Business Intelligence and Decision Making

This assignment delves into the critical aspects of successful business intelligence (BI) implementation. It examines the influence of BI capabilities, decision-making environments, and organizational culture on achieving desired outcomes. Drawing upon relevant research literature, students analyze the interplay between these factors and their impact on effective analytical decision-making within organizations.

Business Decision
Making
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................4
Q.1 ...............................................................................................................................................4
Q. 2...............................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Q. 1...............................................................................................................................................8
Q.2 ...............................................................................................................................................8
Q.3................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
Q.1..............................................................................................................................................10
Q. 2.............................................................................................................................................12
Q. 3.............................................................................................................................................13
Q. 4.............................................................................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
Q. 1.............................................................................................................................................14
Q. 2.............................................................................................................................................15
Q.3..............................................................................................................................................17
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
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INTRODUCTION
Business decision making is the most important aspect for any corporation which assists
corporation to carry out all entities activities effectively. It includes varied decisions related to
expansion of business and improving the current performance of the same in order to cater need
of customers. Present report is based on scenario of Syngenta which employs more than 28000
workforces in 90 countries for meeting specific purpose “bringing plant potential to life” Here;
the company is launching its new product in India as Amistar for pest management. For this
purpose, research has been done in order to collected information related to new product and
assure about its effectiveness for business in term of higher rate of return. Furthermore, standard
deviation and project management tools are applied for assessing the effectiveness of selected
project.
TASK 1
Q.1
The questionnaire method plays important role in getting more information related to
consumers and their perception. In this regard, following questionnaire has been prepared to
collect primary data-
Name______________
Gender
 Male
 Female
Age
 Under 18
 18-30 Years
 30-40 Years
 40 and above
1. Do you find products offered by Syngenta are effective?
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
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2. Do you agree that Syngenta provides best solution in context of pest management?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
3. Are you satisfied with quality of newly launched fungicides of Syngenta?
 Highly satisfied
 Satisfied
 Neutral
 Dissatisfied
 Highly dissatisfied
4. Are you satisfied pricing strategies of Syngenta?
 Highly satisfied
 Satisfied
 Neutral
 Dissatisfied
 Highly dissatisfied
5. What motivated you to buy fungicides products of Syngenta?
 Price
 Quality
 Discount
 Special offer
6. Do you think that new product “Amistar” will be effective in agriculture sector of India?
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
7. Do you agree that company has presence of appropriate departmental store to deliver Amistar
products?
 Strongly agree
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 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
8. Which mode of communication is best suited for you to get information related to Amistar
product?
 Internet
 Mobile application
 Television
9. Kindly provide your valuable
suggestions__________________________________________________________________-
Q. 2
The data collection plan is very important for business which facilitates to collect large
amount of information related to products and services that are to be launched or launched in the
market. Basically two types of data are collected such as primary and secondary which are
explained as follows- Primary data-Primary data are collected first time from research in accordance with set
purpose and requirement. There are different types of methods used for collection of
primary data such as interviews, focus group and observation as well as questionnaire.
Basically, all of the stated techniques consume extensive time as well as cost (Mackey
and Gass, 2015). It can be critically evaluated that questionnaire method is comparatively
good to meet the purpose of researcher. This is because of benefits associated with the
same through which respondents can easily understand the questionnaire and need of
direct interaction can also be resolved. However, questionnaire method will be selected to
interact with respondents and gather detail information (Barake, 2011). Secondary data-Secondary data are collected by accessing varied available sources like
journals, books and online articles. This proves to be effective to gather large amount of
information and fulfilled purpose of researcher in an effectual manner. However, the
current investigation on launching new product as Amistar, both primary and secondary
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data is collected. In addition to this, stated sources of secondary information will be
referred for collection of secondary data (Neuman and Robson, 2012). It proves to be
effective for researcher to develop deep understanding related to set concepts and
accordingly frame strategies to meet the purpose of study. However, internal record
keeping of business will be accessed for the purpose of gathered fruitful information.
