An Operations-Research Evaluation Technique of the Use of Sales-Research Information

A working hypothesis about the process by which the raw data of a sales organization are used in decision-making has been found necessary in the ongoing inquiry into the optimum structure of information for a multi-plant, multi-product organization. In discussing such a model, certain inherent limitations besetting even the best raw data that constitute the input for research information are precipitated. The not-so-direct paths, from raw data to research information, from research information to decision-making, and from decision-making to change in sales make the model more difficult to define functionally and to determine empirically. The work of Marketing and Management Research at Royal Metal Manufacturing Company, New York, itself is still centered around the input of raw data and the output of research information, which is at least two steps away conceptually from the operations-research evaluation technique of the use of research information. Nevertheless, the first step itself has been found to benefit immensely from the working hypothesis about the relation it holds with the subsequent steps in the model, as seen from the application of the operations-research cycle—specification, production, inspection, and respecification—to research information.