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ANALYSING A SPREADSHEET AND PRESENTING A BUSINESS REPORT
Individual Submission
Case Study
Having conducted a successful trial of fruit juice products throughout regions in Australia, Colin wishes to further expand into the non-alcoholic beverage market and has conducted a four month trial of ‘mixer’ drinks. These drinks will be advertised as ‘adult’ mixers and sold with cocktail recipes printed directly onto the can. He envisages that these drinks will be sold alongside alcoholic beverages and thus also further improve sales of the alcoholic beverages.
The new trial of the ‘mixer’ drinks was conducted in September to December 2015. Margaret Brand, the Director of Marketing at Hammer Wines, conducted the trial from retail liquor stores in each of Hammer Wines four sales regions. The ‘mixer’ drinks that have been trialled are LIME SODA, ALMOND PASSION, MANGO DELIGHT, RASPBERRY SODA, TRIPLE SHOT ESPRESSO and CRANBERRY WIZZ. All of the juices will only be available in 300 ml aluminium cans. The wholesale price for each can is $1.50.
Colin has negotiated with a number of retail liquor stores. The trial was conducted in association with four retailers in Victoria & Tasmania, and three retailers in each of the other regions. Each retailer chose three stores in each region in which to conduct the trial (see the accompanying spreadsheet).
The central distribution warehouse for the ‘mixer’ drinks is in Melbourne, Victoria. Colin realises that to calculate revenue to Hammer Wines for each sale to a distributer, the cost of delivering products around Australia must be deducted from his Total Sales in dollars. He has therefore worked out the cost of delivery for each sale as a percentage of the Total Sales ($) (see the accompanying spreadsheet ).
Sales data (number of cans sold) for the 4 month trial period is provided in an accompanying spreadsheet. Colin wants you to analyse the results of the trial and, drawing on this analysis, to advise him on the marketing potential for each flavour, the different regions and the different retailers. He is also interested in the sales trends over the trial period, any other factors that need to be considered when interpreting the results, and finally your advice on any other factors that may need to be considered before final decisions are made concerning ongoing sales of the ‘mixer’ drinks.
PREPARING THE BUSINESS REPORT
Report Content
The analysis, findings and recommendations which you prepare for Colin should be outlined in a professional business report, prepared using MS Word.
This report should include:
- A Title Page – With an appropriate graphic, report title and student name / number. You should also provide your contact phone number, the course name (Business Computing 1), course number (ISYS2056), your workshop time and your workshop tutors’ names.
- A Table of Contents (TOC) generated by the word processor. MS Word default settings for the table of contents should not be altered.
- A brief Introduction that outlines clearly the purpose of the report.
- A brief presentation of the analysis you have carried out of the data contained in the spreadsheet.
- A discussion regarding the results of your analysis.
- Identification/discussion regarding other factors that may be affecting the results.
- A short concluding summary of the content of the report.
- Finally, at least two clear recommendations that Colin can adopt. These recommendations must be drawn from the analysis that you have carried out, and the rationale for these recommendations must have been discussed in the body of your report.
Report Format
The report should be developed using MS Word, and presented following the guidelines covered at the ‘Business Communications’ Workshop (see in particular the material in the Pearson Media Library – Communicating Business Problems and Business Solutions>>Consolidation>>Online Business Communication – Report Writing)
Specifically you should:
- Ensure your report is concise: 1000 words (Note: a 10% variance is acceptable). This word count includes title page and TOC. It does not include appendices.
- Present the report in a professional, business format with no spelling or grammatical errors.
- Use headings and subheadings throughout the body of the report.
- Use 1.5 line spacing and full justification.
- Include a page header with a suitably formatted title. (The header must not appear on the title page.)
- Include a page footer with your name, id number and page number. (The footer must not appear on the title page.)
- Include page numbering that should start with page 1 on the page where the “Introduction” section of the Business Report commences.
- Include at least two charts – which you have created – either in the body of your report (appropriately labelled) or as an appendix at the end of the report. The material in the charts must be discussed as part of the business report.
