Company sales reports are often utilized as a part of a company’s marketing research activities and can provide insight about which colors and sizes are preferred by customers. Cutco, a manufacturer of knives and cutlery often utilizes sales reports to identify which styles of knives are most popular and whether customers prefer the classic black handle or the ivory handle. This insight enables Cutco to streamline its manufacturing process and develop a just-in-time system to match production to anticipated orders.
What type of data does Cutco utilize in this example?

a. external primary
b. internal primary
c. internal secondary
d. external secondary

(C) - Internal Secondary

Explanation:

Researches can be classified into Primary and Secondary research. Primary research are those that are conducted by collecting all the necessary data oneself with a certain objective in mind. On the other hand, secondary research, also known as desk research, usually makes use of data collected by someone else. Secondary research uses already available data from internal and external sources such as survey reports, annual reports, sales figures, US census, internet and various other online and offline resources. In the given scenario, Cutco, a manufacturer of knives and cutlery utilizes its own sales reports to identify which styles of knives are most popular and determine which type of handles customers prefer. The data type that Cutco utilizes here is company's internal sales reports for conducting market research activities which forms internal secondary data source.