Business Decision Making (Term Paper Sample)

Business Decision Making
[Name of the student]
[Name of the institution]
Executive Summary
This assignment is based on the quantitative analysis of a soft drink industry. This assignment discusses all the research aspects for conducting a research. The beverage industry of UK is chosen to solve the problem that has shown a tremendous growth. This project thoroughly discusses the survey methodology and data collection methods. This project takes primary data collection into consideration. This project is based on personal survey method using questionnaire as tool for collecting data. Moreover, to assist marketers in implementing marketing strategies, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics is used that gives graphical presentation as well as understanding of packaging factors that boosts repetitive purchase decision of consumers. A brief description of Information Systems and financial tools for decision making is given at the end.
Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc414170786 \h ii1.1 Business Problem PAGEREF _Toc414170787 \h 11.2 Plan for Primary and Secondary Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc414170788 \h 21.2.1 Primary Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc414170789 \h 3Direct Personal Survey PAGEREF _Toc414170790 \h 3Indirect Personal Survey PAGEREF _Toc414170791 \h 3Questionnaire Survey PAGEREF _Toc414170792 \h 3Local Report Investigation PAGEREF _Toc414170793 \h 41.2.2 Secondary Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc414170794 \h 41.3 Survey Methodology and Sampling Frame PAGEREF _Toc414170795 \h 51.3.1 Research Philosophy PAGEREF _Toc414170796 \h 5Positivism Philosophy PAGEREF _Toc414170797 \h 5Interpretivism Philosophy PAGEREF _Toc414170798 \h 6Realism Philosophy PAGEREF _Toc414170799 \h 61.3.2 Research Design PAGEREF _Toc414170800 \h 61.3.3 Research Approach PAGEREF _Toc414170801 \h 7Inductive Approach PAGEREF _Toc414170802 \h 7Deductive Approach PAGEREF _Toc414170803 \h 71.3.4 Research Method PAGEREF _Toc414170804 \h 8Qualitative Method PAGEREF _Toc414170805 \h 8Quantitative Method PAGEREF _Toc414170806 \h 8Mixed-Method PAGEREF _Toc414170807 \h 81.3.5 Research Hypotheses PAGEREF _Toc414170808 \h 81.3.6 Data Collection Method PAGEREF _Toc414170809 \h 91.3.7 Data Collection Instrument PAGEREF _Toc414170810 \h 91.3.8 Sampling Method and Sample Size PAGEREF _Toc414170811 \h 91.4 Survey Questionnaire PAGEREF _Toc414170812 \h 112.1 Descriptive Analysis PAGEREF _Toc414170814 \h 132.2 Correlation Analysis PAGEREF _Toc414170815 \h 142.3 Regression Analysis PAGEREF _Toc414170816 \h 163.1 Graphical Presentation PAGEREF _Toc414170817 \h 183.1.1 Analysis of Package Size PAGEREF _Toc414170818 \h 183.1.2 Analysis of Graphics PAGEREF _Toc414170819 \h 213.1.3 Analysis of Shape PAGEREF _Toc414170820 \h 233.1.4 Analysis of Product Description PAGEREF _Toc414170821 \h 263.1.5 Analysis of Quantity PAGEREF _Toc414170822 \h 283.1.6 Analysis of Repetitive Purchase Decision PAGEREF _Toc414170823 \h 313.2 Trend Analysis PAGEREF _Toc414170824 \h 334.1 Information Processing Tools PAGEREF _Toc414170825 \h 344.1.1 Operational Level PAGEREF _Toc414170826 \h 344.1.2 Tactical Level PAGEREF _Toc414170827 \h 344.1.3 Strategic Level PAGEREF _Toc414170828 \h 344.2 Project Plan (Gantt chart) PAGEREF _Toc414170829 \h 354.3 Decision Making Financial Tools PAGEREF _Toc414170830 \h 35References PAGEREF _Toc414170831 \h 37
1.1 Business Problem
The beverage industry has shown a tremendous growth and high consumption of soft drinks has brought a boom in the beverage industry. The consumption of soft drinks has increased because of the innovations and interventions emerging in the product development area of businesses that is increasing efficiency and productivity of organizations. There are multiple improvements made by the manufacturers in beverage products that are appreciated by consumers not only in taste but also in packaging. It is leading to expansion and growth (Steen and Ashurst, 2008). Manufacturers are spending huge amount to offer valuable offerings to consumers because of ongoing rising demand and shift in market dynamics. The factors of success are linked with the preferences of customers such as size, quality, quantity, brand image, product market share and product description. These factors propel customers for repurchasing a brand and these factors are the elements of packaging. The traditional viewpoint of packaging was to protect the product but technology has changed this viewpoint and considered packaging as a marketing and positioning tactic that catches attention of customers and initiate a desire of buying in them. Hence, marketers are heavily emphasizing on intervening new and unique marketing strategies to expand the customer base and widen the segment (Laforet, 2011).
The soft drink industry is enhancing packaging of products by integrating new technologies that matches with the preferences of customers and are articulated with the current market trends (Wells et al., 2007). This assignment focuses on five elements of packaging that are considered important factors and significant for drawing attention of customers. This new shift in marketing has increased competition in the market and existing companies has to focus on these tactics as new entrants are coming up with more advance technology. Manufacturers are adapting new packaging styles to gain an edge over competitors. This assignment has taken UK soft drink industry because it was the only economy in which revenue of soft drink industry increased by 2.2% regardless of the financial crisis that hit all the economies and worsen economic conditions. This soft industry includes juices, water, carbonated drinks and energy drinks. The UK soft drink industry is advancing its technology in the context of packaging to deliver superior quality products (Robertson, 2013).
This assignment takes repetitive buying behavior as dependent variable and size, quantity, product description, graphics, and shape as independent variables. Technology is influencing every sector but utilization and adaptation of technological advancements in beverage industry has reported a rapid growth in soft drink industry. Unique visuals and product appearance is attracting customers and outlook of a product has also become an essential factor in buying decision making process. For this reason, marketers are shaping the packaging thought to fulfil the customers’ needs and bring a positive change in post purchase behaviour.
1.2 Plan for Primary and Secondary Data Collection
There are two types of data: primary and secondary. The primary data is a raw form data that is collected by the researcher and it is a first-hand data that undergoes statistical application through statistical machines for analysis and interpretations. On the other hand, secondary data is a finished form of raw data that was previously collected from some other researcher and had already undergone statistical application. There is an issue of originality of data in primary data. There are some pitfalls in secondary data; these are the probable errors that need to be omitted by researcher carefully. Secondary data must be carefully extracted because data can be inadequate or inappropriate (Saunders et al., 2007). Following are the methods of primary and secondary data collection:
Primary Data Collection

