Process of Becoming a Climax Community

A climax community is a relatively stable and undisturbed biological community of animals, plants, and fungi that have evolved into a steady state of development which secures the stability of all the collective  communities. Through a natural successional  process of instability, all individual  organism ecosystems simultaneously transition  through a series of more stabilizing stages where they all finally maintain their individual positions in the community and where they become stable from egg and seed to maturity. So, all biotic communities on earth engage in a forward-moving evolutionary process that takes place in several major defined steps or stages. Until climax completion, these transitional  stages are each called a serial stage or a  sere.  In other words, a sere is an intermediate stage found in  ecological succession  in an ecosystem advancing towards a particular organisms  climax community. In many cases, there is more than one serial stage to pass through before  climax conditions are attained. A serial community is a name given to each group of biota within the succession. A  primary succession  describes primarily the plant communities that occupy a site that has not previously been vegetated. These plants can also be described as the vegetative  pioneer community.   Defining Plant Succession To understand a climax plant community, you must first understand plant succession which is simply the replacement of one plant community by another. This can occur when soils and sites are so harsh that few plants can survive and takes a very long time for plants to establish a root-hold to begin the process of succession.  When destructive agents like fire, flood and insect epidemic destroy an existing plant community, plant establishment can happen very rapidly. Primary plant succession starts on raw unvegetated land and usually  exists as a sand dune, an earth slide, a lava flow, a rock surface or a retreating glacier. It is obvious that these harsh conditions for plants would take eons for this type of exposed earth to decompose to support higher plants (with the exception of the earth slide which would start plant succession fairly quickly). Secondary plant succession generally starts on a site where some disturbance has set back a previous succession. The sere  can be continually setback which then lengthens the period to a potential  final plant community climax condition. Agricultural practices, periodic logging, pest epidemics, and wildland fire are the most common agents of secondary plant succession setbacks. Can You Define a Climax Forest? A plant community that is dominated by trees representing the last stage of natural succession  for that specific locality and environment, to some, is considered a climax forest. The name usually given to any particular climax forest is the name of the primary existing tree species and or its regional location. To be a climax forest, the trees growing within a particular geographic region should remain essentially unchanged in terms of species composition for as long as the site remains undisturbed. But, is this really a climax forest or just another late sere  that has avoided disturbance the longest. Do foresters who only manage trees over decades know enough to determine a climax forest and assume it to be the equivalent of late-stage succession? Should speculative ecologists conclude that there can never be a climax forest because cyclical disturbance (both natural and human-caused) will always be a constant in North American forests? The Climax Debate Is Still With Us The first published discussion(s) on the existence of climax communities started nearly a century ago with foundational papers written by two ecologists, Frederick Clements, and Henry Gleason. Their ideas were debated over decades and definitions of a climax changed with a greater understanding of a new science called ecology. Political winds also confused the topic with terms like virgin forests and old-growth forests. Today, most ecologists agree that climax communities are not common in the real world. They also agree that most exist in space and time and can be observed on large  time scales of many decades and on wide ranges of an  area, from a dozen acres to thousands of acres. Others believe that there can never be a real climax community because of constant disturbance over time. Foresters have adopted a silviculturally practical approach when managing large stable communities of climax tree species. They use and name a climax forest to be the final sere in terms of the stabilization of major tree species. These conditions are observed on a human timescale and can maintain specific tree species and other plants over hundreds of years. Examples of some of these are:   The coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.The wetlands  in North America.The redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests.Beech-maple of the North American Northeast.

Research On Subjective Experiences Of A Social...

