Paper Example on Analysis of Eco-Fone: Problem Solving with Data and Info

Introduction

Technological progress is accelerating in today's times. https://riskandinsurance.com/critical-risks-facing-the-technology-industry/. Even 20 or 30 years ago video calls were the subject of films or dreams, and today, using modern phones, we can talk to loved ones at the other end of the world and enjoy the view of another person. Today, a mobile phone is no longer just a phone, but a multifunction device called a smartphone, which are like small computers, in which the phone is only one of the applications.

The report below shows the smartphone market in the United Kingdom considered in terms of the development of Eco-Fone's business, as well as the company's forecasts and analyses.

Analysis of Issues for Eco-Fone Smartphones

1.1 An Overview of the Mobile phone market in the UK

Every year, smartphones are becoming more useful, as well as easier and more pleasant to use, and become part of our social and family life. Analysing the Deloitte report (Deloitte, 2017) on the use of mobile phones, we will see that in the United Kingdom as much as 85% of adults have smartphones and it is estimated that by 2020 this number will increase to 90%.The smartphone is the most frequently purchased electronic accessory, and its popularity and growing usability make it extremely important for both private and business life of each of us. It is part of our lives, our children and older parents. Smartphones give many options and have many applications, which can be seen in the professional / business sphere.

There is still little use of smartphones in the workplace, taking into account the large possibilities that these devices have. In the United Kingdom, the number of people of working age is over 33 million, and there are as many as 32 million professionally active. Which gives you great opportunities and the potential to use smartphones at work. For most employees, a smartphone is a generic device for work, in particular for employees who are on the move and must have access to data; your smartphone will be more functional than a laptop or computer. Research by Deloitte shows the most popular smartphone applications at work in the UK in 2017 are: e-mail 37% ; making standard calls 32% ; managing my time /workload 6% and accessing the company Intranet 6% . Researchers also show that employees are using other applications available on smartwatches to simplify their work, for example, navigation, camera, mobile browsers or other unofficial applications.

The figure below (Appendix 1.) shows how smartphones were used for work-related activities in 2016 and 2017.

1.2 Forecasting the UK Adult Smartphone use

year %

2012 52

2013 62

2014 70

2015 76

2016 81

2017 85

2018 94

2019 100.31

year %

201252

2013 62

2014 70

2015 76

2016 81

2017 85

2018 86.802019 87.31

1.3 Smartphones - A potential market for older customers

Old people are becoming more tech savvy as reported by a new survey in UK, where sales for old customers have boomed. The Deloitte report has informed that 71 percent of the old people in between age 55 to 75 years are now using mobile phones that supports applications. The old people group has shown more growth than any other group in adoption rate ("Smartphones Sales Boom", 2017). Despite of the old people buying smartphones more than any other age group, they are not using them as regular as younger people. The report has reported that 20% of the old people checks their smartphones every 15 minutes, and the national average is 56%. The Delotte survey involved 1,163 individuals and the analysis of the collected information revealed that 50% of the older people had installed Facebook, when a comparison was made for 70% for all adults. Moreover, old people have more urge to buy a smartphone to help them make payments using the applications ("Smartphones Sales Boom", 2017). For example an old person will tend to purchase a smartphone to be able to make payment for parking meters. There is also an increased demand for ordering taxis using smartphone applications. Smartphones screens have sizes that are making it easier to read texts easily, especially for old people with eyesight and sound speakers are engineered enhancing hearing for those with hearing problems (Deloitte Report, 2017). There are many of features attracting older users to smartphones. Such features include, streamlined versions of the android app, making it easy for older people to use. In addition, smartphones require the old people to just pick them up, look at them and do whatever they want to do with them. They do not need one to press buttons or put glasses to type password.

1.4 Feasibility of Expanding business to Kingston using Pros and Cons table

By expanding the business to Kingston, there are many benefits compared to challenges. First, the expansion will be a potential strategy to increase revenue. The customer base will be increased when the expansion of the business has been established. Other key benefits include the business will be in a position to acquire new contacts and suppliers. New suppliers are important as they increase the bargaining power for prices of the supplies. The company will be able to sell its products to the already established market; hence it will be easy to expand offers and credibility. Minor benefits include the company being recognized in the new market, getting new experience and employees. On the other hand, there are limitations when the company will be expanding to Kingston. One of the main issue that Eco-fone should strategize to overcome is competition from similar firms in the industry. There are many companies in the industry providing Similar products. To overcome the challenge, the company need to observe the strategies being deployed by the companies and come up with measures to counter them. The expansion of the company means that new employees will be added in the operations of the business. New employees comes with the need for training achieved at a cost.