Secondary Data Collection

Direct personal survey
Indirect personal survey
Questionnaire survey
Local reports investigation

Unpolished data
Published data-

1.2.1 Primary Data Collection
Direct Personal Survey
In this method, researcher himself collects data from the participants and he has to be present at the spot where investigation is being conducted to acquaint with the surroundings. The of researcher puts direct question to participants for collecting direct and point to point information. The pros of this method are: information is accurate, information is reliable and it is suitable for intensive investigation. The cons of this method are: it is not suitable for extensive investigation, it involves expense, incurs huge time, information shared does not go with the research objectives and biasness of researcher can damage the findings (Taylor, 2005).
Indirect Personal Survey
This method is used when informants feel hesitate to share information with researchers. For instance, a government officer never tells the exact stats of his income when asked. He hides his real income that is obtained from other sources. In such conditions, researcher puts indirect questions to get direct answers. This method is tricky and extracts required information (Ernst, 2003).
Questionnaire Survey
This method involves questionnaire for collecting data. It contains questions that are related to research questions. This method is used by most of the researchers. Questionnaires are sent to participants and filled questionnaires are returned back which is further used for processing. This method becomes successful when accurate questions are chosen. While developing a questionnaire, a researcher must use short and clear questions that are simple and easy to understand. These questions must be explicit in nature to avoid any ambiguity. Moreover, few questions should be used because large numbers of questions irritates informants and they may give vague answers without paying attention on each question. This method is reliable as researcher himself visits the field for approaching informants and educates them about the study and desired information to be shared by them(Taylor, 2005).
Local Report Investigation
In this method, information is collected from local correspondents. It is used in rough estimation projects as data collected in this method is not reliable (Ernst, 2003).
1.2.2 Secondary Data Collection
Secondary data is collectible from published and unpublished sources. Published sources involve offici...