Part A – Case Analysis – De Beers

1.  Examine all of the exhibits in the De Beers case and undertake a careful data analysis to determine the existence or absence of any critical trends or patterns, etc. (please carefully assess and describe what you observe, using the terminology and analytical tools learned in the Business Analytics course; you may consult the HBX Data analytics syllabus if you wish).

Are these trends, patterns, and distributions to be expected or have you noticed anomalies? What do your confirmed trends and abnormalities of the data reveal about your hypothesis/see? How is your suggestion related to your preferred strategic decision in the case? Please describe your analysis back to your underlying suggested strategic decision in the case.

Please make sure your analysis covers all Exhibits in the case, as well as any data described in the narrative of the situation.

2.  Using the analysis in part 1, above, prepare a memo directed to Tom Montgomery, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the De Beers Group, outlining the implications of your data analysis of the Search Results instance, as it relates to your recommended strategic decision (and hypothesis, if any). If you wish, you can extend the analysis of the memo to include more than one strategic decision, arguing in favor or against each of the selected decisions. Please be sure to highlight how the data helps support or thwart the available option(s) and strategic decision(s) in the case. Be sure to highlight any underlying assumption(s) or theory/is (e.g., economic theory) in your analysis. Required word count is 1,000 min. to 1,500 max.

Part B. Marketing Manager – Sales Exercise

In a given year, a Manager wants to forecast corporate sales for the coming year and to understand the relevant factors. This information will serve at least 4 purposes:

• Provide estimates in corporate planning
• Provide data for staffing requirements
• Provide data for budget allocations for advertising, dealer discounts, etc.
• Allow for better decisions regarding price, product expenditures, etc.

The dataset (below and attached via excel) provides information in the following categories:

• Sales Expenses (EXPENSE)

• Advertising (ADVERTISE)

• Total Industry Advertising (TRINIDAD)

• Personal disposable income (PDI)

• Prices (PRICE)

• Product development expenditures (R&D)

• Capital investments (INVEST)

• Dealers’ allowances (DEALS)

• Company Sales (SALES)

Assignment

Create and study a correlation matrix. What do the correlations signify? Find the most appropriate regression equation for SALES. What interpretation can you make?

PDI	DealsAll	Price	R&Dexped	CapInves	Advertis	SalesExp	TotIndAd	$Sales
398	138	56.2	12.11	49.89	76.86	228.8	98.2	5540.39
369	118	59.04	9.33	16.59	88.81	177.45	224.95	5439.04
268	129	56.72	28.75	89.18	51.3	166.4	263.03	4290
484	111	57.86	12.89	106.73	39.65	258.05	320.93	5502.34
394	146	59.11	13.38	142.55	51.65	209.3	406.99	4871.77
332	140	60.11	11.09	61.28	20.55	180.05	247	4708.08
336	136	59.83	24.96	-30.38	40.15	213.2	328.44	4627.81
383	104	60.05	20.81	-44.58	31.64	200.85	298.46	4110.24
285	105	63.14	8.49	-28.37	12.46	176.15	218.11	4122.69
277	135	62.3	10.73	75.72	68.31	174.85	410.47	4842.25
456	128	64.92	21.87	144.03	52.45	252.85	93.01	5740.65
355	131	64.85	23.51	112.9	76.68	208	307.23	5094.1
329	126	63.11	22.4	112.83	75.68	209.32	317.36	5112.22
364	120	63.59	13.89	128.34	96.07	195	106.79	5383.2
320	147	65.61	14.87	10.09	47.98	154.05	304.92	4888.17
311	143	67.02	22.49	-24.76	27.23	180.7	59.61	4033.13
362	145	66.9	23.37	116.74	72.67	219.7	238.99	4941.96
408	131	66.18	13.03	120.4	62.31	234.65	141.07	5312.8
433	124	67.86	8.03	121.82	24.71	258.05	290.83	5139.87
359	106	68.88	27.05	71.05	73.91	196.3	413.64	4397.36
476	138	71.41	18.22	4.18	63.27	278.85	206.45	5149.47
415	148	69.27	7.74	46.93	28.68	207.35	79.57	5150.83
420	136	69.73	10.14	7.62	91.36	213.2	428.98	4989.02

 

536	111	73.16	27.37	127.5	74.02	296.4	273.07	5926.86
432	152	73.36	15.53	-49.57	16.16	245.05	309.42	4703.88
436	123	73.05	32.49	100.09	43	275.6	280.14	5365.59
415	119	74.91	19.71	-40.18	41.13	211.25	314.55	4630.09
462	112	73.2	14.84	68.15	92.52	282.75	212.06	5711.86
429	125	74.16	11.37	87.96	83.29	217.75	118.06	5095.48
517	142	74.28	26.75	27.08	74.89	306.8	344.55	6124.37
328	123	77.14	19.6	59.34	87.51	210.6	140.87	4787.34
418	135	78.59	34.69	141.96	74.47	269.75	82.85	5035.62
515	120	77.09	23.2	126.42	21.27	328.25	398.42	5288.01
412	149	78.23	35.74	29.55	26.49	258.05	124.03	4647.01
455	126	77.92	21.59	18	94.63	232.7	117.91	5315.63
554	138	81.03	19.57	42.35	92.54	323.7	161.25	6180.06
441	120	79.84	15.5	-21.55	50.05	267.15	405.09	4800.97
417	120	80.63	34.92	148.45	83.18	257.4	110.74	5512.13
461	132	82.28	26.55	-17.58	91.22	266.5	170.39	5272.21
482	133	82.33	24.89	41.56	92.63	266.28	169.23	5373.77