Foundations of Business Analysis

GSBS6002

Foundations of Business Analysis

Trimester 3, 2022

Assignment 2

Weight: 35%

Total Marks: 35

Due time and date: 23.59 AEDST, Sunday 30 October, 2022

 

Submission instructions:

Maximum word length: 3000 words (excluding references, tables and figures).
Submit a soft copy in Word format via Turnitin (with an assignment cover sheet).
Assignments submitted by other means (e.g. email) or forms (scanned copy, Excel document) will attract no marks.

 

Late submissions: The mark for an assessment item submitted after the designated time on the due date, without an approved extension of time, will be reduced by 10% of the possible maximum mark for that assessment item for each day or part day that the assessment item is late. Note: this applies equally to week and weekend days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Case Study – SME commitment to reducing carbon emissions

 

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for approximately 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide (The World Bank, 2022). In Australia, SMEs are comprised of small businesses that hire less than 20 employees and medium businesses that hire between 20 and 199 employees. Collectively, SMEs contribute to more than 99.8% of the businesses in Australia (ABS, 2021). As such, they play a significant role in creating jobs and contributing to economic development both in Australia and globally. They are also a significant source of energy consumption estimated to consume about 13% of global energy (International Energy Agency, 2016). In light of the increased threats of climate change that directly (e.g., extreme weather events) and indirectly (e.g., disturbance on supply chains, increased regulations on carbon emissions) challenge the operation of SMEs, there is an urgent need for SMEs to manage their carbon emissions to support efforts to combat climate change.

In this hypothetical case study, you would play an assumed role as a researcher hired by a government entity to conduct research aiming to address the following research questions through an online survey. The survey results would form the basis of your recommendations to the government entity for how to improve the intention of SMEs to further reduce their carbon emissions in the near future.

Research Questions

Is SMEs’ intention to reduce carbon emissions (Q5) greater than “neither likely nor unlikely”?
Does SMEs’ intention to reduce carbon emissions (Q5) differ between small enterprises (<20 employees) and medium enterprises (20-199 employees) (Q7)?
Does SMEs’ intention to reduce carbon emissions (Q5) differ between those who perceive negligible, moderate, and substantial financial barriers that prevent them from investing in appropriate carbon reduction mechanisms (Q6)?
Is there a significant association between SMEs’ intention to reduce carbon emissions (Q5) and their commitment to corporate social responsibility (Q1-Q4)?

 

 

A survey was developed to examine the research questions and implemented to an online panel comprised of SME managers or owners via a research company. Overall, 417 SME managers or owners completed the survey. Their responses have been recorded in the SPSS data file, “SME Survey.sav.” The data set is available on the Assignment 2 page in Canvas. The survey used to collect the data is presented below.

 

 

Survey on SME commitment to reducing carbon emissions
(The value next to each response category is representative of the response category recorded in the data file)

Section 1: Your company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility

Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree

Q1. Our company participates in activities which aim to protect and improve the quality of the natural environment
1
2
3
4
5

Q2. Our company makes investment to create a better life for future generations
1
2
3
4
5

Q3. Our company contributes to campaigns and projects that promote the well-being of the society
1
2
3
4
5

Q4. Our company supports nongovernmental organizations working in problematic areas
1
2
3
4
5

Section 2: Your company’s intention to further reduce its carbon emissions

Please indicate how likely your company is to perform the following.
Very unlikely
Unlikely
Neither likely nor unlikely
Likely
Very likely

Q5. Our company will substantial invest in reducing its carbon emissions through appropriate mechanisms (e.g., sustainable supply chain management, environmental management systems, employee training) in the next two years
1
2
3
4
5

Section 3: Perceived financial barriers

Q6. Please indicate which of the following best describes the financial barrier for your company to invest in appropriate mechanisms (e.g., sustainable supply chain management, environmental management systems, employee training) to reduce its carbon emissions:

c Negligible (1)

c Moderate (2)

c Substantial (3)

 

Part 4: Company information

Q7. What is the size of your company?

c Less than 20 employees (1)

c Between 20 and 199 employees (2)

 

Required:

Write a data analysis report that provides the results that address each of the four research questions. Moreover, you will make overall recommendations in terms of how the research findings can be used to inform the government entity.

 

Report Structure

Executive Summary

This section should provide a brief overview of the data analysis report. You should summarise the subject matter, the method of analysis, the findings and recommendations and any limitations of the report. It is suggested that the Executive Summary is the last section that you write.

 

Introduction

Provide a brief background to the case to put your analysis in context. Provide a discussion of the objectives of your analysis.

 

Research Design

Discuss the data collection process and the sampling procedures that were applied. In this section you should also outline the ethical considerations that would have been taken into account when collecting data from this survey and reporting your results. This section should include references from at least three credible sources, such as textbooks or journal articles.

 

Hypotheses

You need to develop hypothesis linked to each question. You should mention the question first and then write corresponding null and alternate hypotheses.

For example:

Question: Are female and male supermarket shoppers different in their support for plastic-free shopping?

Null hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference between female and male supermarket shoppers in their support for plastic-free shopping.

Alternate hypothesis (HA): There is a significant difference between female and male supermarket shoppers in their support for plastic-free shopping.

 

Statistical Technique and Justification

You should categorically mention which statistical technique is used to test a hypothesis. Sufficient justification should be provided for choosing a statistical technique. You should mention whether you are comparing the means or measuring the degree of relationship between/among the relevant variables. Use and cite the textbook and/or other credible academic references to guide the development of this section.

 

Results, and Statistical and non-statistical Interpretation

In this section, you should present your empirical results and then provide statistical and non-statistical interpretation of the results following the examples presented in relevant lectures.

 

Analysis and Summary of the Statistical Results

Report a summary of your key findings as they relate to the four key research questions stated on Page 3 and the conclusions that can be derived from these findings.

Recommendations

Provide recommendations for how to improve the intention of SMEs to further reduce their carbon emissions in the near future to the government entity. Each recommendation should be linked to one of your key findings presented in the previous section. Bullet points can be used for the recommendations.

References

American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition of referencing style should be followed.

 

 

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2021). Counts of Australian businesses, including entries and exits. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/jul2017-jun2021#data-download. Retrieved August 23, 2022 https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/jul2017-jun2021#data-download
International Energy Agency. (2016). Accelerating energy efficiency in small and medium-sized enterprises: Powering SMEs to catalyse economic growth. Retrieved from https://c2e2.unepccc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/03/sme-2015.pdf. https://c2e2.unepccc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/03/sme-2015.pdf
The World Bank. (2022). Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) finance. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance. Retrieved August 23, 2022 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance