Ghazi A. Al-Weshah, Jonathan H. Deacon

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
The Role of Marketing Information Systems in Responding to External Environmental

Factors: An Empirical Study of the Jordanian Banking Industry
Ghazi A. Al-Weshah
University of Wales, Newport - Newport Business School
E-mail: weshah120@yahoo.com
Contact No: +44 (0) 7853134270
Ghazi A. Al-Weshah is final year-PhD student in marketing at the Newport Business School,
South Wales, UK. He has MBA/marketing since 2002. He had worked as an instructor in
business and marketing for 4 year Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Prior to academe he was working
as a financial controller in banking industry
Jonathan H. Deacon
University of Wales, Newport - Newport Business School
E-mail: jonathan.deacon@newport.ac.uk
Contact No: +44 (0) 1633 43 23 22
Dr. Jonathan H Deacon is a Reader in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the Newport
Business School, he is a visiting academic at institutions in Spain, Germany and the USA and
is Chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Wales prior to academe he had success in
business and broadcasting.
October 16-17, 2009

Cambridge University, UK
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
The Role of Marketing Information Systems in Responding to External Environmental

Factors: An Empirical Study of the Jordanian Banking Industry
ABSTRACT
The current study investigates the contribution of marketing information system (MKIS) to
respond to change in external environmental factors in Jordanian banking industry.
Consequently, achieving information competitive advantage based on MKIS output.
Methodologically, a quantitative approach using statistical methods is employed to analyse
the data generated by a questionnaire survey. Moreover, the analysis of the cause-effect
relationship between MKIS and responding (adapting) to external environmental factors is
employed. Therefore, the study concluded that MKIS in Jordanian banking industry is not
effectively employed to analyse and deal with change in external environment up to date and
there is currently a weak role of MKIS to support responding to environmental change. Even
though the study reveals that Jordanian banks encounter more risks and environmental
uncertainty whenever the environment changes. However, the MKIS in Jordanian banking
industry has potentials in foreseeable future to create informational competitive advantage
through environmental awareness that associated with MKIS output. Finally, the study
recommends that it is essential for Jordanian banks to focus on the information needs of
marketing managers to balance the MKIS support for all management functions.
Consequently, more coordination is needed to expand the scope of information that they deal
with in order to be receptive to environmental change, uncertainty, and volatility.
INTRODUCTION
In strategic terms, there is increasing evidence that understanding of the competitive
environment is an essential element to develop the corporate strategy. However, strategy
development requires relevant information and involves uncertainty and ambiguity (Li et al,
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2000). More specifically, environmental change encourages firms to review their strategies
(Walsh, 2005). Therefore, it is important to analyse the environment surrounding the
organizations for many reasons. First, most organizations compete against each others. So,
the analysis of environment will provide information on the nature of competition as a step to
gain sustainable competitive advantage. Second, most organizations will perceive
opportunities that may be identified and threats that need to be avoided. Some opportunities
and threats may come not only from competitors but also from government decisions,
technological change, social developments and many other factors. Third, there are
opportunities for networks and other linkages. Such linkages with others may strengthen an
organization in its environment (Lynch, 2006).
Information systems have demonstrated the ability to gather, filter, and analyze data and
subsequently communicate information (Li et al, 2000). A marketing information system
(MKIS) is an essential tool for translating raw data to useful information (OBrien et al,
1995). It is evident that managers need a wide range of relevant strategic information, domain
knowledge, and assistance with systematic strategic analysis to overcome their limitations in
the process of marketing strategy development (Li et al, 2000). Furthermore, external factors
such as competitive pressures have impact of IT adoption in marketing (Leverick et al, 1997).
Computer-based information systems have been applied to support the process of marketing
strategy development and strategic marketing planning in different ways. However, such
efforts as have been made still exhibit a disappointing degree of success. Current information
systems developed for this purpose are still in the embryonic phase (Li et al, 2000). Even
though the concept of an MKIS has existed for years, many firms have still been unable to
realize its full potentials (OBrien et al.1995).
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Broadly speaking, the banking industry as a part of financial industries faces high risk in its
operations and decisions because of money transactions. On the other hand, technological
innovations reduced both geographic and economic barriers to competition and created
additional dimension of uncertainty within the financial industry (Nelson, 1999).
Unfortunately, most studies in marketing literature suggested that the current MKIS focus on
the operational process of sales and marketing. The marketing strategic functions, such as
external intelligence, strategic events/issues, position mapping, SWOT analysis
(strength/weakness/strategic opportunities/threats) have been significantly neglected (Xu,
1999). Thus, to achieve efficient MKIS implementing new information technologies is not
enough. It is necessary to focus on information needs of marketing managers and integrate
business plans with information technology plans (Li, 1995). Particularly in Jordanian
environment, there are limited studies directly examine the strategic role of MKIS, especially,
in banking industry (Al-Weshah and Deacon, 2009).
It is apparent that marketing information system in Jordanian banks (see appendix A) may
provide a source of superior responding (adapting) to external environment. Consequently,
provide better advantage over other competitors (Al-Weshah and Deacon, 2009).
Aims of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigate the role of marketing information system in
responding to change in external environmental factors in Jordanian banks. More specifically,
this study aims to investigate the contribution of MKIS in exploiting the available
opportunities and neutralising the potential threats in external environment.
More specifically, the purpose of current study is to:
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- Assess strength and direction of relationship between MKIS and external environmental
factors in Jordanian banks.
- Estimate a statistical function that predicts the effect of MKIS on adapting to environmental
factors in Jordanian banks.
- Suggest recommendations and strategic implications for banks managers in Jordan.
Marketing Information System Concepts
The first definition of marketing information systems was offered by Cox and Good (1967)
MKIS was defined as a set of procedures and methods for planning and presenting
information required in taking marketing related decision. Many authors (Brien and Stafford,
1968; Smith et al, 1968; and Buzzell et al (1969) further developed this definition by dividing
marketing information into three categories; control, planning , and research information
(Colgate, 2000). Uhl (1974) pointed out that a definition of a MKIS is a difficult task,
particularly if you prescribe to the notion that there is no one MKIS that will serve all
organizations because of the unique information requirements of different organizations
(Colgate, 2000).
Jobber and Rianbow (1977) defined MKIS as a system in which marketing information is
formally gathered, stored, analyzed, and distributed to managers in accordance with their
informational needs on a regular planned basis according to this definition, the MKIS is built
on identifying information needs of marketing managers to present relevant information
when, how and where that manager requires. They suggested that MKIS comprises four
elements; internal continuous data, Internal ad hoc- data, Environmental scanning, and
Marketing research (Jobber and Fahy, 2006).
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Piercy (1987) suggested some characteristics of MKIS that integrate to form its concept such
as stores and integrates information on marketing issues from many resources, MKIS
provides dissemination of such information to users, supports marketing management
decision making in both planning and control, it is likely to be computerized. Finally, MKIS
is not simply a new name for market research. In the light of mentioned characteristics,
MIKIS is an integrated system undertakes many tasks. This definition also pointed out that
there is difference between MKIS and market research. Furthermore, Marshell and LaMotte
(1992) defined MKIS as a formal system designed with objective of creating an organized,
regular, flow of relevant information for use and analysis by marketing decision makers.
Talvinen (1995) defined the MKIS concept by dividing it into two main groups based on
organizational position of users and type of use: Management MKIS and operational MKIS.
Management MKIS can be further classified into marketing management and decision
making systems. The users of management MKIS are primarily senior executives, strategic
business units (SBUs), marketing managers, and marketing analysts and experts. On the other
hand, operational MKIS can be classified into operational sales and marketing processoriented systems. The users of operational MKIS are middle management and operative sales.
Talvinen (1995) also suggested another classification of MKIS subsystems according to
different three levels of strategy; corporate, business, and functional or operational.
O'Brien et al (1995) defined a MKIS as an essential tool for translating raw data into useful
information. This study presented a model shows how raw data from both internal and
external resources flows into the system then translates into useful information. They also
pointed out to two ways to classify MKIS components; the first way of MKIS classification
depends on organizational levels that MKIS supports; highest level of management, middle
level of management, and lower level of management. The second way of MKIS
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classification depends on different component parts of MKIS; database (files), analytical

