Decision Making Support

8/3/2019 Decision Making Support

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Introduction

For a business to be successful, it is vital to know the market and customers profile. Thiscan be done by

an intensive research through various methods of data collection which wi ll he lp to

making decis ion about a new venture. Market research can help create abusiness

plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services,expand into new markets

etc. It can be used to determine which portion of the populationwi l l purchase t he

pr odu ct/ ser vic e, bas ed on var iab les l ik e a ge, gen der , l oca tio n a nd income level. It canbe found out what market characteristics your target market has. Withmarket research companies can

learn more about current and potential customers. Thepurpose of market research is to help

companies make better business decisions aboutthe development and marketing of new

products. Market r esearch may also a id to the marketers to understand the customer and customer

behaviour and also help to know howand which type of product has been satisfies the

customers.Ac co rd in g to

K o t l e r a n d e t a l

(2008)- (Pg- 333) ,Marke t ing research i s the systematic design, collection, analyse andreporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing on organisation.

Mashukur Rahman Id: 4098 Business Decision Making Page no. 2 of 26

Primary DataPrimary data is specific information that is collected directly by the person who analyse thedata and

information also doing research. Primary data are collected for the first time. Thisdata has not been

published before collection.According to

Avasar ikar e t a l(2007)- (Pg- 3.8) I t i s the data co l lec ted for aspec i f ic purpose or for a par t icu lar objectives. It is customised according therequirements of the researcher. It exclusively

focuses on current research problem.As per

Kotler and et al

(2008)-(Pg-334), Primary data is a information collected forthe specific purpose at hand.Purpose and advantages of Primary data

Basic and specific informationBy using primary data marketers can get basic and specific information about theproduct.

Accuracy

Primary data is more accurate because it is directly collected from the population.

Update information

By using primar y data resea rcher may get the lat est and up -to-date informationabout the

product and services and also its environment.

Unbiased data

Primary data collected and processing by researcher. Therefore, the informationmight be

unbiased.Secondary data

Secondary data is data that is already collected, processed and published by other personfor the particular

reason. It is less expensive than the primary data. This data also can becollected quickly and be collected

from T.V, radio, magazine, books, literature review etc.


As per

Avasarikar and et al


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(2007)-(Page-3.8) stated that, Secondary is collectedearlierfor some purpose other than the purpose of

the present research study.They also said that, Secondary data as a matter of fact, provides fundamental

andrich insights into research study.As perKot ler and e t a l

(2008)-(Pg-334), Secondary data is a info rmat ion thatalready exists somewhere, having beencollected for another purpose.

Sources of primary dataAs a researcher and observer all primary data were collected by muself. For collecting theprimary data

used two methods-

Questionnaire

Interviews

Questionnaire

Questionnaire is one of the important observing, analysing and research instrument for use

the market research. Generally, questionnaire is a series of question in a paper, whichmakes for the

getting information from respondent that means collect the information frompotential customers about the

product and product related environment.As per

Brown(2001)(Page-06), Questionnaires are many written instruments thatpresent respondent with a seriesof questions or sta tements to which the y are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting

form among existing answers.InterviewsI t o n e o f t h e i m p o r t a n t m e d i u m f o r t h e m a r k e t r e s e a r c h .

B y t h i s m e t h o d , marketer/researcher directly conduct with the customers. And he takes the

short interviewabout the product and quickly gets the information from the potential customers.

Interviewmay be face to face or by telephone or may be postal interview. Face to face interview isthe

better than the other interview methods.


C u s t o m e r i n t e r v i e w s i s a d i s c u s s i o n w i t h c u s t o m e r s a n d u s e s o f p r o j e c t s deliverables to determine requirements and needs...Interviews are techniques for one-on-one

uses needs assessments.

Kendrick (2000) The Project Management.2000 Edition. (Page-40)

In this research, applied face-to-face interview method and 100 people were interviewedon the streets of

London as well as near Universities and computer stores.

