Reference no: EM133283269

The RGV Information Group is among the largest research companies in the world. RGV'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 RGV, grandmother of Steven F. RGV, the current chairman and chief executive officer of the organization. In the 1920s Tommie RGV's late husband worked for a bank that was considering sponsoring as 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 RGV Marketing Research on October 20, 1939, and her business with A&P lasted 17 years.

Today, the RGV Information Group specializes in business, health care, and consumer research, as well as database marketing. The company is organized around several services that it provides to its clients. RGV Information conducts traditional market research services that range from questionnaire design and data collection to advanced analysis and consultation. RGV has expertise in helping companies measure how their actions are perceived by the audiences most important to them, and how these perceptions affect their image, reputation, corporate citizenship, recruiting, sales, and more.

RGV Global Reach spans across the globe, with partnerships in virtually every major business market. It is the first international network of professional research and consulting business dedicated to customer satisfaction measurement and management. The Global Reach program assures that multi-country customer satisfaction research is consistent by taking into account local conditions and cultural norms. Network members are trained to use consistent methods that allow standardization and comparability of information from country to country.

Question 1: What is the purpose of customer satisfaction measurement?

Question 2: What measures, other than findings from survey, might a company use to evaluate the effectiveness of a total quality management program?