tools, customer handling, and people, Models and concepts.
Many researchers revealed that computer based systems most widely in marketing functions
are general IT tools such as spreadsheets, graphics packages, word processing, and electronic
mail. Existing computer-based systems for strategic marketing planning are restricted to
relevant information from operational systems (Li, 2000). Most previous studies of MKIS
focus on operational process of sales and marketing. The marketing strategic functions have
been neglected (Xu, 1999). This leads to create new concept of information systems that is
known a strategic information system to focus on strategic orientation of information systems
and to manage information strategically.
Ashill and Jobber (2001) concluded that an MKIS is defined as a system in which
information on any aspect of marketing is formally gathered, stored, and distributed to
decision makers in accordance with their information needs on a regular planned basis. Kotler
and Armstrong (2001) proposed that a marketing information system (MKIS) consists of
people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute accurate
information in a timely manner that is useful for marketing decision makers
In short, as literature review mentioned that MKIS is a part of management information
system (MIS) portfolio. Consequently, it is difficult to define an MKIS as a separate system
because of functions overlap among all information systems in an organization. In addition to
there is no specific MKIS relevant to all organizations due to different requirements of
information needs for each organization.
Many models of MKIS were presented with different MKIS subsystems. Some models
selected their MKIS subsystems based on functional basis. On the other hand, some models
selected their MKIS subsystems based on different managerial level that MKIS supports.
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Therefore, in the light of literature analysis and for the purpose of this study, MKIS
comprises all computer and non-computer systems which assist the marketing functions at
different managerial levels to operate effectively by providing updated and relevant
information to the right users.
Levels of Business Environment
It has become fashionable nowadays for planners, forecasters, and corporate executives to
recognise that their organizations work within the context of total environment. Therefore,
many managers ask "what is the business environment?" The business environment can be
divided into three levels: First, the most immediate level of environment is called as
organizational or internal environment. This kind of environment consists of stakeholders
(stockholders, directors, employees, and unions); objectives (profit, non-profits);
organizational culture and structure (entrepreneurial, professional, divisional, and holding
company), and organization resources (large firm and small firm). Second, the next level of
environment is called as micro environment. This kind of environment consists of suppliers
(equipments, material, premises, and finance); intermediaries (agents, wholesalers, and
retailers); customers (end-user, trade) and competitors (direct rivals and substitutes). Third,
the most general level of environment is called as macro environment. This kind of
environment consists of political, economic, soci-cultural, and technological influences
(Procter, 2000). Johnson et al (2005) divided the business environment into four layers.
These layers consist of Micro environment, industry or sector, competitors and markets, and
the organization environment. Accordingly, they divided the micro environment into two
layers "industry or sector" and "competitors and markets".
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Layers of the Business environment
The
Organisation
Competitors
Markets
Industry
(or sector)
The Macroenvironment
Source: Johnson et al, 2005