doctoral study proposals. Qualitative researchers focus on subjective experiences of human beings in a social environment, based on individual perspectives (Liamputtong, 2010). Qualitative research deals with interpretive data from natural settings and individual perceptions and experiences (Erlingsson Brysiewicz, 2013). Researchers should be aware of the different experiences of the participants in the study (Erlingsson Brysiewicz, 2013). A qualitative method allows a researcher to assess the qualities of participants’ lived experiences in an inductive process that relates to theory development (Peredaryenko Krauss, 2013). A qualitative method is appropriate for this study because it will help me to become knowledgeable about the experiences, processes, and events of consultants and executives in small retail storefront travel agencies (Bluhm, Harman, Lee, Mitchell, 2011). According to Bettiol et al. (2012), a qualitative method is useful for exploring marketing in bus inesses and understanding business activities in companies. A qualitative method is beneficial in determining how small businesses market products and services (O’Donnell et al., 2011). Quantitative research methods comprise surveys: questionnaires or interviews and experiments: field or laboratory. Surveys are the primary method of quantitative research. Quantitative studies use statistical analysis to determine if significant differences exist between groups (Carpenter, Harding,Show MoreRelatedThe Theoretical Methods Of Quantitative And Qualitative Methods Essay1652 Words   |  7 PagesThe sociologist is interested in understanding the self, other, and social environment, questioning and searching for an interpretation of the common, everyday, and taken for granted. In order to do this, the sociologist needs to apply some form of research and method, however the most successful direction for doing so has been long disputed. Although sociological method has been subject to many different styles and approaches, being constantly updated with new ideas and concepts, this essay willRead MoreResearch Methodology And Philosophical Perspective1452 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Methodology 4. 1 Overview This chapter explains the research method and philosophical perspective that adapted for this study. The chapter discusses how the research objectives will be addressed. The chapter is organized to represent several teams as follows: Section 4.1 introduces a brief about the chapter structure. Section 4.2 explains the philosophical perspective of this research which is approached by using mixed methods (Qualitative and Quantitative methods). Section 4.3 presentsRead MorePositivism And Paradigmatic Approaches979 Words   |  4 PagesThe practice of qualitative research comprises of many different paradigmatic approaches. The main three include positivism, interpretive, and critical approaches. These approaches serve as different ways in which knowledge is socially collected and analyzed. Now, each paradigmatic approach comprises of unique traits, some which are similar to each one another and others that are exclusive to a specific approach. These similarities and differences will be examined below. To begin, the main approachRead MoreThe Theory Of Intellectual Development Essay1395 Words   |  6 Pagesprogression in regards to information taking care of, computed resources, perceptual capacity, lingo learning, and distinctive parts of emotional wellness and subjective mind science appeared differently in relation to an adult s point of view. So to speak, mental change is the improvement of the ability to think and get it. A broad piece of research has gone into perceiving how a youth imagines the world. Jean Piaget was a significant oblige in the establishment of this field, molding his speculationRead MoreQuantitative vs Qualitative Research Design Essay1657 Words   |  7 Pagesdifference between the two methodologies of quantitative and qualitative research is that they stem from differing ideas on the nature of ‘reality’. Whereas the quantitative concept of reality is an objective one proven to be true by empirical evidence, qualitative’s concept of ‘reality’ is based on personal perception. Qualitative methodology suggests that as ways of perceiving the would are unique that reality itself is subjective (Alston Bowles, 2012, pp. 12-16). In other words, â€Å"reality is ‘sociallyRead MoreA Qualitative Case Study : An Interpretive Research Paradigm1583 Words   |  7 Pagesconducted under an interpretive research paradigm. From an ontological perspective, unlike the position of the positivist paradigm in which there is the belief that there is only one truth and that objective reality does exist independent of human perception, this study employs the constructivist view of reality and the essence of phenomenon. The constructivists view truth as relative and dependent on one’s perspective. This paradigm â€Å"recognises the importance of the subjective human creation of meaningRead MoreSocial Psychology: The Study of Influences Essay1420 Words   |  6 Pagessuch questions for centuries. Although there are many answers (reflected in the number of schools of psychology), Social psychology attempts to explain the environmental factors that lead to a person behavior. By definition, Social Psychology is â€Å"the study of the manner in which the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups† (Merriam-Webster, 2013).This school of psychology first explores components that effect emotions, thoughtsRead MoreThe Behavioral Perspective And The Biological Perspective1306 Words   |  6 PagesPsychology is made up of many perspectives, such as, behavioural, biological, cognitive, social, humanistic and finally, psychodynamic. This essay will focus on the behavioural perspective and the biological perspective. According to J Walker (2012) the behavioural perspective is based on behaviourism and is the study of observing behaviour when in certain contexts and events. The biological perspective however, explains behaviour by focusing on the function of the nervous system, genes and the brainRead MoreETHICAL (MORAL) RELATIVISM Essay1022 Words   |  5 Pagesrelativity. In defining relativism, moral principles are a matter of personal feelings and individual preference. As for individual moral relativism, figuring out what is moral and immoral in specific circumstances differs according to the person. On another note, moral relativists have a disbelief in universal truths or common law. This essay will examine and highlight major details about problems surrounding individual moral relativism and cultural moral relativism. It will reflect post-modern and modernRead MoreThe Role Of Meaningful Work On Work Motivation Theories1286 Words   |  6 Pagesit, such as economic outcomes (salary, financial incentives), social status and fulfillment of needs. This had inspired organizational scholars to explore, what motivates one to work, leading to tremendous research on work motivation. Motivation theories can be classified through three predominant approaches (Chalofsky, 2003): 1. Content theories – These theories analyze the motives and underlying drivers of human behavior. It is based on the assumption that main intention behind human behavior is

