Business Finance Homework Help

Complete the 7 Sections of DATCB/565

Section 1

Competency 1 Statement

Utilizing statistical and data analytic frameworks, you will be able to evaluate and analyze the role big data plays in business decision-making. You will also demonstrate the ability to analyze and graphically describe key business data in Excel, allowing business leaders to achieve competitive advantage.

Reflection

Consider the following:

• How is data analytics different from statistics?
• What are the main differences between descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics tools?
• How do businesses use analytics to convert raw operational data into actionable information?

Reflect on the following in a minimum of 500 words.

Think about the organization you work for (or any other organization you’re familiar with). Does the organization use data analytics?

• If so, how is it used? How can the organization improve the way it uses data analytics? What opportunities is the organization missing out on?
• If not, how could data analytics be used to improve the organization’s performance?

Section 2

Pastas R Us, Inc. is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in noodle-based dishes, soups, and salads. Since its inception, the business development team has favored opening new restaurants in areas (within a 3-mile radius) that satisfy the following demographic conditions:

• Median age between 25 and 45 years old
• Household median income above national average
• At least 15% college-educated adult population

Last year, the marketing department rolled out a loyalty card strategy to increase sales. Under this program, customers present their loyalty card when paying for their orders and receive some free food after making 10 purchases.

The company has collected data from its 74 restaurants to track important variables such as average sales per customer, year-on-year sales growth, sales per sq. ft., loyalty card usage as a percentage of sales, and others. A key metric of financial performance in the restaurant industry is annual sales per sq. ft. For example, if a 1,200 sq. ft. restaurant recorded $2 million in sales last year, then it sold $1,667 per sq. ft.

Executive management wants to know whether the current expansion criteria can be improved; evaluate the effectiveness of the loyalty card marketing strategy; and identify feasible, actionable opportunities for improvement. As a member of the analytics department, you’ve been assigned the responsibility of conducting a thorough statistical analysis of the company’s available database to answer executive management’s questions.

Part 1

Conduct the following descriptive statistics analyses using the PastasR Us, Inc. data set in Microsoft Excel. Answer the questions in the spreadsheet or a separate Microsoft Word document.

Insert a new column in the database that corresponds to AnnualSales. AnnualSales is the result of multiplying a restaurant’s SqFt by Sales/SqFt.

Calculate the following:

• mean

• standard deviation

• skew

• 5-number summary

• interquartile range (IQR) for each of the variables

Create a box-plot for the AnnualSales variable and answer the following questions:

• Does it look symmetric?

• Would you prefer the IQR instead of the standard deviation to describe this variable’s dispersion? Why or why not?

Create a histogram for the Sales/SqFt variable and answer the following questions:

• Is the distribution symmetric? If not, what is the skew?

• Are there any outliers? If so, which one(s)?

• What is the SqFt area of the outlier(s)? Is the outlier(s) smaller or larger than the average restaurant in the database? What can you conclude from this observation?

• What measure of central tendency is more appropriate to describe Sales/SqFt? Why?

Cite references to support your assignment.

Part 2

Write a 750- to 1,000-word statistical report with the following sections:

• Section 1: Scope and Descriptive Statistics
• Section 2: Analysis
• Section 3: Recommendations and Implementation

Section 1: Scope and Descriptive Statistics

• State the report’s objective.
• Discuss the nature of the current database. What variables were analyzed?
• Summarize your descriptive statistics findings from Part 1. Use a table and insert appropriate graphs.

Section 2: Analysis

Using Microsoft Excel, create scatter plots and display the regression equations for the following pairs of variables:

• BachDeg% versus Sales/SqFt
• MedIncome versus Sales/SqFt
• MedAge versus Sales/SqFt
• LoyaltyCard(%) versus SalesGrowth(%)

In your report, include the scatter plots. For each scatter plot, designate the type of relationship observed (increasing/positive, decreasing/negative, or no relationship) and determine what can be concluded from these relationships.