The same classification was adopted by Olsen et al (1994) but with different terms. They
classified the business environment into three main categories; general environment, task
environment, and functional environment (Teare & Bowen, 1997). Consequently, the current
study focuses on adapting to external environment as a source of competitive advantage.
Duncan (1972) defined business external environment as all the factors outside an
organization that are taken into consideration by the organization in its decision making.
These factors depend on the complexity and dynamism of the environment (Kourteli, 2005).
Moreover, the external environment of an organization also refers to events or trends which
occur outside the organization and satisfy the following two conditions; first, they are
relevant environment, i.e. they directly or indirectly affect the operations of the organization;
second, they are uncontrollable environment by organization. Since both of these criteria are
relative, the external business environment can be divided into two main categories; first, the
immediate or task environment. Task environment is well defined, long standing, high
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relevancy, high controllable relationships between the organization and other individuals or
organizations, task environment factors such as customers, suppliers, bankers, consultants
and so on; Second, the general or macro business environment. The general environment is ill
defined, periodic, high relevancy, low controllable relationships between the organization and
other individuals or organizations; general environment factors such as public, government,
technology, domestic market, world market, ecology, and so on (Keflas, 1981). Thus, these
factors may create new opportunities or potential threats of banks. Therefore, managers need
to understand and analyse the differential impact of these external factors on particular
industry and individual organizations to gain competitive advantage.
External Environment Analysis
Ginter and Duncan (1990) stated that macro-environmental analysis involves four activities;
first, scanning the macro environment for warning sings and possible environmental change
that may affect the business; second, monitoring environments for specific trends and
patterns; third, forecasting future directions of environmental changes; and finally, assessing
current the future trends of an organization (Campbell, 2004).
The process of external environmental analysis is to identify organizations opportunities and
threats needs information related to political, economic, social and technological changes. In
a broad term, Hung (2006) stated that external environmental analysis consists of some
current trends, forecasting the trend orientation, assessing the implications for the
organization, and lastly identifying opportunities and threats for an organization.
There is no doubt that environmental factors increase organizational uncertainty and
turbulence. Environmental uncertainty can be defined as the unpredictability stemming from
the lack of clarity in information (Lysonski et al, 1995). Consequently, the organizations
have three perspectives to deal with environmental changes; responses to external changes
(reaction), preparation for expected changes (interaction), or intended inducement of
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environmental changes (proaction). It is argued here that as the level of environmental

turbulence increases, the presence of information and technology manager on the top level
executive team leads to better management (control) or organizational turbulence (Karake,
1997).
Environmental turbulence increases the need not only for more information, but also for more
organized, comprehensive, accurate, and timely information. Thus, information use is to
reduce or remove uncertainty and turbulence (Frishammar, 2003). This kind of information
has two main tasks; the first task to identify sources of external turbulence -once this task is
accomplished- the second task is coordination of responses activities, implementation, and
control (Karake, 1997). Organizations need to think strategically and to be more sensitive to
the environment to gain competitive advantage.
Organizations encounter greater risks whenever the environment changes. As a result, more
coordination is needed to increase the capacity of information processing. Organizations have
to expand the scope of information that they deal with in order to be receptive to
environmental change. To cope successfully with environmental volatility, the information
scope is expected to be different and focus more on what is actually and regularly needed by
organizations (Abdul Karim, 2004).
However, many executives choose not to devote much energy to the scanning of their
business environment for many reasons; first, they are uncertain about the cause-effect
relationships which exist between environmental events and firm performance; second,
executives are reluctant to engage in a significant scanning activity if they have access to
high quality information sources, third; they have difficulty assigning probabilities to the
likelihood of events those happened in the environment. Consequently, it is easier to make
decisions about more immediate threats and opportunities rather than long term trend (Teare
and Bowen, 1997).
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Evidence suggests that executives who are able to scan their business environment will derive
more benefits for their business especially, if they are able to detect threats and opportunities
and respond accordingly (Teare and Bowen, 1997). Therefore, the major purpose of
environmental scanning is to identify an early opportunity for seeking new directions for the
company as well as to identify threats to know about the barriers to the corporate strategic
decisions.
There are many factors support organizational adaptation to environmental change such as
the increase of environmental awareness of managers, the assessment of strengths and
weaknesses of environment, and the aid in problem recognition (Ardekani & Nystrom, 1996).
Consequently, MKIS can create all these factors by providing managers with relevant
information.
In short, the competitive advantage that arise form external change depends on an
organization ability to respond to external change. Any external change creates whether
opportunities for profits or organization threats and challenges. The ability to identify and
respond to opportunity lays in the core management capabilities.
Responding or Adapting to Environmental Changes

