It's not hard to get facts. Research will tell her if the drug store's neighborhood is bursting with nesting Generation X-ers, which will tell her to push for more shelf space devoted to diapers. Alternatively, if she learns that half of the people in nearby neighborhoods are taking the senior citizen tax deduction, she'd better stock the store with multivitamins. Baby boomers are unlikely to need diapers except during the holidays when the kids and grandkids visit. The trick is finding URLs, testing techniques, and sharing results and procedures with colleagues.
Information is everybody's business and needs to be shared with the people who can use it best.
While certain types of information might be the domain of corporate-tower wizards, more often than not, it needs to be shared with people on the front lines. But while Ruth's immediate problem might be solved without the help of Corporate, the deeper problem remains. The problem today comes from culture, politics, and finger-pointing. Most large organizations don't push, mandate, or encourage Internet literacy or info-literacy. They might provide computer training, but few use an organized approach to make sure that knowledge workers are really knowledgeable.