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Descriptive Statistics and Interpretation
I NEED ASSISTANCE SOLVING THE QUESTIONS BELOW BASED ON THE PAPER THAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN. PLEASE ATTACHED EXCEL AND WORD DOCUMENTS (THE PAPER DRAFT IS BELOW THE QUESTIONS)
Create a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet with the two variables from your learning team`s dataset.
Analyze the data with Microsoft® Excel® or other statistical tool(s), including:
• Descriptive stats for each numeric variable
• Histogram for each numeric variable
• Bar chart for each attribute (non numeric) variable
• Scatter plot if the data contains two numeric variables
Determine the appropriate descriptive statistics.
• For normally distributed data use the mean and standard deviation.
• For significantly skewed data use the median and interquartile range.
Use the Individual Methodology Findings Template to complete the descriptive statistics.
Use the Descriptive Statistics and Interpretation Example to develop an interpretation of the descriptive statistics.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Learning Team D Business Research
Corporations face different dilemmas every day that necessitate a decision making. These dilemmas could include costs changing, reduction in sales, employee turnover, etc. Normally identifying a business dilemma isn`t the challenging part; it`s the research that can be challenging. Determining the business issue directs management to make a proper research plan and answer the right questions to uncover the needed solution. Business research is a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide managerial decisions (Cooper & Schindler, 2011).
Background
COMPANY X is known as a well-reputed and customer-centric company but during the last five decades, the sales of the company at a macro level have been observed to be falling with a considerable pace. The reason some analysts have described is the shifting of the manufacturing plants from the home country to different foreign countries like China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The reason behind the initiative of shifting manufacturing plants was to control the manufacturing costs and increase the profit margin overall, but the trick didn`t work as per the predictions, and the overall scenario became dark.
Research Design
The research can be performed to assess the viability of the plan of shifting the manufacturing plants out there in different developing countries with a low cost of labor and increasing demand of foreign investment. The hypothesis that this research can weigh is about the cost reduction and change in profit margins of the company. The null hypothesis, thus, states as; whether the shifting of manufacturing plants has widened or narrowed the cost structure of the company against the alternative hypothesis that the current reduction in sales is not defined by the shifting of manufacturing plants in other countries.
The variables of interest chosen for this part of the study may be difficult to recognize. For the purpose, "profit margin" or the "overall revenue" of the company may be a good option for the dependent variable while the independent side will include the costs associated with shifting, hiring new labor and other such control variables to assess the whole scenario.
Hypothesis Statement
H0: There is no difference between the efforts of cost reduction through the shift of manufacturing plants and the change in the profit margin of the company.
H1: There is a difference between the efforts of cost reduction through the shift of manufacturing plants and the change in the profit margin of the company.
Research Question
"How effective was the initiative of shifting manufacturing plants in controlling the manufacturing costs in influencing the overall profit margin of the company?" This question will allow Learning Team D to:
• Determination of the focus and direction of the research project.
• The different types of hypothesis enable the team to state the purpose of the research study.
• Determination of the kind of variables to be taken into account for the accomplishment of the research.
Articles Summary and Relevant research
During the industrial revelation, the United States struggled from poor working conditions; this is an issue that the United States shared with so many other countries in the 20th Century, however, the third world countries continue to struggle today while these conditions disappeared in the United States due to following mandatory work regulations. Thus, we find large corporations tries to circumvent these regulations by moving big portions of their factories overseas and hire the cheap labor. This research studies the question "how effective was the initiative of shifting manufacturing plants on controlling manufacturing costs in influencing the overall profit margin of the company?" For this research different studies were made to analyze critically company X actions of shifting the manufacturing plants to offshore facilities. The articles` writers elucidated the reasons for this shift then attempt to clarify whether these reasons were justified.
In Company X case, shifting the majority of its production to overseas has more than one aspect; of course, the cheap labor aspects, production in the third world countries at a fraction of the production price domestically in the United States. Another aspect that is not often recognized in moving production especially to China, is the fact that China is the world most populous country, Company X was endeavoring to get the chance of clothing up to 2 billion people in china alone.
Clearly, the main driver of corporations to shift their production overseas is the labor`s cost; however, costs in foreign countries are rising compared to the United States. This is a key factor for why 4 percent of corporations are relocating jobs back to the United States today. Despite the fact of the labor cost, X company might overlooked few other facts that could be considered big mistakes in moving Overseas such as; Productivity, in developing countries that measurably lower the United States labor cost tend to be higher in some cases to straight wage rate differences, moreover, evidence has it that the cultural differences carries barriers which introduce modern high productivity manufacturing process. Transportation, even with corporates discounts that most of shipping companies offer, shipping product remains very costly. Controlling risks like performing an on-site inspection can be rather difficult and costly overseas than at domestic locations. Also, Currency risk, Inventory risk, and political risks are facts that could be overlooked and affect manufacturing Overseas strongly to where effectiveness of the business can be easily vanished. According to the researches, the main reason for company X shifting overseas was to control the manufacturing costs, however, if company X hadn`t shifted its manufacturing to overseas, the cost of products would have increased by 100$.
Company X has faced twenty years of criticism for outsourcing jobs overseas for the cheaper labor. The company`s massive outsourcing has had a negative impact among labor unions and political critics who are worried about loss of American jobs. The international market has been able to offer American companies; such as, Company X the opportunity to source labor and products at better prices, which results in lower prices and more efficiency for businesses, which are then passed on as savings to their consumers.
Further issues ensue in regards to foreign labor laws. Each country has different laws, and, in addition, American companies are bound to human right protection laws. Some companies can mitigate labor laws by entering into agreements in which the foreign entity operates independently. Company X originally did this; however, investigation revealed human right violations so the company has now altered their arrangement with outsourced suppliers to include greater overseeing of factories and their processes.
It is difficult to be hands off and enjoy the benefits of cheaper labor while turning a blind eye to poor working conditions and inappropriate labor situations. Even worse is the backlash that ensues as a result of such inequities. Company X monitors the nearly 800,000 workers in their contract supply chain only to find that "many problems are recurring in the industry". (Nike, 2011). A potential solution to these issue are currently in the works between Company X and the white house is to ensure that human rights and safe manufacturing conditions are being observed based upon reasonable expectations and careful monitoring.
Conclusion
In business, management often meets uncertainty in their decision making. COMPANY X`s plan to increase profits by shifting their manufacturing operations to foreign countries was unsuccessful due to a variety of reasons that directly affected production. Team D will focus on COMPANY X and conduct business research based on descriptive and comparative cost structures about the current and previous costs of the manufacturing plants.
Reference
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The Nike Controversy, By Matt Wilsey, Scott Lichtig
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We`re Moving Overseas! Are We Making a Big Mistake? By Phillip Blackerby
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5 Facts About Overseas Outsourcing, By Alex Lach
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