J. Crew Company Analysis Free Essays

string(82) " seen as a style with practical women in finely cut business suits and overcoats\." I. Problem Definition J. Crew at Stonestown mall is having difficulty targeting San Francisco State students to shop at their store, even when J. We will write a custom essay sample on J. Crew Company Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Crew offers a 15% off discount to college students. J. Crew is a very successful brand that reaches out to young business professionals; however J. Crew, specifically at Stonestown mall, is having difficulty reaching out to the college students at San Francisco State University. J. Crew believes the students at SFSU are a smart target to reach, considering the University is located right next to the Stonestown mall. Although J. Crew believes the college students are smart target to reach, many students are unaware of the student discount they offer. Looking over J. Crew’s past marketing campaigns, they have used older looking models. When doing our research, we noticed that J. Crew’s top competitors: GAP (Banana Republic), and BCBG use younger, college age range, type of models. With this is mind, we feel that the best advertising campaign is to follow their competitors and choose younger looking models, in order to reach out to the college market. J. Crew’s competitors use fun advertising methods to reach out to a younger market. We noticed in all of GAP holiday commercials, the young models are jumping around having a good time. We get a sense of fun and playful energy from the commercial, which could draw in college students. Gap also gives off a feel of comfort, casual and trendy style in clothing for the everyday college wear. We feel that if J. Crew starts advertising with younger looking models emphasizing on basic wear of a typical college student, J. Crew may have better success at reaching out to the SFSU students. II. Advertising Objective Our main advertising objective is to gain attention of the college students. The goal of our advertising campaign is to create interest for the brand and thus to encourage college students (the target audience) to make an initial purchase of a J. Crew products. Advertisement should seek to tell the market about J. Crew’s products, emphasize the quality and fashion of the products, and last but not least build awareness of the company. We can typically employ creative advertising strategies in order to cut through other competing advertisements. III. Situational Analysis J. Crew first debuted in 1983 as a catalog only shopping experience by Arthur Cinader. Six years later he opened its first flagship store in South Street Seaport New York. J. Crew is American clothing and accessories for men and women. They recently added several line extensions such as â€Å"Crewcuts† for children ages 2-12, â€Å"J. Crew weddings and Parties†, and â€Å"J. Crew Collection† for limited edition pieces. The retailer is known for its young and preppy fashions including jeans, khaki’s, and other basics that are quite pricy and targeted to young professionals. They have 300 stores worldwide including the website and catalog. In 2003 Millard Drexler the former CEO of Gap Inc. ecame the new CEO for J. Crew by pushing service, quality and innovation to the next level. This caused so much controversy with the two companies, being that they are major competitors. J. Crew partners with the best fabric mills and craftsmen such as Jack Purcell, Timex, Thomas Mason, and Red Wing to get the best quality goods. J. Crew is continuing to exp and their retail series with specialty boutiques such as Men’s only shops that specializes in Suiting and Madewell a modernized interpretation of an American denim label founded in 1937 which targets women ages 18-40. Although we think J. Crew does good overall, the Stonestown mall wants to gain attention of the college students because they offer a student/teacher discount. The problem is many of the college students don’t shop at J. Crew because they don’t know much about it. Swot Analysis: J. Crew for the college audience Strengths †¢Over 300 stores in the United States †¢E-commerce website (convenience) †¢Discount sales ongoing †¢Multiple lines for different age categories Weaknesses †¢Too Pricey for the normal college student †¢Targeted more for the young â€Å"Business† professionals †¢No commercials aired/ Advertisements are few Opportunities Target advertisements to that particular age group †¢Possible commercial advertisement for future †¢Expand to new segments of the young market Threats †¢Increased competition of Gap Inc. †¢During the recession students do not have the luxury to spend on pricey clothing †¢Increased celebrity ad vertisement of competitors †¢More discounted sales at competitors IV. Target Audience Demographics For our advertising plan we will target young college students living in the city. These students will be mainly females, as college female students are more willing to pay good money for their clothing than male students. Because our target audience consists mostly of young college students, most will be seen as single. The typical consumer will only make about $12,000 annually or less, most with part time jobs and attending school full time. Psychographics: The psychographics of our target audience will be students living in dorms and on the campus. We will also target young adults living in apartments near college campus life. Most young students don’t mind a little shopping to help them cope with a bad grade or too much studying. These students will be found around the mall regularly and will be shopping at competing stores like GAP. These consumers will be living the college life, learning to be professional in school as well as out. They should enjoy social gatherings and night events where they can show