Assignment - How is technological innovation and the evolution of multichannel shopping impacting on high street shops and malls?
You will undertake primary and secondary research on the given topic to find out how consumers shopping habit is changing, the underlying factors driving, the reasons/motivations for the change, the shopping platforms used and the socio-economic impact. You can scope the research by narrowing it down to a specific sector.
Task 1
Planning the survey
a) Create a plan for collecting data from students across all campuses.
b) Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used
c) Design a questionnaire for collecting the data.
Guideline
1. When planning the data collection consider: WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS WILL YOU ASK? HOW MANY QUESTIONS WILL YOU ASK? HOW WILL YOU WORD OR PHRASE YOUR QUESTIONS? WHAT KIND OF SCALE WILL YOU USE?
2. When developing the questionnaire, please keep in mind your research question because that is what is guiding your research outcomes.
3. Make sure that you write a short "introduction" at the beginning of the survey, somewhat detailing what the survey is about and the confidentially of the data that will be collected.
4. Make sure that your writing is consistent and concise and no misspelled words.
Task 2
Summarising and analysing the data
a) Summarise the data collected from the survey using representative values (arithmetic mean, median and mode)
b) Analyse the results of the survey and draw conclusions
c) Analyse the data using measures of dispersion
d) Explain how you can use quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient to draw useful conclusions
Guideline
1. For this part of the activity, you will need to distribute your questionnaires to your classmates and students in other groups. (NOTABLE MENTION: Surveymonkey.com)
2. Once you collect all of the surveys, you will need to see how many people answered each question.
3. Calculate how many times each person answered each question using Frequency table
4. You will need to offer a brief discussion analysing the data that you have calculated. WHAT DO THE NUMBERS TELL YOU? WHAT DO THE RESULTS TELL YOU? WHAT MORE RESEARCH COULD YOU DO?
Task 3
Presenting and reporting your findings
a) With the aid of spreadsheets produce graphs to help draw valid conclusions on the survey
b) Create trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to show the level of impact over a minimum of 3 year period (this could be based on secondary data).
c) Prepare a poster presentation in class of your findings and
d) Write a formal report for publication in the Retail Times magazine.
Task 4
Software-generated information to make business decisions
a) How do the following systems serve the various levels of management in a business? You are to describe their characteristics and the roles they play in a business
I. Transaction processing systems (TPS)
II. Management information systems (MIS)
III. Decision support systems (DSS)
b) A publisher has just signed a contract for the publication of a book. What is the earliest date that the book can be ready for distribution based on the following activities with time estimates:
Draw a network diagram and find the critical path.
|
Activity
|
Precedence
|
Duration in weeks
|
|
A
|
Appraisal of book by reviewer
|
-
|
8
|
|
B
|
Initial pricing of book
|
-
|
2
|
|
C
|
Assessment of marketability
|
A,B
|
2
|
|
D
|
Revisions by author
|
A
|
6
|
|
E
|
Editing of final draft
|
C,D
|
4
|
|
F
|
Typesetting of text
|
E
|
3
|
|
G
|
Preparation of artwork
|
E
|
4
|
|
H
|
Design and printing of jacket
|
C,D
|
6
|
|
I
|
Printing and binding of book
|
F,G
|
8
|
| J |
Inspection and final assembly |
I,H |
1 |
c) Using financial tools for decision making advice a business planning on investing in a project.
The projected cashflows over 4 years are shown below:
|
Year
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
Cashflows
|
(15,000)
|
8,000
|
10,000
|
5,000
|
5,000
|
d) If the rate of finance at which the business can borrow is 10% calculate the NPV and advice if it is worth considering this investment.
e) Calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and explain the meaning of the result.