Understanding Business Drivers and Improving Business Forecasts

Using the information from Units 1–3, Big D Incorporated will be examining how multivariate techniques can serve the organization best and how they can be applied to their new client, the outdoor sporting goods customer. The Board of Directors has asked you to research and explain 3 major ways in which multivariate statistics are utilized in this scenario. In this case, be sure to justify your decision.

Research using the library and the Internet to find at least 1 example of how a real company has used each of the following multivariate techniques: factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis. This can be considered a benchmark if you can justify how it could benefit Big D Incorporated.

Write a summary to upper management explaining the following:

• How can each multivariate technique be utilized in Big D Incorporated, and what purpose would each serve?
• Which technique is your preferred method, and how is your chosen multivariate technique different from the other two techniques?
• What will the Board of Directors learn from your selected technique and more importantly, how will it contribute to the overall decision-making process? Ensure that your explanation is clear and concise in its explanation.