Business Decision Making and Ethics

This assignment delves into the multifaceted realm of business decision making. It examines the ethical dimensions inherent in such decisions, highlighting the importance of responsible conduct. Furthermore, it explores various statistical techniques used to analyze data and inform decision-making processes. The assignment also introduces multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDM), a systematic approach for evaluating options with multiple, often conflicting, criteria.

Business Decision
Making

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Designing of plan in collection of data ................................................................................1
1.2 Presentation of research methodologies and sample framing used.......................................2
1.3 Designing of questionnaire...................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Summarisation of data collected from survey.......................................................................6
2.2 Evaluation of the results of survey to draw important conclusions......................................8
2.3 Evaluation of the data through application of the method of measures of dispersion........10
2.4 Application of quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient to draw results................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................12
3.1 Presentation of graphs to draw valid conclusions...............................................................12
3.2 Formulation of trend line to show impact over 3 year period.............................................18
3.3 Poster presentation..............................................................................................................18
3.4 Presentation of formal report for publication in Retail Times magazine............................18
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................19
4.1 Contribution of information processing system to serve various levels of management. . .19
4.2 Formulation of Critical Path................................................................................................20
4.3 Application of financial tools to enhance decision-making................................................22
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23

INTRODUCTION
Business decision making consists procedure of choosing best option which will be
effective for business firm. Effective decisions are helpful in managing business firm in order to
accomplish predetermined targets. Many advantages are derived through a company like for an
instance improving quality of services, better management of staff members, enhance
profitability, effective consumer satisfaction etc. In order to this, secondary as well as primary
research plays a necessary role on gathering relevant information as well as feedbacks from
respondents related to the present services (Bayne and Woolcock, 2011). It gives an effective
opportunity to business firm to make necessary modifications in its process in context to
satisfying demands of consumers in a proper manner. This report is based on the Argos
organisation. Argos is catalogue retailer in United Kingdom and also subsidiary of Sainsbury
firm. It trades by online as well as physical stores with more than 845 retailers. Under this
mention report discuss about the formulation of the effective plan for gathering relevant data.
After that there will be evaluation of information and data which is gathered by research.
TASK 1
1.1 Designing of plan in collection of data
Argos is British retailer operates their business functions in UK and Ireland. It is one of
the subsidiary of Sainsbury. This organisation operates their functions through both modes
online and offline. It is observed that it has over 845 retail shops and successfully attracts more
than 29 million customers. One of the main aim of organisation is to ascertain the importance of
innovative technology upon different aspects. In this regard, research is conduct which helps to
gather the information about impact of innovative technology for influencing the behaviour of
customers, contribution in improvement of quality of product, helps in attraction of higher
number of customers and its impact upon businesses of high street shops and malls.

The two important methods which contributes in collection of important information
includes primary and secondary method. Both the methods contains different tools. All these
tools have their different roles and functions. These methods are used by the researcher for
collection of information from respondents and market to draw important conclusions.
Primary method: It is best method which helps in collection of true and reliable
information. Such type of information is called first-hand which is directly gathered from
respondents. This method provides the opportunity to Argos to ascertain the views of
respondents about quality of their actual products and methods which are used to conduct
business activities. The different techniques which are covered under primary sources is defined
below:
 Survey: This method includes face to face interaction with respondents for collection of
their viewpoints. It helps to assess the information from their behaviours, attitudes,
gestures etc.
 Questionnaire: This method helps to gather the information from the respondents in less
time in comparison to other primary methods. This includes the preparation of different
research questions which asked to respondents (Ferrell and Fraedrich, 2015).
 Online: One of the fastest method to collect information. This method includes
ascertaining the views through online voting.
Secondary method: This method includes collection of information from such sources
which are already published like magazines, books, articles etc. The main advantage of using this
method is that it is time saving and cost efficient. But it doesn't provide more accurate
information in comparison to primary method.
1.2 Presentation of research methodologies and sample framing used
The main motive of Argos firm is to collect relevant data as well as data through
conducting an effective research and survey from those respondents which chosen from total
population. Its main aim is to gather data related to assess of innovate or advanced technology
and determine affect on customer behaviour. Information or data which is collected through an
investigator to understand necessary conclusion as well as outcomes to make the important
modifications. It will be result in make improvement in the management power of decision
making.