off their style. We will target students that are often in search for discounts at high end stores, looking for long lasting quality in basic casual as well as professional clothing. They need to be able to finance their money well and buy good quality products with long durability. Profile of Typical Target Consumer †¢Female †¢18-25 years old †¢Single †¢College education †¢Part-time job †¢Aware of quality price †¢Regular shopper †¢Sociable †¢Enjoys nightlife †¢Active in the community †¢Stylish/Fashionable †¢Full-time Student V. Consumers’ Perceptions Our consumers’ perception of the brand, J. Crew, usually entails the style they advertise in commercials and television. J. Crew can be seen as a style with practical women in finely cut business suits and overcoats. You read "J. Crew Company Analysis" in category "Papers" When most people visualize the company they visualize classy and professional clothing. The problem is they are not seen as the standard, like Gap, for instance, they lack the basic necessities to attract young college students. J. Crew just wants to maintain its professional status, but attract a younger crowd who are establishing their position in the real world applying and interview for jobs. When walking into the store, consumers see bright lights and a variety of fabrics and styles. The dresses range from simple around the house to dressy date-night dresses. The one-thing consumers’ can expect to see when entering J. Crew is the variety of clothing. Consumers’ can perceive clothing brands based on what they see on television, advertisements, and magazines. For instance, there was a point during the election, when Michelle Obama was wearing all J. Crew clothing. After seeing this, consumers’ then compare their own lives to the First Lady and the President. It gives off the intention that people wearing J. Crew are wealthy and extremely successful individuals. This perception is false because not everyone needs to be wealthy to afford this clothing. Many people are looking for a good way to be fashionable and professional at the same time. J. Crew provides high quality clothing for a good price. This store may seem more expensive, but price goes hand and hand with quality. College students can choose to buy cheaper clothes, but they can’t be guaranteed to last as long as higher quality fabrics. While, if they were to buy clothing from J. Crew, a high-end clothing company, their clothes would last longer and there would be no need for repurchasing products. According to youlookfab. com one of the customer’s comment on how the preppy and fashionable products were expensive, but the quality and drape were impeccable. Other opinions on J. Crew revolve around the age range of the clothing. Most people look at J. Crew as clothing for older more mature audiences. They believe it should be for women in their 40’s or older. This is a common misconception as the style is mostly for a professional look, but for a young professional style. Models often used in the J. Crew magazine, most recently, are younger looking professionals with a modern feel to them. The store has become more mainstream recently, but still continues to maintain innovative colors and ensemble combinations. J. Crew keeps their nice basics and people can often leave the house wearing their attire from head to toe. Consumers’ often perceive J. Crew as currently declining in quality and have problems with sizes and overall fit. As sizes and fit compare depending on the consumer, the fit would be made specifically for younger professionals. As for quality, our prices may have been declining, but our quality can be just as durable as before. As all retail stores were hit hard in the economy, many stores have decreased in overall price. Quality can often be an issue to those who have over worn a piece of clothing. Many customers will find J. Crew products at a rack store or a second hand store and buy them there. Even though they are usually a few years older, they still remain in good condition as if they had never been worn. This contributes to the proof of quality as well as durability in J. Crew clothing. Consumers will always find a way to agree or disagree, but the best we can do to keep those customers content is to create good quality clothing at a sufficient price, producing long lasting and stylish clothing for both professional and casual occasions. VI. The Competition Swot Analysis: GAP INC. Strengths 3,143 stores in the United States †¢518 stores Internationally (Ireland, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France) †¢Dominants clothing market â€Å"clothes for the family† †¢Socially responsible campaigns: VOTE, (RED) aids awareness, reducing waste, and strongly concerned about supply chain †¢Lots of commercials aired daily †¢Many young celebrity endorsem ents †¢Multiple lines for different age groups (Banana, Piperlime, Old Navy, Athleta) Weakness †¢Consumers can view low prices as low quality products †¢Not fashion forward for college students more concentrated on Basics †¢Does not create a unique niche in market Opportunities †¢Continue to gain attention with popular celebrities amongst college age students †¢Continue to expand on the new denim line, with high quality fabrics †¢Started working with new upcoming designers to feature in stores at a low cost †¢Expand accessories Threats †¢HM is a high threat for Gap Inc with low priced fashionable goods and widespread †¢Competitors lowering prices due to the economic downturn Swot Analysis: BCBG Max Azria Strengths †¢Global women’s contemporary fashion †¢9,000 stores over 45 countries and 5 continents †¢Make women look and feel beautiful Recognizable brand and customer loyalty †¢E-commerce website †¢Specializes in fashionable business attire and special occasion dresses †¢Mailers to customers due to in-store customer database †¢Multiple lines for different age groups Weakness †¢Not to many advertisements †¢No commercials †¢Very pricy for college students Oppo rtunities †¢Expand on advertisement †¢Expand on BCBGeneration stores (targeted to college students) and only can be found at Macy’s. Threats †¢Due to the recession consumers are looking for fashionable goods at a low price at stores such as: HM, ZARA, and MANGO. Being mass distributed to chains such as Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Bloomingdales where they can offer sales promotions, which will deter consumers to go to actually BCBG stores. VII. The Creative Strategy A. The Single Most Compelling Benefit Our Brand Can Offer to Our Target Consumers For