presented in the form of a table. For example, the "Customer" field can be represented as follows:

As a rule, such tables contain static data and are often called directories. Relationship-related tables interact according to the main (master) - detailed (detail) principle. In the example above, the sales table is the main (parent) table and the customers table is the detail (child) table.

Thus, the main table is a multidimensional data warehouse, which is the main source for estimating quantitative relationships between various properties of various objects.

In practice, two-dimensional slices of such tables are often used, which express quantitative relationships between two properties of certain objects.

This example shows a two-dimensional slice of the main table by the "Customer Name" property of the "Customer" object and the "Product Name" property of the "Product" object. Quantitative relationships can also be established between other properties of the "Customer" object (industry affiliation, type, region, etc.) and the "Product" object (product group, subgroup, manufacturing method, packaging, etc.). Obviously, the total number of combinations of properties of two objects will be equal to m * n, where m is the number of properties of the first field, n is the number of properties of the second field. It should be taken into account that in this case static properties are considered, which do not change from order to order and are entered in the reference (child) tables. For example, the product "Commodity 1" has a certain type of packaging "Pack 1", which is a constant characteristic of this product. If the property changes from order to order, then it should be presented as a separate field in the main table, which will have its own reference (child) table listing the types of packaging (the same product "Commodity 1" may have different kinds packages).

The technology of representing a multidimensional data warehouse in the form of various slices is often referred to as OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing). OLAP technology allows you to reduce the overall dimension of a multidimensional data warehouse (OLAP cube) to the required level of detail. It should be noted that the most simple tools implementations of OLAP technology are pivot tables in MS Excel (or SQL queries in MS Access). The first evaluated parameter is entered in the row area (fields) (table No. 3 - "Customer"), the second - in the column area ("Product"), quantitative characteristics - in the data area (cost, profit, etc.). Detailing the received data to the required level can be carried out by using several parameters in the rows, columns or data area (in this case, the data is displayed in the form of nested tables) or by using the page area (often called filters). For structural analysis of sales, temporal indicators (year, month, week, day) are used as a filter, which allows reflecting multidimensional storage data for a certain period of time. Therefore, the most demonstrative will be a slice of a multidimensional cube along three axes - the 1st and 2nd parameter (object properties) and the time indicator.

If it is necessary to trace the dynamics of changes in the properties of the objects under study, then the time indicators are entered in the line area.

As a result of OLAP analysis, various combinations (cells of a multidimensional table) can be built, the total number of which will be equal to m1*m2*…*mn, where mi is the number of values of the i-th property. The total number of columns with such combinations will be equal to:

where m1*…*mn is the product of the number of values of all properties, excluding the i-th property. Obviously, from the entire set, it is necessary to select only those data sets that will have practical significance and be used for subsequent statistical analysis (Fig. 3).

It is important to determine the sequence and level of detail of the analysis. For example, when studying the analysis of the dynamics of the company's turnover by customers (line - "Name of the customer", column - "Time", a quantitative measure - the amount of thousand rubles), a total drop in revenue for the reporting month (March) was revealed by 4,000 thousand rubles.

One of the factors for the decrease in turnover in March was the decrease in income received from the customer "Zak.n" by 9,000 thousand rubles. At the next level of detail, it is necessary to analyze the income received from the customer "Zak.n" in the context of the goods sold to him (line - "Product", column - "Time"). Obviously, the decrease in income could have occurred both due to a decrease in the number of individual goods purchased by Zak.n, and due to a decrease in the price of these items. Therefore, for comparative analysis, it is necessary to use two quantitative characteristics - the quantity of goods and the amount in monetary units.

The table shows that the decrease in the total income from the customer "Zak.n" in March was due to a decrease in the total amount received from him for the goods "Commodity n" in the amount of 9,000 thousand rubles, while increasing the quantity of this product by 10 units. compared to February. From this it follows that the main factor in the decrease in income was the reduction in the price of the product "Commodity n". After reviewing the purchases of other customers, it was found that the decrease in the price of Item n led to an overall increase in the quantity and total amount received for Item n from these customers in March. Based on this, we can conclude that the product "Commodity n" has low elasticity only for the customer "Zak.n". To refine this indicator, you can analyze the relative changes in the price and quantity of "Commodity n" for this customer over a longer interval. The conclusions obtained should become the basis for making managerial decisions regarding the pricing method for the product "Commodity n" or the need to use additional means of sales promotion in relation to the customer "Zak.n".