In environmental analysis terms, it is useful to distinguish between two types of analysis
outcomes. First, proactive outcomes: when environmental analysis identifies positive
opportunities and negative threats. Consequently, the organization develops proactive
strategies to exploit the available opportunities and cope with potential threats. Second,
reactive outcomes, when environmental analysis identifies important strategic changes in the
environment. Consequently, the organization needs to be able to adapt itself or react to these
changes (Lynch, 2006). Hagen et al (2003) concluded that when banks managers scan their
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environment, they simultaneously explore variables that provide information for both
potential opportunities (proactive) and (reactive) threats.
When a firm finds itself exposed to an environmental change, it needs to think strategically
and be more sensitive to its environment in order to gain competitive advantage (Abdul
Karim, 2004). Therefore, the firm must determine how the processes of change in the
marketplace impact on the firm's strategic choices, Resources employment, and the nature of
its competitive advantage within that environment. More specifically, the organization needs
to identify three issues; first, the key market variables that emerge as a result of
environmental change in that market, second, the effect of these market variables on its
strategies, third, the appropriate resources and competency in order to create new strategies
that take into account these environmental changes. Furthermore, the evolution of market
variables arising from environmental change may require a change in firm's strategies in
order to respond the available opportunities or potential threats created by these variables
(Walsh, 2005). Choo (1996) reported the importance of information categories such as
human, textual, and online database information in identifying future trends and effectively
responding to immediate change of environment.
To assess the external environment, two criteria have been developed by Kefalas (1981) the
first is associated with the volatility of each environmental factor. The second deals with the
nature or significance of these factors for the organization. Volatility refers to two attributes
of the external environment; the degree of change and the frequency of change. According to
these criteria, the external environment can be divided into many categories. An external
environment factor in which changes infrequent and insignificant allows for relatively precise
prediction. Since the manager of an organization can forecast the time and magnitude of the
next change by simple extrapolation techniques. These circumstances or conditions
characterise a stable environment. On the other hand, a dynamic environment is characterised
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by frequent changes that increase its complexity and making it less predictable. Forecasting
techniques must be more sophisticated such as systematic and formalised trend projection and
simulation. Finally, a turbulent environment is characterized by the accelerating frequency of
high magnitude and unexpected change that creates extreme complexity beyond any kind of
prediction. In this kind of environment, normal, historical, and conventional trends and
expectations are destroyed and ineffective.
In short, as a result of markets become increasingly turbulent, so responsiveness to external
change has become increasingly important as a source of competitive advantage.
Responsiveness also involves anticipating changes in the basis of competitive advantage over
time. As industry moves through its life cycle, as customer needs change, as patterns of
competition shifts, consequently, organization must adjust their capabilities to take advantage
of key success factors in the future.
Responsiveness to the opportunities or threats provided by the external changes require one
key resource, this resource is information. Information is necessary to identify and anticipate
external changes. However, this is dependent on an organizations environmental scanning
capability (Grant, 2002). Choo (2001) pointed out that scanning behaviour may vary with the
amount of environmental change. Information processing perspectives suggest that scanning
activity will increase in response to increasing environmental uncertainty (Hough & White,
2004). Evans (1988) proposed a model for environmental scanning and concluded that
understanding the environment requires more than being armed with lists of environmental
influences. Thus, environmental scanning is one of the most important tools that support an
organization to respond to its environment.
MKIS and External Environment in Banking Industry
The banking industry has been undergoing a tremendous change in the past few years. There
are many changes in the number and variety of products offered because of the branching or
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mergers and acquisitions of banks. The intensity of competition and information technology
growth within a harsh environment has led to restructuring of retail banking industries.
Recent advances in information systems technologies offer new ways of managing banks
relationships within international banking environment. Unfortunately, the level of
environmental turbulence in banking industry is very high (Karake, 1997). However, most
banks are uncertain how to adapt with these developments effectively.
Therefore, the current study investigated the most important previous studies that examined
the relationship between information systems and the environment of banking industry.
Fletcher and Wright (1996) investigated the relationship between the strategic use of
information technology and the strategic context in financial services organizations in UK.
The study suggested that the strategic use of sophisticated IT systems will not occur without
supportive strategic context. A number of variables were considered to measure strategic
context in financial organizations such as integration of IT and strategy, strategic ambiguity,
strategic time frame, strategic importance of IT decisions, strategic spend and investment
appraisal, and perception of competitive intensity. Therefore, the study concluded that the
strategic importance of IT have been accepted by organization studied. There is high degree
of integration between marketing and IT in financial organizations. However, this integration
is associated with strategic ambiguity. Moreover, the study neglected some important
strategic factors in financial context.
Colgate (1998) investigated the interface between marketing information systems technology
(MIST) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in the retail banking industries in the
UK and Ireland. The study pointed out to application of IT within marketing of retail banks
and reported MIST is clearly not providing banks with the information that will enable them
to create SCA. Therefore, he empirically examined the factors that enable banks to implement
and utilise MIST successfully such as monitoring of the environment through IT, greater
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responsibility in strategic marketing activities, Strategy perspective, investing resources, the

