ABSTRACTABSTRACTBig Data Analytics (BDA) solutions are increasingly applied in marketing, with the aim of transforming data available online to market information and competitive intelligence. When businesses encounter risky situations (calculated risks) complex models using BDA are often the go-to solution. However, there is a still a debate if BDA is the best solution in uncertain situations when unexpected phenomena arise. The present study begins to fill this gap using the Colombian context as evidence and a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis method (fs-QCA). The focus shifts from a single cause leading to performance to an analysis of different associations of conditions. There are three major findings-first, in a risky environment, BDA is not a unique condition; a combination of data maturity levels, data skills and a data-driven mindset and culture are necessary to obtain good business performance. Second, even in the era of Big Data, large companies still use simple rules (heuristics) to make decisions which improve their performance. Finally, the environmental state (uncertain, certain, risky) is a moderating factor in the choice between BDA or Heuristics. The results indicate marketing managers should use a multi-model approach incorporating both BDA and heuristics.KEYWORDS: Big Data AnalyticsHeuristicRiskUncertaintyMarketing AcknowledgmentsNot applicable. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationFundingThe authors have not received any financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Notes on contributorsDidier GrimaldiDidier Grimaldi is PhD in Management from Polytechnic University of Catalonia since 2016. His main two researchdomains are the impact of the Artificial Intelligence and Big Data (including data from social media) on the society and business. Since 2017, he has been Associate Professor in the Business and Management program at Ramon Llull University - La Salle (Spain). He is also the Coordinator of the Masters of Information Technology and the Executive Education of Big Data and Smart City for Professionals. In addition, he is a Senior Visiting Professor in the SmartCity and Urban Innovation Masters program at Lorraine University (France). He is teaching the role of data, the leadership of the digital transformation and how Artificial Intelligence can help professionals (marketers among others) to take better and more informed data-driven decisions. Twitter: @didiergrimaldiJose M SallanJose M Sallan is Associate Professor at the Department ofManagement of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain. He earned his PhD degree in Industrial Engineering at UPC. His research experience and interests cover a broad rangeof subjects related to industrial organization: organizational and consumer behaviour, air transport management and business analytics. He is member of the Advisory Board of Management Decision, and editor of the Journal of Airport Management. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmsallan/Hugo ArboledaHugo Arboleda is an Associate Professor at Universidad Icesi, Cali-Colombia. He got a Ph.D. on Informatics at University of Nantes, France, and a Ph.D in Engineering at Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. His research focuses on IT and Project Management, with special interest in the discipline of software engineering projects, where his contributions to the field of software product lines have been published in several journals and conference proceedings. He holds international certifications such as PMP®, PRINCE2® andCOBIT5®, which in conjunction with his experience supports his role as consultant in different national organizations.Sapna SehgalSapna Sehgal is a Marketing Associate Professor, Researcher and Knowledge Area Coordinator for the undergraduate Management, Business and Technology program at Ramon Llull University – La Salle (Spain). She earned herPhD from the University of Barcelona in Cognitive Science and Language and holds an MSc from the University of Oxford´s Department of Education, a postgraduate degree from McGill University´s Department of Education, and a degree in Marketing from the University of Alberta (Canada). Her broad research interests include technological trends in marketing, and interdisciplinary areas at the intersection of business, marketing communications, linguistics,and technology. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sapnasehgal1/