Market Research
Market research might be looked on as the connection between developmental research and sales. Top management needs to be aware to not fall into the inducement of spending big amounts of money on research and development of a colorful product or process that, after it has been improved, has a real market but it is not a big enough market for it to be profitable or worthwhile. By saying this we are talking about a market that will never benefit from a big enough sales volume to recuperate the cost of the research, and certainly will not be beneficial or worthwhile as profit for an investor. A market research organization that is able to guide a big research endeavor of its company from one project that if it has been technically triumphant would have compensated for itself, to another one that might supply to a much bigger market that it would pay out several times as well, would have greatly grown the value to its stockholders of the company’s scientific human control. If quantitative measurements, like the yearly expenses on research or the amount of employees that have scientific degrees, are somewhat only a guide and not the ultimate answer to whether a company has an exceptional research organization, how would an investor who is trying to play it safe get a hold of this information? It is incredible in this kind of thing what finding out from the grapevine is able to do. It is most likely very easy to see how this method works for the average investor until they actually try it out and it will be surprising for him to see how full a picture will come up if he is smart about the questions he asks about the company research as well as other engaged and similar lines in competitive industries, in universities, and in the government. One simple and many times effective technique is to do a complete study of how much in dollars sales or net profits has been given to a company due to the results of its research organization through a specific extent such as in the last ten years for example. An organization that in comparison to its activities has made a good line of profitable new products throughout this period will most likely be just as productive in the future as long as it keeps on operating by using the same type of methods. |