importance of marketing within the organization.
The results indicated that MIST as a way to create SCA has not been fully exploited within
the retail banking industry in the UK and Ireland to date. The results also showed that
marketing sophistication, organizational size, and previous implementation experience were
all critical factors in a successful implementation process of MIST.
Although the study is influential work in marketing and banking literature but it has some
limitations; the study did not empirically examine what type of SCA can be achieved by
using MIST within banking industry. It just examined the factors influencing MIST
implementation. Moreover, the study was conducted in banks and building societies in the
above mentioned countries. In fact, it did not take into account the differences between banks
and building societies such as core activities, objectives, and customers' categories and it
considered the both sectors as retail banking industry.
Nelson (1999) investigated the historical analysis of the integration between marketing and
information technology within banking industry in USA from 1970 to 1995. The study
presented the analysis of banking industry literature over the mentioned time period
supported by semi-structured interviews with managers at several organizations within US
retail banking industry. It suggested that the banking industry publications from 1970 onward
provide a little evidence of banks having information systems capable of supporting the needs
of marketing. At the same time, other industries have had remarkable success in developing
marketing information systems. The main findings from historical analysis indicated that
there is lack of integration between the marketing and information services functions within
the banking industry. The study revealed that although there are studies in academic literature
that address internal and external changes to banks, it appears that few studies directly
examine the interface between the information services and marketing functions. Even
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though this study is a remarkable work in the research area however, it has some limitations;
it was descriptive in nature. It was not empirical work in particular banks in US. There are no
indications for how many banks and participants involved in the study. Moreover, the study
did not indicate apparently the most important factors that are influenced by MKIS
application in US banking industry and what barriers of adoption MKIS are.
Xu (1999) examined the practice and application of marketing information systems (MKIS)
in supporting the marketing strategic functions within computer and financial industries in
UK. The study findings indicated that marketing managers are highly satisfied with the
systems support of operational functions such as sales promotion, direct selling, and
managing customer relationships. On the other hand, the support of strategic functions is
limited to competition analysis, market segmentation and targeting. Meanwhile, a little
support of MKIS was directed to other strategic function such opportunities/threats analysis
and strategic planning. The study also explored the barriers of implementing a strategicoriented MKIS from managers' perspectives. According to the survey, there are three major
barriers; first, lack of strategic sense and vision by some marketing managers, therefore, they
failed to understand the benefits and strategic role of MKIS. Second, lack of strategic
marketing culture and organizational support by companies to move toward strategic
marketing. Third, lack of required knowledge, experience and tools to develop relevant
marketing information systems. The study suggested some strategic and operational
applications of MKIS in terms of internal and external environment. Table 1 shows these
applications
Table 1: strategic and operational applications of MKIS
Strategic
support
Internal
Trends monitoring
Effectiveness monitoring
Strength /weaknesses
New product development
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External
Market positioning
Competitors, mapping
Opportunity / Threats
Environmental scanning
17
Operational
support
Sales promotion
Advertising
Product pricing
Sales force management
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Market research
Direct marketing
(database, Internal)
Contact management
Public relation
Source: Xu, 1999
The study concluded that the strategic role of MKIS should emphasis external environmental
scanning, processing and strategic analysis in order to enhance marketing managers as well as
organization strategic sensibility and capability. This study suggested to future studies about
the best practice of conducting marketing strategic function and the successful application of
MKIS to monitor the effectiveness of the strategic oriented marketing information systems
and to generate the best strategy for MKIS implementation.
Although this study is a remarkable work in the strategic orientation of MKIS but it has some
limitations; first, this study did not specify the basis and method of sample selection. Second,
it has relatively low response rate (27.5) percent. Therefore, the study findings could not be
generalized to the selected population. Third, this study did not specify strategically the most
important environmental factors that are influenced by MKIS application.
Moreover, Colgate (2000) examined the current level of MKIS sophistication and use of
marketing within retail banking industry in Australasia and Europe. In addition, use the
empirical data to discover the antecedents for a sophisticated marketing information system
and provide a model of what a sophisticated MKIS may look like. The study suggested five
significant factors that enable the banks to have a sophisticated MKIS. These factors are
strategic perspective, marketing not just by name, proactive use of IT, marketing orientation,
and monitoring competition through IT and marketing.
The results indicated that only two factors will be able to create sophisticated MKIS;
marketing orientation and proactive use of IT. The study concluded that although the use of
marketing in these countries would seem to be growing, the application of information
technology to support marketing is still at relatively low levels of sophistication. According to
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the study, this may be due to the fact that IT to support marketing within the banking industry
is very difficult to implement. The major limitations of the study were that UK and Ireland
can not be representative for all Europe countries. Consequently, the findings of this study
can not be generalised to all Europe countries. In addition, the study did not indicate clearly
to what basis of sample that used and how many banks involved in this study.
Methodological Considerations
The current study adopts cross sectional design to collect data required at specific time
point. Empirical study is conducted using structured questionnaire. The questionnaire used
consisted of four major sections with 36 questions in all and most of them measured by five
items Likert scale.
140 questionnaires were personally distributed to respondents they work in Jordanian banks
geographically located in Jordan that were drawn from Directory of Jordanian Banks. The
questionnaires were drawn to particular units at general managements (headquarters) of these
banks, namely, information systems departments, marketing departments, and strategic
planning departments. The researcher gave a short presentation for questionnaire's
respondents in each bank about the main objectives of questionnaire and clarified them how
to fill it out. A follow up procedure was employed by telephone or personally after three to
four weeks. A total of 81 questionnaires were returned with acceptable response rate was 57.9
percent. For questionnaire validity purposes two procedures were taken; first, the
questionnaire was reviewed by three marketing professors in Jordan to test the instrument
approve the translation process into Arabic language, the questionnaire was pre-tested by two
marketing executives in Jordanian banking industry and they have not been selected later to
fill the latter questionnaire. Consequently, the data obtained was accurate and complete with
no missing data and there was no evidence that respondents had difficulty with any of the
questions. For reliability purposes, the internal consistency reliability coefficients were also
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calculated. A widely cited minimum threshold for the Crobanch Alpha is 0.70 (Nunnally,
1970). Recently, Sekaran (1992) suggested that a reliability Alpha as low as 0.60 but no lower
is generally acceptable. However, the calculated Cronbach's Alpha for the questionnaire as
whole was 86 percent.
In the current study, the self-administrated questionnaire was adopted to minimise the
research bias through absence the researcher effects. This method also is more convenience
for respondents because they can complete the questionnaire when they want. More
specifically, delivery and collection questionnaire method was used in this study; this method
was employed by the current study due to general bank managements (headquarters) are
geographically located at specific area in the Amman city. Therefore, the researcher has no
difficultly in moving among these banks headquarters.
Discussion of Analysis and Findings

