New Methods for Estimating Business Markets

Market research, in business markets and elsewhere, is performed to provide information about the market. The low level of research expenditures in business markets reflects both the low quality of information available and the difficulty involved in evaluating the quality and value of that information. This paper treats three methods for addressing industrial marketing research problems: Decomposed Error Analysis (DEA), to assess the likely accuracy of research; Analysis of Plural Estimates (APE), an approach to combine research methods; and Partial Conditioning of Consequences (PCC), an approach to determine the economic value of research. A short case is included wiili each method illustrating the value of that method in practice.