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The article offers the author's insights regarding the importance of cooperative research in an organization to address labor problems and marketing situations in organizations particularly life insurance companies. The author says that cooperative research can develop evaluative procedures to be used in the company for internal statistical analyses, creation of job satisfaction questionnaires, and improvement of bases for interpretation. He notes that the research can detect consumer trends in life insurance, consumer opinion and attitude, and merchandising methods. He suggests that research workers should avoid the temptation of assuming homogeneity of the samples and follows the required procedures to obtain accurate data.

The Australian market is greatly influenced by private bureaus, and is free from antitrust laws, solvency supervision, or state licensing of agents and brokers. Substantial areas are subject to government rate control, but on close examination the effectiveness of these controls is seen to depend largely on competition within the private sector of the market and from state funds. Political and other factors have inhibited the operation of the state funds and they have not achieved significant market shares in all lines, nor adopted particularly aggressive rate policies. Reforms are suggested which should improve their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The term 'division of the market', which frequently recurs in specialist literature, has as yet acquired no clear definition. It is suggested that it be used to cover those processes and situations which result in a diminution of the mutual substitution potential of goods in trade. This definition avoids the difficulties arising from the fact that the markets themselves, on account of the innumerable existing potentialities for substitution, exhibit no clearly marked boundaries. Divisions of the market can bring about the diversion of a demand from a quarter with high purchasing power into split-off part-markets (example: monopolistic price discrimination) or the withholding of such a demand from these split-off part-markets (example: rationing). Private enterprise and national-political divisions of the market are distinguished and divided into numerous sub-groups. A significant proportion of the division of markets in private enterprise is the expression of a legitimate competitive situation (considerable proportions of quality competition, numerous periodic divisions of the market such as long-term supply contracts and trading in futures). It is nevertheless apparent that, contrary to a widespread assumption, trading in futures has a purely economic stabilising function, unless it is accompanied by speculation based on correct forecasts. Doubt is cast on the feasibility of damping the oscillations of a freely moving exchange rate by means of future exchange deals. Monopolistic divisions of the market are considered in most cases to involve hazard. National-political divisions of the market (protection of demand by price ceilings and rationing; protection of supply by trade restrictions, restrictions of incoming stocks, minimum prices and minimum wages, prescription of admixture in certain products, state raw materials agreements) are adjudged critically. Attention is drawn above all to the increased crisis susceptibility of regionally isolated part-markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on marketing research techniques. The application of a systematic approach of research methodology can assist in obtaining reliable data used in the decision-making process. Better decisions can be made with the availability of better, more reliable data. The article stresses the importance of a research strategy that utilizes suitable methods, research instruments, and types of data. A multi-dimensional approach to research activities, using several methods of investigation, ensures a sound research strategy that will result in useful and reliable data.

The article focuses on expansion strategies and organizational development in companies in the U.S. and Europe. It mentions that prior to World War II, U.S. direct investments were treated as an outflow of funds that were managed similarly to portfolio investments, and that in most instances overseas affiliates behaved as if independent entities that produced differentiated products, applied different production techniques, and determined their own marketing strategies. It states that multinational concerns coordinate strategic, administrative, and operational decisions on a wide geographic scale. It suggests that the strategic expansion of European firms will grow from national to regional and finally multinational scales.

The article refers to a survey of medium-sized firms in the textile engineering industry in Great Britain and focuses on the ineffectiveness of their export marketing strategy. Many executives on the boards of directors have technical expertise and a major role in the organization's decision-making process. However, they have little experience in export management, which results in a failure to identify market potential and develop promotional strategies for different parts of the world. These companies need to formalize the planning process, so they will be able to develop an export marketing strategy which is based on market research, technical requirements, appropriate advertising, and identification of profitable markets to be exploited.

The article focuses on product planning, bias in decision making about product strategy, and formation of a plan based on growth opportunities for the organization. Customer retention bias and the acceptance of single word titles to describe the firm's output as its single activity are constraints in strategic planning. A multi-dimensional approach to diagnosing potential dimensions for growth--which includes environmental scanning and evaluating customer characteristics and product attributes--is based on a concept proposed by H. Igor Ansoff--"new products and new markets equal growth direction." Planners need to identify and build on the firm's strengths, find or create potential markets, and develop a strategy that matches the firm to the environment of demand and competition.

The article is focused on the ambiguity of the substitution term in connection to the study about consumer demand. The author underscores the analysis of the stability of consumer demand with non-linear budget constraint. The study includes the correlation between price and costs and the effect of negative substitution on purchases. The author suggests that indifference map is fixed and must do duty whatever budget constraint or market condition are specified.