The respondents' characteristics
To find out demographic characteristics of the study respondents, many questions were asked.
The respondents were asked to identify their gender. Figure 1 shows the respondents
distribution according to their gender. 64.2 percent of the questionnaire respondents were
male, while 35.8 percent of the respondents were female. On the other hand, respondents
have various organizational titles (positions) within their banks. Most respondents who filled
out the questionnaire were almost entirely senior to middle management grade such as unit
managers, assistant unit manager, heads of departments, and department supervisors. This
implies that these respondents are capable of expressing their views on marketing strategic
issues. The positions of all respondents are shown in (figure 2).
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Figure 1: gender distribution of respondents
Figure 2: position distributions of respondents

30
female
35.8%
20
male
Percent
10
64.2%
0
Unit manager Head of department
Manager assistant
Others
Supervisor
As stated before, the questionnaires were sent to three main departments at banks
headquarters which lay on information systems, strategic planning, and marketing roles.
However, few banks choose other heading titles for departments taking on these'
responsibilities. The data shows (figure 3) that 38.3 percent of respondents work in
information systems departments, 30.9 percent of them work in marketing departments, and
13.3 percent work in strategic planning departments, while 17.3 percent of them work in
other departments but still have the same job description and main duties. Moreover,
respondents were also invited to indicate their highest qualifications or educational levels.
The data shows (figure 4) that the majority of respondents have a bachelor's degree (76.5
percent). 14.8 percent of respondents have a graduate degree (PhD or Masters). 7.4 percent of
them have a technical or vocational certificate, and only 1.2 percent of them have a high
school certificate. It is therefore likely that they have experience in information gathering and
analysis techniques as part of their formal education.
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Figure 4: respondents' educational levels

Figure 3: departments distribution
High School
of respondents
Percent
40
30
20
1.2%
38
31
Technical/Vocational
17
14
10
0
Graduate degree
7.4%
14.8%
ot
rs
he
s
sy
te
m
ng
ni
an
pl
n
io
g
tin
at
c
gi
ke
ar
m
or
te
ra
st
f
in
Bachelors degree
76.5%
The respondents were asked to determine the exact years of experience they have, the
outcomes data presents (figure 5) that 12.3 percent of respondents have over 20 year of
experience, 21 percent of respondents have 13-19 years of experience, 25.9 percent of
respondents have 7-12 years of experience, and 13.6 percent of respondents have 3-6 years of
experience, while 27.2 percent of respondents have less than three years of experience.
Therefore, it is a result of restructuring processes and replacing old employment which
adopted in Jordanian banks in the last decade. Furthermore, the respondents were asked to
identify their supervision span. 69.1 percent of respondents were responsible for less than
three employees, 16 percent of respondents were responsible for 3-5 employees, 7.4 percent
of respondents were responsible for 6-8 employees, and 7.4 percent were responsible for over
12 employees. The supervision spans of all respondents are shown in (figure 6).
October 16-17, 2009

