1. Business Analysis

2. Business Analysis

3. Business Analysis Purpose:
Identify where the business stands in relation to rivals, etc.
Collect and use data to inform business decision making
Identify strengths and weaknesses in the business
Use information to inform strategic planning

4. Business Analysis Method: Collection of data from a range of sources:
Market research
Past sales data
Market growth data
Specialist analyst data
Secondary data, e.g. Mintel

5. Data

6. Analysis Range of methods used to analyse data: Trends Correlation
Growth rates
Nominal
Average
Mean
Median
Mode
Variance
Standard deviation
Range
Time series analysis
Scatter graphs
Correlation

7. Trends Looking for patterns in data collections
Frequency and reliability of trends
Impact of external factors, e.g. seasonal variation, random events, cyclical trends

8. Averages
Averages are a measure of central tendency – the most likely or common item in a data series
Calculated through 3 measures:
Mean
Median
Mode

9. Averages Mean = Sum of items in the series/number of items X = Σx x
Median = middle number in a data series – 0.5 (n+1)
Mode = the most frequently occurring value in a data series

10. Variance
Averages have limitations – measures of data spread used to assess width
Range – difference between the highest and the lowest value
Standard Deviation – used to measure the variance of the data set from the mean – can highlight how reliable the mean is as being representative of the data set

11. The Standard Deviation
Σ (xi – x )2
S = n

12. Correlation
The degree to which there is a relationship between two or more random variables
The closer the relationship the higher the degree of correlation
Perfect correlation would be where r = 1

13. Time-Series Analysis
Used to analyse movements of a variable over a time period – usually years, quarters, months, etc.
Importance of assessing the:
Trend
Seasonality
Key moments
Magnitude

14. Presentation Graphs Charts Tables
Index numbers – Method of showing average changes in large amounts of data
Laspeyres – Uses a base period weighting measurement
Paasche – Uses a current price weighting measurement

15. Forecasting

16. Qualitative
Focus groups - a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, a topic, issue or product
User groups – similar to focus groups but consisting of those who have experience in the use of a product, system, service, etc.
Panel surveys – repeated measurements from the same sample of people over a period of time
Delphi method – calls on the expertise and insights of a panel of experts to help with forecasting – seen as being more reliable than data analysis only
Could be drawn together from around the world as there is no need to have people together at the same time
In-house judgements – Use the expertise and judgements of those involved in the business in aiding and making judgements

17. Quantitative
Makes use of all the statistical data collected by the firm and by other firms/organisations to help inform decision making
Surveys
Sales data
Impact on sales
Primary data – collected by the firm themselves
Data collected by others and used by the firm, e.g. Office of National Statistics (ONS), Gallup, Mori, Mintel

18. Forecasting Advantages and disadvantages:
Data from several years can give accurate guides to future performance
Statistical techniques can make the data informative and useful
All depends on the quality of the data and the accuracy of the techniques used to analyse the data