Survey methodology
Survey methodology refers the the process of selecting the appropriate design for
collection of information relate to particular research problem. Basically varied techniques such
as questionnaire is used for the purpose of interacting with respondents and incorporate their
views and suggestion in the decision making process of companies like Syngenta (Pickard,
2012). Here, present study will be based upon questionnaire method under which both open and
closes ended questionnaire will be used. This aids to gather information related to reviews of
products, price and place as well as promotion of Amistar.
Sampling method
Sampling refers to individual unit of population which represent overall people who are
directly or indirectly connected with the study. Under the current study, managers of agriculture
department will be considered as population throughout the India. However, two types of
sampling design such probabilistic and non-probabilistic are used. However, current
investigation will be based upon probabilistic sampling in order to ensure equal probability of all
mangers to get selected in the study (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). However, researcher
will use simple random sampling whereby researcher can easily accomplish the set aim.
However, sample size plays important role because researcher has to select the sample out of
tentative population. Here, 20 managers from different cities like Udaipur, Pubjan and Haryana
will be taken. This proves to be effective to analyze their preferences in term of overall product,
price and place as well as promotion. This in turn research can reach at the aim of the study by
drawing appropriate outcome (Williams, 2011).
TASK 2
Q. 1
Annual
expenses No. of countries (F) M. V. (x) CF FX X^2 FX^2
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0-10 23 5 23 115 25 575
01/10/20 25 15 48 375 225 5625
20-30 47 25 95 1175 625 29375
30-40 32 35 127 1120 1225 39200
40-50 31 45 158 1395 2025 62775
50-60 20 55 178 1100 3025 60500
60-70 22 65 200 1430 4225 92950
Mean 200 6710 11375 291000
Mean reflects average value of data series under which company come to know about
exact information related to annual expenses incurred on different activities (Mean, Median,
Mode and Range, 2013). From the following information mean of data series is 33.55 whereas
median is 31.56. In addition to this, mode of the expenditure series is showing value worth
20.59. It is showing that results can be drawn on the basis of average value and other related
aspects. However, median segregate all data into two equal parts (Power, Sharda. and Burstein,
2015). However, the data series of median lies under average expenditure whereas mode is also
under the same condition.
According to the above table, median is 200/2=100
Mean=6710/ 200= 33.55
Median = L1 + (N/2-C)/F * Class Interval
30+(100-95)/32*10=31.56
Mode = L1 + (F1-F0)/ [(2F1-F0-F2)*Class interval
20+(47-25)/(2*47-25-32)*10
20+ (22/(94-25-32)*10
20+.59=20.59
Q.2
According to the following calculation it can be said that range of data series will be 70
with the standard deviation of 18.194. Owing to this, it can be said that overall data series can be
changed with same proportion which might affect overall amount of expenditure in Amistar.
Range
Range = Highest value – lowest value
=70-0=70
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Standard deviation
Variance (S^2) = ∑Fx2 – ((∑Fx)2 /n)/ n – 1
= [291000 – (6710)^2/200]/(200-1)
= 331.05
Standard deviation = √ Variance
= √ 331.05
= 18.194
Q.3
Inter-quartile range
Inter-quartile range play important role for taking decision related to products and
services. Under this, difference of quartile one and quartile 2 is assessed so as to find the
valuable results (Pettigrew, 2014). In such manner, it has been found that inter quartile range of
data series is 36.61. However, inter-quartile range reflects higher value than mean value.
Type of quartile Formula Figures
Lower quartile (Q1)
Q1 Q1 = ∑F/4 = 200/4
= 25
Q1 = L1 + (∑F/4 – C)/F * i = 10+ (25-23)/25*10
= 10.8
Upper quartile (Q3)
Q3 q3 = 3(∑F/4) = 3(200/4)
= 150
Q3 = L1+ [3(∑F/4)-C/F]* i = 40 + (150-127)/31*10
= 47.41
Inter-quartile range (Q3 - Q1) 36.61
Use of quartile and percentile in Amistar business
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Quartile is the most important aspect for assessing the views and suggestions of
respondents related to products and services of corporation. Furthermore, percentile reflects that
how many people are having varying attitude about particular aspect. In this manner, it can be
said that 25th percentile 10.8 whereas 75th percentile is 47.41. It is showing that views and
suggestions of 75% people do not lie in the category of average expenditure series. In this
manner, researcher can accomplish the aim of the study by drawing valid outcome.