J. Crew, we are using a differentiation strategy using their special student discount, which makes it unique and puts it up against regular retailers whom do not offer such discounts. J. Crew offers a special student and teacher discount of fifteen percent off of all regular priced items, sale items are not included in the discount. This offer is valid for any in-store purchase until the student graduates, and all that is needed is a student identification card. In our current economic situation today, people are more conscious with their spending and hold on to tighter budgets. Luxury clothes are not as affordable as they used to be. Most consumers’ perceptions of J. Crew are that it is an expensive clothing brand. They think that they get better deals from retailers who have the same clothes for cheaper prices. As we promote J. Crew’s student discount and basic clothing items, we have a particular target market in mind. We are looking at this offer as an option or alternative for example, against the retail competition. It is an offer whose benefits are best maximized around college campuses and young professional environments. The discount solves the problem for students who want a back to school shopping spree that is easier on the budget. When we look at dollar value with regards to J. Crew, it is not just the discount itself that we are looking at but also the long-term utilization of the back to school basic items that have multi-purpose uses. So when you think of J. Crew clothing you might want to consider it as an investment, not as an expensive luxury. After all, same with any product you consider buying, you would rather put your money on quality and reliability over a cheaper product that will not last you nearly as long. What is even better about J. Crew is that it is a long term savings on your clothing budget and it will not be as affected by rising clothing prices due to its special student discount. You get more quality per dollar with J. Crew than any other clothing store. With more quality per dollar, consumers can wear their clothes for longer and consume less clothing, which means a lot of savings on their clothing budget. Consumers will feel comfortable wearing J. Crew because they know they are wearing a luxurious brand and saving money at the same time. Now consumers do not need to shop at the cheaper retailers as often as they used to and keep their money in their wallets for much longer. B. Support: Why Should College Students Shop Here? J. Crew is prominently known for being a luxurious clothing brand with higher prices. The brand features collections of men’s and women’s clothing, accessories, and shoes, in â€Å"classic styles† with a J. Crew â€Å"twist†. Many of the products feature luxury materials such as Italian cashmere and leather, Czech glass buttons, and British wool. J. Crew is the perfect brand to wear every day because it does the savings for you. When buying the back to school basics, you are not only using these items for a professional setting, but also in your everyday school and recreational outfits. The average college student would not normally be interested in shopping at J. Crew, but if they are informed of the college student discount and the basic clothing items that they offer, it will be more enticing to shop there. The biggest push is raising awareness of the student discount because most students are unaware of it. Since J. Crew is not advertised often, it would be most efficient to raise awareness to college students on college campuses with flyers or online through Facebook. When they become aware, it will make them interested to see what the store sells and perhaps tempt the student to visit a local store or shop online. During a visit in store or online, the consumer will notice the advertised â€Å"Back to School Basics† and special student discount emphasizing the basic clothing items. These basic clothing items will be more appealing to students who now know that they can get regular discounts on clothes that they can wear everyday for any occasion. Basic clothing items and professional items will be a great investment for the average J. Crew shopper and many others. The average J. Crew shoppers are females ranging from ages 18-49. Most of these consumers are young professionals or part of families with incomes of $60,000 and greater. The shoppers who are in the age range of 18-49 and do not necessarily have the money to regularly shop at J. Crew, should have a chance to purchase basic clothing items and young professional attire. The important idea of buying J. Crew clothing is that it can not only be worn on teachers and students at school or in everyday recreation, but also when you graduate and get a job in the real world you can still wear the clothes for casual or business attire. C. Tone of Advertising When it comes to J. Crew, consumer’s original thoughts are: expensive, elegant, and older professional. We would like to use a tone to raise awareness to college students and young professionals that would slightly alter a consumer’s thoughts. The tone that we would like to use would be young, playful, trendy, and basic. The tone would push the young professional look and â€Å"Back to Basics† slogan around back to school shopping time. J. Crew does not have commercials so implementing commercials with a young, playful, and happy tone would be most effective. These commercials would include young, professional looking adults jumping and dancing around with popular music in the background. The actors in the commercial would be wearing a mixture of basic items and professional items that are in all different colors to make the commercial appealing to the eye and promote the basics that people may not have noticed before. The idea in this would be to make J. Crew’s advertising more like GAP’s and have it start appealing to more of the college kids and young professionals. GAP’s 2009 Holiday Commercial is the perfect example of the tone J. Crew should promote. Most importantly, these advertisements and commercials need to promote money savings (such as the student/teacher discount) and â€Å"Back to School Basics†. The most important things to a college student is saving money, and looking good while doing so. If J. Crew follows this newly thought out plan, they will accomplish just that! VIII. The Creative Brief J. Crew, specifically at Stonestown mall, is having difficulty reaching out to the college students at San Francisco State University. J. Crew is mainly categorized as expensive and for an older professional. By