Outcome of interviews

Customer profile (No.01) based on ageIn total 100 people were interviewed, their age range are given following by table:R a n g e o f

a g e C u s t o m e r ( f r e q u e n c y )

Table: 01

The following chart shows the how customer profile based on age appear o The column chart represents the total 100 people were interviewed. Among the 100people, 25 people

were interviewed their age range is 15 to 25. And 35 people werei n te rv ie wed th ey a re 2 5 t o 3 5

yea rs old . A ge ran ge o f 3 5 t o 4 5 y ear s o ld, the number of customer were 20. At last 25

people were interviewed their age rangewas 45 to above.

Customer profile (No.02) based on Gender

Among the 1 00 interviewees, 55 people were male and r est of the peopl e were female. Those

are following by graphically:


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Chart no: 02

The p ie char t shows the 55 male were p ar t i c ipa t ing in the in terv iewed and

4 5female also participate in the interview.


The column chart represents the total 100 people were interviewed. Among the 100people, 25 people

were interviewed their age range is 15 to 25. And 35 people werei n te rv ie wed th ey a re 2 5 t o 3 5

yea rs old . A ge ran ge o f 3 5 t o 4 5 y ear s o ld, the number of customer were 20. At last 25people were interviewed their age rangewas 45 to above.

Customer profile (No.02) based on Gender

Among the 100 interviewees, 55 people were maleand rest of the people werefemale.those are following by graphically.

customer profile based on occupation presents graphically in following

phically in

following

The pie chart provides that students are the highest participants among the other parti cipants, which

is 35 pe rcent. 30 pe rce nt parti cipants are offi ce staf fs t hat are also participate in the interview.And rest of the people are households and otherspeople whose are also participating in the interview

and their proportion was 25,10 persent respectively

F i n a l l y , a f t e r a n a l y s e t h e a l l c u s t o m e r p r o f i l e i t i s c l e a r t h a t , a m o n g t h e

a l l p a r t i c i p a n t s m o s t o f t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s a r e y o u n g ( 2 5 - 3 5 ) a g e d . A n d a l s o

ma le interviewees are slightly more than the female interviewee. Students are

highestparticipants among the other participants. So, it also is clear that young man thoseare students

that people were more enthusiastic about participating in my interview


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Data Analysis

Question no : 01 Do you have an own computer?(

Desktop or Laptop)

(Appendix No: 01)

Chart no.04

The column chart represents tha t, 70 percent re spondents have own d esktop or laptop. And 30

percent respondent have no either desktop or laptop. Since, most of the people have an own computer. So,there are huge opportunities for

Computer Hardware Plc

to establish a computer hardware store in London market.


Own Com-puter

Data analysis based on customer profile number-03

This column chart shows the more than 67 percent office staffs have been use ownprinters and

scanners. Then the second highest category is students. More than 17percent students have a own

printers and scanners and rest of the students haveno any printer or scanner. And 12 percent

respondent who are households they arealso used own printer and scanner. At last, in other category,

90 percent intervieweesaid that, they have no own printer and scanner. Finally, it is clear that office staff

isthe highest proportion that are use the printer and scanner. So, office staff shouldbe the target

customer for Computer Hardware Plc for increasing sales volume of printer and scanner.

Question number: 04 How much money have you spend annually on computer hardware? (Appendix 04)

Data analysis based on customer profile number 03

Category

N.B. In this table, consider only highest proportion of every customer category.)

