CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The ultimate aim of manufacturers is design and implementation of computer based marketing information system (a case study of guniess nig. plc) to produce goods they can sell to users immediately at a profit. An interaction between the producer and the consumer tales place. This interaction is initiated, developed, and managed by producer’s marketing staff. The business function of marketing is concerned with the planning, promotion, and sale of existing products in the existing markets and development of new products and new markets to better serve present and potential customers.
Today marketing performs a vital function in the operation of a business enterprises i.e. (as the primary interface between the manufacturer and the customer). Performing the marketing function in business has become a much difficult assignment because of the dynamic environment of today’s activities which includes:
– Rapidly changing market demands
– Steadily increasing consumers pressure
– Proliferation of new products
– Intensified competition
– Growing government regulations.
Business firms have increasingly turned to the computer to help them perform the vital marketing functions in the face of the rapid changes of today’s environment. Computer, therefore, because of its speed, memory capacity, versatility and accuracy, has been the catalyst in the development of marketing information system, which integrate the information flow required by the many marketing activities. Computer is also used to make business decision involving millions of naira and so saves man from a tremendous amount of time consuming work.
Today computer is used as a control system for controlling marketing costs, diagnosis of poor sales performance. Nevertheless, computer is also used as research system for advertising strategy, pricing strategy and evaluation of advertising expenditure and continuous experiment.