Analysing Information and Data for Problem Solving Report - Business

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of various business aspects using data and information. It begins with an overview of the stationery market in Germany, highlighting its size and spending patterns. The report then delves into data visualization techniques, including bar graphs, pie charts, and scatterplots, to represent sales trends and predict future sales. Financial calculations, such as mortgage repayment costs and statistical analysis, are also included to evaluate business decisions. Additionally, the report examines the pros and cons of business expansion, assesses applicable international standards, and analyzes customer satisfaction through surveys. The report provides recommendations for improving survey response rates and reviews customer feedback on product pricing and services. Finally, the report concludes with a discussion on business expansion and the importance of financial planning for future growth.

Running Head: ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
Analysing Information and Data for Problem Solving
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................5
Task 5...............................................................................................................................................5
Task 6...............................................................................................................................................6
Task 7...............................................................................................................................................7
Task 8...............................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11

2ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
Task 1
Germany has a very well positioned stationery market with respect to other European
countries. As per the research conducted by the Trade Association for Office Supply and Writing
Materials, it has been observed that the stationery industry of Germany has a total turnover of
around €14.8 billion each year. This implies that the spending of each individual of Germany on
stationeries is more than €182 in a year. Almost €35.2 from the €182 is spent on materials of
writing and drawing. These statistics have made Germany the second highest spender for
stationeries among all the countries belonging to the European Union (malaysia.ahk 2016).
There are almost 2200 companies dealing with wholesale stationeries in the stationery
industry of Germany. Half of these wholesale companies experience a net turnover of €500,000
or less. Wholesalers dealing with the selling of office supplies, papers, business to business
intermediaries and writing instruments are also included in this 2200 companies (malaysia.ahk
2016). The wholesalers dealing with the selling of office supplies, papers, business to business
intermediaries and writing instruments have opportunity to deliver directly to the customers as
well as to the wholesalers. Due to the merging of certain companies and exiting of some
companies from the market, the number of wholesalers are decreasing from the market (Isokane
et al. 2017). The strategies that the wholesalers are adopting gradually are delivering to the
commercial customers directly without the help of the retailers. This results in widening their
scope of business (malaysia.ahk 2016).

3ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
Task 2
Switzerland
Germany
Austria
France
Slovenia
Italy
Slovakia
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Annual Spendings on Writing / Drawing Materials per capita
Annual Spendings (in €)
Country Name
Figure T2: Bar Graph showing the Annual per Capita Spending on Writing / Drawing
Task 3
2016
14%
2016
15%
2016
10%
2016
14%
2016
16%
2016
15%
2016
16%
2017
12%
2017
13%
2017
10%
2017
15%
2017
16%
2017
15%
2017
18%
Mixed Pie Chart Representing Sales in 2016 and 2017 by
Product Item
printer cartridges
general office supplies
low-cost printers
office furniture
shredders
paper-based supplies
writing/drawing materials
Figure 3.1: Mixed Pie Chart Representing Sales in 2016 and 2017 by Product Item

4ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
155000
160000
165000
170000
175000
180000
185000 f(x) = 6500 x + 162000
R² = 0.534810126582278
Total Sales (€)
Year
Total Sales (in €)
Figure 3.2: Scatterplot of Total Sales with respect to Year and Prediction of Sales for 2018 and
2019
The correlation coefficient (R) has been obtained as 0.73. This indicates that there is a
very strong correlation between total sales and years. The total sales increases on an average as
time approaches. The relationship between year and total sales is given by the following
equation:
Sales = (6500 * Time) + 162000
It can be seen from the graph that the R2 value has been obtained as 0.5348. Thus, the
model developed can explain 53.48 percent of the variation in the total sales. Here, 2015 has
been considered as 1, 2016 has been considered as 2 and so on. Thus, the predicted sales for the
year 2018 is given by:
Predicted Sales for 2018 = (6500 * 4) + 162000 = €188,000

5ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
Thus, the predicted sales for the year 2018 is given by:
Predicted Sales for 2019 = (6500 * 5) + 162000 = €194,500
Task 4
Should I expand my business to Belgium & Germany?
Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10
Output Scale and Efficiency will
be increased
9
The need for capital amount will
increase
9
The brand will be exposed to more
than one location
8
Complexities related to logistics
will be increased
5
The impact of the company to the
local community will be increased
7
Relationships and business
cultures will be weakened
4
Total Pros 24 Total Cons 18
Average Pros 8 Average Cons 6
List of International Standards that are applicable to Duque’s activities are given below:
 ISO 618:1974
 UNE – EN 12858
 DIN EN 12858
 DIN 4999
 DIN EN 1010 – 3
Task 5

6ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
(a) The monthly cost of repaying a mortgage of €200,000 for a period of 30 years at
an interest rate of 10 percent per annum is €1755.14
(b) The monthly cost of repaying a mortgage of €200,000 for a period of 30 years at
an interest rate of 10 percent per annum and when the interest is applied to the loan
amount every month is €1691.78. Here, instead of the rate of interest of 10 percent,
Annual Percentage Rate (APR) has been considered to calculate the monthly repayment
cost.
Task 6
Donald has the belief that average value of the orders that his firm receives in a month is
€240. A lot of orders are received by his firm every month. Thus, it is not possible to check each
of the orders as there is a time constraint. Hence, to check the orders of the clients, a random
sample of size 50 has been considered.
Let, X is the sample mean, μ is the mean value that has been hypothesized, σ is the standard
deviation of the sample and n is the sample size. In this study,
Sample mean ( X ) = €230
Hypothesized mean ( μ) = €240
Standard deviation of the sample ( σ ) = €43
Sample size (n) = 50
Degrees of freedom (n-1) = 49
Level of significance (α) = 0.05

7ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
To test his belief, the following null hypothesis (H0) and the alternate hypothesis (HA) has been
defined:
Ho: μ = 240
HA: μ ≠ 240
The test statistic for this test can be given by the following formula:
t= X−μ
σ
√ n
=230−240
43
√ 50
=−1.644
The null hypothesis will be rejected if the tabulated value of t statistic is less than the
observed value of absolute t. The tabulated value of t for a two tailed test with a 0.05 level of
significance is 2.0096. The observed value of the t-statistic has been found to be less than the
tabulated value of the t-statistic. Thus, there has not been enough evidence to reject the null
hypothesis. There has thus been enough evidence to support the belief of Donald. The mean
value of the orders received by Donald’s firm is about €240.
Task 7
(a) The survey questionnaire that has been developed in this study is quite short. There are
no unnecessary questions in the questionnaire. Most of the questions are also closed ended.
There is only one open ended question in the questionnaire which has been asking for the
feedback of the customers. Thus, no improvements have to be made on the part of the
questionnaire. The response rate has been less than 5 percent in the previous years. Thus, to
increase the response rate, improvements have to be made in the methods of distribution of the
questionnaires.

8ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
The questionnaires are sent to the customers in the form of emails. Before sending the
questionnaires to the customers, an information mail can be sent to the customers stating that
they will be emailed a survey form and are requested to fill it. The purpose of the research should
be stated clearly to the customers so that they do not feel hesitant to answer the questions. It has
to be kept in mind that time is valuable and thus, it should be informed prior to the respondents
how much time will be required to fill in the questionnaires so that they can figure out
accordingly when to fill the questionnaire. A little incentive or discount can also be allowed to
the customers the next time they will visit to take the services of the company if the
questionnaires are filled. The respondents who have not submitted the filled in questionnaire
must be sent one or two reminders to fill up. If all these changes are adopted by the company, it
is expected that the response rate of the questionnaires will increase.
(b) 20 complete questionnaires were returned in the year 2017. The responses of the 20
customers on different services such as customer support and service, quality of the products and
services, sales staffs and price of the commodities. Descriptive statistic measures of the ratings
given by the customers on each of these four different types of services have been evaluated.
It can be seen from the table of descriptive statistics given in table 7.1 that the average
rating for customer service is 3.5 out of 4 which is quite high with a standard deviation of 0.76
which is low. This indicates that most of the customers are satisfied with the customer services
provided by the company. Similarly, the average rating for quality of the products provided by
the company is 3.15 out of 4 which is quite high with a standard deviation of 0.37 which is very
low. This indicates that most of the customers are satisfied with the quality of the products
provided by the company. Again, the average rating for sales staffs working for the company is
3.45 out of 4 which is quite high with a standard deviation of 0.83 which is very low. This

9ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
indicates that most of the customers are satisfied with the sales staffs working for the company.
Finally, the average rating for the price of the products introduced by the company is 1.95 out of
4 which is extremely low with a standard deviation of 0.51 which is also very low. This indicates
that most of the customers are not satisfied with the price of the products introduced by the
company.
Thus, the customer satisfaction for the product prices have been observed to be extremely
less. This is matter of concern to the company. They have to review the prices introduced to the
products so that the customers are satisfied with the prices also along with the other three factors.
This will increase the overall customer satisfaction and will in turn help in the profitability of the
firm as with the satisfaction of the existing customers, new customers will be recommended by
them.
Table 7.1: Descriptive measures of Customer Satisfaction
CUST_SERV QUAL_P&S
SALES_STAF
F
PRICE_VALU
E
Mean 3.5 3.15 3.45 1.95
Standard Deviation 0.76 0.37 0.83 0.51
Task 8
Donald in interested in expanding the business to other European Countries. For the
expansion of the business, it is important to improve the facilities and thus a building which is
highly suitable and available to be sold has to be bought. For that reason, capital is required.
Donald is interested in putting some of his existing assets on mortgage and repay the loan. Two
different mortgage schemes are available for 30-years repayment policy. One scheme implies 10
percent interest rate per annum and the other scheme implies the same interest rate applicable

10ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
each month. It has been seen that the monthly repayment amount is less for the interest rate
applicable monthly. Thus, the scheme involving the interest rate applicable monthly is beneficial
for Donald and that scheme should be adopted.

11ANALYSING INFORMATION AND DATA FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
References
Isokane, M., Tadokoro, C., Sasaki, S. and Prakash, B., 2017. Influence of Ink Composition on
Tribological Properties of Ballpoint Pen. Tribology Online, 12(5), pp.257-261.
Malaysia.ahk.de. (2018). MGCC Perspectives – A Chamber of Commerce magazine. [online]
Available at: http://www.malaysia.ahk.de/fileadmin/ahk_malaysia/Perspectives/MGC047-
Mar.Apr16_iPAD.pdf [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].