Section 3: Recommendations and Implementation

• Based on your findings above, assess which expansion criteria seem to be more effective. Is there any expansion criterion that could be changed or eliminated? If so, which one and why?
• Based on your findings above, does it appear as if the loyalty card is positively correlated with sales growth? Would you recommend changing this marketing strategy?
• Based on your previous findings, recommend marketing positioning that targets a specific demographic. (Hint: Are younger people patronizing the restaurants more than older people?)
• Indicate what information should be collected to track and evaluate the effectiveness of your recommendations. How can this data be collected? (Hint: would you use survey/samples or census data?)

Cite references to support your assignment.

Section 3

Competency 2 Statement

Utilizing statistical probability models, you will be able to evaluate and analyze business data under uncertainty conditions. You will also be able to create and test hypotheses and draw conclusions based on samples of data.

Complete in a minimum of 500 words. Complete your reflections by responding to all prompts.

Reflection

Consider the following:

Many business activities generate data that can be thought of as random. An example described in the textbook is the servicing of cars at an oil change shop. Each car entering the shop can be considered an experiment with random outcomes. A variable of interest in this experiment could be the amount of time necessary to service the car. Service time will vary randomly with each car. Often, we can capture the most relevant characteristics of a stochastic process with a simple probability distribution model. We can then analyze the model to make predictions and drive decisions. For instance, we could estimate the number of technicians the oil change shop needs to service demand on a Saturday afternoon. Respond to the following questions:

• What is a random variable?
• How would you differentiate a discrete from a continuous random variable?

A laptop manufacturing company has implemented a 2-step process to test the quality of each production batch. In the first step, a technician randomly selects 15 laptops from the batch and determines whether they meet specifications. The batch is considered acceptable provided no more than 1 laptop fails to meet specifications. Otherwise, the entire batch has to be tested in the second step. Historical data shows that 95% of the laptops produced adhere to specifications.

Reflect on the following in a minimum of 500 words:

• What are the 4 characteristics of a binomial experiment?
• Can we use a binomial distribution to model this process?
• What is the probability that the entire batch unnecessarily has to be tested if in fact 95% of its laptops conform to specifications? (Hint: Use Excel’s =BINOMDIST() function to find the probability)
• What is the probability that the batch is incorrectly accepted if only 75% of its laptops actually conform to specifications?
• What situations in your organization might this type of analysis apply to? Explain.

Section 4

In Part 1 of this competency assessment, you’ll complete a market analysis as a necessary component of the overall business plan that you will prepare and submit in the capstone course, STRCB/581, for your MBA program.

Part 2 of the assessment gives you an opportunity to strengthen your skills in gathering and analyzing business-related information. It also provides a deeper understanding of how companies can look at globalization as part of their strategic and operational plans.

Part 1

MBA students, in this assignment, you will prepare a portion of the market analysis for the business you have chosen to use for your business plan in the MBA program. You will create a report to include in your digital portfolio in the program capstone course, STRCB/581.

Target Company

Write a report that includes the following sections: 

• Section 1: Business Overview, Mission, and Vision

• Section 2: Market Analysis

• Section 3: Recommendation

Download the Market Analysis Research guide. Use it as a guide for what to include in each section.

Expect to reach a word count that ranges from 750 to 1,000 words. The count is an estimate. What matters is fully addressing each section’s requirements.

Part 2A

Companies that perform well in their country of origin usually consider expanding operations in new international markets. Deciding where, how, and when to expand is not an easy task, though.

Many issues need to be considered before crafting an expansion strategy and investing significant resources to this end, including:

• the level of demand to be expected for the company’s products/services
• presence of local competitors
• the regulatory, economic, demographic, and political environments

Carefully researching and analyzing these and other factors can help mitigate the inherent risk associated with an overseas expansion strategy, thus increasing the likelihood of success.

As a data analyst in your company’s business development department, you’ve been tasked with the responsibility of recommending countries for international expansion. You’ll write a report to the company’s executive team with your research, analysis, and recommendations.

Read and review “How Netflix Expanded to 190 Countries in 7 Years.”

Write a 525-word summary in which you address the following:

• According to the article, what were the most important strategic moves that propelled Netflix’s successful international expansion?

• The article mentions investments in big data and analytics as one of the elements accompanying the second phase of overseas expansion. Why was this investment important? What type of information did Netflix derive from the data collected?