Percentiles Quartiles Values
25th percentile Lower quartile (Q1) 10.8
75th percentile Upper quartile (Q3) 47.41
TASK 3
Q.1
In the cited case, sales, cost and profit figures of Amistar in Japanese market has been
provided. Now, managers wants to examine the performance of the product and graphical
presentation is considered as one of the best ways to evaluate relative figures over the years
(García-Peñalvo. and Conde, 2014).
Column diagram
Bar diagram:
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Line graph
Presented graph shows that till 2009, Amistar’s turover as well as shows a continuous
upward trend and came to £500m and £300m at a profit worth £200m. However, thereafter, till
the end of 2012, both the sales and cost got reduced and came to £450m and £220m at where
company obtained a profit of £230m. Decrease in turnover is a poor sign of product performance
may be due to fall in demand, availability of substitute products at cheaper cost and others. After
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2012, Amistar’s turnover shows a positive change as its total sales revenue got improved to
£580m at the end of the period may be due to more consumer awareness and rising demand.
However, cost has been increased at lower rate which is a sign of effective managerial control. It
helps to generate high profitability margin worth £340m in the year 2015.
Q. 2
Trend analysis is a statistical tool applied in businesses to forecast or predict future by
examining historical or general course of tendency (Sutherland. and Holstead, 2014). With
reference to Amistar’s sales and profitability figures in Japanese market, its trend line has been
constructed hereunder:
Trend line with line diagram
Trend line with column graph
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Above trend line depicted upward or rising movement representing that in forthcoming
years, Amistar will generate high turnover in Japanese market. Rising awareness among
population towards product and its uses for crop production may be the reasons for potential
growth in turnover. Moreover, high growth in turnover also enable business to generate
maximum yield in the future period (Popovič. and et.al., 2012). As per the graph, it can be seen
that profitability of the business will also go upward reflects that firm will perform much better
in the upcoming period by maximum turnover and effective cost control mechanism.
Q. 3
Enclosed in PPT
Q. 4
To,
Respected board of directors of Syngenta
Date: 23rd November 2016
From: Business analysts
Introduction
This project report highlights the historical performance of Amistar’s sales, cost and
profit in Japanese market. Moreover, future will be predicted and forecasted on the basis of
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general course of tendency in the earlier period.
Methodology:
 Line graph, bar graph and column diagram will be prepared to interpret historical
performance.
 Trend line will be constructed to predict or anticipate potential movement of sales, cost
and profitability figures.
Findings and interpretation:
 Graphical illustration presented favorable performance till the end of 2009. Thereafter,
Amistar’s performance got reduced because of decreased sales revenues and profitability
as well. Again after the year 2012, positive movement has been reported due to rise in
consumer awareness and gaining people attraction to buy the product to prevent their
crops from insects by integrated pest management product, Amistar.
 Line graph along with trend line presented upward movement of both the sales revenues
and profitability figures in the forthcoming years. It estimates that Amistar’s potential
turnover and profit margin will go in upward direction.
Conclusion:
Report concluded that after the year 2012, Syngenta’s spectrum fungicide product
Amistar has performed well by obtaining more turnover and yield as well. Due to such historical
performance, trend line also forecasted rising trend of corporation’s sales and net profit.
TASK 4
Q. 1
Management information system (MIS): In the present time of advanced and upgraded
technology, Syngenta’s business managers can use MIS to generate summarized reports for all
the transactions quickly. It is very useful for the managers and business professionals who take
decisions for smoothing routine functioning (Zolfani. and et.al., 2013). Henceforth, mainly used
at tactical and operational level to support effective quality business decisions on daily basis.
Decision-support system: DSS renders interactive information to the professional,
decision-makers and executives in the process of decision-making. It makes use of different
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analytical models, various specialized data base, policy maker’s insight and judgments,
computerized modeling and others to support qualitative decisions.
