Business Decision Making Assignment Analysis

Business Decision Making
Assignment
Name: Thooba Saeed Reg No: Semester No: Date: 28 November 2010
Declaration
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own. Where the work of others has been used to support my work then credit has been acknowledged.
Signature: .
Date:
Page 2
Acknowledgement
First and foremost I would like to take this as a great opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to my lecturers in Business Decision Making, Mr.Lahiru & Mr. R Mafas who continually and convincingly conveyed a spirit of enthusiasm in regard to his teaching. Without his guidance and persistent help this report would not have been possible. And also I would like to thank my parents who gave me a tremendous support especially from the financial side by providing me all the necessary funds that were needed to complete this report. And in addition, a big thank you to the management of BCAS for providing me all the required library and internet facilities which played a major role in successfully completing this assignment.
Page 3
Contents
Contents......................................................................................................................................4 1.1Prepare a project plan using the appropriate Project Management tools for collecting primary and secondary data and brief out how you will implement it. ......................................................6 1.2 Describe the survey methodology and frame you are going to use........................................8 1.3 Questionnaire........................................................................................................................9 1.4 Collect some primary data and secondary data suitable for the problem and present it in a suitable manner. .......................................................................................................................11 2.1 Summarize quantitative data using representative values (mean, median, and mode) and draw a valid conclusion using the results...................................................................................12 2.2 Analyze data using measures of dispersion (maximum, minimum, standard deviation) and interpret the results to inform the business scenario..................................................................12 2.3 Calculate quartiles, percentiles, correlation, coefficient to draw useful conclusions for the given business context...............................................................................................................13 3.1 Prepare suitable graphs and charts using the collected data with the support of a Spreadsheet Application to draw valid conclusions....................................................................13 3.2 To assist in forecasting for specified business information use trend lines in those spreadsheet graphs and thus inform decision making. .............................................................14 3.3 Prepare a business presentation using suitable software and techniques to publicize information effectively and convincingly.....................................................................................15 3.4 Prepare a formal business report.........................................................................................15 4.1 Use Management Information Systems and suggest right information processing tools for operational, tactical and strategic levels of the Organization......................................................16 4.2 Review and evaluate inventory control system and prepare a spreadsheet of material requirements planning and calculate economic order quantities for the successful implementation of the business through the decision.................................................................17 4.3 Describe how you will use financial tools to evaluate the financial viability of proposed investments................................................................................................................................17
Page 4
Introduction
This is an assignment done by Ms. Thooba Saeed of business management, in the year 2010. This assignment was given to us by our lectures Mr. Lahiru & Mr. R Mafas, where we have to answer questions in relevant to case scenarios given. The resources I have used to complete this assignment are mainly from internet and reference books research. In this assignment I have included: A project plan using the appropriate Project Management tools for collecting primary and secondary data and briefed how I implement it. A questionnaire and justified its design in relation with the purpose Collect some primary data and secondary data suitable for the problem and presented it in a suitable manner Summarized quantitative data using representative values (mean, median, and mode) Prepared suitable graphs and charts using the collected data A business presentation
Page 5
Task 1
1.1Prepare a project plan using the appropriate Project Management tools for collecting primary and secondary data and brief out how you will implement it.
Business Decision Making Decision-making is a crucial part of good business. How is a good decision made? One part of the answer is good information, and experience in interpreting information. Consultation i.e. seeking the views and expertise of other people also helps, as does the ability to admit one was wrong and change ones mind. There are also aids to decision-making, various techniques which help to make information clearer and better analyzed, and to add numerical and objective precision to decision-making (where appropriate) to reduce the amount of subjectivity. Managers can be trained to make better decisions. They also need a supportive environment where they wont be unfairly criticized for making wrong decisions (as we all do sometimes) and will receive proper support from their colleague and superiors. A climate of criticism and fear stifles risk-taking and creativity; managers will respond by playing it safe to minimize the risk of criticism which diminishes the business effectiveness in responding to market changes. It may also mean managers spend too much time trying to pass the blame around rather than getting on with running the business. Decision-making increasingly happens at all levels of a business. The Board of Directors may make the grand strategic decisions about investment and direction of future growth, and managers may make the more tactical decisions about how their own department may contribute most effectively to the overall business objectives. But quite ordinary employees are increasingly expected to make decisions about the conduct of their own tasks, responses to customers and improvements to business practice. This needs careful recruitment and selection, good training, and enlightened management. Types of business decision making Programmed Decisions: These are standard decisions which always follow the same routine. As such, they can be written down into a series of fixed steps which anyone can follow. They could even be written as computer program Non-Programmed Decisions: These are non-standard and non-routine. Each decision is not quite the same as any previous decision.
