Teddy Bears and Perfumes: Advertising Information - Knowledge Management at its' best!

According to the Institute of Marketing, marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably. Although at first sight this definition appears to confine the term to the activities of a marketing department, it actually implies something much wider. The management process refers not only to the internal organisation of marketing, but also to other elements implicitly present which include market research (identifying and anticipating); correct design and delivery of product service (customer requirements) and satisfactory pricing policy (profitability). All of these functions can also be categorised as the very essence of what information specialists now term knowledge management. But how can knowledge management be properly defined? One of the most succinct definitions is that by Hoyt (1) -”knowledge management in it’s most basic form is made up of the systems that connect people to people and people to information”. He goes on to say that a key aspect of knowledge management is understanding how organisations, markets, and individuals create and manage value. The corresponding definition of organisational knowledge is said to be the combination of collective and personal information in context – in essence, information with value.(2) Knowledge management can therefore be seen to be a combination of all the different types of collective information within the organisation. If marketing information is the essential key to success of that organisation then the skills that are necessary in order to achieve that level of success must be those of a finely honed knowledge management team.