Problem Analysis and Statistics. need to using computer to do excel with descriptive statistics, Pie charts, histograms and bar charts (as appropriate), Regression analyses and scatterplots Custom Essay

[meteor_slideshow slideshow=”hp2″]

Case Study: The OzWidget company
In this assignment you will work in a group of 3 or 4 students (all group members MUST be from the same tutorial group). You will apply the critical and statistical analysis skills you have learned during the term to a hypothetical situation. YOU MUST WORK IN A GROUP FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT OTHERWISE A PENALTY OF 25% OF THE AVAILABLE MARKS WILL APPLY.
You are required to:
1. Produce a business report that will cover the scenario and your analyses related to the assignment questions; and
2. Present the interesting findings of your assignment to your tutorial class.
Assignment Brief
This assignment will be based on a case study of a company named OzWidget. Note this is not a real company – there is NO website for it. The scenario you are working with is described below:
OzWidget currently operates only in Australia, to Australian customers (customers include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Woodside Petroleum and many others). It’s office and manufacturing plant are in Launceston, Tasmania. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Barry Cade has been terminated by the Board as he had resisted all efforts to expand the business. The Board has now appointed a new CEO, Ms Anna Prentice, to pursue opportunities for growth. A number of strategies have been proposed by the Board.
OzWidget has the same name as the primary product it manufactures – the OzWidget. The OzWidget is used in the mining of metalliferous ores (eg. Iron ore, bauxite etc) and extraction of petroleum products, providing an average increase in production output for customers of 45% per day, compared to traditional extraction methods. Thus the OzWidget is in high demand in commercial mining and petroleum/gas extraction in Australia. The OzWidget weighs 278 tonnes and is delivered from the manufacturing plant in Launceston to Australian customers by a combination of sea, rail, and road transport.

Your group are a team of consultants brought in by Ms Prentice, to analyse the Board’s strategies, together with the arguments and associated statistics that have been supplied to support them.

Your approach will require that you apply your knowledge of the concepts covered in the unit, including:

• Critical thinking;
• Argument analysis;
• Statistical analysis; and
• Report writing.
Assignment Questions
Your group needs to develop a business report as covered in lectures. Note that you may need to make some assumptions about the nature of the work in the OzWidget company in order to complete some aspects of this assignment (based on research or your own knowledge and experience). It is acceptable to make such assumptions, however they should all be properly documented in your report. You may want to research some mining/petroleum companies to build up your knowledge. Your report must address the strategies proposed by the Board below, and advise Ms Prentice on their merit in expanding the business.

Strategy
Moving the manufacturing plant to a new location (or locations) will involve staffing the new plant with appropriately skilled workers. Only 10% of the 4000 existing manufacturing staff are willing to relocate to the new location, thus 3200 workers must be found.
The Chairman of the Board, Mr Ray Gunn, has seen an article from the BBC on 17 August 2011 indicating that the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom (UK) is soaring and may be a good place to look for the 3200 workers. Mr Gunn believes that unemployed people from the UK would be perfect employees as they may take lower pay just to get work.
You need to critically analyse the argument in the BBC news report, taking into account the statistics on which the article is based (UK Office for National Statistics Statistical Bulletin – Labour Market: August 2011). You need to determine whether the argument presented in the article is reasonable to accept, as Mr Gunn has done. (hint: the details on page 13 of the statistical bulletin are particularly important).
You may choose to do further research to make a recommendation on staffing.

SUPPORTING YOUR FINDINGS AND ARGUMENTS WITH STATISTICAL ANALYSES
Where the basis of your findings and arguments are based on raw statistical data (ie. Not on charts and analyses made by others), you should consider developing the following:
• Descriptive statistics
• Pie charts, histograms and bar charts (as appropriate)
• Regression analyses and scatterplots

Given some questions require a significant number of these items, you may elect to put these items in an Appendix and refer to them in your analysis in the report.

1. Analysis
For each major component of your report you need to present an analysis of the data including the data itself and any findings. What does the data tell us? What premises can be made to support your proposal (see discussion below – remember your proposal is an argument)? Your analysis needs to cover the data, findings, and discussion as below:
a) The data used, including:
Sources of Data – including the methods and instruments used to gather the data (in this assignment the data is provided to you – except for that you may find through your own research – you need to mention where it came from and how the source gathered the data)
Statistical Treatment
For each set of data, indicate what statistics you have calculated which may include one or more of the following (mention what you have done – include the charts under findings/results):
• Data collection
• Tables, charts and graphs
• Summarising numerical data on one variable
• Bivariate data: summarising the relationships between two variables
• Probability & probability distributions
b) Findings and/or results
This section provides the opportunity to present and describe the most important results or major findings. All major findings should be presented. Write the results: (What happened?). List your results. You can include tables, charts etc to support your findings.
This section might include:
• Findings from statistical analyses
• Tables, charts, and graphics to illustrate your data and information
• Discussion of why the information and data is significant (or not)
• Interpretation of the findings
Ask yourselves the following questions:
• What argument are you making with this data and analysis? (remember to analyse your own argument to help strengthen it)
• What did you find out?
• What are the key findings of your research questions?
• What does it mean?
• How do you interpret the findings?
• What do they tell you about the context?
• What do they tell you that helps support your argument (ie. What premises do they build)?
c) Discussion
Apply your critical thinking here and discuss the results of your findings and state your argument (proposal) with premises based on your data analysis and findings.
2. Summary and Conclusions
What are your answers to the problems or question? What is(are) the solution(s) to your problem(s)? Give the facts and other premises that support your argument. Do not introduce any new information here.
3. Recommendations for Further Investigation
If you believe further investigation/research should be done for any of the strategies, mention them here
4. Limitations of the data
If the data used is inappropriate for the analysis you have been required to undertake then mention it here
5. References (Harvard format – see Moodle site)
6. Appendices
a) Data (as required)
b) Details of statistical analyses not included in main body of report (include descriptive statistics, charts, regressions performed)

[meteor_slideshow slideshow=”hp4″]