When building a marketing decision support system, a company must utilize different information resources. Marketing decisions runs hand in hand with customer relationship management.  This is because after marketing, it is significant to retain the gained customers.  To be able to gain and maintain new customers, a lot of information in the market environment is required (Applegate, Austin & McFarlan, 2009).

In building its marketing decision support systems, Apple reviews the different business scenarios in the market. First, before launching any new product, the company conducts a market research to determine the viability of the product. This involves analyzing the existing competitors and consumer needs. The company concentrates much on consumer needs rather than competitors. This is in line with the vision of the company to make life easier by providing easy to use products.

Apple understands the potential risks of a new product in the market. Thus, it uses information resources to be able to access distribution channels that enable the company to reach a wide range of customers.  With the information about the potential threats, the company is able to use strategic distribution channels to maximize the availability of the product. In addition, the company employs the idea of switching costs. Switching costs is the negative cost a customer incurs by changing a product or brand. This ensures that the company retains the customers.

Apple Inc understands the bargaining power of the buyers. This kind of information is used to determine the consumer selection process. The company is thus able to know how to handle the buyers in the market. Again, integrating the idea of switching costs, the company is able to overcome the bargaining power of the consumer (Applegate, Austin & McFarlan, 2009).  Again, the consumers use a specific process in product selection. To overcome this Apple uses differentiated products. This way the company is able to capture the attention of many buyers.

Another information resource used by the company is the knowledge about substitute products. Most of the products provided by the company have substitutes from other competitors. With such information in mind, Apple redefines its products and services. The company provides user friendly devices which help improve the people’s daily activities. The company is very innovative in terms of developing products that are very specific to their use. In addition, the company always thrives to improve its prices and performance. Apple Inc is the world’s largest information technology company by revenue meaning that it has a high performance.

Another important information resource is the industry competitors. The company analyses the industry to understand the products and services they provide. With the knowledge about industry competitors, it is easy for the company to gain market access. The company is also able to come up with cost effectiveness measures to remain competitive in the market. In addition, with the knowledge of industry competitors, Apple Inc is able to determine how to differentiate the products and services (Applegate, Austin & McFarlan, 2009). Product differentiation is key to competition in any market but can only be done when one has information about what other competitors are doing.

With the information resources mentioned above, the company is able to build an effective marketing decision support systems and customer relationship management (CRM) environment. Information is the key asset to the company as it endeavors to remain at the top in the industry.

References

Applegate, L. M., Austin, R. D., & McFarlan, F. W. (2009). Corporate information strategy and management: text and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill.

 
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