changing their advertisement strategies to have a younger feel, we hope to gain awareness of college students at SFSU. Our advertising plan will focus on college students and young professionals. These students will be mainly females and most will be seen as single. They will make about $12,000 annually or less, most with part time jobs and attending school full time. College students usually enjoy social gatherings and night events where they can show off their style. They are looking for long lasting quality in basic casual and trendy clothes. Most college students visualize J. Crew as classy and old professional clothing. The brand is seen as expensive but college students regard J. Crew products as being high quality. The single most compelling idea we need to communicate to our target market is that fact J. Crew allows college students to wear high quality and fashionable clothes, while saving money at the same time. J. Crew is prominently known for being a luxurious clothing brand with higher prices. But the brand has also basic clothing items for the typical college student on which they can get regular discounts. Our desired brand personality/tone of J. Crew should be a young, playful, and trendy How to cite J. Crew Company Analysis, Papers

Project Management Systems Approach To Planning - Scheduling - and Cont

Question: Discuss about the Project Management for Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling? Answer: Primary data All data and information obtained by the researcher himself in for some specific reason is known as primary data. Primary data is collected by surveys, interviews or by focusing on groups and discussing the research topic (Burke 2013). The advantage of primary data is that the researcher can focus on both the qualitative and the quantitative issue of the research. Primary research can be very expensive, as the researcher has to develop and execute a research plan. This can also be time consuming and low response rate has to be expected from primary research. Secondary data Secondary data is the data that is collected from the primary data. Someone else already collected this data, previously. The common methods of secondary data collection are census, organisational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies orqualitative research. Secondary data collection techniques save time and are less costly than the primary data. Creating plan for data collection (Primary and Secondary) Quantitative and qualitative data are the two types of data that are available where data can be in the form of photographs, charts and images, verses, details, statistics, etc. (Pawar 2004) stated that quantitative data are the data that can be expressed in numbers and are gathered from surveys, questionnaires, trails, etc. Qualitative data are those that cannot be expressed in numbers and they represent the nominal scale data like socio economic data, gender, etc. It is necessary for the researcher to gather data to carry out the research and generate a better output. Though primary data can be collected in various ways of research, interviews or observation, interviews are the important ways to get the data as customers feedback are very important. To collect primary data, a company can use their sites, ecommerce link for survey by adding short questionnaire (Van De Walle Turoff and Hiltz 2014). To collect secondary data, they are collected from the already-existed data and this m akes the data collection easier. Primary data collection is a tougher task, which begins with proper planning of the survey, developing of questionnaire, interviews of various kinds, customers observation and other available methods. Presenting the sampling frame and methodology used in the research The methodology is considered as a tool for collecting data for a particular research. This case deals with collection of important information about the requirements, likings and disliking, products knowledge, additional values needed, improved ideas for invention , etc., of cyclists. For this, closed questions and open questions are used to make survey question list. Curwin and Burke (2013) stated that questionnaire and surveys are the two ways to conduct the survey. Qualitative assessment and quantitative design are the two other ways to do the survey. Probability sampling and non-probability sampling are the two types of sampling that have different approaches in sampling techniques. Cluster sampling, simple random sampling, stratified sampling and systematic sampling methods are probability-sampling methods. Snowball sample method, quota sampling and judgmental sample methods are the non-probability sampling methods. For this survey, open-end questions and close end questions, b oth are appropriate for survey and non-probability sampling technique is the appropriate to carry out data sampling. Questionnaire for the specified issues of the business Dear Customer, A2Delicios Ltd group have many restaurants around London. With customer-oriented services, we are always eager to fill the expectations of the customers by offering a range of customer oriented services. We would like you to answer few questions to regarding clients expectation and help us to know your views. We thank you in advance for giving your precious time to answer the questions and fill up the questionnaire. We are looking forward to serve you better in the near future. Best regards, To, The manager, A2Delicious Ltd Name: Age: Gender: - Male - Female - Address: Are you satisfied with the dealing process of A2Ltd: - Yes No Please specify the reason if your answer is no:- Please mark within the marking range of 1-5 (1-Unsatisfied, 2-Good, 3-Very Good, 4-Satisfied, 5-Exceed expectation) The questionnaire Exceedingly Happy Satisfied Unsatisfied Very good Good Overall food quality of the restaurant Overall drinks satisfaction Service in the A2Delcious Service after the sales Customer service of our restaurant compared to other restaurant Do you think that the price charged for the foods and the drinks is reasonable - Yes - No - Kindly state the reason if your answer is No: Is the restaurant recommendable to others - Yes No Your comments for us to carry out constant development process The attached envelop should be used for dispatching your survey answer Creating information aid for A2D limited by data summarization by using mean- median- mode Year Marketing and Advertisement (000) Sales Figures (000) 2007 25 120 2008 28 150 2009 30 170 2010 26 190 2011 27 210 2012 25 230 2013 22 200 Mean is defined as the