In this article the author analyses the survival of small firms in the British car industry. According to the author in this industry the only independent survivors are those supplying the needs of customers with considerable financial resources, or with high performance and sporting requirements, or both. As cars are essentially a consumer good, the survival of small firms in the car market depends upon the continued existence of consumers with needs and effective demands differing from those of the general mass of the motoring public. Many customers wishing to purchase large vehicles estimate that the best value for money can be obtained by purchasing from the smaller producers. Here the author shows the significant position held by the independent firms in the commercial vehicle market and to suggest reasons why this state of affairs exists. It would be a mistake however to suppose that being small is either a necessary or sufficient condition for survival in Great Britain commercial vehicle industry.

The article discusses a dissertation that examines the implications of business planning for economic stability in the U.S. The author states that the study examines an idea not yet tested in the economy at the time of publication and explains that the research involved is of a secondary nature. The article continues on the basis of deductive logical analysis. The author explains that due to the uncertainty which faces the individual firm, the degree of rationality which can be gathered in elemental actions under the organizational setting could be insufficient to attain the "summum bonum" of aggregate stability.

The article focuses on the paper Conceptual Foundations for the Strategy of a Government Export Promotion Agency," by Franklin R. Root. In his paper, Root sets forth an approach to export promotion based on fundamental marketing concepts. He notes that many export agencies perform below expectations, commonly because they dissipate their efforts over a range of heterogeneous activities. The author also believes improved performance would be achieved by formulating and executing a sound strategic plan. The starting point for the strategy is the definition of the mission of the agency, namely the stimulation and support of the export marketing strategies of individual firms. This mission leads to two activities for the agency: stimulation of the firm to adopt an aggressive export marketing program and facilitating the planning and execution of the program. Following the basic concepts of marketing, Root outlines the agency strategy in terms of a target market and methods of achieving market goals.

This article summarizes a study on marketing development in the European Economic Community (EEC) conducted by Bertil Liander and colleagues. The study covers two interrelated subjects, marketing management in Europe and the effect of the EEC on marketing policies and practices. The first phase brings out various facets of the general lag of marketing development in Europe ranging from the fact that few firms recognize marketing as a total system of interacting business activities down to specifics of performance in product research, advertising and other marketing operations. The authors note indications of change underway in European business in this field with a substantial spread between the most and least sophisticated managements covered by the research. A number of effects of the evolution of the EEC were found but they were not as great as had been expected.

The article reports that a change from production to market orientation in Russia would mean that the Ministries of Trade must exert a greater influence than in the past in a multitude of ways: in product planning, in exchange of merchandise between stores, and so forth. Many procedures have been initiated which may prove helpful in getting wider participation by consumers in product planning. Consumers' conferences are held in which store managers and factory representatives participate to secure indications of consumers attitudes toward various products. Apparently decentralization is continuing, and through this more authority and responsibility for planning and allocation are transferred to the republic level. Retail and wholesale establishments have the right to return poor quality merchandise. The supplier has to pay transportation charges both ways. Factories warrant the quality of their products for one year and many large factories have their own repair shops in Moscow where durables are repaired free of charge.

The article focuses on sales forecasting in undeveloped countries. Underdeveloped countries require new attitudes toward marketing research. In the highly industrialized countries, marketing research can discover or observe specific sales opportunities or marketing channels amidst the complex structure of known needs and requirements. But in underdeveloped countries, where progress occurs at much more rapid, marketing research must probe more deeply into underlying economic structures. Here the marketing researcher must combine his commercial know-how with a broad knowledge of basic economic facts and theory. Marketing research in underdeveloped countries cannot easily discover or observe specific sales possibilities or marketing channels. The marketing requirements of the underdeveloped countries are complex and not easily accessible to survey. The task is to discover, and perhaps to define for the first time, the most urgent requirements of the developing economy.

The article presents a reference guide for marketing. Names of publishers of books and the addresses of periodicals are provided to aid readers. Listings include only basic material, not news items or reports of transitory significance. "Bradford's Directory of Marketing Research Agencies in the United States and the World," 8th ed., by Ernest S. Bradford is a listing of some 300 agencies in the U.S. and abroad with a description of the services each offers. In "A Directory of Foreign Advertising Agencies and Marketing Research Organizations," the names of general and specialized advertising agencies and research organizations which operate in foreign countries are grouped by countries and activities. "How to Launch a New Trademark in Overseas Markets," by Oscar P. Arney is a case study of how Worthington Corp. changed its old trade mark to a more modern one in overseas markets. "International Markets," by Alexander O. Stanley is a round up of information on the positions of U.S., France, Britain, Japan and other countries in exporting and other overseas business.