新一代信息技术对营销战略的影响:述评与展望

The Impact of New-generation Information Technologies on Marketing Strategy:A Literature Review and Prospects

以人工智能、区块链、云计算、大数据、物联网、第五代移动通信等为代表的新一代信息技术的快速普及与商业化应用给营销战略变革带来了广泛影响。本研究通过对相关文献的系统性回顾,得出新一代信息技术对营销战略的影响主要体现在营销外部环境变革、营销能力变革及营销组织架构变革三个方面,并分析了各方面变革的具体表现及变化趋势。研究发现,新一代信息技术加剧了营销战略所面临的技术、市场及竞争三个维度的外部环境变化;提升了企业在市场感知、顾客连接、品牌资产管理、营销计划与执行、营销组合运用五个方面的营销能力;推动了营销组织架构在内部结构、绩效度量,以及控制和激励机制三个层次的转变。基于上述变化,本研究进一步针对营销战略制定与实施过程中的市场预测、适应性战略调整、匹配、激活、绩效核查、资源吸引及资产管理七项具体活动提出了管理建议,并探讨了未来研究方向,以期为企业营销数字化转型及营销战略创新研究提供参考。

New-generation information technologies exert great influence on marketing strategy.It requires companies to identify environmental changes quickly and adapt their marketing processes and infrastructure to these changes accordingly.Extant literature has attempted to document the impact of some specific new-generation information technologies on marketing from two perspectives.One is the technology perspective,which summarized the technical features,adoption,and potential business applications of these technologies.The other is the influence mechanism perspective,which explored the how new-generation information technologies influence marketing management processes and activities.However,few studies has clearly addressed:(1)how new-generation technologies affect marketing strategy;(2)how marketing strategy formulation and implementation respond to the changes brought by new-generation information technologies.Thus,this study aims to explore such questions from a marketing strategy perspective by examining the how external marketing environment,marketing capabilities,and marketing configuration have changed with new-generation information technologies.This study firstly conducts a systematic review and analysis of relevant literature on the changes of marketing strategy with new-generation information technologies.Specifically,it begins with a keyword search approach which searched the relevant literature in databases,including CNKI,Web of Science,Elsevier,EBSCO,SpringerLink,Sage,Taylor,Wiley,and Emerald.Some highly relevant literature from their references were also included.After literature screening,a total of 65 articles directly related to the research topic were obtained,including 52 articles in English and 13 in Chinese.All these articles were read carefully to identify and categorize the documented changes of marketing due to new-generation information technologies.These identified changes are categorized into three groups,external marketing environment changes,marketing capabilities changes,and marketing organization configurational changes.Next,this study analyzes and details these changes from several aspects.First,external marketing environment changes are evidenced by the changes in technological turbulence,market turbulence,and competition intensity due to the application of new-generation information technologies.The technical infrastructure of marketing has been reconfigured,which entails data-driven marketing decisions and processes.Customer needs of variety and personalization have been highlighted.Customers expect quality service across the whole decision and shopping journey,but also high concerns caused by information technologies.The competition focus has shifted to product innovation and marketing ecosystems and the competition landscape has been reshaping.Second,marketing capabilities changes are demonstrated by enriched market sensing capability,targeted customer linking capability,expanded brand assets management capability,agile marketing planning and execution capability,and digitalized marketing mix operation capability.Last,marketing organization configurational changes are reflected in the blurred boundary of marketing department and the expanded data management function of marketing,quantified and dynamic measures of marketing performance,and digitalized control and incentives over marketers and data.Lastly,this study outlines several managerial implications and future research directions.For managers,they should evaluate the impact of new-generation information technologies on marketing strategies and accordingly optimize their marketing activities in terms of anticipation,adaptation,alignment,activation,accountability,attraction,and asset management.For researchers,first,they should further explore the dynamic influence mechanisms of external marketing environment changes on marketing strategy.Second,future research should examine the differential effects and the boundary conditions of marketing capability which developed in new-generation information technologies.Third,future research should explore the new value creation roles of marketing departments and salespeople to respond to new-generation information technologies changes.