amj Australasian Marketing Journal - ANZMAC

Table 2:
A comparison of the Australian and the Taiwanese advertising companies
Statement
their overall marketing strategy.
When asked if marketing on the Internet gives my company
a competitive advantage , less than one third of the Australian
respondents agreed. About twice as many, or two thirds of the
Taiwanese companies saw the Internet giving them a leg up
on their competitors. This difference could be explained with
the Taiwanese having less experience with the Internet and
therefore more optimistic about its use.
Even though two thirds of the Taiwanese felt the Internet gave
them a competitive advantage, this is less than what these
same companies thought of the Internet as a marketing asset.
The same was true with Australian companies. Almost one
half of the companies thought the Internet was a valuable
marketing asset but less than one third of these same companies
thought the Internet gave them a competitive advantage.
This lack of perceived competitive advantage from respondents
could be due to the ambiguity of the medium and the
ease in which competitors are able to copy aspects of web site
design. Bush, Bush and Harris (1998) found that US advertisers
also did not perceive the Internet to give a company a
competitive advantage, explained through the newness of the
Internet.
Perceptions of Internet Marketing
Australia Taiwan Chi-square
N = 61 % N = 45 % Sig. Level
My company has incorporated the Internet into its
marketing strategy
23 38 32 71 .001
My company considers Internet marketing as a
valuable marketing asset
29 48 35 78 .002
Marketing on the Internet gives my company
a competitive advantage
18 30 30 67 .000
Web sites will be used more within my organization 35 57 3067 N.S a
within the next year
Knowledge/skills related to Internet marketing
has influenced our hiring criteria
15 25 22 49 .009
Marketing on the Internet reduces media waste 9 15 28 62 .000
Internet marketing significantly contributes to 11 18 19 42 .006
our marketing campaign
a N.S. is no significant difference between Australian and Taiwanese sample
For the moment, the Internet s marketing potential exceeds
reality. Still, both Australian (57%) and Taiwanese (66%)
advertising companies agreed that they would use Web sites
more in their organizations.
When asked if the Internet reduces media waste traditional
printing about one out of seven Australian respondents
agreed. Conversely, about four out of seven Taiwanese respondents
indicated some level of agreement. This difference could
be explained through the different experience levels.
Australian companies would have used the Internet for a
greater time period and may have already determined that
there is no reduction in traditional printing. Taiwanese companies,
with their lower levels of experience, may have not been
able to evaluate changes to their current printing requirements.
Overall, there is a perceived uncertainty with the Internet s
potential versus reality, therefore emphasizing the perceived
ineffectiveness associated with Internet marketing.
This was found to a greater extent in the Australian firms than
the Taiwanese firms.
Currently, Internet knowledge and skills are just beginning to
influence firms hiring criteria. In Australia it appears that
Australasian Marketing Journal 9 (1), 2001 39