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Hello,

I need three responses of at least 200 words each for the below students discussions for this week. Also in the bold below are the questions the students at answering.

Define business research, statistics, and decision models. Why are they important to business?


Student one:

There are many instances where I use business data in my current position. There is this one report in particular, that I update each time we gain or lose a client. There are formulas that calculate how the budget is impacted by the gain or loss to keep a running total of what our budget looks like throughout the current year.

Business research is using data to determine the direction in which to move a business in. The data can determine things such as how much profit is being made or loss and what is causing it. Business research can be used in every aspect of a business and help owners make better informed decisions about the business (Leornard, 2019).

“A statistic is a summary measure of data” (Evans, 2013 p. 21). Statistics is the collection of information in an organized fashion so that the data can be interpreted. Depending on what is being analyzed specific decision can be made to change the results of the data. There is a statistic for just about everything. Whether it’s in regard to financial information or sports scores, statistics is involved in just about every aspect in business.

A decision model is a business problem represented mathematically (Evans, 2013). A decision model shows the relationship between an action and the results that take place. Decision makers have an idea of what results will take place based upon what action is being taken. That information allows them to manipulated results by using specific actions. For instance, if lowering prices (the action) causes an influx of sales (the result) for a short time the decision maker will know exactly what to do to cause those sales to spike. There are many instances where decision models are not able to change the outcome although the outcome can be somewhat predictable (Rosenzweig, n.d.). For instance, lowering prices can cause an influx of sales for a short amount of time but is not able to extend that time beyond a certain point.

Business research, statistics and decision models are all important to the success of a business. Collecting data allows information to be analyzed and decisions to be made in order to have better future results.

Evans, J. R. (2013). Statistics, data analysis and decision modeling (5th ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Pearson Education

Leonard, K. (2019). What is business research. Retrieved https://smallbusiness.chron.com/business-research-43341.html

Rosenzweig, P. (n.d.). The benefits and limits of decision models. Retrieved https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-benefits-and-limits-of-decision-models

Student two:

Most of my career I have been involved with big data sets that consist of financial and/or user data. At the beginning of my career with the Air Force, and as a civilian employee of the government, I ran a travel program. This program involved a database and user interface where members can book travel, set up their trips, and file their travel claims over the internet for review and payment once they’ve returned. This system allowed us to pull user information, cost data associated to each individual trip, and financial information that was useful in the budget division. We used this information as a means to project future costs in the department and for audit purposes to ensure proper payments were being made to members. The user information was used to ensure profiles and payment information was up to date and accurate to ensure members’ travel went off without a hitch. For the most part, we used the information to help projections and to help member responsiveness.

Business research, modeling, and statistics are all very useful and needed as a manager or as part of a managerial team. Business research is researching and seeking information that will help with solving managerial problems. This is important to business because research should drive decision making and from a managerial perspective, having the correct intelligence based on research will help make solving problems easier. Decision models are descriptive avenues to take in order to reach an outcome. These are important because they “show the path” in how, why, and where the next course of action should be. This should help with the vision of the goal and promote teamwork. Statistics is a means to pull information from a set of data that assists in making decisions. This is important because it provides support to decision making and can help validate or in-validate data.

In my opinion, all major decision-making processes should have research, a decision model, and some sort of statistical backing to help show the way and make the process easier to follow along with.

References

Evans, J. (2013). Statistics, Data Analysis, and Decision Making. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business A skill-building approach (4th ed.). New York, NY, John Wiley & Sons

Student three:

Hello Class,

I am currently in a Loan Analyst role and we are using business data in a very unique way. I work for a company called Lending Home. We specialize in fix and flip loans. The whole point of our products are to expedite the process of obtaining a loan for a home. Almost everything we do is online and very little face to face contact is necessary during our process. We are currently compiling business data consisting of each process of the loan application and where loans are spending the most time in. Whether is PFA, Underwriting, Processing, etc. The goal of the data examination is to find out where the loan is spending the most time and how we can improve that area to make our product (the loan) faster to obtain.

Business Statistic- The science of good decision making in the face of uncertainty by utilizing a variety of analysis techniques.

Business Research- A refined process used to provide solutions to potential problems within a process.

Decision Model- A mathematical representation of a problem or business situation that can be developed from theory or observation.

These three elements are vital to business because they all provide the most important element of analysis to a business’s success: Data. Research collects, statistics measure, and models allow for collaboration. One does not work without the other either. Statistics would not be available without research, so neither one of those would be beneficial without the other. Decision models are tools used with the information gathered from those research methods and statistics, which could not exist without the other two elements. Gathering data is one of the most fundamental processes in a successful business, and these three elements are crucial to the supply of data.

Evans, J. R. (2013). Statistics, Data Analysis, and Decision Modeling, 5/E. Prentice Hall.