Applying statistics in making business decisions
HLT 540 Grand Canyon Week 4 Discussion 1
Why do you think so many people have problems with using, interpreting, or applying statistics in making business decisions?
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Applying statistics in making business decisions
Introduction
The most important thing to understand is that the numbers are secondary to the people making them up. Statistics can be useful, but they’re also just a tool for understanding what’s happening in a given situation. If you want to know why your business isn’t meeting its goals and needs, don’t look at the income or expense figures alone; ask yourself why these things happened in particular instances and take action based on that information!
Important statistics to know.
Statistics are the language of business, and they can be used to make decisions. You should know the following statistics:
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Percentage of sales
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Average age of customers
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Number of employees by department (if you have employees)
Business law, contract law.
Contract law is the body of law that governs the rights and duties arising from agreements made between two or more parties. Contracts can be oral or written, for example, a contract may be formed when you buy something from someone by giving them money. This type of contract does not require any paperwork to show that it exists; however, if there are multiple people involved in making such agreements then they will need to sign their name on paper so that everyone knows who has been involved in this transaction.
Contracts usually include both parties’ promises but not all contracts involve promises: instead they may refer to specific things agreed upon (such as time periods or amounts) rather than declaring what should happen at some point in future time(s). For example: “I promise never again steal my best friend’s puppy.”
Sales figures, finance, marketing.
Sales figures, finance, marketing and other information are all used by businesses to make decisions about their business.
Sales figures give a clear picture of how much income was generated during a certain period. They can be broken down into three main types:
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Revenue – this refers to all sales made through the company including those made by mail order and other methods such as telephone orders etc., excluding VAT (value added tax) which is an additional charge on top of the price paid for goods/services bought at retail shops or via websites like Amazon or eBay etc., though some retailers do not charge VAT on digital downloads such as music tracks sold online;
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Profit – profit is calculated based on what you spent money on during that period plus any money left over after paying staff wages etc.;
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Losses – losses occur when you spend more than what you earn from selling products/services so it doesn’t leave any profit at all; however there may still be enough leftover funds left over for further investment in new projects without affecting future profitability too much because investors will usually expect some return from investments made within 3-5 years time frame depending upon how long ago they were made (longer term loans tend
Macro trends in business and technology.
You can’t keep up with trends if you’re not aware of them. That’s why it’s important for business owners and leaders to stay on top of macro trends in their field. If a trend is relevant, then it’ll affect your company in some way or another.
The best way to keep up with macro trends is by examining current events and analyzing how they may affect your industry or market segment over time (for example: “What will happen when we start selling robots instead of humans?”). When looking into these questions, try not only thinking about what might happen but also why things might change—this will help identify key factors that could influence future outcomes as well as offer insight into potential countermeasures against any negative consequences if an event does occur unexpectedly during normal operations.”
Key financial ratios you need to know.
The key financial ratios you need to know include:
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Profit margin. The profit earned as compared to the total revenue of a company divided by the annual sales. For example, if a company earns $1 million in profits out of $100 million in sales, its profit margin is 10%.
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Net profit margin. It’s calculated by subtracting all operating expenses from net income and dividing it by gross income (total operating expenses minus cost of goods sold). In other words, this ratio gives you an idea of how much cash is left over after paying for everything associated with running your business—like rent or utilities bills for example — but doesn’t include any non-cash costs like depreciation or interest payments on loans made during construction projects where such things are incurred anyway!
Costs of production.
Costs of production are a key factor in business decision making. They include costs of raw materials, labour, transport and other expenses.
Costs of production can be divided into five categories:
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Capital expenditure (also known as fixed costs) – these are investments made by the company to produce its products or services. For example, if you own a factory and hire workers to work there every day: this is your fixed capital expenditure because it will continue regardless of whether or not you produce anything else at that time;
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Variable cost – this refers to any expense incurred when producing goods or services but does not include capital expenditure;
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Average variable costs – these include direct materials used during production (such as steel), indirect materials consumed in processing operations such as electricity used for heating up water supplies etc., wages paid out to employees who work on site where machines were assembled etc., transportation costs incurred transporting raw materials from suppliers’ warehouses back onto factory floors where finished products are then manufactured);
The average variable cost per unit takes all these factors into consideration before determining whether or not continuing with production would benefit overall profitability levels over time.”
Choosing the right number of people for a business.
Choosing the right number of people for a business depends on several factors. The first is what kind of business you’re running and how many people are needed to run it effectively. For example, if you’re starting up a new restaurant in your town, it may take more than one person to manage all aspects of the operation. If instead, your goal is simply to start making money from home and don’t want to hire employees at this time (or ever), then hiring just one cook/server could work just fine.
The second factor relates directly with how much work each employee will be doing: How much time do they spend on their own projects versus working alongside other people? Do they have any special skills that would make them valuable additions like marketing expertise or knowledge about new technologies? Or do those qualities exist but weren’t necessary when hiring someone else in order
The most important thing to understand is that the numbers are secondary to the people making them up.
The most important thing to understand is that the numbers are secondary to the people making them up. Statistics can be misleading and misunderstood, but they’re also used by many businesses every day in order to make decisions about their products or services.
For example: A financial analyst will look at historical data from a company’s previous years’ performance in order to predict how well it will do in coming months—and then act accordingly based on his predictions of future sales figures (or lack thereof). But if you know anything about statistics as an industry, you’ll know that this isn’t necessarily accurate! There are many factors involved when calculating a company’s future performance: including external factors like inflation rates and economic trends; internal factors such as employee morale; even things like weather patterns can have an impact on whether or not people want buy something new from your store (which means those pesky sales projections again!).
Conclusion
The key takeaway from all of this is that numbers are just a tool used by people to make decisions. It’s not the end-all, be-all, and if you use them well then they can be an effective way of helping you to make better business decisions. We hope that these statistics will become more familiar over time as they become more widely known among business owners and managers across the world
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