ABSTRACT
The information which is obtained will exist in many different and unrelated forms. If it is to be comprehended and used, it must be put into a form which can be understood in relation to the business. The information itself will determine the form in some ways; the way in which it is obtained will impose limits; so will the type and scope of the business. One of the primary sources of information relating to the United Kingdom market is the Government. Though market assessment can be begun, and to some extent carried out, without the firm commissioning its own market research surveys, there usually comes a point when questions are asked which cannot be answered with the information available. The only guide to the future is the past, so that any system of forecasting demand depends ultimately upon extrapolating trends which are discernible in past months and years. Crude extrapolation is not sufficient.
