Influence of Organizational and Technology Factors on Digital Media Integration in New Product Launch Projects. A Case of Unilever, Kenya.

Abstract

In a business environment characterized by a short product cycle, it is expected that a firm offering produce high returns within the sales period and this can only be realized if an organization tries to reach their customers in the best possible way. With the evolution of information technology, one of the ways in which customers are reached is through the use of digital media. Consequently project managers have started to consider digital media integration as an effective way of delivering new products to the market. The research sought to find out the influence of organizational and technology factors on digital media integration in new product launch at Unilever Kenya. The specific variables that were investigated include the influence of strategy, employee competence, organizational leadership and technology. The study employed descriptive survey design with the population being the 86 brand managers and staff for different products at Unilever. Data was collected by use of questionnaires, interview schedule and document analysis guide. Reliability and validity was established by use of a pre testing the questionnaire and conducting split-half technique to check reliability and verification by peer review and supervisor review. Finally data analysis was done through inferential and descriptive statistics. The findings were currently, Unilever adopts an integrated digital marketing strategy whereby it uses a combination of news delivery sites, creativity works sharing and social networking sites such as Facebook. The organizational factors that were found to affect digital media integration during a new product launch were the firm‘s strategy and human resource. A firm‘s strategy will determine how effective the product launch is done and also the potential customers reach. The human resource factor influence staff allocation and training to facilitate seamless launch. The firm‘s technological capacity influences the success of product integration and generation of accurate data. The study concluded that the use of digital media is more effective than the traditional media platforms for Unilever products especially for products with a short life cycle. In addition, the success of launching a new product is determined by both organizational and technological factors. The study recommends a more enhanced digital media integration and allocation of more human and financial resources to support adoption of more digital media platforms.