Economic reforms and information technology together have changed the facet of Indian business. Economic reforms have set the forces like liberalization, privatization and globalization that have unleashed competition. Information technology (IT) has revolutionized the character of the organization, especially marketing. In this context, many business organizations have started spending huge amounts on IT and developing Marketing Information Systems for effective decision making. In this scenario it will be of interest to know the state of the art of Marketing Information Systems (MKIS) and their effectiveness.A great number of companies today are confronted with a continuously changing and highly competitive environment. As a result, the value of information increases since it becomes one of the most valuable assets in ranking the competitive rivalry of the modern markets. This, in turn, calls for a systematic organization and development of MKIS which can effectively collect, process and diffuse the necessary information available both to the internal and external levels (Talvimen, 1995).However, although the development and the organization of the company's MKIS has received considerable attention, during the 1990's (e.g. Proctor, 1991, Kotler, 1994, Marshall and La Motte, 1992, Sisodia, 1992, Talvinen, 1995, Li, 1995, Van Bruggen et al., 1996, Wierenga and Ophus, 1997, Wierenga et al., 1999) the scope has been limited to four main groups: a) the definition of MKIS, b) the possibility to classify in specific and distinctive types of MKIS, c) the match between demand side (the decision processes to be supported) and supply side (the functionality of MKIS employed) and finally d) the importance in strategic planning and day-to-day operations