This table represents that, office staffs are spend the more money for purchase thecomputer hardware

which is 150 to 200 annua lly (approx. figure). Households and others category were also spend

the money yearly between 100 and 150 for buy the computer hardware. At last, student who is


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the categor y those are spendcomparatively less money then the other category, which figure is 50 to

100 per annum

Question number: 05 & 06 Would you like cordless keyboard & mouse?(Appendix 05 & 06)


Chart no.06Mashukur Rahman Id: 4098 Business Decision Making Page no. 10 of 26

Cordless Keyboard

This column chart represents that, most of the respondent (92%), those are 15 to 25ye a rs a ge d ,

the y are pre fer re d t he cor dle ss key boa rd and mo use . O ve r age dpeople (45 over) those

people also preferred the cordless keyboard and mouse,which is 72 percents . 70 percents

respondents those are 35 to 45 years old, theyhave no interest about the cordless keyboard and

mouse. And among the 25 to 35years aged interviewees, 60 percents like the cordless keyboard and

mouse and 4 percents are like to avoid the cordless keyboard and mouse.

07 Have you use your monitor as a television? (Appendix 07)

(Would you like the TV Card?)


he two pie charts represent that, among the all male respondent, 60 percents weredislike the TV card,

and 40 percents were preferred that they like to use the monitor as a television. Where as most of the

female (89%) were like to use the monitor asa television. And few proportion of female (11%) were

dislike the TV Card



female (89%) were like to use the monitor asa television. And few proportion of female (11%) were

dislike the TV Card


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female (89%) were like to use the monitor asa television. And few proportion of female (11%) weredislike the TV Card

8 How often do you change your computer? (Appendix


The two pie charts show that, most of the male and female were used the computer two or less then two

years, which is 45 percents and 50 percents respectively. Alsosame proportion of man and woman who

have been used the computer only one or n o mo r e t h e n t h e n o n e ye a r , w h i c h i s 3 0

p e r c e n t s . A n d 2 5 p e r c e n t s m a l e respondents who have been use the computer three or no

more then three years.On the other hand, 20 percents female were used the computer three or less

thenthree years.

According to

Bharat Book Bureau,

estimated or forecasted market demand of computer hardware in UK is 12 .29 bil lion a t end userprices in 2007. And it is increased by 2.1%within the one year. The refore, it is very clear

that in UK's market demand of computer hardware is expanding day by day. So, it is a very

good prospect/chance forComputer Hardware Plc.

to enter in the London hardware market.As a market analyst I think that, before penetrate in the market


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Computer Hardware Plc.should research the external environment of London computer hardwaremarket. Hence,for the research of exte rnal environment I applied the PES TLE analysis method

which isdiscussed following:

PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis is a one of the analytical technique which is use for analyse the externalenvironment.

The external environment is also called macro-environment and it refers toaspects in the environmentover which the firm has no control over.

PESTLE

stands for-

should research the external environment of London computer hardware market. Hence,for the researchof external environment I applied the PESTLE analysis method which isdiscussed following:

PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis is a one of the analytical technique which is use for analyse the externalenvironment.

The external environment is also called macro-environment and it refers toaspects in the environment

over which the firm has no control over.

PESTLE

stands for-P > Political EnvironmentE > Economic EnvironmentS > Social EnvironmentT > TechnologicalEnvironmentL > Legal EnvironmentE > Ecological Environment


Macro Environment of BusinessPolitical Environment

This refers that what is happening politically in the environment in which government runsthe countryincluding areas such as tax policy, employment laws, attitude of governmentofficials, types of

government in power, environmental regulations, trade restrictions andreform, tariffs and political

stability.Marketing decision are strongly affected by developments in political environment.This

environment is composed of laws, government agencies, and pressure groupsthat influence and limit

various organization and industries. Sometimes these lawscreate new opport uni ties for businesses.

For example, mandat ory rec ycl ing lawshave given the recycling industry a major boost and spurred

the creation of dozensof new companies making new products from recycled materials.Kotler, P.(2 000) Mar keting Management.The Millennium EditionThe UK's government promots the computer learning at schools and otherseducat ionalinstitutions, which is the very good opportunity for

Computer Hardware Plc.

to penetrateinto the london hardware market.

Economic Environment

This refers what is happening within the economy, for example; economic growth/ decline,interest

rates, demand, e xchange r ates an d inflation rate, wage rate s, mini mum wage, working hours,

unemployment (local and national), credit availability, cost of living, etc.

