Information use has been identified as a key factor in enhancing competitiveness of the nation's industries. The research proposed would rigorously evaluate current impediments to effective use, define potential economic value of enhanced use, and explore the opportunity for computerized decision aids to increase information effectiveness in decision making. These goals would be investigated for the specific situation of climate information use within the U. S. agribusiness sector. To achieve these goals, intensive investigations will be conducted with actual agribusiness managers. The decision simulation approach to be utilized builds on the judgment analysis methodology. Conduct of the research also will test the appropriateness of these approaches for the task of economic valuation of information as an input into the decision making process.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: Research will lead to the discovery of current impediments and future potential for computerized decision support tools (expert systems and simulation) to enhance managerial decision making.
