Master of Business Analytics BUS5PB La Trobe Business School BUS5PB - Principles of Business Analytics Assignment 01: Develop a Tier 1 Analytics Solution Marks: 40% Assignment Type: Individual Due Date: 00:00 Monday 29th August 2016 (submit online to LMS). The first assignment aims to develop analytical thinking as well as skills in the use of self-service analytics software packages. As noted in class, these software packages comprise the first tier of analytics technology. Context In the past two decades, the pharmaceutical, personal care, and nutritional industries have converged to address growing demands in the beauty, health & wellness market. The convergence has resulted in the formation of new industry segments Nutraceuticals, Cosmeceuticals and Nutricosmetics. Fig 1: Emergence of new industry segments. Cosmeceuticals: topical cosmetic products that have medicinal or drug-like benefits (creams and fortified syrups). Nutricosmetics: supplementation of nutrients that are formulated for beauty care (both oral and topical). Nutraceuticals: products derived from food sources that provide extra health benefits, in addition to the basic nutritional value found in food (dietary supplements and functional food). These three new segments are mainly driven by an increasing awareness and need for preventive healthcare, natural therapies and anti-aging products. The annual global growth rate of all three segments is approximately 4%–8%. A noticeable geographical dominance is observed in different segments, China and Japan are key Nutricosmetic markets accounting for 90% of global sales, while the USA dominates the Nutraceutical category at approx. 45%. You have recently joined N-vision, a leading analytics consultancy firm as an Insights Specialist. The first task assigned to you is to analyse the emergence of these industry segments in Australia. An end-user survey has been already conducted and the data available for your perusal. Your manager has not laid out specific expectations, but he has reiterated the need to 'understand these industry segments, the potential markets and opportunities'. Pharmaceuticals Personal Care Nutrition Cosmeceuticals Nutricosmetics Nutraceuticals 1Master of Business Analytics BUS5PB La Trobe Business School The survey Are you a regular consumer of beauty, health & wellness products? (Data was only collected from regular consumers of beauty, health & wellness products) Question Corresponding column in data file Which state do you live in? State Select your annual income from the following three options. (<50,000, 50,000 – 70,000, 70,000 – 90,000, > 100,000) Income($) Select your age band from the following options (<30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, >70) Age Band In which type of products are you most interested? (Nutraceuticals, Nutricosmetics, Cosmeceuticals) Product Type How much would you be willing to spend monthly on this type of product? (<$50, $50-$100, >$100) Monthly ($) In which form are you most comfortable to consume this type of products? (pill, beverage, food) Form How confident are you of results? (1-5; 1- least confident 5- most confident) ConfidenceRating How confident are you to recommend to a friend? (1-10; 1- least confident 10- most confident) RecommendationScore A total of nine columns as the data file starts with an ID column as an identifier for each row. Tasks • Conduct a business background research to illustrate current market situation and evaluate business initiatives/potentials; • Conduct a critical review of the survey and its outcomes. Suggest improvements to the survey in terms of data coverage and data metrics. You may refer to external sources of information to justify your evaluation; • Develop two analytics solutions to analyse the dataset using any two of the three software packages covered in the subject. It is recommended to explore insights among data to pinpoint characteristics of each segment, for example, age distribution for product type; • Based on the insights obtained from analytics solutions and any external sources of information, recommend effective marketing strategies (market opportunities, targeted customers, channels, etc.) for a potential client intending to enter these new industry segments in Australia. You need to decide on the number of recommendations with a brief justification for your choice. Recommendations should refer to visualisations (a combination of diagrams and charts) from your analytics solutions and external references. Report guidelines 1. The report should consist of a 'table of contents', 'introduction', logically organized sections/topics, a 'conclusion' and a 'list of references'. 2. Choose a fitting sequence of sections/topics for the body of the report. Three sections for the three tasks are essential, you may add other sections deemed relevant. 2Master of Business Analytics BUS5PB La Trobe Business School 3. You must include diagrams, tables and charts from the analytics solutions to effectively present your recommendations. (Use Alt + Print Screen to capture screenshots). 4. Page limit: five (5) or more pages. 5. Reports should be written in Microsoft Word (font size 11) and submitted as a Word file. 6. Your submission will comprise the two analytics solution files and a professionally written report. All files (preferably as a compressed/zipped folder) are to be submitted to LMS. Marking rubric A grade will be awarded to each of the tasks and then an overall mark determined for the entire assessment. The rubric below gives you an idea of what you must achieve to earn a certain 'grade'. As a general rule, to meet a 'C', you must first satisfy the requirements of a 'D'. And for an 'A', you must first satisfy the requirements of a 'B', which must of course first meet the requirements of a 'C' and so on. The marking rubric for this assignment is given below. Criterion Pass Credit Distinction High Distinction Business background research (05 marks) Reasonable business background research covering few criteria. Good business background research covering several criteria. Excellent business background research covering many criteria. Extensive business background research covering all necessary criteria. Critical evaluation of the survey (10 marks) Reasonable evaluation with consideration for few criteria. Good evaluation with consideration for several criteria. Excellent evaluation with consideration for many criteria. Extensive evaluation with consideration for all criteria. Analytics solution 1 (05 marks) Limited effort to structure and present information and insights. Limited knowledge of the software package. Fair effort to structure and present information and insights. Fair knowledge of the software package. Excellent effort to structure and present information and insights. Excellent knowledge of the software package. Exceptional effort to structure and present information and insights. Comprehensive knowledge of the software package. Analytics solution 2 (05 marks) Limited effort to structure and present information and insights. Limited knowledge of the software package. Fair effort to structure and present information and insights. Fair knowledge of the software package. Excellent effort to structure and present information and insights. Excellent knowledge of the software package. Exceptional effort to structure and present information and insights. Comprehensive knowledge of the software package. Recommendations (15 marks) Recommendations reflect a fair grasp of the problem domain, data, insights and expectations. Recommendations reflect a good grasp of the problem domain, data, insights and expectations. Recommendations reflect an excellent grasp of the problem domain, data, insights and expectations. Recommendations reflect an inclusive grasp of the problem domain, data, insights and expectations. Other information • Standard plagiarism and collusion policy, and extension and special consideration policy of this university apply to this assignment. • A cover sheet is NOT required. By submitting your work online, the declaration on the university's assignment cover sheet is implied and agreed to by you. 3