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uk

Business Analysis

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Business Analysis

Copyright 2006 Biz/ed

http://www.bized.co.uk

Business Analysis
Purpose:
Identify where the business stands
in relation to rivals, etc.
Collect and use data to inform
business decision making
Identify strengths and weaknesses
in the business
Use information to inform strategic
planning
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Business Analysis
Method:
Collection of data
from a range of sources:
Market research
Past sales data
Market growth data
Specialist analyst data
Secondary data, e.g. Mintel

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Data

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Analysis
Range of methods used to analyse data:
Trends
Growth rates
Nominal
Average
Mean
Median
Mode

Variance
Standard deviation
Range

Time series analysis

Scatter graphs

Correlation

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Trends
Looking for patterns
in data collections
Frequency and reliability of trends
Impact of external factors, e.g.
seasonal variation, random events,
cyclical trends

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Averages
Averages are a measure of central
tendency the most likely or
common item in a data series
Calculated through 3 measures:
Mean
Median
Mode

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Averages
Mean = Sum of items
in the series/number of items
X = x
x
Median = middle number
in a data series 0.5 (n+1)
Mode = the most frequently occurring value
in a data series

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Variance
Averages have limitations measures of
data spread used to assess width
Range difference between
the highest and the lowest value
Standard Deviation used to
measure the variance of the data set
from the mean can highlight
how reliable the mean is as being
representative of the data set
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The Standard Deviation

S=

(xi x )2
n

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Correlation
The degree to which there is
a relationship between two
or more random variables
The closer the relationship the
higher the degree of correlation
Perfect correlation would be
where r = 1
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Time-Series Analysis
Used to analyse movements
of a variable over a time period
usually years, quarters, months, etc.
Importance of assessing the:

Trend
Seasonality
Key moments
Magnitude

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Presentation

Graphs
Charts
Tables
Index numbers Method of showing average
changes in large amounts of data
Laspeyres Uses a base period weighting
measurement
Paasche Uses a current price weighting
measurement

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Forecasting

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Qualitative

Focus groups - a group of individuals selected and assembled

by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience,
a topic, issue or product
User groups similar to focus groups but consisting of those
who have experience in the use of a product, system, service, etc.
Panel surveys repeated measurements from the same sample
of people over a period of time
Delphi method calls on the expertise and insights of a panel of
experts to help with forecasting seen as being more reliable than
data analysis only
Could be drawn together from around the world as there is no
need to have people together at the same time
In-house judgements Use the expertise and judgements of those
involved in the business in aiding and making judgements

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Quantitative
Makes use of all the statistical data collected
by the firm and by other firms/organisations to
help inform decision making
Surveys
Sales data
Impact on sales

Primary data collected by the firm

themselves
Data collected by others and used by the firm,
e.g. Office of National Statistics (ONS), Gallup,
Mori, Mintel
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Forecasting
Advantages and disadvantages:
Data from several years can give
accurate guides to future performance
Statistical techniques can make
the data informative and useful
All depends on the quality of the data
and the accuracy of the techniques used
to analyse the data

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