Data Analysis and Decision Modelling

This study material discusses the importance of effective decision making in business and focuses on the case of Cunningham Holdings, a company planning to initiate an international golf resort project. The study analyzes different models for the clubhouse and recommends the optimal model based on cost, feasibility, and consumer enjoyment index.

Data Analysis and Decision modelling
Student Name
Institution

Introduction
Effective decision making is the ultimate decider of the long-term success of a business.
For companies that are growing at a faster rate decision making is a problem that have to be dealt
with in an efficient manner to continuously sustain the business brand and attract new clients.
Cunningham holdings is a private company that is run by the Cunningham family with Oscar
Cunningham as the company CEO. The company vison is focused on ensuring that
environmental sustainability is promoted by the firm (Perneger & Agoritsas, 2011). The
sustainability agenda is built by ensuring the company operations have no advance effects on the
environment, furthermore, the managers of the firm do promote delivery of sustainable products
and services.
As a way of developing the company brand and promoting tourism in the local economy,
the firm is planning to initiate an international golf resort project in the rural area. As the area is
remote, the CEO has gone out of the way to conduct an extensive research to support the golf
resort project (Pijanowski, 2009). The research by the CEO was meant to evaluate the key
features of an international golf resort and how it impacts the golfers (Brockmann & Anthony,
2016). As an analyst with the organization I was requested by the CEO of the firm to analyses
the available information and recommend the best model that suits the needs of the firm.
Currently there is a conflict in the clubhouse that is to accompany the golf resort. From the
managers view a standard clubhouse is economical and fits the golf resort (Kiani & Shadlen,
2009). On the other hand, the shareholders have requested the management to consider building
an exclusive clubhouse. The report will thereby entail an analysis of the various options available
to the firm and a suggestion of the optimal model to implement.
Implementation of the five decision models
As per the managers plan, the firm is to construct an international golf resort at a cost of $
20 million and the resort is to occupy a land space of 42 hectares. This limited resource of the
firm will act as the model constraint in addition to the minimum features that the resort ought to
possess (Brockmann & Anthony, 2016). The models to be constructed will be the managers
standard clubhouse model accounting for the managers plan, the shareholders exclusive
clubhouse model as well as three options to the shareholders model which aims at modifying the

shareholders suggestion. The models were developed using excel and the outputs represented in
the accomoanying excel file.
The standard clubhouse model
This model accounts for the managers plan to include a standard clubhouse to the golf
resort at a cost of $ 3.5 million, the clubhouse will cover an area of 2 hectares. When this
information is modelled the total cost of the project is derived to be $ 19.05 million and the land
area utilized is 40.75 hectares. The golf configuration for the resort will entail; one hole each for
the straight par 5, dogleg par 5 and long par 3, for the straight par 4 there will be 2 holes while
the dogleg par 4 and short par 3 will have 10 and 3 holes respectively. The clubhouse enjoyment
index will be optimised at 35.
The exclusive clubhouse model
This model accounts for the request that was made by the company shareholders. The
shareholders needed the firm to construct an exclusive clubhouse at cost of $ 6 million and
occupying 4 hectares of land.
The model has no feasible solution meaning given the resource constraint of the firm, it is
not possible to finance the exclusive clubhouse at a cost of $6 million and still build the 18 golf
holes that are needed for an international golf resort. The model is thus not viable to the firm and
cannot be considered.
Exclusive model option 1
The option 1 model is meant to modify the exclusive clubhouse model to a level that is
viable to the firm. In this case the clubhouse is to occupy an area of 3.5 hectares instead of the
previous 4 hectares. These features when mpodelled in excel does not give an optimum solution.
It can thus be concluded that the model can not be implemented by the firm due to the limited
resources. It thus need not be taken into consideration during decision making.
Exclusive clubhouse model option 2
Under the option 2 model, the firm is to retain the size of the clubhouse to 4 hectares
while striving to cut down the cost of the clubhouse to $ 5 million.

This model gives a total enjoyment index of 37. It requires a total of $ 19.95 million to
construct and will occupy an area of 40.75 hectares. By accepting this model, the firm will
construct the golf holes with a configuration as displayed in the table below.
Type
Straight par
5
Dogleg par
5
Straight par
4
Dogleg par
4 Long par 3
Short par
3
Numbe
r 1 1 6 6 1 3
The model cost is within the budget of the firm and is thus a viable option that is worth
considering. Being that it meets all the constraints of the firm, it can be treated as a feasible
option.
Exclusive clubhouse option 3
This model accepts the original requests of the shareholders but in order to make it
feasible the budget of the firm need to be increased from $ 20 million to $ 20.7 million.
Adopting this model will need a total of $ 20.65 to implement. Also, the project will
occupy an area of 39.75 hectares. In return the total enjoyment derived from the project will be
36. This project is outside the initial budget constraint of the firm and can only be considered
after an assurance that the firm will be able to raise the extra $ 650000. By undertaking this
model, the type and nature of the golf holes will be as displayed below.
Type
Straight par
5
Dogleg par
5
Straight par
4
Dogleg par
4
Long par
3
Short par
3
Numbe
r 1 1 8 4 1 3
Conclusion
To determine the model that best fits the needs of the company, there are three issues that
need to be accounted for; the model should be acceptable to the shareholders, cost friendly and
gives high consumer enjoyment index. Among the three feasible models that have been

developed only option 2 and 3 meets the shareholders request. For option 2 the firm will have to
construct an exclusive clubhouse though at a lower cost. On the other hand, option 3 entails
constructing the exclusive clubhouse but after raising the additional capital required to fulfil the
model. The standard clubhouse model on the other hand entails constructing a standard
clubhouse..
The other aspect that needs consideration is the cost of the projects. When evaluated
based on cost the managers plan is the best model as it only costs $ 19.05 million to adopt, this is
followed by option 2 that costs $ 19.95 million. The other remaining model that is option 3 is
very costly to put in place.
The third aspect of the models is the enjoyment index. The target of the firm is to ensure
the consumers derive optimal enjoyment from the project. Using this as the basis for decision
making, option 2 will be the best project with an enjoyment index of 37. With option 3 following
with an index of 36. The shareholders model do give an enjoyment index of 35.
Recommendation
The best model should be the one that best balances the cost, aspect, the shareholders
request as well as the enjoyment index. Looking at the models, I therefore suggest that
Cunningham holdings should implement the model under option 2 of the exclusive clubhouse
model. This model yields an enjoyment index of 37 which is the maximum out of the four
feasible options. In addition, it costs $ 19.95 million a value which is within the firm’s budget.
Lastly under this model the firm will have to construct an exclusive clubhouse covering an area
of 4 hectares at a cost of $ 5 million. This meets the shareholders need for a clubhouse. Th firm
therefore need to conduct a farther research on how to cut down the cost of the exclusive
clubhouse prior to initiating the project.

References
Brockmann, E. N. & Anthony, W. P., 2016. Tacit knowledge and strategic decision making. Group & Organization
Management, 27(4), p. 436–455.
Kiani, R. & Shadlen, M. N., 2009. Representation of confidence associated with a decision by neurons in the
parietal cortex. Science, 324 (5928), p. 759–764.
Perneger, T. V. & Agoritsas, T., 2011. Doctors and patients' susceptibility to framing bias: a randomized trial.
Journal of General Internal Medicine, 26(12), p. 1411–1417.
Pijanowski, J., 2009. The role of learning theory in building effective college ethics curricula. Journal of College
and Character, 10 (3), p. 1–13.