• According to the article, what is exponential globalization?

• Not all international expansion strategies are a resounding success, however. Research an article or video that discusses an instance in which a U.S. company’s expansion efforts in another country failed. According to the article/video you selected, what were the main reasons for this failure? Do you agree with this assessment?

• Explain some of the reasons why certain companies’ expansion plans have failed in the past.

Part 2B

Your organization is evaluating the quality of its call center operations. One of the most important metrics in a call center is Time in Queue (TiQ), which is the time a customer has to wait before he/she is serviced by a Customer Service Representative (CSR). If a customer has to wait for too long, he/she is more likely to get discouraged and hang up. Furthermore, customers who have to wait too long in the queue typically report a negative overall experience with the call. You’ve conducted an exhaustive literature review and found that the average TiQ in your industry is 2.5 minutes (150 seconds).

Another important metric is Service Time (ST), also known as Handle Time, which is the time a CSR spends servicing the customer. CSR’s with more experience and deeper knowledge tend to resolve customer calls faster. Companies can improve average ST by providing more training to their CSR’s or even by channeling calls according to area of expertise. Last month your company had an average ST of approximately 3.5 minutes (210 seconds). In an effort to improve this metric, the company has implemented a new protocol that channels calls to CSR’s based on area of expertise. The new protocol (PE) is being tested side-by-side with the traditional (PT) protocol.

Download the Call Center Waiting Time database.

Each row in the database corresponds to a different call. Column variables are as follows.

• ProtocolType: indicates protocol type, either PT or PE

• QueueTime: Time in Queue, in seconds

• ServiceTime: Service Time, in seconds

Perform a test of hypothesis to determine whether the average TiQ is lower than the industry standard of 2.5 minutes (150 seconds). Use a significance level α=0.05.

Evaluate if the company should allocate more resources to improve its average TiQ.

Perform a test of hypothesis to determine whether the average ST with service protocol PE is lower than with the PT protocol. Use a significance level α=0.05.

Assess if the new protocol served its purpose. (Hint: This should be a test of means for 2 independent groups).

Write a 175-word summary of your conclusions.

Section 5

Competency 3 Statement

Utilizing statistical regression and time series analysis models, you will be able to evaluate and analyze how multiple variables impact an organization. You will also be able to create forecasts and interpret data to analyze performance as it impacts strategic planning and comparative advantage for an organization.

Manipulating data to create models helps us describe and summarize relationships between variables. Understanding how variables relate to each other helps businesses predict performance and make informed strategic plans. For example, to make an informed recommendation to management regarding which types of office buildings to acquire or sell, you would model the relationship between assessed value and given variables.

This reflection gives you an opportunity to develop, evaluate, and apply bivariate and multivariate linear regression models, and then reflect on office buildings you recommend acquiring and selling, and why.

Pre-Reflection Exercise

Download the Competency 3 Reflection Data Set. The data set is information about the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings in a city. The following is a list of the variables in the database:

• FloorArea: square feet of floor space
• Offices: number of offices in the building
• Entrances: number of customer entrances
• Age: age of the building (years)
• AssessedValue: tax assessment value (thousands of dollars)

As you work through the following exercises, note your answers to the given questions so you can easily summarize them in your reflection.

Use the data set to construct a model that predicts the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings with specific characteristics.

1. Construct a scatter plot in Excel with FloorArea as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and R2 in your graph.

• Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables?

2. Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of FloorArea and AssessmentValue.

• Is FloorArea a significant predictor of AssessmentValue?

3. Construct a scatter plot in Excel with Age as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and R2 in your graph.

• Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables?

4. Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of Age and AssessmentValue.

• Is Age a significant predictor of AssessmentValue?

Construct a multiple regression model.

• Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis with AssessmentValue as the dependent variable and FloorArea, Offices, Entrances, and Age as independent variables.
• What is the overall fit R2? What is the adjusted R2?
• Which predictors are considered significant if we work with α=0.05? Which predictors can be eliminated?
• What is the final model if we only use FloorArea and Offices as predictors?
• Suppose our final model is: AssessedValue = 115.9 + 0.26 x FloorArea + 78.34 x Offices.
• What would be the assessed value of a medical office building with a floor area of 3500 sq. ft., 2 offices, that was built 15 years ago?
• Is this assessed value consistent with what appears in the database?