Survey methodologies- It consists procedure of market survey in order to accomplish
information as well as data related to current position of firm at market place. For this, it is a
duty of an investigator to determine affect of all innovative tools in the large malls and also
multichannel shopping evolution. There are several tools used through an investigator in order to
interpret outcomes and develop business report in a formal manner. This method is helpful in
conducting survey through questionnaire which consist many questions of research. This is
primary data collection method on which 10 various questions are mentioned.
Sample frame- It is a procedure of preparing sample frame. There are several methods
which available to chose the respondents from selected population. Under this various types of
methods are stratified, random, cluster and many others which come in these two different
categories and these are probability and also non- probability sampling. For the purpose of
selecting respondents from total population, Random sampling method is used. With the helps of
this method 30 respondents are selected to attain their view points regarding impact of innovative
technology upon the business of high street shops and malls. All the information which is
gathered from respondents is analysed with the help of different methods to interpret important
conclusions. The methods which are used in this regard includes mean, median, mode, quartiles,
percentiles, correlation coefficient, standard deviation etc.
In the present report, Researcher made close-ended questionnaire which contains 10
different questions which covers different questions based upon impact of innovative
technology. These questions are asked to 30 respondents to gather first-hand and reliable
information. The different topics which are covered under research includes:
 Impact technology upon business of high street shops
 Importance of online shopping
 Impact upon the buying behaviour of customer
 Existing performance of Argos
 Importance of technological innovation
1.3 Designing of questionnaire
Questionnaire: It is one of the method which is covered under primary source of data
collection. This method helps in collection of views of respondents through framing different
research questions. This method is important because it provides unbiased information which is

more reliable to draw important conclusions. Further, it can be segmented on two types which
are knows as open-ended and close ended (Ford and Richardson, 2013).
Open-ended questionnaire: This main important feature of this questionnaire is that it
provides freedom to the respondents that provide their own views and suggestions regarding
research questions. It helps to attain deep information which improves overall understanding of
management.
Close-ended questionnaire: One of the kind of questionnaire which provides different
options with research question to select appropriate answer as per their choice. In the present
report, this method is used to collect information because it saves time and cost ( García-Peñalvo
and Conde, 2014).
Importance of close-ended questionnaire
There are many importance are associated with the method of questionnaire which are
attained by organisation and researcher are defined below:
 Helps to attain the real views of respondents
 Saves the time and cost ion comparison to other primary methods
 Ascertain the information regarding current position in market
 Helps to ascertain the information regarding quality of their products and services
 Provides opportunity to bring innovation in their existing working techniques for
satisfaction of the different needs of customers
Questionnaire
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Q1. Do you think innovative technology impacts the profitability of high street shops?
 Yes
 No
Q2. Does online platform has large number of importance in current market scenario?
 Highly important
 Average importance
 Less important
Q3. Which mode you select for shopping of their products?

 Online
 Offline
Q4. How much impact of online technology you noticed upon the buying behaviour of
customers?
 High impact
 Moderate
 No impact
Q5. Do you believe online mode makes shopping easy and time saving?
 Yes
 No
Q6. What kind of products you prefer to buy through online mode?
 Electronic
 Home accessories
 clothes
Q7. Did you believe that innovative technology diminished the business opportunities of local
shops?
 Agree
 Disagree
 Cant say
Q8. Does such online mode of shopping is more popular in future period of time?
 More popular
 Moderate
 Less popular
Q9. Does application of innovative technology helps Argos to attract more customers?
 Agree
 Disagree
 Cant say
Q10. What you want to recommend about the use of innovative technologies in business
operations?

TASK 2
2.1 Summarisation of data collected from survey
Q1. Do you think innovative technology impacts the profitability of high street shops?
Particulars No. of respondents
Yes 17
No 13
Total 30
Mean 15
Median 15
Mode 4
Q2. Does online platform has large number of importance in current market scenario?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
Highly
important 15
Average
importance 10
Less
important 5
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 10
Mode 0
Q3. Which mode you select for shopping of their products?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
Online 16

Offline 14
Total 30
Mean 15
Median 15
Mode 2
Q4. How much impact of online technology you noticed upon the buying behaviour of
customers?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
High impact 13
Moderate 9
No impact 8
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 9
Mode 5
Q5. Do you believe online mode makes shopping easy and time saving?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
Yes 20
No 10
Total 30
Mean 15
Median 15
Mode 0
Q6. What kind of products you prefer to buy through online mode?
Particulars
No. of
respondents

Electronic 5
Home
accessories 9
clothes 16
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 9
Mode 5
Q7. Did you believe that innovative technology diminished the business opportunities of local
shops?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
Agree 14
Disagree 10
Cant say 6
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 10
Mode 2
Q8. Does such online mode of shopping is more popular in future period of time?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
More
popular 17
Moderate 10
Less popular 3
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 10
Mode 2