Social Environment


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Social environment refers that what is occurring socially in the markets, cultural norms

andexpecta t ions , hea l th consc iousness , popula t ion growth ra te , age d i s t r ibu t ion ,

caree r attitudes, emphasis on safety, global warming, language, education levels etc.The information

literacy rate in London is nearly 100 percents. It is a great opportunity for

Computer Hardware Plc

to exploit and to give the better products at competitive prices.

Technological

Environment

According to

Lancaster and et al

(2002), Technology has a major environmentalinf lu en ce up on th e ma rk et in g fi rm . It af fe ct s no t

on ly th e fi rm s op er at io ns an d products but also consumers lifestyles and consumptionpatterns. Managementmust be aware of the impact of technological changes.U K i s t h e f i r s tw o r l d c o u n t r y i n t h i s u n i v e r s e . A n d L o n d o n i s t h e c a p i t a l c i t y o f

U K . T h e r e f o r e , L o n d o n c i t y i s v e r y a d v a n c e d i n t e c h n o l o g y t h a t i s v e r y

g o o d e x t e r n a l opportunity for the

Computer Hardware Plc.Mashukur Rahman Id: 4098 Business Decision Making Page no. 15 of 26

LegalEnvironmentThis relates to the laws of the governs and societies in which the firms operates and

it includes a consideration in the following factors:

Employment laws (Minimum wages, working ages etc)

Investment laws

Health and safety laws etc.In UK's there are no legal constraints to enter in the market. So,The Computer Hardware

Plc.can easily starts the business in the London.As per

Kotler

(2003), Marketing decision are strongly affected by developments inlegal environment. Thisenvi ronmen t is compo sed of di ffe rent types or laws, government agencies, pressure

groups that influence and limit various firms andindividuals. Sometimes these laws also create

new opportunities for business.Ecological Environment

People and society as a whole are becoming increasingly concerned with natural

(ecology)envir onmen t and busine ss f i r ms are now e xpect ed to c onsid er in their

p lans how topreserve the env i ronment . So , before s ta r t the bus iness , TheComp u ter Hard wa re Plc.should to consider this issue.

The Computer Hardware Plc.will target that get the 10 percents market share in the firstoperation as well as leading to an

increase at 12 percents annually. It could be achievethrough and extensive promotion

campa ign throu gh the media speci al is t comput er magazines.



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ProductslaunchingTiming for launching the products is represents by Gantt chart in following:[ Proposed date:

This gan t t char t shows tha t ,

The Computer Hardware Plc .was s ta r ted the market research f rom middle o f ju ly 2009 to mid-augus t 2009 . And

a lso sor t in g t he re su l t in second part of month of August 2009. Then in september 2009 Computer

Hardware Plc.was busy for the hired outlets. After hiring the outlets Computer Hardware Plc. spend

theone and half months for recruitment and provided training which is 1

st

october 2009 tomiddle of november 2009. For promoting the products Computer Hardware Plc taking

timefrom middle of November to middle of December. And finally products are launching after middle of

December

Cash Budget

Cash budget is a one of the important business planning mechanism or tool which aid tothe managers

anticipate the expected cash inflows that means cash receipts and outflowsth at mean cashpaymen ts for a budget perio d. Cash budget ensur e a nd makes the provision for

minimum cash balance has to be maintained all time.According to

Horne et al (2008) (Pg-180)

A cash budget is arrived at through aprojection of future cash receipts and cash disbursements of thefirm over variousintervals of time. It reveals the timing and amount of expected cash inflows

andoutflows over the period studied.Benefits and significance of Cash Budget

Planning tool

Cash budget is a planning tool. The major benefit of the statement of cash flows isthat users may get

the rea son abl y det ail ed pic tur e of a comp any 's ope rat ing , investing and financing

transactions involving cash.

Forecasting the Future needs

Cash budget forecasts the future needs of funds, its time and the amount well inadvance. It,

thus, helps planning for raising the funds through the most profitablesources at reasonable

terms and costs.

