Author(s)

Prahalad Sooknanan, Karen Crichlow

Arthur Lok Jack, Graduate School of Business, University of the West Indies, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago.
University of Trinidad and Tobago, O’Meara Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.

New communication technologies such as the Internet are causing sweeping changes within the global marketing communications industry. Therefore, the implications of e-marketing for business in Trinidad and Tobago are profound as seen in a national plan to address this need. This study examines the efforts of local businesses and consumers to get on the e-marketing bandwagon already commonplace in the U.S. Two surveys were conducted among local businesses and local consumers to determine their readiness and/or success. In spite of governmental efforts to expand Internet capabilities, lethargy and lack of access still plague local businesses. This contrasts with local consumers who are more receptive to e-marketing expressing an increasing demand for online information. It is therefore imperative for the T&T government to address the deficiencies in its ICT plan so that local businesses and consumers can catch up with the rest of the world before the gap widens to a point where it becomes impossible to do so.

Internet, e-Marketing, ICT, Global Marketing, Local Business, North American Influence

Sooknanan, P. and Crichlow, K. (2014) The Role of Technology in the Marketing Communications Industry: An Exploratory Study of the Impact of North American Influence on Local Business in Trinidad and Tobago. Advances in Journalism and Communication, 2, 84-92. doi: 10.4236/ajc.2014.23009.