Case Study 2 The RGV Information Group
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 an 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.