This sequence is not universal and can be specified depending on various factors of the company's activities. If the assortment includes a small number of items, then it is advisable to start the sales analysis by studying the dynamics of turnover for individual items (“Product” - “Time”), only after that study the sales structure for the company’s customers (“Customer” - “Time”, filter - “ Product").

Statistical models allow in a certain way to transform the received data sets into predictive values of key indicators, on the basis of which optimal planning and management decisions are made. As a rule, such a transformation is carried out by grouping the initial data, determining the relationship between groups and determining the predictive values of some indicators using others. It is important to note that a necessary condition for grouping should be the continuity of the initial data either by the property being assessed, or by quantitative characteristics, or by temporal indicators.

On Fig. 4 and 5 show the grouping of data for a certain period of time, i.e. the sales structure is studied (filter "Time" is mandatory). The analysis of dependence between groups is often hampered by the presence of a large number factors that change when moving from one element of the group to another. For example, when evaluating the relationship between the groups "Tob.1" and "Tob.2" (columns of the table in Fig. 4), it is necessary to take into account differences in the characteristics of these goods, functions, customer preferences, etc. To reduce the influence of these factors and to study groups that are homogeneous in their content, you can use additional filters (“Product group”, “Packaging”, etc.). As a rule, before studying the relationship between groups, they are evaluated using statistical indicators (arithmetic mean, mode, median, standard deviation, range of variation, coefficient of variation). The most commonly used calculation is the arithmetic weighted average and variance:

where xi is a feature, mi is the weight of this feature, n is the number of group elements.

For example, the average for the group "Commodity 1" will be the average amount of the order of the product "Commodity 1" purchased by one customer for the selected period. In addition to calculating the overall assessment of the group, the classification of its constituent elements is carried out. The criterion for classification can be absolute or relative indicators (the indicator of the share of an element in the total amount is most often used), sorted in descending order, or interval values of a group, when a certain interval of the population corresponds to each element. In marketing analysis, one of the main classification tools is Pareto analysis (ABC analysis). In the general case, the Pareto law speaks of an uneven distribution of indicators - approximately 20% of consumers bring 80% of income. ABC-analysis allows you to identify the main and minor subgroups of elements in accordance with the share of each subgroup in the total. For example, in the "Amount" group (column "Sum." Fig. No. 5), three subgroups of customers can be distinguished: subgroup A - customers who provide 50% of income (other values \u200b\u200bcan be used - 60/30/10), subgroup B and C - 40% and 10% of income, respectively (the number of subgroups can also vary: the classic version is two 80/20 subgroups, or several ABCDE subgroups, if a more detailed classification is needed).

After a general assessment of the groups, the relationship between them is analyzed. One of the main indicators of the relationship between two random variables is the pair correlation coefficient.

r-values:
from 0 to +/-0.3 - there is practically no connection,
from +/-0.3 to +/-0.5 - weak,
from +/-0.5 to +/-0.7 - weak,
from +/-0.7 to +/-1 - strong.

For example, if, when evaluating the dependence of the groups “Tov.1” and “Tov.2” (Fig. 4), a positive correlation is revealed, then it can be assumed that these goods are complementary for the company’s customers (in the case of a negative relationship, they are interchangeable, t .e. with an increase in demand for the product "Commodity 1", the demand for "Commodity 2" will fall). For the groups "Amount" and "Quantity" (Fig. 5), the correlation coefficient is not equal to 1 (0.801), which indicates a difference in prices (discounts) for the same product for different customers (filter "Commodity n").

