Just because a company asks for your opinon does not necessarily mean that they want to hear it. Many major companies use a "Great Man/Woman" approach with one person making all the major decisions. Some people like Larry Ellison of Oracle makes all the decisions from advertising to product development. Steve Jobs was notorious for this because it was not until later in life that he stared listening to others around him but still, the final decision was up to him. The firms have a type of CEO idolatry which although have had some successes may ultimately lead to their downfall. No matter how knowlegedable and visionary a CEO is, they still may make mistakes about trends in the market or what next move should be made. Business intelligence and knowledge management have made huge strides in the past years but many big companies would rather stick to what they are doing and not listen to those who actually consume and use their product.
A strong exception is Google that basically revolves its' whole money-producing function around what works with customers and what does not. Google makes its money through advertising and it uses feedback to understand what produces the best advertising. Facebook, on the other hand, uses advertising for revenue but is struggling against Google because it can not produce the same amount of revenue. This may be due to strategy or some factor but definitely, feedback and business intelligence plays a role. Customers are how an operation survives so listening to them and their needs is the only way to adapt, change, and thrive.
Read the full article at: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-26/analyze-this-tech-companies-dont-use-their-own-products
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