Interaction between Manufacturing and Marketing from an Information Technology Perspective – A Case Study

Abstract

This paper explores how information technology (IT) impacts the interaction between manufacturing and marketing departments. Literature review is made to understand the relationship between interfunctional goals gap and activities conflict within the two departments. The application of IT function is proved to be an effective means which can reduce the degree of interfunctional goals gap, thereby reduce the conflict on activities level.This paper studies the interaction between manufacturing and marketing departments of six firms, located in the Hsin Chu Science-Based Industrial Park (HSIP) in Taiwan, from an information technology perspective. The methodology employed herein is based on case study, the analysis of six cases has lead to 9 hypotheses. This exploratory study aims at the decision-making, and communication capacity of IT on manufacturing and marketing departments, through interdisciplinary research.