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ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
Figure 5: respondents' years of experiences
30
27
26
Percent
20
10
21
14
12
Percent supervision span
Figure 6: respondents' supervision span
80
60
69
40
20
16
s
ee
oy
pl
em
12
s
er
ee
oy
ov
pl
s
em
ee
8
oy
6s
pl
es
em
&l
5
ee
3oy
pl
em
e
or
m
r&
ea s
-y ar
20 ye
9
-1 rs
13 yea
12 s
7- ear ss
le
y
6
&
3- rs
a
ye
3-
Marketing information system and responding (adapting) to external environmental

factors.
In order to explore the role of MKIS in responding to changes in external environmental
factors in Jordanian banks, the respondents were invited to select one of five items Likert
scale. (Table 2) shows the frequencies of each item in for each statement.
Table 2: the percentage of each item frequencies in the statements of adapting to environment variable
Statement
Marketing information system gathers
and analyzes data systematically about
external factors which affect the bank.
Marketing information system provides
information to identify key opportunities
and threats to bank.
Marketing information system assists the
bank to adapt to changing environment.
bank to respond to central bank and
governmental regulations.
bank to react to its competitors.
Marketing information system provides
information to compare the bank services
to competitors' services.
Marketing information system can assist
the bank to adapt to business cycle
conditions.
bank to exploit available opportunities in
banking industry.
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Strongly
Disagree
(%)
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
(%)
(%)
(%)
Strongly
Agree
(%)
0.0
6.2
27.2
58.0
8.6
0.0
2.5
27.2
64.2
6.2
0.0
3.7
28.4
58.0
9.9
2.5
11.1
35.8
35.8
14.8
0.0
2.5
21.0
53.1
23.5
1.2
3.7
22.2
42.0
30.9
1.2
6.2
39.5
37.0
16.0
0.0
7.4
23.5
53.1
16.0
23
Marketing information system supports

the bank to decrease threats and risks in
banking industry.
Marketing information system creates
competitive advantage for your bank.
ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
0.0
7.4
43.2
43.2
6.2
0.0
4.9
19.8
49.4
25.9
To identify the contribution of MKIS in dealing (adapting or responding) with environmental

factors, the following points can be extracted based on responses frequencies analysis method
shown in (Table 2):
58% of respondents agree that MKIS gathers and analyzes data systematically about
environmental factors of banking industry. Furthermore, 64.2% agree that MKIS
provides information to identify key opportunities and threats to their banks.
58% of respondents agree that MKIS assists their bank to adapt to changing
environment. More specifically, only 35.8% agree that MKIS assists the bank to respond
to central and governmental regulations, 37% agree that MKIS assists the bank to adapt
to business cycle conditions, on the other hand, 53.1% agree that MKIS assists the banks
to react to its competitors. Moreover, 42% agree that MKIS provides information to
compare banks services to competitors services
Regarding to bank opportunities and threats, 53.1% of respondents agree that MKIS
assists the bank to exploit available opportunities the in banking industry. On the other
hand, 43.2% agree that MKIS assists the bank to decrease threats in the banking
industry.
49.4% of respondents agree that MKIS can create competitive advantage for their banks
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The strength and direction of relationship between MKIS and external environmental
factors
A correlation coefficient enables the researcher to quantify the strength and direction of the
relationship between two ranked and quantifiable variables. This study uses SPSS to compute
the Pearson correlation coefficient between MKIS and external environmental factors in
Jordanian banking industry. Table 3 shows the correlation matrix between these variables.
Table 3: correlation matrix between MKIS and adapting to external environmental factors
MKIS
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Adapting to
External
Environmental
Factors
1.000
.
81
MKIS
Adapting to External
Environmental Factors
Pearson Correlation
0.387**
1.000
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
0.000
81
.
81
0.387**
0.000
81
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

The closer the coefficient is to 1, the stronger the relationship. On the other hand, the closer
the coefficient is to zero, the weaker the relationship. As we notice from the table 3 above,
the Pearson correlation coefficient between marketing information system and adapting to
external environmental factors is (0.387). This value indicates to weak relationship between
the two variables. Moreover, the positive coefficient indicates to the positive direction of the
relationship between the two variables. Therefore, there is a weak positive relationship
between MKIS and adapting to external environmental factors in Jordanian banking industry.
The effect of MKIS on adapting to environmental factors
Correlation coefficient does not take into account which variable is considered to be
dependent variable and which the independent. One of the current study aims is to assess the
effect of MKIS as independent variable on adapting to external environmental factors as a
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one of dependent variables. For that purpose, the linear regression model is used. As we
mentioned before, the linear regression can be expressed as: Y= B0 +BiXi where the value of
independent variable is Y is a linear function of the corresponding value of the independent
variable X. the slope (Bi), and the intercept (B0) .
Practically, the current study uses SPSS to estimate the following regression equation for the
two variables:
AEF= 1.859 + 0.559 MKIS . (1)
Where:
AEF= adapting (responding) to environmental factors (dependent variable)
MKIS= marketing information system (independent variable)
According to equation 1, the slope of line (0.559) indicates to the expected change in
adapting to external environmental factors when marketing information system in a bank is
changed by one unit. The intercept (1.859) is the estimation value of adapting to
environmental factors when there is no marketing information system in bank. In other
words, the value indicates to the adapting to environmental factors regardless of marketing
information system.
The strength of cause (MKIS) and effect (adapting to external environmental factors)
relationship
The Coefficient of determination (R2) measures the proportion of variation in a dependent
variable that can be explained statistically by the independent variable. In other words, (R2)
indicates to the proportion of changes in the dependent variable that is associated with
changes in the independent variable. Practically, the current study computed (R2) using SPSS
and it is (0.15). This percentage is the proportion of changes in the adapting to environmental
factors that is associated with changes in marketing information system. Therefore, this
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ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
percent (0.15) indicates to the relative contribution of marketing information system in

