Business Decision Making Project Part 1: Business Problem

Business Decision Making Project 1NameInstitutional AffiliationDate
Business Problem
Smart Technologies Limited (ST) is one of the popular companies in the world that has specialized in the production of technological equipment. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto in California. The company develops and provides a wide variety of hardware and software components as well as the provision of the related services to the consumers. They also provide their services to small-sized businesses, large enterprises that are made up of customers from the education sector, health and even in the government.
Even though the company has been a giant in the sector, of late the company is not performing as it used to do a few years ago. Numerous internal problems are affecting the production of the company. The production at the company has been dropping by a constant percentage of 4-5% in each year. The above statistics indicate that the production of the companies will decrease in the coming years and it may end up closing down. The drop in the production at the company has affected the progress of the company. There are many employers who have been laid off as the management of the company seeks to address the problem and get the things back to order.
In the paper, I will explore the research variable that would be used in finding out the reason for decreased production. I will also identify the data collection methods and an appropriate method that will be used to analyze the collected data.
Research Variable
Decreased production at the company has been associated with the use of outdated technology to carry out various functions at the company CITATION Uni \l 1033 (University of South Australia). Another possible reason is the decreased output of the employees at the company.
Technology is one of the competitive tools any business. Most of the consumers prefer doing business with a company that has incorporated modern technology in its operations rather than the one that is using outdated technology. Outdated Technology can damage the image of the company and people will prefer going to do business with the competitors of the company.
Employees also at the company may have contributed to the decrease in the production. Various problems can affect the employees of the company that decreased their output. Some of them are personal while others are caused by the environment under which they work.
Data Collection Approach
The approach that will be used in the collection of data about the problem that is affecting the company is the qualitative approach.
* Interviews
This is one of the ways through which we can access the cause of the problem at the company. We will carry out interviews with the staff on their experience of using the equipment. It was observed that most of the employees prefer the use of personal computers instead of using the ones that have been provided by the company. The employees will explain their reasons for such a preference CITATION Geo10 \l 1033 (George & Robert, 2010). In such a way we will be able to know the problem with the technological tools that are used at the company.
* Questionnaires
Their company will also prepare questionnaires where our customers can rate the ser...