Page 6
Strategic Decisions: These affect the long-term direction of the business eg whether to take over Company A or Company B Tactical Decisions: These are medium-term decisions about how to implement strategy eg what kind of marketing to have, or how many extra staff to recruit Operational Decisions: These are short-term decisions (also called administrative decisions) about how to implement the tactics eg which firm to use to make deliveries.
Levels of decision making
Figure 1 Decision making process
Page 7
Figure 2
Project Management Is often defined as the science of organizing, planning and managing the available resources of a particular organization to successfully complete a project, which aims to meet the organizations goals and objectives. This type of system will be useful in ensuring the timely and effective output of a project. Furthermore, the implementation of such a system will give you greater productivity in every project. For this project or for this problem I am going to use as questionnaire for primary data collection and for the secondary data collection I am using other mobile telecommunications reports. I am going to distribute this questionnaire to some of the customers that visits to suntel limited.
1.2 Describe the survey methodology and frame you are going to use.
Methodology The survey method which I am going to use is questionnaire for primary data collection. It will help us to know about customers thoughts in Suntel Company. I am to going to distribute this questionnaire to some of the customers that visits to suntel limited. The target group from which the samples were selected consisted of the following categories of persons:
a) old people
b) Middle age people
c) Young people
d) Teenagers
Page 8
1.3 Questionnaire
1. Are you satisfied about the service by suntel limited
Highly satisfied Satisfied Neutral Not satisfied Highly not satisfied
Tick which 2. Age Teen age Middle age Middle age Old age
3. Gender Male
Page 9
Female
4. how often do you get the service from suntel limited Always Usually Rarely Never
5. Are you satisfied about the quality of the service that gets from suntel limited? Highly satisfied Satisfied Neutral Not satisfied Highly not satisfied
6. What quality would you choose or prefer? Low quality low price Average quality average price High quality high price
7. If the prices increase of the service will you go for the competitors
Page 10
Yes Neutral
age group (selected using cluster sampling) teen age young age middle age old age
No
the amount choosed as good idea 10 16 18 12 the amount choosed as bad idea 8 12 17 16
8. We are going to
enter into the mobile telecommunication market. what do u think about our idea Good idea Bad idea Thank You
1.4 Collect some primary data and secondary data suitable for the problem and present it in a suitable manner.
Page 11
I have collected some primary data by distributing the questionnaire to the customers who have visited to suntel limited. Totally we took from 150 customers but we got from only 109 customers. Also, for secondary data I used information from past records and other competitor related data and analyzed it which resulted in a favourable manner for the business.
Task 2
2.1 Summarize quantitative data using representative values (mean, median, and mode) and draw a valid conclusion using the results.
age group Mean median mode good idea 4 16 0 bad idea 13.3 12 0
I have analyzed this data for the last question that is 8th question. So we can see that from this even most of the customers have a good idea about this.
2.2 Analyze data using measures of dispersion (maximum, minimum, standard deviation) and interpret the results to inform the business scenario.
Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" exists from the average (mean, or expected value). A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard deviation indicates that the data points are spread out over a large range of values.
Page 12
After analyzing data using measures of dispersion we have found that the business is in a good position to enter the Mobile Telecommunication market and thus the outcome of this would be favourbale to the company as well.
2.3 Calculate quartiles, percentiles, correlation, coefficient to draw useful conclusions for the given business context.
The correlation coefficient a concept from statistics is a measure of how well trends in the predicted values follow trends in past actual values. It is a measure of how well the predicted values from a forecast model "fit" with the real-life data. As per the calculations done I found that it gives a perfect correlation which is 1.0. This is because as the strength of the relationship between the predicted values and actual values increases so does the correlation coefficient. Therefore, as per the calculations I believe that the business is ready to enter the Mobile Telecommunication market.
Task 3
3.1 Prepare suitable graphs and charts using the collected data with the support of a Spreadsheet Application to draw valid conclusions.
Page 13
This chart is for the 8th question in the questionnaire. As u can see from the chart even, most of the customers think entering to the telecommunication market is a good idea.
This chart shows that most of the customers are highly satisfied about the service by suntel limited. This is for the 1st question.
3.2 To assist in forecasting for specified business information use trend lines in those spreadsheet graphs and thus inform decision making.
The next is for the quality they prefer
Quality low quality low price average quality average price high quality high price
no of customers 24 65 20
Page 14
From this we can see that most of the customers need average quality at an average price
3.3 Prepare a business presentation using suitable software and techniques to publicize information effectively and convincingly.
The presentation slides are attached in the appendix.
3.4 Prepare a formal business report.