average value derived from a set of collected data. In the given example, the average demand is known as the arithmetic mean of the problem. The average represents the mean size of the population. The total advertising expenditure turned out to be 183 (000). There are 7 consecutive years from 2007 to 2013. The average advertising expenditure for these 7 years is 183/7 = 26.14 (000). The total food sales (000) was 1270. There were 7 consecutive years from 2007 to 2013. Therefore, the mean food sales for the 7 years was 1270/7 = 181.429 (00). The company, A2D, had less expenditure for advertising. However, the advertising expenditure was less than the average, but the sales of the food increased in every year. This hinted at the fact that though the amount spent on advertising was less, but the selling of food had increased over the years, which was due to the previous advertisements (Anderson et al. 2014). The customers had faith on the products of the company and thus they were loyal toward the company. AD2 performed well during the year 2011, 2012 compared to the previous years, though there was a slight decrease in food sales during 2013. Mode is that measure that gives the most frequently occurring value of the data set. Modal value can be easily found out. From the given surveyed values, it was found that the modal value of Advertising expenditure (000) was 25 while the modal value of Food sales (000) was 0. Thus, there was a repeat value for Advertising expenditure but there was no repeat value for Food sales. Median is the measure when the data are ordered. Median is the middle most number of an ordered data set. Median for Advertising expenditure was found out to be 26 and the median for Food sales was 190. The data set of Advertising expenditure (000) follows a uniform distribution as the mean, median and mode are nearly equal. They also follow a symmetrical pattern. Analyzing the obtained results to derive business results for the chosen company The above table highlights that the advertising expenditure in the year 2009, 30000pounds, was maximum. The advertising expenditure was increasing from the year 2007 and it reached its maximum of 30000 pounds in the year 2009. This expenditure was beyond the average expenditure of 26000 pounds. Therefore, the company spent lots of money on advertising during this period. The advertising expenditure started decreasing from the year 2010 and reached its minimum of 22000 pounds in the year 2013. Thus, the advertising expenditure was below the average expenditure of 26000 pounds by 2013. It was also seen from the above chart that the food sales were increasing from 2007 to 2012 steadily. However, in 2013, the food sale decreased by 30000 pound from 2012. In 2013, though the food sale was above average of 181000 pounds, but there was a decrease in the sale. The reason may be due to the decrease in advertising expenditure or may be the customers had lost faith in A2D limited. From the year 2007 to 2009, the food sale of A2D limited was below the average of 181000 pounds. There were no extreme values for food sales or advertising expenditure. There can be an improvement in the organization in the near future by not letting the advertisement expenditure cross the average of 26140 pounds per year and to check that the average food sale do not fall below the average sale of 181000 pounds per year. There must be a constant growth in the food sale keeping the advertisement cost below the average. The company must target in long-term achievements in food sales. It was seen that the business increased as the food sales increased on an average of 20000 pounds every year. This increase in food sale must be increased more in order to flourish the business. They must also reach to more customers by various other means other than advertisement by keeping the advertisement expenditure below the average. Data Analysis by usage of inter quartile range and Standard Deviation for the business stakeholders min 22 120 max 30 230 range 8 110 Q1 25 160 Q3 27.5 205 IR (Q3-Q1) 2.5 45 standard deviation 2.544836 37.607 Table 1: Measures of dispersion (Source: created by author) The difference between the maximum and minimum values of a data set is known as range which tells us about the spread of the data. The range is a poor measure of dispersion as it gets highly influenced by the extreme values. From the given figures, the range for advertising expenditure is 8000 pounds and that of food sale is 110000 pounds. A2D limited can make this range smaller and they could keep it near the averages during the forward movement of the business. Inter-quartile range is the difference between the 3rd quartile and the 1st quartile. This shows the distribution of the middle part of the data set. Standard deviation is the systematic measure of dispersion that is the average measurement of distance of data values from the mean of the data. Lower the standard deviation, higher is the accuracy of the data. Standard deviation does not depend upon the sample size. The standard deviation for the advertising expenditure is 2.54, which is less. This is because the company wanted to reduce the advertising expenditure while the standard deviation of foods sales is 37.61. This is because the company was steadily increasing its sales over the last 7 years. Thus, it could be seen that there was a steady increase in the business and there was development in the business (Gravetter and Wallnau 2016). Explaining the process of deriving business decisions through usage of Quartiles, Percentiles and Correlation Coefficient The correlation coefficient between the two data sets shows -0.2463. The correlation coefficient here is negative which indicates that the increase in one variable led to the decrease in another variable. Here, decrease in advertising cost led to the increase in food sales. However, the correlation coefficient is very weak, 0.2463, which concluded that advertising actually had not helped A2D in increase in its food sales (Anderson et al. 2014). However, the reality is different as we can see that when A2D first opened, its advertising cost was 25000 pounds and the foods sale was 120000 pounds. As years passed by, the advertising cost decreased while the food sale increased, though there was an increase in advertising expenditure from 2007 to 2009 and it decreased thereafter. The food sale, though, continued to increase until 2012 and there was a slight decrease in 2013. Few recommendations are required for further increase in business and better business. Attracting