Collection of Primary and Secondary Data for Purposes of Marketing a Business - Assignment Example

Business Decision Making Name Institution Date Task 1 1.1 Collection of Primary and Secondary Data for purposes of Marketing a Business Introduction Data is a collection of information that is very important in the process of decision making for individuals, firms as well as organizations. For decision making process to be effective the data collected needs to be accurate, reliable, relevant and also credible among other properties of good data. For the individuals to use the data it has to be collected from the various sources and these sources are classified as either primary or secondary sources. Primary sources of data are records of the original sources of the information that is they contain first hand information from the researcher and these include; questionnaires, interviews, observations, surveys and voice and video recordings among others. On the other hand secondary sources of information refer to records of information that were gathered by another person other than the researcher himself which are used to provide information on the topic at hand. Secondary sources of information include; textbooks, journals, government records, newspapers and magazines among others. A Plan for the Collection of Primary and Secondary Data The Malaysian Airlines suffered a great tragedy recently and the accident which involved the disappearance of Flight 370 has brought about negative impacts on potential customers for the airline company. To find the extent of the negative impact as a result of the accident our department will set up a tent at the airport and we shall encourage travelers to give us their thoughts on the airlines after the accident and this will be achieved through interviews, surveys, observations, questionnaires as well as face to face conversations with travelers who are potential customers for the airline. We also intend to find out the extent of the damage to our reputation on potential clients through a thorough analysis of articles written on newspapers, magazines and journals and also the reactions of people interviewed by media reporters on the various media channels such as television networks, radio and also the internet among other media outlets. The reaction of the public will help to evaluate the extent of impact on potential customers of the airline after the accident with Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 and the effects of their possibility to book flights with the airline. These proposed methods will help the risk department to acquire data that will help to analyze and measure the extent the accident had on potential customers that would have booked flights with the airline. 1.2 Survey Methodology and Sampling Frame for Conducting the Primary Research Survey Methodology Surveys are methods of conducting primary researches and they allow the researcher to learn more about the opinions, thoughts and feelings of their target group on the topic they are conducting a research on. In this case surveys will help the risk department to learn more from their potential clients on their thoughts about the accident and the possibility of them booking flights with the airline. Conducting the survey will include determining the target group that is potential clients and the number of potential clients we wish to participate in the research. The target group selected will be based on what the department hopes to achieve and in this case it is to find out the impact of the accident on potential clients to book flights with the Malaysian Airlines.The department has to put into consideration the length of the survey to be conducted and the types of questions it wishes to pose to the target group. The survey should not be too long as that will result in wastage of time and money while a short survey will not allow the department to gather enough useful information that will help with the topic at hand. Before asking the questions the risk department has to ensure that they will use the appropriate language while asking the questions and also while conducting the survey in general. The questions used in the survey will also have to be the right type of questions that is relevant to the topic at hand, the length of the questions and the words used to pose the questions to be used in the survey. The department will also have to determine the type of questions to be used whether they will use open ended questions, closed questions or combine both types of questions. The department has to create a plan that will guide the participants during the