After the relationship between the two groups has been identified, it is necessary to give a mathematical description of this relationship using regression analysis models, i.e. choose a specific type of function, the best way reflecting the nature of the relationship under study. It is often assumed that there is a linear relationship between the parameters, which is described by the regression equation:

Analysis of the data structure for a certain time interval allows you to detect implicit relationships between groups. At the same time, the use of an object property as an independent variable is often complicated by the presence of a large number of subjective factors that can change when moving from one value given property to another. The action of such factors can be described if the arguments for comparison are not different properties of objects, but the dynamics of the same properties over time. Thus, a time series, unlike a random sample, has a certain sequence and is associated with a time variable (Fig. 6, Fig. 7).

At the first stage of the analysis of time series, as well as in the analysis of the data structure for a certain time interval, it is necessary to calculate the general indicators of each group. Absolute and relative indicators of dynamics can be calculated for each element of the group (for each value of time - the level of the series): basic and chain increases in the levels of the series, growth rates and growth rates, or for the entire group - the average values of these indicators. In marketing analysis, one of the main indicators of dynamics is the frequency (stability) and the ability to predict the future values of group elements. To do this, the coefficient of variation is calculated for each element of the group, which characterizes the degree of deviation of the parameter from its average value.

The result of the analysis is the distribution of elements into three main subgroups: X - characterized by a stable quantitative assessment, Y - the degree of deviation is determined with a given accuracy, Z - a change in the assessment is characterized by irregularity and low prediction accuracy (XYZ analysis). In practice, ABC- and XYZ-analysis are carried out in parallel in order to classify the elements of the group simultaneously by the value of the quantitative assessment of the element in the overall structure (belonging to one of the subgroups A, B or C) and the dynamics of this element over time (belonging to one of the subgroups X , Y or Z).

There are two main goals of time series analysis: determining the nature of the series and predicting its future values. When choosing forecasting methods, it is necessary to determine whether there is a dependence of the parameter under study on other variables and whether there are predictive values of these variables. If there is no such dependence, then the only indicator of the predictive model will be the time factor, while it is considered that the influence of other factors is insignificant or indirectly affects through the time factor. In this case, the parameter x in the above regression equation is replaced by the time parameter t: Y = b0 +b1*t. The choice of the type of function describing the trend, the parameters of which are determined by the least squares method, is made empirically in most cases, by constructing a number of functions and comparing them with each other in terms of the mean square error.

Thus, time series forecasting methods are largely based on the possibility of extrapolating a deterministic component, which can be described using various trend models, and also adjusted for systematic deviations. The use of such methods is often complicated by the action of a random component, the quantitative assessment of which is often of a probabilistic nature. Therefore, to determine the random component, casual (causal) methods are used, which are based on the study of deep processes and the identification of hidden factors that determine the behavior of the predicted indicator. Among the widely used casual methods is the correlation-regression analysis discussed above. In the multivariate case, when more than one independent variable is used, the regression equation is: Y = b0 + b1 * x1 + b2 * x2 + b3 * x3 + ... + bn * xn. In this equation, the regression coefficients (b-coefficients) are the independent contributions of each variable (xi) to the dependent variable (Y) prediction. In practice, dependencies between the final values of groups are often investigated, without taking into account their internal relationships.

For example, as a result of studying the dynamics of sales volume (Fig. 8), a regression equation was obtained, which reflects the actual data with a high degree of accuracy: Amount (rubles) = -166.7 + 26.7 * Goods (pieces) + 16, 7 * Salary (rubles) (the LINEST function in MS Excel was used for the calculation). The accuracy of calculation models is determined using the coefficient of determination and the Pearson coefficient. In this example, posterior variables were used as independent variables, the values of which cannot be known in advance and are used only to describe the relationship between groups. However, to predict indicators, variables are needed whose values can be determined at the input of the analysis (a priori known variables - sales factors) for their further transformation using the selected model and obtaining future function values at the output (a posteriori values - sales indicators).

The choice of factors involves their classification into factors of the external environment and factors of the internal environment of the organization. From the point of view of management, all factors can be divided into manageable and unmanageable.

Using the methods of regression-correlation analysis, the dependence of the sales volume on each factor is estimated (a table of pairwise correlations is built), and the coefficients bi in the regression equation are also determined. If it is necessary to build a predictive profit model, then cost factors are added to the specified sales factors.