Executive information system/Exeuctive support system: EIS or ESS encompasses both
the DSS and MIS used by Syngenta’s executives at strategic level to tailor specific information
requirement i.e. graphical user interface, exceptional reporting, trend forecasting, displaying
information graphically, drill-down and retrieval of data at lower level (Isik, Jones. and
Sidorova, 2013).
Operational support system: OSS prepared reports for both the internal and external uses
i.e. controlling cost, supporting communication strategies, maintaining co-ordination, update
database and many others. Transaction processing system (TPS), process control system (PCS),
Enterprise Collaboration System (ECS) and Speicalised Processing System (SPS) are several
information system used to support daily business operations.
Q. 2
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Early Start Early Finish Total
Slack
Lay foundation
and build
structure
80 days Wed
11/23/16 Tue 3/14/17 Wed 11/23/16 Tue 3/14/17 0 days
Build stairs 30 days Wed
3/15/17 Tue 4/25/17 1 Wed 3/15/17 Tue 4/25/17 40 days
Build roof 40 days Wed
3/15/17 Tue 5/9/17 1 Wed 3/15/17 Tue 5/9/17 30 days
Build Windows 8 days Wed
3/15/17 Fri 3/24/17 1 Wed 3/15/17 Fri 3/24/17 62 days
Plastering 70 days Wed
3/15/17 Tue 6/20/17 1 Wed 3/15/17 Tue 6/20/17 0 days
Carpenter 70 days Wed
6/21/17 Tue 9/26/17 2,3,4,5 Wed 6/21/17 Tue 9/26/17 14 days
Electrical 84 days Wed
6/21/17
Mon
10/16/17 2,3,4,5 Wed 6/21/17 Mon
10/16/17 0 days
Heating 70 days Wed
6/21/17 Tue 9/26/17 2,3,4,5 Wed 6/21/17 Tue 9/26/17 14 days
Plumbing 63 days Wed
6/21/17 Fri 9/15/17 2,3,4,5 Wed 6/21/17 Fri 9/15/17 21 days
Floor covering 28 days Tue
10/17/17 Thu 11/23/17 6,7,8,9 Tue 10/17/17 Thu
11/23/17 7 days
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Decorating 35 days Tue
10/17/17 Mon 12/4/17 6,7,8,9 Tue 10/17/17 Mon
12/4/17 0 days
Gantt chart: It represents a series of activities along with the required duration to
complete the project within the set time framework. With reference to the cited case study,
Syngenta’s managers is planning to build a new warehouse for storing material, henceforth,
project planner will be require to prepare gantt chart. It will be surely useful for him to
implement the planned activities more effectively (Gabrielsson. and Gabrielsson, 2013.). It also
enable entity to manage all the activities as per the scheduled plan and maintain coordination as
well. Effective communication, time management and external motivation are some other
benefits of constructing gantt chart.
Network diagram
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Critical duration represents the sequence of stages indicating the minimum time period to
complete the project of new warehouse construction. As per the above diagram, it can be seen
that activities 1, 5, 7 and 11 comes under critical path, henceforth, minimum or critical duration
of the project will as follows:
Activities Duration (In number of days)
1 (lay foundation and build structure) 80
5 (Plastering) 70
7 (Electrical) 84
11 (Decorating) 35
Total 269 days
Q.3
In the given case, Syngenta’s line manager has decided to go ahead with either Aberdeen
or Nairn project. As company have limited funds, henceforth, line manager is little bit confused
that in which project, it will be beneficial to invest their money. Investment appraisal techniques
are the best techniques that measure risk inherited along with the possibility of return on
different alternative capital projects, as follows:
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Non-discounted cash flow
Payback period (PBP): The time lag or length of time in which initially invested money
can get back by generating estimated cash flows in the project duration is called PBP.
Accounting rate of return (ARR): Expected profit percentage on the initial outlay is
called ARR, higher value of ARR attract investors to invest fund in that particular project.