process of conducting the survey. Without a good plan the department will not be able to achieve good results in the survey. This involves selecting the appropriate method to be used in conducting the survey which include; face to face interviews, posing questions on paper and collecting them after the participants have finished answering the questions or using the internet where surveys can be completed and submitted online at the leisure of the target group that is potential customers. Sample Survey Plan Group of participants; Adult male; 30 Adult female; 30 Age group; early twenties to early sixties (20s to 60s) Geographical target; local and international potential customers Length of Survey The survey is expected to take three months from April to June 2014. This will enable the risk department to monitor the extent of the negative impact on potential customers to book flight with the airline company as time goes by. Questions to be used Type of questions; a combination of open ended questions and closed questions, the questions will be short and precise, the words used to create the questions to be used in the survey will be free of bias and can be easily understood by the participants in the survey. Survey Methodology The risk department will use face to face interviews as well as questionnaires and employ both online and hardcopy approaches. 1.3 Questionnaire Have you ever travelled with Malaysian Airlines? How will you rate the experience on a scale of 1 to 10? What are your thoughts on the recent accident on Malaysian Airlines Flight 370? Do you think the strategies implemented will help avoid such incidents in the future? Would you travel with Malaysian Airline again? If a regular customer Will you travel with Malaysian Airline? If a new customer Task 2 2.1 Employment Details (Statistics) of Facebook and its Departments Overall distribution of employees Total 1000 Development department 600 Administration department 300 Advertisement department 100 Personnel distribution Adult male 490 Adult female 290 Juvenile males 110 Juvenile females 110 Development department Adult male 350 Adult female 150 Juvenile males 50 Juvenile females 50 Administration department Adult male 100 Adult female 110 Juvenile males 50 Juvenile females 40 Marketing department Adult male 40 Adult female 30 Juvenile males 10 Juvenile females 20 2.2 Analysis of the Employment Distribution at Facebook The company has; 490 adult male 290 adult female 110 juvenile males 110 juvenile females The distribution of male to female employees at Facebook is fairly imbalance to mean there is no fait distribution between male and female employees at Facebook and this can be demonstrated using ratios. Other than the general unfairness in the gender distribution of employees at Facebook there is also seems to be an unfair distribution between adult male employees and adult female employees which can also be demonstrated using the ratios. However, the unfairness in gender distribution seems not to be prevalent in all departments because the distribution between juvenile males and juvenile females seems to be fair or even as will be evidenced in the ratios. Evenness in distribution will be evidenced by a ratio of 1: 1 while a ratio that is not 1: 1 means the distribution is uneven. The distribution is also uneven in the distribution of adult employees to juvenile employees as will also be evidenced in the ratios. Distribution Ratios Males: females in the company 600: 400 6: 4 3: 2 Adult male: adult female 490: 290 49: 29 Juvenile males: juvenile females 110: 110 1: 1 Adult to juvenile ratio Adults = 490 + 290 = 780 Juveniles = 110 + 110 = 220 Ratio of adult to juveniles 780: 220 78: 22 39: 11 Task 2.3 a Mean Deviation value Frequency of occurrence Mean deviations Squares of mean deviations 5 15 25 35 45 55 4 6 8 20 6 6 8.33 – 4 = 4.33 8.33 – 6 = 2.33 8.33 – 8 = 0.33 8.33 – 20 = -11.67 8.33 – 6 = 2.33 8.33 – 6 = 2.33 18.7489 5.4289 0.1089 128.3689 5.4289 5.4289 Mean of frequency = (4 + 6 + 8 + 20 + 6 + 6) / 6 = 50 / 6 =8.33 Task 2.3 b Variance and Standard Deviation Variance is the average of the squared differences of the means; Variance = (18.7489+ 5.4289 + 0.1089 + 128.3689 + 5.4289 + 5.4289) / 6 = 163.5134 / 6 = 27.252233 Standard deviation refers to a measure of the spread out of the numbers which is calculated by finding the square root of variance; Standard deviation = √27.252233 = 5.2203672 δ = 5.22 Task 2.3 c Coefficient of Variation of the Distribution Coefficient of variation is ratio of standard deviation and the mean expressed as a percentage. It can be calculated using the following formula; Coefficient