Knowledge that Transforms

What happens when a government tries to substitute its own decisions for those of the market place in determining who shall consume what quantities of a commodity? The Indian Government's fertilizer-consumption goals deviated substantially from previously existing market patterns. The Government was partly successful in changing consumption patterns by allocating fertilizer supplies to specified crops and regions in keeping with its planned targets. Some difficulties were encountered, largely because the method Government used to set its allotment quotas differed from those that actually determined the amounts taken by wholesale and retail distributors.

The Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan collects data of consumer attitudes to assist marketing prediction. These data include an over-all attitudinal index and statistics concerning attitudes toward specific consumer durable goods. How accurate have these data been as a basis for predicting consumer demand in total, and for specific durable goods? The answers are given in this article.

It is not always necessary to use all the accessories of “scientific” research methods in preparing survey evidence for presentation in court. Some relatively low-cost surveys or “tests” have been contrived so simply that they avoid the legal introduction problems encountered by more complicated techniques, and they may make more sense to judge and jury. Here is a description of how they work.

The author dispels several misconceptions about business gaming and shows how it can provide marketing management with an important decision assisting tool.

Recent regulations of the Internal Revenue Service regarding tax deductibility of expenditures for “institutional” advertising tend to restrict and discourage the use of advertising by business management as a method of mass communication. The author points out that the concept of “institutional” advertising which the Internal Revenue Service has followed for forty years is narrow and, for many purposes, outdated. Attempts to modify present regulations under the old concept are not satisfactory. According to the author, there is need for a recognition on the part of Treasury officials of the growing responsibilities of management and of the expanded function of advertising to carry messages, of a public-relations and public-interest nature, as a means of informing and influencing public attitudes and opinions.