more customers would indirectly lead to the promotion of A2D, as these customers would recommend the restaurant to other customers as well. The restaurant does not have to pay for the promotion and it would be promoted without the knowledge of the customers. The restaurant must also provide discounts on bills or free first drinks, etc. to its customers in order to attract more of them. Quartiles and percentiles are other measures of analysis. The Q1 and Q3 of advertising expenditure is 25 and 160, while that of food sales is 27.5 and 205. The first 25% of data for advertising expenditure lies within the values of 25 and the last 25% beyond 160. For, food sales, the first 25% data lie within 27.5 while the last 25% is beyond 205. Percentiles are almost same as quartiles where Q1 is the 25th percentile, Q2 is the 50th percentile, and i.e. the median of the data and Q3 is the 75th percentile of the data. The results of the percentile can be explained in the same manner as quartiles. Year Advertising expenditure (000) FFood sales (000) 2007 25 1120 2008 28 1150 2009 30 1170 2010 26 1190 2011 27 2210 2012 25 2230 2013 22 2200 Graphical representation for deriving Business Conclusion (Bar, Pie and Line Charts) Chart 1: pie chart of advertising expenditure (Source: created by author) This shows that the advertising expenditure increased over 1st 4 years and then it decreased for the next 3 years. A2D had been trying to modify their expenditures before and the expenditures started decreasing from 2010. Chart 2: pie chart of food sales (Source: created by author) The food sales steadily increased till 2012 and then it decreased a little on 2013. There could be different offers that came up which increased the sale of A2D. Also, increase in population and tourists might lead to increase in the sale of A2D as years passed by. Chart 3: line chart of food sales and advertising expenditure (Source: created by author) Line chart shows that the business of A2D was low during 2007. This was the beginning year of A2D. So this could be the reason for its low business. The food sales increased as year passed by and 2012 saw the maximum sales which could be the effect of London Olympics or the well advertising effects. Chart 4: bar graph of food sales and advertising expenditure (Source: created by author) The bar graph shows that the advertising cost was lower than the food sale which was good business. It also shows that there was a steady increase in the food sale though there ws a decrease in it in 2013 which may be due to recession. Sales and Expenses forecast with scatter diagram and trend lines Chart 5: scatter plot of advertising expenditure (Source: created by author) Chart 6: scatter plot of food sales (Source: created by author) The scatter plot along with the trend lines shows that the food sale of A2D is increasing every year and the predicted value of it by 2015 is 270,000 pound. The scatter plot also shows that the advertising expenditure is showing a downward trend and it is getting minimised every year. The expected advertising cost by 2015 is 24,000 pound. Dissemination of Business information for business presentation Formal Business Report based on the findings from Task 3.1 to 3.3 A2D started its business in 2007. This chain of restaurant is famous for its African and European dishes. It has 20 restaurants in London (South) and wants to increase its business in west London. For this the company is conducting a survey to forecast the business know the destiny of the organisation. The relationship between the sales and advertising is seen as a positive relationship that will help the business to grow in the near future. Once the restaurant is famous, its growth in the business is obvious even if the advertising cost decreases. Conclusion and Recommendation A2D has potential in performing well in the business. It can be recommended that strong promotional words could be used to promote the restaurant which will also decrease the cost of advertising as these words will spread by the customers itself. The business could be expanded not only in the west London, but also in the other parts of London, though research and survey must be conducted well before the onset of the business. The forecast of the business is pretty well. Predictions must be done carefully so as to avoid troubles and loss in the near future and changes can be made if problem arises. Management information system The study of people, technology, organization and the relationships between them is known as management information systems(MIS) which helps a firm to know the maximum profit from the investments and services using the technologies. These are typically computer systems used for managing data and analyze the market to help he firm know about their future growth (Walle et al. 2014.). This term , academically, means the study of individuals and organizations and how they evaluate their plans , designs , and manage and implement their systems for generating information regarding the maximum profit from the investments. A2d could manage their orders by using different methods such as card scheme. They can also keep a track of the orders and manage them accordingly. The inventory department of the restaurant could keep a track of the preferred orders and they can suggest the restaurant for the dishes that are preferred by the costumers. Thus the organization could have a proper arrangement of orders that are preferred by its customers. They can also ask for feed backs from the customers. Project Management The process in which the project is planned, organized, motivated and the resources are controlled to achieved the desired goals is known as project management(Burke, 2013.). Here, various constraints are figured out and work is done upon them to minimise the constraints and maximize the profit of the organisation. Various technical skills and managerial skills are used to make the project management a successful one so that the business has a profit for it(Kerzner, 2013). References Kerzner, H.R., 2013. Project Management: A Systems Approach To Planning, Scheduling, And Controlling. John Wiley Sons Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques New Jersey, USA. Van De Walle, B., Turoff, M. and Hiltz, S.R., 2014 Information systems for emergency management. Routledge. Anderson, D., Sweeney, D., Williams, T., Camm, J. and Cochran, J., 2014. Essentials of statistics for business and economics Cengage Learning Gravetter, F. and Wallnau, L., 2016. Statistics for the behavioral sciences. Cengage Learning.