The regression model is one of the most common models for the mathematical description of dependencies between different groups of variables. At the same time, the diversity and heterogeneity of marketing information often reveals the need to use complex algorithms to identify hidden dependencies. The multidimensional nature of this problem is now considered within a separate area, often referred to as Data Mining (data mining). Data Mining is the process of revealing hidden relationships within multidimensional information arrays. As a rule, there are five standard types of patterns that are the object of study of Data Mining: association, sequence, classification, clustering, and prediction. On the basis of the identified patterns, typical templates are formed that interpret the initial data into the information necessary for making managerial decisions.

The use of marketing information becomes a necessary condition for increasing the flexibility and efficiency of the enterprise management system. At the same time, the introduction of MIS should be preceded by the stage of describing the internal business processes of the enterprise and detailing the main quantitative parameters for their assessment. Thus, the design of MIS is a complex and multi-stage process, during which methods of algorithmization of information processes and methods of their interpretation for making managerial decisions are specified.

Bibliographic list

1. Buzzel R., Cox D., Brown R. Information and risk in marketing - M.: Finstatinform, 1993

2. Belyaevsky I.K. Marketing research: information, analysis, forecast. — M.: Finance and statistics, 2001. — 578 p.

3. Mkhitaryan S.V. Marketing information system. - M .: Eksmo Publishing House, 2006. - 336 p.

4. Golubkov E.P. Marketing Research: Theory, Methodology and Practice: Textbook. - 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M .: Publishing house "Finpress", 2003. - 496 p.

5. Kotler F. Fundamentals of marketing. Short course.: Publishing house "Williams", 2007. - 656 p.

The marketing information system transforms data obtained from internal and external sources into the information needed by managers and specialists of marketing services. MIS, interacting with other automated systems of the enterprise, supplies the necessary information to the heads of other services of the enterprise.

The marketing information system covers four subsystems:

subsystem of internal reporting;

a subsystem for collecting external marketing information;

marketing research subsystem;

subsystem of marketing information analysis.

Subsystems of the marketing information system is shown in fig. 4.3.

Rice. 4.3. Marketing Information System

Let's consider each of the marketing information subsystems in more detail.

Internal reporting subsystem. This subsystem reflects the indicators of the current sales volume, the amount of expenses, inventories, cash flow, receivables and payables. It is the most accessible for marketers, it is fully supported by computers and computer networks, ensures the efficiency and accuracy of the data. internal system information allows you to determine the upper and lower limits of selling prices, establish a zone of commercial risk, a line of financial equilibrium, a critical point of financial stability.

Subsystem for collecting current external marketing information. This subsystem provides managers with information about events in environment. Sources of information can be: books, newspapers and specialized publications, conversations with customers, buying information from third-party suppliers (collections of weekly changes in market share, prices of branded goods, etc.). Also created are their own departments for the collection and transmission of current marketing information.

This subsystem is less focused on computer support than the internal reporting system, but due to the development of telecommunications and external databases, the subsystem for collecting current external marketing information becomes highly computerized and operational.

Marketing research subsystem. The subsystem ensures regular determination of the range of data required in connection with the marketing situation, as well as their collection, analysis and reporting on the results. In conducting research, participation of specialized organizations or organizations of their own research department is possible. Actively supported by computer systems. It uses database software, spreadsheets, graphical modeling, various special statistical data processing packages.

Basis of the marketing research subsystem form two groups funds:

1. Means of statistical modeling ("statistical bank") - a set of modern methods of statistical processing of information;

2. A set of special marketing models that contribute to the adoption of more optimal marketing decisions. Special marketing models can serve as the basis for the regular computerized generation of recommendations based on knowledge bases.

Subsystem for analysis of marketing information. The subsystem performs the following functions step by step according to a certain technological scheme (see Fig. 4.4).

Rice. 4.4. Functions of the marketing information analysis subsystem

The marketing information analysis subsystem (SAMI) allows you to determine:

The influence of the main factors on the sale of products (sales volume) and the importance of each of them;

Possibility of sale with an increase in prices or advertising costs;

Evaluation of the company's activities;

Parameters of the enterprise's products that ensure its competitiveness;