Business Decision Making: Sources, Tools, and Techniques

BUSINESS DECISION
MAKING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Various sources of collection of data and other statistical tools.................................................3
Different tools and techniques relating to business decision making and their use....................5
Presentation of information with help of charts and graphs.......................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Business decision making is being defined as the process involving series of steps which
allows the business professional to take decision to solve the problem of company. In a business,
there are many different situations wherein the companies have to decide among two or more
other alternatives and this can only be done when there are critical business decision making
skills among the employees. The present report is based over the company Fortune trading which
a UK based business. The current study will outline the different types of sources of data
collection, different types of descriptive statistics like mean, mode, median and many others.
Further the discussion will be highlighted relating to business decision making tools like cash
flow, current ratio, debt to equity ratio and many other different tools. In the end with help of the
graphs and charts the information will be presented and decision for better working will be taken.
MAIN BODY
Various sources of collection of data and other statistical tools
Sources of data collection- data is being defined as the raw information or fact and
figures which is essential for the business (Kimmel, Weygandt and Kieso, 2018). In order to take
any of the decisions by the business the most essential and necessary aspect is the analysis of the
data. The reason pertaining to this fact is that if the data will not be analysed in proper and
effective manner then this will affect the decision making of company to a great extent. There
are many different sources from which the data can be gathered and collected that is primary and
secondary sources of data.
Primary source- it is a source of data which involves the data which is being collected for
the first time. Under this the relevant data is collected from the respondents which are suitable
relating to the study. There are different types of methods through which primary data can be
collected and decision can be taken. The different methods with which primary data can be
collected are as follows-
 Questionnaire- this is a method wherein some questions which are both open ended and
closed ended which the respondent need to fill. In addition to this the business analyses
the responses of respondent and then takes some decision by analysing the responses.
 Interview- this is a method of collecting data with help of direct personal face to face
interaction and the question will be asked to the respondents. The answers will be

recorded by the person who is asking the question itself. This method is more appropriate
as in interview person answers their question and share their thoughts as in questionnaire
only option need to be selected and there is not any other option to share their views
(Tuncdogan and et.al., 2019).
Secondary sources of data- this is a source of data which involves the use of already used
and published data. This is particularly because of the reason that when the secondary source is
used then it means that company is using already used data and it will be more reliable and safe.
This secondary source involves different types of methods like articles, published data, journals,
books, official publication and statements and many other different types of sources of secondary
source of data.
Data sampling- this is method of statistics which involves selecting some sample from
the total populations. This is very important stage for the research to be correct as it is not
possible that all the population is used in order to gather and collect data. Hence, for this reason
some of the sample is selected and then test are applied to them. This is particularly because of
the reason that when the population is very large then it not means that the result will be good
and effective. Thus, for this reason from the whole population some of the samples are being
selected and results are being validated on them. For instance, if the population involves the total
respondent of 500 employees then it is not necessary that view of all 500 employees will be
undertaken for the research. Hence, for this research to be completed the sample can be selected
with different types of sampling method like random or purposive sampling.
Mean- it is being defined as the average or the most common value within the collection
of numbers. This is a measure of central tendency relating to probability distribution and is also
referred to as an expected value. For the decision making the mean is also a major tool which
helps the company in deciding that which method is more beneficial for the company. For
calculating mean, first all the sample items are added and then divided by the total number of
sample and the result arrived is mean (Forrest, 2018).
For instance, the test score of 7 students is 78, 89, 93, 95, 88, 78, 95. So now the first step is to
total all the number which comes to 616. Next the total of sample that is 616 will be divided by
total number of sample which is 7. So the mean score of 7 students is 88.
Median- it is being defined as the middle number from a sorted list that is either
ascending or descending order and is the exact middle number which has same amount of