An informal session of 6 to 10 customers in which a moderator asks their opinions about a firm's and its competitors' products, how they use these products, and special needs these products don't address is known as a(n)

Focus group

Explanation:

Focus group is a small group of people who are introduced in an open discussion for research purpose. In the given question there is a informal session with 6 - 10 customers in which their opinions are considered about a firms products. This is a small group session which is initiated to identify product features and how these customers use these products. This is focus group for research purpose.

in 2001, dell computer became the world’s largest personal computer vendor, continuing to

gain market share and post profits in an industry struggling with slumping sales and billions of

dollars in losses. dell sells 90% of its pcs directly to the final customer, largely bypassing the

reseller channel that accounts for most of the world’s pc sales. this direct customer relationship

is the key to dell’s business model, and provides distinct advantages over the indirect sales

model. dell’s direct relationship with the customer allows it to tailor its offerings to customer

needs, offer add-on products and services, and use the internet to offer a variety of customer

services. in addition, dell’s pcs are built to customers’ specifications upon receipt of an order,

giving dell additional advantages over indirect pc vendors who must try to forecast demand and

ship products based on those forecasts. dell’s direct sales and build-to-order model has achieved

superior performance in the pc industry in terms of inventory turnover, reduced overhead, cash

conversion, and return on investment (kraemer, et al., 2000).

explanation:

the assumption the narrator makes in this excerpt is that the messages he heards were going to hurt the narrator's mom; the narrator just springs in to action. the narrator doesn't specify in this excerpt why he believes that the messages present a problem that requires protection.