adapting to environmental factors in Jordanian banking industry
CONCLUSION AND STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

In the light of previous- mentioned statistical analysis of the study questionnaire, the findings
of the study can be summarised as follows:
There is a weak positive relationship between MKIS and responding to external

environmental factors in Jordanian banking industry. The Pearson correlation
coefficient between the two variables is (0.387). The value indicated that responding
or adapting to external environment is not mainly associated with MKIS output.
The expected change in adapting to external environmental factors when marketing

information system in a bank is changed by one unit is (0.559). this value indicated
that any development in MKIS will lead to more ability to adapt to external
environment in low rate.
The proportion of changes in the responding to environmental factors that is

associated with changes in marketing information system is (0.15). Therefore,
statistically, there is (0.85) of variation (change) in responding to external
environmental factors can be explained by other factors other than MKIS.
In the light of the above-mentioned findings, the current study concludes that MKIS in
Jordanian banking industry is not effectively employed to analyse the expected change in
external environment up to date. However, the MKIS in Jordanian banking industry has
potentials in foreseeable future to create informational competitive advantage that support
responding to external environment.
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Consequently, the study recommends that Jordanian banks encounter greater risks whenever
the environment changes. As a result, more coordination is needed to increase the capacity of
information processing. Organizations have to expand the scope of information that they deal
with in order to be receptive to environmental change and volatility. To cope successfully
with environmental volatility, managers need to increase their information-gathering
activities in an attempt to improve their decision making under uncertainty and variation.
Moreover, the information scope is expected to be different and focus more on what is
actually and regularly needed by banks.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The current study was limited to the Jordanian Banks working inside Jordan. Therefore, the
study did not include the foreign Banks working inside Jordan or Jordanian banks outside
Jordan. This study employed cross-sectional design to collect the primary data at specific
time period. Moreover, it focused on the quantitative techniques to investigate the role of
MKIS in responding to external environmental factors in the Jordanian banking Industry. In
the light of these limitations, future research can consider the qualitative techniques of
collecting and analysing data to find out additional support for the findings of quantitative
data analysis and to identify the missing issues that are not discovered in the quantitative
approach. Longitudinal design can be employed in further research to compare the change of
MKIS effect on the environment over the years Moreover, the further studies can be
extended to other services and manufacturing industries.
Note: the current study is part of PhD research conducted at University of Wales, Newport.
UK.
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Appendix A: structure of Jordan banking system
Jordan Banking System

(End of 2008)
National Banks .1
Year of
establishment
Number of
branches
Number of
minibranches
Number of
branches
outside
Jordan
1930
82
89
1956
42
1960
44
30
A. commercial Banks
Arab Bank PLC
Jordan Ahli Bank PLC
Bank of Jordan PLC
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ISBN : 978-0-9742114-2-7
1960
36
16
16
1974
96
1977
34
12
1978
24
Arab Banking Corporation

(Jordan)
1989
12
Union Bank for saving and

Investment
1991
12
Jordan Islamic Bank for

Finances and Investment
1979
54
Islamic International Arab

Bank PLC
1997
11
Cairo Amman Bank

The Housing Bank for Trade
and Finance
Jordan -Kuwait Bank
Jordan Commercial Bank
B. Islamic Banks
Source: adapted from Central bank of Jordan, annual report, 2008
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Ghazi A. Al-Weshah, Jonathan H. Deacon

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

The Role of Marketing Information Systems in Responding to External Environmental

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

The Role of Marketing Information Systems in Responding to External Environmental

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

classification depends on different component parts of MKIS; database (files), analytical

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

Layers of the Business environment

Source: Johnson et al, 2005

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

environmental changes (proaction). It is argued here that as the level of environmental

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Responding or Adapting to Environmental Changes

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

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9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

responsibility in strategic marketing activities, Strategy perspective, investing resources, the

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Table 1: strategic and operational applications of MKIS

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Source: Xu, 1999

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Discussion of Analysis and Findings

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Figure 1: gender distribution of respondents

Figure 2: position distributions of respondents

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Figure 4: respondents' educational levels

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Figure 5: respondents' years of experiences

Percent supervision span

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Figure 6: respondents' supervision span

Marketing information system and responding (adapting) to external environmental

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics

Marketing information system supports

To identify the contribution of MKIS in dealing (adapting or responding) with environmental

October 16-17, 2009

9th Global Conference on Business & Economics