Q. IV-9

How about a plan for a changeover for your own industry; what time period do you think would be reasonable?

When it came to estimating a "reasonable" conversion period for their own industries, most respondents volunteered a shorter time than the one they considered suitable for the nation as a whole. There were also differences between large and small organization reactions. About 81 percent of the total sample specified one of the 4 time periods shown in the text table below.

The industries most and least willing to convert at the above time periods

"Immediately" was the time preferred for within-industry changeover to SI by the largest number of spokesmen in 8 of the 13 industrial groups. Listed below are the time periods chosen by the highest percentage of firms within each industry:

A cross tabulation (table 89C) was performed to permit further comparison of time estimates made for national conversion versus those for changeover within the respondents' own industries. Data again show that, except

for those specifying the shortest period for national metrication, spokesmen mostly thought their own industries would be able to move more quickly than the economy at large.

An example will help in reading the text table above. When respondents had said they thought a reasonable time period for the whole country to go metric was from "6 to 10 years" (42% of all persons answering), then 61 percent of those who specified that time period said their own industry should be able to convert in "up to 5 years," thus implying they would have fewer problems than the nation overall.

One other figure deserves special mention. A small, but consistent group maintained total resistance to the idea of any metric conversion:

The percentages of firms within each industry which gave a "Never" response for conversion time for their own industries were fairly even with the exception of Forestry/Fisheries, Communications, Utilities, and Real Estate which had no firms giving that response.

The text table on page 128 presents the comparison of the total sample population percentages for changeover time within industry with those for the 3 subgroup populations of interest:

The table above permits easy comparison of the conversion time preferences by special interest groups with those of all respondents for their own industries. In all 3 of the presently metric-associated groups, the optimum changeover time averaged a little longer than was estimated to be "reasonable" by the total population.

In summary, although a 6 to 10 year changeover period was considered most reasonable for the nation as a whole, nearly one-third of the sample thought their own industries could convert "immediately" and 66 percent estimated that it could be done in less than 5 years.

Three special groups which currently have some contact with metric activities (exporters, users of metric equipment, etc.) estimated slightly longer changeover periods than the general sample did for conversion within their own industries.

TABLES 90A, B & C

Q. IV-10

Suppose a national plan were developed so that the whole United States would be metric by the end of a (NO. OF YEARS IN Q. 8) year time period. What would be the biggest advantage to your organization of this planned (NO. OF YEARS)-year changeover?

Answers to this open-ended question were so scattered that eight reply categories had to be established but reasons suggested by about 33 percent of the total sample were just what might have been predicted. The two largest groups of answers, however, did not actually pertain to the intent of the question. There was little difference by organization size in the numbers of mentions of the various reasons given, except for "encourages international trade." Four times as many large companies (8%) mentioned this as did

small ones (2%). These numbers correspond to tables 35A (Export Activities) and 28A (Foreign Licensee or Subsidiary Activities), which show that many more large companies than small engage in foreign commerce.

The text table below shows the proportions of answers assigned to the various reasons offered, as a function of the length of time suggested for the changeover period for the whole country.

More than half of all respondents suggested no advantages that might accrue to their organizations, should metrication take place during the time periods they had suggested. More large companies were able to suggest advantages than medium or small companies. Higher percentages of firms in Finance (72%), Insurance (71%), Retail Trade (69%), and Communication (68%) listed no advantages to conversion within their recommended time period.