From: Marketing Manager To: Chief Executive Officer Subject: Business Report Date: 28th November 2010
Introduction
Page 15
This is a report which includes the financial details of Suntel and how the business is operating currently. Also, the major aim of this business report is to see if the company is ready to enter the Mobile Telecommunication market. Analysis For the analysis to take place we have got the idea from different sources. The first source is to get the idea from customers. For this we distributed questionnaires to customers and they gave the feedback for the company. Secondly we used some data from our past records. We compared this with other major competitors in the market and thus did an analysis regarding the outcome to see whether we would survive in the market or not. Also, these analysis included calculations which involved financial records as well. Conclusion From this analysis we came to a conclusion that: High demand can be achieved when entered to the market thus making and good revenue and profit. More employment opportunities and can make the company strong enough. Low risk in entering the market as we are financially strong enough to handle other competitors. Customer support in entering the market.
Task 4
4.1 Use Management Information Systems and suggest right information processing tools for operational, tactical and strategic levels of the Organization.
Management Information System (MIS)
Page 16
A system converts data from internal and external sources into information in an appropriate form to managers at all levels. How this will help to the organization: If you have management information system they will have more reach MIS helps to find customer Can make timely an affective decision Future reference
4.2 Review and evaluate inventory control system and prepare a spreadsheet of material requirements planning and calculate economic order quantities for the successful implementation of the business through the decision.
Inventory and production scheduling: The order delivery date should be clearly noted so that everyone involved works together to meet the deadline. In this step it may delay the product so it is very important to informed about the process, will make the relationship more strong. If the order is fail its better to informing to the customer rather than ignoring. And before delivering, check the quality. Receipt of payments: Company has to be very careful to handle payments collection. And company must have facilities to accept the payments using credit or debit cards. When the payment received, Company should thank the customer by sending acknowledgement. Its good to ask for customer feedback, by that company can improve their week areas, and help the company to maintain the customer always satisfied and convert them to delighted state. Therefore, decisions should be made in a way that should bring customers to the organization. Also this should include suppliers as well. To work this accurately workers should be trained effectively.
4.3 Describe how you will use financial tools to evaluate the financial viability of proposed investments
Financial tools are essential for the organization as this will check whether the outcome of the company is in good shape or not. This is because for example if an investment takes place and if the company is unable to payback the future for the will eventually be loss.
Page 17
Therefore, before any investments takes place organization needs to check financially whether they have the capability. The company can use tools like calculating return on investment and also changes to the money value for paybacks. These calculations are required so that they can analyze the outcome and make better decisions for the business.
Conclusion
In this assignment I have done a research to make a final decision based on the scenario given. First of all I did a project plan and briefed about the primary and secondary data collection methods that I would use and how to implement it was discussed. Afterwards I have included a questionnaire to collect data. Based on the questionnaire I have done graphs and charts to analyze the data and to come up with a decision. Also I have included the use of Management Information System and how to use financial tools for proposed investments.
Page 18
I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the lecturer Mr. Lahiru & Mr. R Mafas for allowing us to do such a challenging assignment which helped us, in my point of view to a great extend allowing us to actually experience this.
Appendix
Please refer to the following pages for the presentation slides on question 3.3
Page 19

Business Decision Making Assignment Analysis

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Business Decision Making Assignment Analysis

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Business Decision Making