Year
Aberdeen Nairn
Net Cash flow
(£m)
Net Cash flow
(£m)
Cumulative
cash flows
(Aberdeen)
(£m)
Cumulative
cash flows
(Nairn) (£m)
Investment -250 -250 -250 -250
1 50 30 -200 -220
2 60 50 -140 -170
3 60 60 -80 -110
4 80 60 0 -50
5 90 70 90 20
Total cash
inflow
340 270
PBP (Aberdeen) = 4 year
PBP (Nairn) = 4 year + (£50m/£70m)
= 4.71 year
ARR : (Annual accounting profit/total initial investment)*100
Aberdeen = (£340m/5 year)/(£250m)*100 = 34%
Nairn = (£270m/5 year)//(£250m)*100 = 21.6%
Discounted methods:
Net present value take into account time value of currency and use discounted cash flows
to measure profitability by comparing it with the project cost (Ward. and Peppard, 2016).
Internal rate of return is a discounting rate at which both the initial investment and
total of discounted cash flows are equal indicating zero value of NPV.
Year
Aberdeen Nairn
Net Cash flow
(£m)
Net Cash
flow
(£m)
Discounting
factor @10%
Discounted cash
flows (£m)
Discounted cash
flows (£m)
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Investment -250 -250 1 -250 -250
1 50 30 0.9091 45.45455 27.27273
2 60 50 0.8264 49.58678 41.32231
3 60 60 0.7513 45.07889 45.07889
4 80 60 0.6830 54.64108 40.98081
5 90 70 0.6209 55.88292 43.46449
IRR 10.09% 2.35% NPV 0.644206 -51.8808
Taking into consideration derived results, it can be seen that project A has shorter PBP to
4 year, more possibility of ARR to 34%, positive NPV worth £0.644206m and higher IRR to
10.09%. Henceforth, it is considered more beneficial and appropriate for the managers to invest
their money in Aberdeen project in order to get maximum yield.
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report concludes that different types of sources of information can be
accesses to collect large amount of information and reach at valid outcome of the study. It assists
business to expand its venture and meet expectations of all related parties. It can also be
concluded that statistical tools like mean, mode, median are helpful to take better decision related
to particular event. Furthermore, project management techniques aids to reduce cost to complete
the project. In addition to this, investment appraisal techniques are applied for selecting the best
techniques in term of recovery of initial investment and overall rate of return. It proves to be
effective to create competitive edge of the business in the marketplace.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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international business-to-business new ventures: the moderating effect of decision-making
logic. Industrial Marketing Management. 42(8). pp. 1357-1373.
García-Peñalvo, F.J. and Conde, M.Á., 2014. Using informal learning for business decision
making and knowledge management. Journal of Business Research. 67(5). pp. 686-691.
Isik, Ö., Jones, M.C. and Sidorova, A., 2013. Business intelligence success: The roles of BI
capabilities and decision environments. Information & Management. 50(1). pp. 13-23.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Neuman, W.L. and Robson, K., 2012. Basics of social research: Qualitative and quantitative
approaches.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Pickard, A., 2012. Research methods in information. Facet publishing.
Popovič, A. and et.al., 2012. Towards business intelligence systems success: Effects of maturity
and culture on analytical decision making. Decision Support Systems. 54(1). pp. 729-739.
Power, D.J., Sharda, R. and Burstein, F., 2015. Decision support systems. John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.
Sutherland, L.A. and Holstead, K.L., 2014. Future-proofing the farm: On-farm wind turbine
development in farm business decision-making. Land Use Policy. 36. pp. 102-112.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A
guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Ward, J. and Peppard, J., 2016. The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a
Digital Strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Williams, C., 2011. Research methods. Journal of Business & Economics Research
(JBER). 5(3).
Zolfani, S.H. and et.al., 2013. Decision making on business issues with foresight perspective; an
application of new hybrid MCDM model in shopping mall locating. Expert systems with
applications. 40(17). pp. 7111-7121.
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Online
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Through:<https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-3034112939721181/unrestricted/
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Mean, Median, Mode and Range. 2013. [Online]. Accessed
Through:<http://mathed.net/files/2013-04-
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