Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

The purpose of this research is to measure the extent of usage of microcomputers, compared to mainframe usage, by marketing professionals and to describe how microcomputers are used as an aid in marketing decision-making. A national sample of marketing professionals responded to a questionnaire concerning availability of microcomputers and mainframes, decisions and responsibilities performed with each type of computer, software and hardware used, and selected demographics. The results document considerable diffusion of hardware technology as well as widespread use and satisfaction with available software in the subset responding.

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive survey of microcomputer usage in marketing education today. This status report indicates that AACSB-accredited universities are making considerable progress in in tegrating microcomputers into their marketing programs.

This article discusses the role of personal computer applications in courses throughout the marketing curriculum. Learning theory suggests that PC applications be introduced in modules over the entire marketing program and not concentrated in just one or two courses. The final capstone course in marketing is seen as the logical place for a culminating, integrative learning experience with software applications. Software re commendations are provided for each typical marketing course and a decision support exercise is described for the capstone course.

The authors examine the relationship between role structure and influence in family decision-making with the changing status of spouses in regard to increased income, education and occupation. Based on a series of personal interviews, this study explores various components of decision-making for the purchase of a home computer. The findings suggest that, although males were overwhelmingly the dominant influence in various stages of decision-making, demographic variables were associated with varying patterns of influence among family members. Differences were also noted between demographic factors and sources of information used prior to purchase results, suggesting that retailers of personal computers would benefit by profiling potential submarkets of this product. Furthermore, children were shown to have input, particularly as initiators, of the decisions concerning home computers.

The influence of the decision maker's sex on the choice process in specific business buying situations is not well-established. Within an organizational buying context, this study compares men's and women's evaluations of decision criteria and examines whether they form different preferences in the selection of microcomputer vendors. Expert Choice, a microcomputer software package for performing the analytic hierarchy process methodology, served as the decision support tool to structure the decision process, to collect the data, to derive the importance weights for the decision criteria, and to synthesize them with the vendor preferences. The results of a multivariate analysis of the experimental data indicate that men and women do not differ in weighting the importance of decision criteria nor in forming preferences for alternative PC vendors. Instead, the type of organization employing the subjects and the influence of their boss's decision rules were found to significantly affect the vendor evaluation process.

This paper examines the adoption of microcomputers in the marketing community. Diffusion theory is applied to gain clearer insights into why the infusion of this technology has succeeded where other forms of computer technology have lagged. Unique characteristics of microcomputers important to marketers are identified and those features most amenable to marketing settings are explained.

Microcomputer based sales support systems have been held out by many as a solution to the increasingly high cost of the personal selling effort. Promises of increased productivity through both greater efficiency and effectiveness have been made by many vendors. The author proposes some guidelines which provide sales managers with assistance in deciding when and where such systems can be used to increase the productivity of the salesforce.

Personal computer technology has provided a major opportunity to develop revolutionary approaches to the solution of business problems. While applications of artificial intelligence and expert systems are rapidly emerging, few have been developed in the sales management area. Specifically, this paper proposes the creation of an expert system to enhance sales management activities and their coordination with the entire marketing function within an organization.

Microcomputer based methodologies offer new dimensions to the study of dyadic interaction in marketing. This article explores the role of the microcomputer as a dyadic interaction research tool in the contexts of buyer-seller negotiation and buyer-seller communication processes. The authors conclude that microcomputer applications represent a promising new direction in the study of dyadic behavior. Moreover, the micro computer's potential for improved experimental control and measurement is relatively untapped.

This paper focuses on the integrative and pervasive use of microcomputers in marketing research and managerial decision making. The marketing research process is conceptualized as consisting of six phases. At each phase, microcomputer applications and illustrative software are identified as implications for the practice of marketing research discussed. Next the paper illustrates the use of microcomputers in selected application areas such as market segmentation, sales forecasting, new product development, pricing and decision support and expert systems. Guidelines for the selection of microcomputer software in specific situations are provided. The paper concludes with some observations on the future applications of microcomputers in marketing research and decision making.

"The average American, by our estimate, is exposed to 61,556 words from the mass media each day ... That works out to just under 4,000 words per waking hour, about 60 words per waking minute per person per day. This represents a growth of 151 percent from 1960 to 1980. " (Neuman and de Sola Pool 1984, p. 5)

"Over this period (1960 to 1980) the supply of mass communications per capita (in the USA) grew at an average annual rate of 6.7 percent. But media use grew at just 2.1 percent per year... (Ibid, Table 2)

The ratio of words consumed to words supplied by 1980 had fallen to less than half (from 1.4 percent to .6 percent) the level in 1960. The ratio has fallen in each of the mass media we have studied. " (Neuman and de Sola Pool 1984 p. i, 6, and Table 3)

"Information creation and processing now account for half of all economic activity in the United States, compared to less than 18% in 1900. " (Jonscher 1983, p. 8)

"Between 6000 and 7000 scientific articles are written each day. Scientific and technical information now increases 13 percent per year, which means it doubles every 5.5 years. " (Naisbitt 1982, p. 24)

Microcomputer technology appears to have gotten ahead of information needs. Social commentators and philosophers argue that the information society is only one step away from reality and often cite Japan as an example. The author takes the position that many ultimate consumers have yet to find enough benefit in microcomputers and linking them to data bases to make such high technology an integral part of their life styles. Marketing efforts need to be focused less on hardware and software and more on defining and clarifying the needs of the average household which can be better met by microcomputers than by current means.