of variation = (Standard deviation / mean) 100 = (5.22 / 8.33) 100 = (0.62665066) 100 = 62.665066% = 62.67% Task 2.3 d Analysis of the Data using Measures of Dispersion This refers to an analysis of how the information has been distributed and this can be achieved using variance and standard deviation of the data set. As established variance refers to how the numbers in the data set are spread out. Variance of zero shows that the numbers are identical; the bigger the variance the further away the numbers in the data set are from the mean. The variance of the given data set is 27.252233 which mean that the numbers in the data set are very spread out around the mean of the frequency which is 8.33 as well as from each other. This is further confirmed by the standard deviation of the data set which is 5.22 which also measures how much a data set is spread out from its mean or average. It also follows the same evaluation criteria as variance and that is a small standard deviation means the data set is not far from its average while a big standard deviation means that the data set is very spread out from the average and from each other as well. The standard deviation of 5.22 means that the data is not very spread out from the average of the data set and also from each other. Task 2.4 a Factory Costs month Output (x) Costs (y) £ xy X2 Y2 Mean deviation of x Mean deviation of y 1 20000 82000 1640000000 400000000 6724000000 20000 – 20000 = 0 80000 – 82000 = -2000 2 16000 70000 1120000000 256000000 4900000000 20000 – 16000 = 4000 80000 – 70000 = 10000 3 24000 90000 2160000000 576000000 8100000000 20000 – 24000 = -4000 80000 – 90000 = -10000 4 22000 85000 1870000000 484000000 7225000000 20000 – 22000 = -2000 80000 – 85000 = -5000 5 18000 73000 1314000000 324000000 5329000000 20000 – 18000 = 2000 80000 – 73000 = 7000 Fixed costs and variable costs using the least squares method; Mixed costs = fixed costs + variable costs There are three methods commonly used to separate fixed and variable costs from the mixed costs and they include; the high low method, the scatter plot method and the least squares method. We are going to look at the least square method of separating mixed costs into their respective fixed and variable costs. Mean of output = (20000 + 16000 + 24000 + 22000 + 18000) / 5 = 100000/5 = 20000 Mean of costs= (82000 + 70000 + 90000 + 85000 + 73000) / 5 = 400000 / 5 = 80000 Y = VX + F V = Variable costs Y = total or mixed costs F = fixed costs Variable cost = n (∑ xy) - ∑ (x)(∑y) n(∑x2) – (∑x)2 Fixed cost = (∑y)(∑x2) – (∑x)(∑xy) n(∑x2) – (∑x)2 Where x is output Y is the cost N is the number of variables ∑x = 100000 ∑y = 400000 ∑xy = 8104000000 ∑x2 = 2040000000 (∑x)2= 10000000000 Fixed cost = 400000 * 2040000000 – 100000 * 8104000000 5 (2040000000) – (10000000000) = 8.16 * 1014 – 8.104 * 1014 200000000 = 28000 Variable cost = 5 (8104000000) - (100000) (400000) 5 (2040000000) – 10000000000 = 520000000 200000000 = 2.6 Cost function = 2.6x + 28000, at output 24000 total cost will be (2.6 * 24000 + 28000) = £ 90400. Task 2.4 b If output is 22000, the total costs to be budgeted will be; 2.6 * 22000 + 28000 = £ 85200. Task 2.4 c Correlation Coefficient Coefficient correlation is denoted by r and the formula is as follows; r = n∑xy (∑x) (∑y) √n (∑x2) – (∑x)2 * √n (∑y2) – (∑y)2 r= 5 * 8104000000 – (100000 * 400000) √5 (2040000000) – 10000000000 * √5 (3.2278*1010) – 1.6*1011 r= 520000000 14142.14 * 37282.70 r= 13947.49 The correlation is greater than 0.8 and therefore can be described as strong or high. Task 2.4 d Median, Upper Quartile and the Lower Quartile 6, 47, 49, 15, 43, 41, 36 6, 15, 36, 41, 43, 47, 49 N= 7 Median = (n + 1) th value 2 = 7 + 1 2 4th value = 41 Upper quartile = 3 (n + 1) th value 4                              = 3 (7 + 1) 4 = 6 th value = 47 Lower quartile = 1 (n + 1) th value 4 = 1/ 4 (7 + 1) = 2nd value = 15 Task 2.4 e Median, Upper Quartile and the Lower Quartile They are used to determine how far apart the data in the business is dispersed. Task 3.1 Pie Charts sales 20x3 20x7 Percentage representation for year 20x3 Percentage representation for year 20x7 lemonade 80 120 40.41% 31.58% cola 90 100 45.45% 26.32% water 28 160 14.14% 42.1% Task 3.2 Average Trend Line Year quarter Volume of sales 20x7 1 600000 2 840000 3 420000 4 720000 20x8 1 640000 2 860000 3 420000 4 740000 20x9 1 670000 2 900000 3 430000 4 760000 Task 3.3 Presentation Software and Techniques of Disseminating Information There are many methods that a business can distribute information to their various audiences. Information generated in 3.1 can be distributed to audiences such as the