Q9. Does application of innovative technology helps Argos to attract more customers?
Particulars
No. of
respondents
Agree 14
Disagree 9
Cant say 7
Total 30
Mean 10
Median 9
Mode 0
2.2 Evaluation of the results of survey to draw important conclusions
The research is conduct to know the impact of innovative technology upon the business
of high street shops and its importance of organisation. In this regard, 30 respondents provide
their rankings on this research topic. Here, for analysis of the results from such rankings
provided by respondents statistical methods are used such as mean, median and mode.
Application of this method helps in evaluation of the important results which enhance their
decision making and contributes in ascertainment of the importance of use of innovative
technologies and online platform for conducting their business activities (Groebner and et. al.,
2011).
Number of
respondents
Rank given by Respondents (out of
5)
1 1
2 3
3 3
4 2
5 1
6 4
7 2
8 2
9 3
10 1
11 4
12 4
13 2

14 3
15 4
16 5
17 1
18 1
19 2
20 4
22 3
23 2
24 1
25 2
26 2
27 3
28 1
29 3
30 1
Mean
2.41379310
34
Median 2
Mode 0
Mean: It is an statistical method which helps in attainment of average value of the data
which is present in a particular series. This method provides the opportunity regarding attainment
of quick and first-hand estimates of the future returns (Hwang and Masud, 2012). The method
which is used for the purpose of calculation of mean is adding up of all numbers of given series
and dividing up by total number of components. It helps the researcher to use these methods for
improve their decision-making. In the present report, the mean value of series is 2.4137931034.
Median: It is refers as the middle value in sorted list of numbers. For the purpose of
determination of median value, need to arrange the numbers which are present in a series from
lowest to highest. If the numbers which are present in a series are in odd form then the median is
such number which is in the middle (Mean, Median, Mode and Range. 2017). If the numbers
present in a series are in even number then median value is determined through pairing of the
two middle pair and added together and divided by two. The median value of above series is 2.
Mode: For the purpose of ascertaining mode need to identify the number which occurs
most of the time in a series. There is huge importance of this method in improvement of the

decision-making of researcher. It provides the opportunity regarding attainment of maximum
results for accomplishment of desired objectives. The value of mode which is attained from
above mentioned series is 0 ( Maxwell, Jeffrey and Lévesque, 2011).
2.3 Evaluation of the data through application of the method of measures of dispersion
Number of
respondents
Rank given by Respondents (out of
5)
1 1
2 3
3 3
4 2
5 1
6 4
7 2
8 2
9 3
10 1
11 4
12 4
13 2
14 3
15 4
16 5
17 1
18 1
19 2
20 4
22 3
23 2
24 1
25 2
26 2
27 3
28 1
29 3
30 1
Minimum
range 1

Maximum
range 5
Standard
deviation
1.18071532
13
Coefficient
correlation
-
0.11805981
74
Range: This method includes the comparison of two range for ascertaining results. Such
range is classified into two types minimum and maximum. In the present report, identification of
minimum range and maximum range helps to assess the importance of innovative technology in
improvement of the productivity and profitability of organisation. The minimum range of given
series is 1 and maximum range of series is 5.
Standard deviation: This method is used to gather the information about the risks which
are associated with implementation of innovative technology within the organisation. The
standard deviation attained from the above given series is 1.1807153213.
2.4 Application of quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient to draw results
All the information which is collected from respondents is need to interpret with the
application of the method of quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient. Through such
analysis important results are gathered which enhance their decision-making (Schmoldt and et.
al., 2013). These results are used to make their processes more effective and efficient and helps
in attaining more advantages.
Quartiles: It is considered as type of quantile. The first quartile is known as Q1 which
defined as the middle number present between smallest number and median of the series. The
second quartile is known as Q2 which provides median of the series and third quartile is named
as Q3 which shows the middle value present between the median and the highest value of data
set.
Percentile: This method is used to present the results in the form of percentage. For
ascertaining percentage need to select the one data as base figure. The results are called optimum
is comes between the limit and draw important conclusions (Solomon, 2014).
Correlation coefficient: This method helps to attain the relationship between the two
variable. The results are called optimum if comes between the limit of 1 to -1.

TASK 3
3.1 Presentation of graphs to draw valid conclusions
Q1. Do you think innovative technology
impacts the profitability of high street shops?
Frequency
Yes 17
No 13
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18 17
13
Column B
Q2. Does online platform has large number of
importance in current market scenario?
Frequency
Highly important 15
Average importance 10
Less important 5

15
10
5
Highly important
Average importance
Less important
Q3. Which mode you select for shopping of
their products?
Frequency
Online 16
Offline 14

16
14 Online
Offline
Q4. How much impact of online technology
you noticed upon the buying behaviour of
customers?
Frequency
High impact 13
Moderate 9
No impact 8
High impact Moderate No impact
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14 13
9
8
Column B