Should we expand our business to Kingston?Pros Score/10 Cons Score/10

Potential incrreased revenue 10 Increased overhead 6

Increased buying power 7 Increased insurance premium 8

Greater company recognition 6 Training costs for new employees 7

Prestige and credibility 7 Increased marketing costs 6

Gaining new customers 8 Threat from competition 9

Hiring new employees 6 Exploring a new market 7

Company expansion on a new market 7 Risk of cooperation with new suppliers 5

Acquiring new suppliers and contacts 8 Low interest of new customers 6

Gaining new experience 5 Costs of equipping the new store 5

Expanding sales offer 7 Costs of renovating the new store 5

Total Pros 71 Total Cons 64

Average Pros 7.10 Average Cons 6.40

1.5 Costs of a New Building

Managing personal / company finances can be difficult. Excel formulas can help us to calculate the future value of debt and investment, making it easier and checking how long your goals will reach. With the following functions: The PMT function is divided into Excel financial functions. This feature will help us calculate the payment (principal and interest) required to settle loans or investments with a fixed interest rate over a given period.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/excel/functions/pmt-function/

https://www.excelfunctions.net/excel-pmt-function.html

Eco-Fone is developing and considering buying a building for the store.

The cost of the building is PS 350,000 and will be financed by a mortgage.

Loan calculation available below:

The loan is PS 350,000.

The loan repayment period is 15 years, i.e. it will amount to 180 monthly payments, and the annual loan interest rate is 7%, calculated at the beginning of each year.

The monthly loan in stallment is PS 3,145.90

Annual Rate 7%

No.Of.Payment 180

Loan Amount PS 350,000.00

Monthly Repayment PS 3,145.90

Total Amount Payable PS 566,261.81

interest PS 216,261.81

The largest UK mortgage lenders are Lloyds, Santander, Nationwide, Barclays , TBB Bank , NatWest and HSBC.

The graphic below shows the logos of 8 popular commercial mortgage lenders in Great Britain

1.6 Testing the Possible Difference in Net Takings in the Two Shops

Set up Hypothesis

Null hypothesis (H0)

There is no difference of net taking for shop 1 and shop 1 i.e. (H0): x2=0

Alternative hypothesis (H1)

There is a difference of net takings for shop 1 and shop 2 i.e. (H1): x2>0

Calculate SE ( Standard Error )

Shop 1 Shop 2

sample n = 40 sample n = 40

mean = x1 = 100 mean = x2 = 90

standard deviation = s1 = 20 standard deviation = s2 = 40

SE= s12n1+s22n2 = 2012401+4022402 = 40040+160040 = 10+40 = 50 = 7.07

Calculate Intervals

-1.96 (SE) 1.96 (SE)

-1.96 (7.07) 1.96 (7.07)

-13.8572 13.8572

10

13684251085850013.8572 13.8572

1 = 100

2 = 90

100 - 90 = 10

Perform Test

From the calculations, it was found out that shop 1 had a net takings mean of 100 and shop 2 is 90. The standard error for shop 1 was -1.96 and shop 2 was 1.96. The statistics review that shop 2 has a potential of making a bigger value of net takings when compared to shop 1. The reason behind this is on the fact that standard deviation for shop 2 is twice as big as standard deviation for shop 1. Moreover, the standard error for shop 2 is positive while for shop 1 is negative.

From the findings, it is clear that null hypothesis is rejected; hence there is a difference of net takings for shop 1 and shop 1. Shop 2 appears more promising and can make more profits than shop 1. The implication of this is that shop 1 net takings need to be improved using strategies such as using marketing techniques to reach potential customers. In addition to this, the operations for shop 2 should not be compromised as there is also benefits by improving its services to increase customer satisfaction and engagement.

1.7 Customer Satisfaction

From the data analysis for customer satisfaction, the values shows that customer satisfaction lies in between 1.58 and 3.71. This indicates that the levels of customer satisfaction are low as values for full satisfaction are rare. Only three instances it was recoded that the common satisfaction was 4 which is equivalent to 80 percent satisfaction. It can be reported that customers are halfway satisfied with the services of th...