Reflection

In a minimum of 500 words, reflect on the types of medical offices you would advise management to close and open, and why. Use your exercise notes to support your rationale.

Section 6

Assessment Information

This assignment illustrates how data analytics can be used to create strategies for sustainable organizational success while integrating the organization’s mission with societal values. You’ll apply statistical time series modeling techniques to identify patterns and develop time-dependent demand models. You’ll practice organizing and delivering a presentation to senior decision-makers. The PowerPoint presentation includes an audio component in addition to speaker notes.

Scenario

A city’s administration isn’t driven by the goal of maximizing revenues or profits but instead looks at improving the quality of life of its residents. Many American cities are confronted with high traffic and congestion. Finding parking spaces, whether in the street or a parking lot, can be time consuming and contribute to congestion. Some cities have rolled out data-driven parking space management to reduce congestion and make traffic more fluid.

You’re a data analyst working for a mid-size city that has anticipated significant increments in population and car traffic. The city is evaluating whether it makes sense to invest in infrastructure to count and report the number of parking spaces available at the different parking lots downtown. This data would be collected and processed in real-time, feeding an app that motorists can access to find parking space availability in different parking lots throughout the city.

Part 1

Download the Parking Lot Use data set. The data set has the following columns:

• LotCode: a unique code that identifies the parking lot

• LotCapacity: a number with the respective parking lot capacity

• LotOccupancy: a number with the current number of cars in the parking lot

• TimeStamp: a day/time combination indicating the moment when occupancy was measured

• Day: the day of the week corresponding to the TimeStamp

Insert a new column, OccupancyRate, recording occupancy rate as a percentage with 1 decimal. For instance, if the current LotOccupancy is 61 and LotCapacity is 577, then the OccupancyRate would be reported as 10.6 (or 10.6%).

Using the OccupancyRate and Day columns, construct box plots for each day of the week. You can use Insert > Insert Statistic Chart >Box and Whisker for this purpose. Is the median occupancy rate approximately the same throughout the week? If not, which days have lower median occupancy rates? Which days have higher median occupancy rates? Is this what you expected?

Using the OccupancyRate and LotCode columns, construct box plots for each parking lot. You can use Insert > Insert Statistic Chart >Box and Whisker for this purpose. Do all parking lots experience approximately equal occupancy rates? Are some parking lots more frequented than others? Is this what you expected?

Select any 2 parking lots. For each of them, prepare a scatter plot showing occupancy rate against TimeStamp for the week 11/20/2016 – 11/26/2016. Are occupancy rates time dependent? If so, which times seem to experience the highest occupancy rates? Is this what you expected?

Part 2

Prepare a 12- to 16-slide presentation with detailed speaker notes and audio, graphs, and tables.

Your audience is the city council, which is responsible for deciding whether the city invests resources to set in motion the smart parking space app.

Complete the following in your presentation:

• Outline the rationale and goals of the project
• Utilize box plots showing the occupancy rates for each day of the week. Include your interpretation of results.
• Utilize box plots showing the occupancy rates for each parking lot. Include your interpretation of results
• Provide scatter plots showing occupancy rate against the time of day of your selected 2 parking lots. Include your interpretation of results
• Make a recommendation about continuing with the implementation of this project.

Include speaker notes that convey the details you would give if you were presenting. You will record your speaker notes.

Ensure that the slides contain only essential information and as little text as possible.

Section 7

Complete in a minimum of 500 words. Complete your reflections by responding to all prompts

Reflection:

Question #1

Consider your current or a past place of employment. (Brookfield Properties)

Reflection #1:

How you would use descriptive statistics in your current or a former place of employment to visualize information specific to your industry? What type of research might you use to make decisions related to your organization? Assess how you would use statistics to make decisions and plan for the future in your current or a former place of employment

Question #2

What specific assignments or learning activities from this course did you find particularly beneficial? What do you feel would have improved or added to your learning experience in this course?