Creating sustainable competitive advantage through marketing information system technology: a triangulation methodology within the banking industry

The intensity of competition has increased within the retail banking industries in virtually all developed economies. Creating a sustainable competitive advantage, therefore, has become of paramount importance. One way through which retail banks have sought to create this sustainable competitive advantage has been the utilisation of information technology to support the marketing function. In light of this, this paper hypothesizes that marketing information system technology can leverage this sustainable competitive advantage ahead of other marketing technologies which bank management have implemented or are thinking of implementing. An analysis of the current use of marketing information system technology, however, reveals low levels of sophistication throughout the UK and Irish retail banking industries. Given this fact, the factors involved in successfully implementing marketing information system technology are presented. Empirical evidence was drawn from 48 postal questionnaires conducted in the UK and Ireland and ten case studies undertaken in the UK, USA and Australasia. Results show that marketing sophistication, organisational size, and previous implementation experience were all critical factors in a successful implementation process.