1. What type of custom survey research projects might Walker Market Research and Analysis conduct for its clients?

2. What stages are involved in conducting a survey? For which stages might a client company hire a research supplier like Walker Research? Data Source?

3. What is the purpose of customer satisfaction measurement?

4. What measures, other than findings from surveys, might a company use to evaluate the effectiveness of a total quality management program?

The Walker Information Group is among the largest research companies in the world. Walker’s clients include many Fortune 500 and blue chip industry leaders such as Cummins Engine Company, Lenscrafters, Continental Cablevision, Florida Power and Light, and Oglethorpe Power Corporation.

The Indianapolis-based company was founded in 1939 as a field interviewing service by Tommie Walker, mother of Frank Walker, the current chairman and chief executive officer of the organization. In the 1920s Tommie Walker’s late husband worked for a bank that was considering sponsoring an Indianapolis radio show featuring classical music. The bank wanted to know who was listening to this show. Tommie was hired to do the interviewing, and she threw herself into the work. After that, referrals brought her more interviewing work for surveys. During an interview with a woman whose husband was a district sales manager for the A&P grocery chain, she learned that A&P was looking for a surveyor in the Midwest. A&P’s sales manager liked Tommie, but wouldn’t hire anyone without a formal company, a field staff, and insurance. Tommie founded Walker Marketing Research on October 20, 1939, and her business with A&P lasted 17 years.