BUS352 Benchmark Case Study

Part 1

1. Chapter 2, Questions 1 and 2

Ashland MultiComm Services (AMS) provides high-quality communications networks in the Greater Ashland area. AMS traces its roots to Ashland Community Access Television (ACATV), a small company that redistributed the broadcast television signals from nearby major metropolitan areas but has evolved into a provider of a wide range of broadband services for residential customers. AMS offers subscription-based services for digital cable video programming, local and long-distance telephone services, and high-speed Internet access. Recently, AMS has faced competition from other network providers that have expanded into the Ashland area. AMS has also seen decreases in the number of new digital cable installations and the rate of digital cable renewals. AMS management believes that a combination of increased promotional expenditures, adjustment in subscription fees, and improved customer service will allow AMS to successfully face the competition from other network providers. However, AMS management worries about the possible effects that new Internet-based methods of program delivery may have had on their digital cable business. They decide that they need to conduct some research and organize a team of research specialists to examine the current status of the business and the marketplace in which it competes. The managers suggest that the research team examine the company’s own historical data for number of subscribers, revenues, and subscription renewal rates for the past few years. They direct the team to examine year-to-date data as well, as the managers suspect that some of the changes they have seen have been a relatively recent phenomena.

1. What type of data source would the company’s own historical data be? Identify other possible data sources that the research team might use to examine the current marketplace for residential broadband services in a city such as Ashland.

2. What type of data collection techniques might the team employ?

2. Chapter 3, Questions 1-2

1. For what variable in the Chapter 2 “Managing Ashland MultiComm Services” case (see page 78) are numerical descriptive measures needed?

2. For the variable you identify, construct a graphical display. What conclusions can you reach from this other plot that cannot be made from the boxplot?

3. Summarize your findings in a report that can be included with the task force’s study.

3. Chapter 5, Questions 1-3

The Ashland MultiComm Services (AMS) marketing department wants to increase subscriptions for its 3-For-All telephone, cable, and Internet combined service. AMS marketing has been conducting an aggressive direct-marketing campaign that includes postal and electronic mailings and telephone solicitations. Feedback from these efforts indicates that including premium channels in this combined service is a very important factor for both current and prospective subscribers. After several brainstorming sessions, the marketing department has decided to add premium cable channels as a no-cost benefit of subscribing to the 3-For-All service. The research director, Mona Fields, is planning to conduct a survey among prospective customers to determine how many premium channels need to be added to the 3-For-All service in order to generate a subscription to the service. Based on past campaigns and on industry-wide data, she estimates the following:

1. If a sample of 50 prospective customers is selected and no free premium channels are included in the 3-For-All service offer, given past results, what is the probability that

a. fewer than 3 customers will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

b. 0 customers or 1 customer will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

c. more than 4 customers will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

d. Suppose that in the actual survey of 50 prospective customers, 4 customers subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer. What does this tell you about the previous estimate of the proportion of customers who would subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

2. Instead of offering no premium free channels as in Problem 1, suppose that two free premium channels are included in the 3-For-All service offer. Given past results, what is the probability that

a. fewer than 3 customers will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

b. 0 customers or 1 customer will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

c. more than 4 customers will subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

d. Compare the results of (a) through (c) to those of 1.

e. Suppose that in the actual survey of 50 prospective customers, 6 customers subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer. What does this tell you about the previous estimate of the proportion of customers who would subscribe to the 3-For-All service offer?

f. What do the results in (e) tell you about the effect of offering free premium channels on the likelihood of obtaining subscriptions to the 3-For-All service?

3. Suppose that additional surveys of 50 prospective customers were conducted in which the number of free premium channels was varied. The results were as follows:

How many free premium channels should the research director recommend for inclusion in the 3-For-All service?

4. Chapter 9, Questions 1 and 2

Continuing its monitoring of the upload speed first described in the Chapter 6 Managing Ashland MultiComm Services case on page 221, the technical operations department wants to ensure that the mean target upload speed for all Internet service subscribers is at least 0.97 on a standard scale in which the target value is 1.0. Each day, upload speed was measured 50 times, with the following results (stored in AMS9).

0.854 1.023 1.005 1.030 1.219 0.977 1.044 0.778 1.122 1.114

1.091 1.086 1.141 0.931 0.723 0.934 1.060 1.047 0.800 0.889

1.012 0.695 0.869 0.734 1.131 0.993 0.762 0.814 1.108 0.805

1.223 1.024 0.884 0.799 0.870 0.898 0.621 0.818 1.113 1.286

1.052 0.678 1.162 0.808 1.012 0.859 0.951 1.112 1.003 0.972

1. Compute the sample statistics and determine whether there is evidence that the population mean upload speed is less than 0.97.

2. Write a memo to management that summarizes your conclusions.

Part 2

Reflect on the "Managing Ashland MultiComm Services" case information presented throughout the assigned questions in Part 1. Write a 300-375 word explanation of how you would respond to the following scenario:

You have been asked by J. Doe, the leader of the technical operations department, to only test to see if there is a difference between the mean target and the actual results. Some employees in the department have mentioned that J. Doe is seeking approval for new equipment that will increase speed. Prior requests have been declined and the leader wants to use your results to prove new equipment is required.

Address the following in your response:

Ethical issues in business statistics and how your personal values are applied.

Which ethical guideline(s) are you applying? How?

How does the scenario affect your personal decision making as it related to statistics and ethics?

What guidance, using principles from a Christian worldview perspective, could be applied to understand and address these ethical issues presented in the scenario? The following GCU websites may be helpful: (a) GCU Doctrinal Statement (b) GCU Mission and Vision.

Provide two or three external resources to help frame the issue.