Case - Roeder-Johnson Corporation

A decade ago, the talk in business circles was all about the central role of technology, especially the Internet, in the success of new businesses. Some investors seemed eager to back almost any start-up with "dot-com" in its name or its business plan. Although the go-go investment climate of the 1990s seems far away, entrepreneurs still start companies every year, and they are still making their case to the investment community. What business ideas do investors like?

Is high-tech still important? Public relations firm Roeder-Johnson Corporation, which specializes in start-up companies and those involved in technology innovation, conducted an online survey into the attitudes of 70 subjects, including venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, journalists, and company analysts.7 The central question was this:

Do you believe that unique technology is crucial to the success of startup companies today?
1. Rarely
2. Occasionally
3. Frequently
4. Usually
5. Always

The remainder of the survey asked for reasons why technology is important to start-ups and invited comments from the respondents. In its news release, Roeder-Johnson reported that 91 percent of respondents consider technology to be important at least frequently. The breakdown was 39 percent frequently, 39 percent usually, and 13 percent always. The remaining 9 percent of respondents cited technology as important only occasionally, and none said it is rarely important.

Questions
1. Evaluate the rating scale used for the question in this survey. Is it balanced? Are the category labels clear? Is the number of categories appropriate?

2. Suggest three ways that Roeder-Johnson could improve this survey without a major cost increase.

3. Based on the information given here, what do you think the research objectives for this survey might have been? Do you think the survey met its objectives? Explain.