Q5. Do you believe online mode makes
shopping easy and time saving?
Frequency
Yes 20
No 10
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
20
10 Column B
Q6. What kind of products you prefer to buy
through online mode?
Frequency
Electronic 5
Home accessories 9
clothes 16

5
9
16
Electronic
Home accessories
clothes
Q7. Did you believe that innovative technology
diminished the business opportunities of local
shops?
Frequency
Agree 14
Disagree 10
Cant say 6
Agree Disagree Cant say
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16 14
10
6 Column B
Q8. Does such online mode of shopping is
more popular in future period of time?
Frequency

More popular 17
Moderate 10
Less popular 3
17 10
3
More popular
Moderate
Less popular
Q9. Does application of innovative technology
helps Argos to attract more customers?
Frequency
Agree 14
Disagree 9
Cant say 7
14
9
7
Agree
Disagree
Cant say

3.2 Formulation of trend line to show impact over 3 year period
Trend Line: The basic purpose behind drawing of trend line is forecast future activities
and particular aspects. In the present case, this line is draw over the highest and lowest points
which provides the direction regarding net income and operating profits. This will makes the
process of interpreting future results more easy ( Zolfani and et. al., 2013). This will be used by
the management of Argos for assessing the importance of innovative technology upon their
productivity and profitability. It provides the opportunity to determine the current issues and
build future strategies regarding removal of risks and accomplishment of desired objectives.
It is observed from the above trend line graph that, Argos is doing good in terms of profit.
The trend line which shows result of 2017, 2018 and 2019 regarding operating profit and net
income is increasing continuously. This shows that positive impact is gathered by the
organisation from the implementation of innovative technology and use of online platform (Stine
and Foster, 2014).

3.3 Poster presentation
3.4 Presentation of formal report for publication in Retail Times magazine
To, Real time Magazine
Date: 4 June February 2018
Subject: Impact of updated technology on street shops and malls
Introduction
The main objective of preparing research report is to identify the affect of innovative
technology in the business functions of Street shops and malls, impact of technology on
customer's behaviour, contribution in the growth and success of Argo. To know actual impact
on new technology, the company hired a researcher who conduct research for them and provie
them sufficient information about the interest and perception of customers through asking them
relevant questions. As it has been noticed after analysing the collected information that adopting
online technologies will required to be adopted in order to cut retailer margin. Through this,
they can provide quality products at an affordable prices.
Methodologies
Random sampling methods should be adopted in order to conduct valuable research in
which 30 respondents are chosen for collecting their views. To collect data, primary methods
should be selected.
Findings
After gathering valuable information, the research should required to interpret the data
in order to understand the actual thoughts and view about doing business online. Offering
discount should also required to be provided.
Recommendations
It has been recommended that an organisation should go for doing online business as through
this, they can attain huge customer strengths and huge revenue.

TASK 4
4.1 Contribution of information processing system to serve various levels of management
There are several information processing tools and techniques which are used to give
information and plays an important role in business (Tufféry, 2011). Different types of
information systems given below as above:
TPS (Transaction Processing System): It is a computing method which segments work
in to indivisible, individual operations. It is a kind of software system that is helpful in
supporting the process of transaction. It assess system to process and capture detailed
information require to update information as well as data on fundamental operations of business
firm (Tzeng and Huang, 2011).
MIS (Management Information System)- It is a procedure of management which needs
lot of information as well as data in order to implementation of plan. It is computer based system
which gives managers with tools in context to run departments in an effective or better manner.
MIS gives right information to right individual in correct format at right time (Yu, 2013).
DSS (Decision Support System)- It is used through top management for taking the
managerial decisions in a better manner. This kind of tool makes use of computing tools,
scientific models, computers and mathematical in order to analysis. With the help of DSS, firm
can analyse, scrutiny and also examine all methods so that departments can be deploy for assess
in departments like for an instance sales, finance, production and marketing (Yager and
Kacprzyk, 2012).

4.2 Formulation of Critical Path

Path A: 1,4,6,10= 8+6+1= 15 Days
Path b: 1,5,7,10= 8+4+4+1=17 days
Path c: 1,5,8=8+4+6=18 days
Path d: 2,4,6,10= 2+6+3+1=12 days
Path e: 3,6,10=2+3+1=6 days
It is observed from the above critical path that longest path is B where need to provide
more emphasis to complete the whole project within stipulated period of time. According to such
different paths, organisation is need to formulate their future plans (Vercellis, 2011).
4.3 Application of financial tools to enhance decision-making
Year
Cashflo
ws
P.V@10
% Present value
0 -15000 1 -15000
1 8000
0.90909
1 7272.727273
2 10000
0.82644
6 8264.46281