Clearly, Gulf didn't know what it knew. Its main capital asset, the knowledge, skills, and experienced judgment of its employees, was locked in the filing drawers and brains of the current employees and in the corporate archives in Houston. More importantly, the structure of the organization reinforced and perpetuated an information flow that, if it happened in our bodies, would wipe us out as a species within a generation. The culture is so steeped in the primacy of the individual that many companies lack even a simple way beyond the telephone directory to identify who in a company possesses the most precious skills in particular areas. This is very deep in our personalities.
Information gathering can be serendipitous or planned.
While not all environmental information needs can be identified in advance, it is possible to approach research and information systems planning with an eye to setting up ways of collecting information in an on-going fashion. Customer needs and wants If environmental forces cause the company to seek information in a larger context, customer needs and wants focus the attention on the target market. Without information, identifying need and wants is guesswork. For example, to understand the value of a competitor's automobile, it makes sense to drive it for awhile as a customer would and evaluate it in that fashion. Problem solving depends upon accurate and timely information most of all.