A comparison of traditional ways of purchasing products with informationenhanced methods reveals opportunities for the HRD profession. Consider that consumers traditionally visit showrooms to obtain product information and negotiate a purchase. At the same time, sellers, who have the information advantage, are able to press their advantage in negotiating for price, time, and quality. By contrast, information-enhanced practices allow consumers to bypass showrooms and use technology to access expert opinions, research findings, and other third-party sources that regularly compare various makes and models. Armed with this information, they can avoid overpriced, poor-performing products and quickly purchase products that meet their precise needs. In this article, we recognize the need for informed HRD consumers and describe purchasing practices based on the consumer literature. The term products encompasses all HRD goods and services offered in the marketplace, including materials, conferences, workshops, customized courses, and academic and certification programs.
HRD consumers who desire to purchase effective, fairly priced HRD products face the daunting task of accessing and synthesizing a wealth of information available on topics of interest (Bassi, 1998). The proliferation of HRD products, the many options, and the variety of names applied to virtually identical offerings make it practically impossible for them to comparison-shop. Furthermore, vendor sales materials may be biased, inaccurate, or misleading. Some HRD products provide high-quality solutions to specific business problems; others provide only faddish solutions that rarely do the job. The promotional materials for effective and ineffective products may look quite similar, but the latter are not integrated with economic or strategic business realities or with the learning needs of individuals in organizations (Evarts, 1998).
Differentiating between effective and ineffective HRD products is difficult and problematic for HRD professionals and their organizations. Yet, FORUM is a nonrefereed section inviting readers' reactions and opinions.