Title: E-commerce and the organisation of the marketing function

Authors: Roger Bennett, Radka Koudelova

Addresses: Department of Business Studies, London Guildhall University, 84 Moorgate, London, EC2M 6SQ, UK. Department of Business Studies, London Guildhall University, 84 Moorgate, London, EC2M 6SQ, UK

Abstract: Heads of marketing in 91 UK companies with electronic marketing facilities participated in a survey designed to investigate relationships between marketing personnel and staff responsible for the technical side of their firms| e-commerce operations. The research focused on the possible organisational consequences of the introduction of electronic marketing; whether frictions and conflicts arose between marketing managers and e-commerce specialists; and respondents| perceptions of the contributions of e-commerce to the marketing function. Results indicate that many of the organisational consequences experienced during earlier implementations of major IT-related new technologies have been repeated in the e-commerce field. Marketing executives reported that IT experts increasingly occupied highly influential roles in their companies| marketing decision-making systems. This raises the (undesirable) prospect of key marketing policies being determined by people who lack the general business knowledge necessary to manage the marketing function within an e-commerce context or to integrate marketing with e-commerce in the most effective ways.

Keywords: electronic commerce; marketing; organisational structure; centralisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2002.001620

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2002 Vol.3 No.1, pp.111-124

Published online: 10 Jul 2003 *

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