Knowledge that Transforms

This is a sophisticated discussion of the significant changes that have taken place in the automobile industry during the past few years, and the ones that are probably about to take place. If franchised dealers plan well with respect to the changes likely to come, they will have unusual opportunities for successful operation, as this article shows.

This is the speech given by Donald M. Hobart, formerly Senior Vice President and Director of Research of the Curtis Publishing Company (also President of the American Marketing Association in 1945), in New York on June 14, 1965, at the annual meeting of the American Marketing Association.

To research or not to research. That is a question that often plagues the marketing manager. Should he spend money on marketing research to get more facts so that a given operating decision may be sounder? Or should he save the money and make the decision without the added information a research would supply, thereby accepting an increased risk of decision error? Professor Alexander suggests a systematic approach to the twin problems of deciding when marketing research is worth while, and of making it a more useful tool in the kit of the marketing manager.