A fast-food chain is redesigning its restaurants. One of the main questions facing the chain's management is, "Should the new restaurant design include a salad bar?" A researcher in the company finds an article in a restaurant trade magazine containing the results of a study about salad bars. The results indicate that salad bars are costly to maintain and are not a major attraction to consumers. Based on this information, management decides that it will not have a salad bar as part of the new restaurant design. This example illustrates the point that:
A) Situation analysis sometimes eliminates the need for conducting further research in a problem area.
B) Situation analysis is very costly in terms of time and money.
C) Secondary data from sources outside the company is always better than secondary data from sources inside the company.
D) Secondary data from private sources is always better than secondary data from government sources.
E) Collecting primary data is always necessary in order to make good decisions.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This example shows that a situation analysis using secondary data can provide enough information to make a decision, eliminating the need for further research in the problem area. This does not suggest that situation analysis is always costly or that secondary data from private sources is always better than government sources. Additionally, collecting primary data may not always be necessary in order to make good decisions if sufficient secondary data is available.

A Fast-Food Chain Is Redesigning Its Restaurants