Applied statistics

You have been hired to bring order to the way in which your medium size business conducts its research projects involving consumer markets, business competitors and new product development.  In the past, such research activity has been conducted in a rather ad hoc disorganized manner.   What steps would you take to create a well structured research function in the company, concerning personnel, project selection, statistical research tools, etc?    Would there be any types of research which you would recommend to be outsourced or would it be wiser to facilitate everything in-house?