Abstract:

The paper shows what happens when a company selling an industrial product to a small, closely-knit market looks beyond this immediate market to the much more complex and fragmented market which originates the demand for the product. The survey had two separate objectives. The first was to quantify the present market for coated paper by type of paper and by end-use and then to forecast the growth of each segment of the market up to 1974. The second, and in many ways the more important and interesting, objective was to improve the company's understanding of this market by establishing how coated paper is bought and sold, who specifies the quality of coated paper and what factors are likely to influence future developments. The paper shows how far both objectives were achieved, quoting the actual results of the survey. The paper also shows how a survey such as this can benefit a supplier by increasing the range of personal contacts for forecasters, planners and research personnel to follow up, and can improve relations between a company and its customers.