Maintenance of cash Balance


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Cash is the basis of liquidity of the enterprise. Cash budget helps in maintaining theliquidity. It

suggests suff icient cas h balance for expected requi rements and a fair margin for the

contingencies.

Controlling Cash Expenditure

Cash budget acts as a controlling device. The expenses of various departments inthe firm can best be

controlled so as not to exceed the budgeted limit.Mashukur Rahman Id: 4098 Business Decision Making Page no. 23 of 26


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Evaluation of Performance

Cash budget acts as a standard for evaluating the financial performance.

Bank Purpose

The management demonstrate of the ability of company its working capital ability.Its also represents thelifeblood of a company. Many lenders and or creditors lendthe money to the company after

reviewing the company' s cash budget . So, to getting loan company should be prepared and maintain

the cash budget statementregularly.

Projected Cash Flow Statement

The Computer Hardware Plc.

(From January-2010 to June-2010)Months--->

J a n - 2 0 1 0 F e b - 2 0 1 0 M a r - 2 0 1 0 A p r - 2 0 1 0 M a y -

2 0 1 0 J u n - 2 0 1 0

Cash Receive:

Receipts from Cash Sales

3 1 , 5 0 0 3 4 , 3 2 0 2 9 , 4 4 0 3 6 , 1 2 0 3 8 , 2 8 0 3 8 , 2 5 0

Payments:

P u r c h a s e 1 6 , 0 0 0

1 2 , 0 0 0 1 3 , 0 0 0 1 4 , 0 0 0 1 3 , 7 0 0

2 2 , 0 0 0 P u r c h a s e F i x e d

A s s e t s 6 , 0 0 0 - - - - -

1 0 , 0 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - - -

S t a f f S a l a r y 3 , 0 0 0

2 , 8 0 0 3 , 1 0 0 2 , 5 0 0

2 , 7 0 0 3 , 2 0 0 A l l o t h e r

o v e r h e a d s 4 , 2 0 0 3 , 5 0 0 3 , 8 0 0 3 , 5 0 0 4 , 1 0 0

4 , 5 0 0 T a x - - -

- - - - - - -

- - 2 , 5 0 0

- - - - - - - - Total

( 2 9 2 0 0 ) ( 1 8 , 3 0 0 ) ( 2 9 , 9 0 0 ) ( 2 2 , 5 0 0 )

( 2 0 , 5 0 0 ) ( 2 9 , 7 0 0 ) S u r p l u s

( D e f i c i t s ) 2 , 3 0 0

1 6 , 0 2 0 (460) 1 3 , 6 2 0 1 7 , 7 8 0 5 5 0

Cash in Bank( 8 , 0 0 0 ) ( 5 7 0 0 ) 1 0 3 2 0 8 9 6 0

2 3 4 8 0 4 1 2 6 0

Closing Balance(5700) 1 0 3 2 0 8 9 6 0 2 3 4 8 0 4 1 2 6 0 4 1 8 1 0



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References

Avasarikar, D.P. and Dr.Chordiya, S.B.(2007) Marketing Research. 1

st

Edition.(Page- 3.8)

Horne, J. and Wachowicz, J. (2008), Fundamentals of Financial Management. 13

th

Edition (Pg-180),Pearson Education Limited.

Kendrick(2000) The Project Management. 2000 Edition.(Page-40)

Kotler, P. Amstrong, G. Wong, V and Saunders, J.(2008) Principles of Marketing. 5

th

European Edition.(Page-333)

Kotler, P. Amstrong, G. Wong, V and Saunders, J.(2008) Principles of Marketing. 5

thEuropean Edition.(Page-334)

Kotler, P.(2000) Marketing Management. The Millennium Edition.

Kotler, P.(2003) Marketing Management. 11

th

edition

Lancaster, G and Massingham, L and Ashford, R.(2002) Essential of Marketing. 4

th

Edition



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Decision Making Support