Answer:
Marketing and sales.
Step-by-step explanation:
Value-chain is the term that describes a series of activities that a business must execute in order to create, deliver, and sell a good in the market. Economist Michael Porter coined the concept on his Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (1985).
According to the value-chain concept, there are five primary activities that add value to a good: inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. It is during the value-chain activity of marketing and sales that studies of customer preferences are conducted. When it first developed the Explorer, Ford based its activities on the results of extensive marketing studies.