management for analysis of the company’s performance, financial institution for purposes of seeking funds for growth and expansion, to employees so they can keep a track record of the company’s performance and also to the government for tax assessment purposes among other users of that information. Methods to be used in dissemination information in a business context will depend on the target audiences who have been mentioned in the previous point. Some of the methods that will be appropriate to deliver business information (company sales) will include use of video presentations, personal presentations using graphs, charts and also tables among others. People can also employ technology to present business information and some of them include using email or even faxing the information to the targeted audience. We can also use an agent to analyze and distribute the information to the right receiver. Other ways include displaying the information in public places, preparation of periodic hand outs containing the information you wish to share. Making announcements using media outlets such as television, radio as well as the newspaper. Announcements can also be made on trade journals, magazines and also on online platforms such as social media or business websites of the targeted audience. Information can be disseminated by use of word of mouth where the people who prepared the information can tell their target audience about the information and those impressed with the data will spread it other people. The company can also disseminate information by holding face to face interactions with the target audience of the information at their places of work, at a café or any decent place. Information in the business context can be spread to the target audience through various means; however, the method chosen will depend on the target audience as well as the nature of information. Task 3.4 Business Report Appropriate Information Processing Tools for Data Collected for Malaysian Airlines Data that requires processing before it can be presented to the respective audience includes; videos, audios, graphics as well as texts. Malaysian Airlines’ risk department set out to find the impact of the recent accident on Malaysian Airline Flight 370 and how it has affected the rate at which potential customers book flights with the airline company. The department opted to use survey methods applying techniques such as face to face interviews, use of questionnaires o paper and online on the airline’s website. Therefore from the techniques of collecting data used by Malaysian Airlie risk department includes audio and texts. The main information process tool used by Malaysian Airline is the database. A database is a type of software that is used by many companies to store information on the inventory as well as information on customers. It collects and stores already gathered data such as the information gathered by the risk department on how the accident has negatively affected the rate at which new customers book flights with Malaysian Airlines. Another data processing tool used by Malaysian Airline is the server. A server is collection of computer systems within a network which enables the users to share information that is available on the server. Task 4.2 Net Present Value Cost of capital = 5% Initial investment = £340000 At 25% chance of succeeding the projected cash flows will be; £210000 and £210000 in two years. At 75% chance of failing the projected cash flows will be £162000 and £174000. NPV = -CO + ∑CI/ (1 + r)i Where; NPV is the net present value, CO is the initial investment or capital, CI is the cash flow, r is the cost of capital and t is the time. At scenario 1 (25% chances of succeeding) NPV = -340000 + 210000/ (1 + 0.05)1 + 210000/ (1 + 0.05)2 = -340000 + 200000 + 190476.19 = £50476.19 At scenario 2 (75% chances of losing) NPV = -340000 + 162000/ (1.05)1 + 174000/ (1.05)2 = -340000 + 154285.71 + 157823.13 = -27891.16 Recommendation; the company should invest when there is a 25% chance of succeeding and not when there is a 75% chance of failing. Task 4.2b Internal Rate of Return year Amount in £ 0 800 1 400 2 300 3 200 Internal rate of return is the rate that equates the NPV to zero. NPV = ∑ Cn/ (1 + r) n = 0 = -800 + 400/ (1 + r) + 300/ (1 + r) 2 + 200/ (1 + r) 3 = 0 800 = 400/ (1 + r) + 300/ (1 + r) 2 + 200/ (1 + r) 3 r = 36% = 0.36 References Vichi, M, Bock, H, Gaul, W, Okada, A and Weihs, C. (2010). Advances in Data Analysis and Classification. America: Springer. Hussain, M, M. (2010). Investments and Derivatives, International Journal of Accounting and Finance, vol. 3. Read More