Research and Analysis of Business Problems

BA 301 Research & Analysis of Business Problems

1

Problem Solving Framework

2

Context & Background

Problem Analysis & Description

Solution Development

Evaluation & Decision- Making

Communication & Implementation

3

“Failure is not an option.”

The “Real” Problem

The Professor says, “You can’t outrun that bear, even in running shoes!”

The student replies, “I don’t need to outrun the bear, I only need to outrun you!”

4

Problem Definition

“The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.”

5

Problem Solving Framework

6

Context & Background

Problem Analysis & Description

Solution Development

Evaluation & Decision- Making

Communication & Implementation

What Is The Problem?

¨  Junior is getting lousy grades in school! ¤  DAD: “He just doesn’t apply himself.” ¤  MOM: “I know. He really isn’t interested. His mind wanders.” ¤  DAD: “I’m tired of harping about it all the time.” ¤  MOM: “Me, too. It doesn’t seem to have any effect.” ¤  DAD: “Maybe he needs tutoring in how to study.” ¤  MOM: “Lord knows it wouldn’t hurt. He has terrible study habits.” ¤  DAD: I’ll call the school tomorrow and arrange something.” ¤  MOM: “Good. I’m sure it will help him.”

¨  Where did their problem-solving go wrong? ¨  What are possible “deeper” issues/causes?

7

Symptoms, Causes, Problems?

¨  What is a “symptom”? ¤  An adverse indicator, a warning sign, or an

undesirable effect occurring in a system. ¤  It is a “gap” between the desired and the actual

situation. n  Profits, market share, margin, debt ratios, etc.

¨  What caused the ”gap”? ¤  Trace the symptom (gap) to it’s cause, through the

cause’s cause – until you get to the root cause. ¤  Complete problem descriptions consider symptoms

and causes.

8

9

Causal Analysis

http://youtu.be/JmrAkHafwHI

10

Framing The Problem

11

Framing The Problem

¨  The Support Manager says: ¤  “We have a serious problem with our customer support line.

Customers are waiting too long for service. We need to fix it!”

12

Questions To Ask?

¨  Why are the calls increasing? ¨  Is it one product or all products? ¨  Is there a flaw in a product? ¨  Is there a flaw in the assembly instructions? ¨  Are the phone support people poorly

trained? ¨  Why don’t we “frame” the symptom like this:

¨  We have a serious problem with the customer support line. The volume of calls has increased 5- times, customers are waiting up to a half-hour, and we need to find out why.

Finding a Problem 13

14

What If I Chose…

15

Problem-Solving For Nokia

16

What’s The Problem?

¨  Define the gap? (the indicator, or the symptom?) ¤  Our market share is a lot lower than we would like. It’s

declining over the past few years (from 50% to 22%). Both Android and Apple are increasing.

¨  What’s the next question you should ask? ¤  WHY?

Try 3 Simple Steps ¨  1.) What is the gap? Be specific.

¤  What is the current state or indicator? n  22% Nokia smartphone market share.

¤  What is the desired state? n  30% to 40% Nokia smartphone market share - increasing.

¨  2.) Why is there a gap? ¤  Causal analysis – Do your research, gather data,

understand connections.

¨  3.) Draft a problem description. ¤  Include symptoms and causes. ¤  Do not include a solution in the statement.

17

Explore Causes of the Symptom(s) 18

Causal Analysis 19

Competitive Analysis 20

Understand The Data 21

Understand The Data 22

Understand The Data 23

Nokia’s Problem Description 24

¨  A cumbersome and inefficient R&D process has stalled growth in Nokia’s Smartphone market share at 22%, with a decrease of 10% during 2010.

Tips/Suggestions/Advice 25

¨  Be specific when defining the gap – years, dollars, percentages – numbers where possible.

¨  If the causes are many – list them. Then refine it later in the problem-solving process.

¨  Symptoms may have many causes, one cause may create many symptoms – explore the connections.

¨  Your first definitions may be verbose. Edit, rephrase, restate until it’s clear and concise.

¨  Don’t assume readers understand terminology – define things explicitly.

¨  Have others review your problem definition.

Solve The Right Problems Urgent Not Urgent

Mission Critical

Not Mission Critical

Must be solved immediately in order to meet our mission

Address immediately,

resources permitting

Must be solved “at some time”

in order to meet our mission

At your discretion

26

Improving Prioritization

¨  Use problem-solving teams ¤ Key managers and stakeholders ¤ Diversity aids in problem finding & prioritization

¨  Actively review problem portfolios ¤ Know mission, vision and values and stakeholder

interests ¤ Review urgency and mission criticality ¤ Prepare time and resource allocation plans ¤ Formalizing the process improves efficiency

27

Sample Problem Definitions

q  Amazon q  The most important issue facing Amazon is their pricing strategy

relative to competing retailers.

q  Sprint q  Sprint has an inability to retain their subscribers.

q  Google q  For Google – copyright issues are a problem.

q  Conoco-Phillips q  Conoco-Philips has not achieved it’s desired 20-25 percent debt to

capital ratio.

28

Sample Problem Definitions

q  Traveller’s Insurance q  Traveller’s is facing a steep decline in net income.

q  Ford q  Ford has lost market share in the US – from 17.4% to 14% - in 2009

and needs to reorganize many components to stay viable.

q  Pfizer q  Pfizer has experienced significant loss in regards to patent expiration.

q  Microsoft q  Microsoft’s smartphone OS design is uninspired.

29

Problem Solving Framework

30

Context & Background

Problem Analysis & Description

Solution Development

Evaluation & Decision- Making

Communication & Implementation

BA 301 Research & Analysis of Business Problems

31

What Good Is Problem Finding?

¨  Potential problems can be opportunities if identified early. ¤ New markets ¤ New products ¤ New channels ¤ New people

¨  Bad things can happen to companies and groups that fail to plan and anticipate.

32

Find The Problems Early

¨  Watch the stakeholders ¤ Competitors ¤ Union activities ¤ Political organizations ¤ External distribution channels

33

Find The Problems Early

¨  Do environmental scanning: ¤  Economic – factors and trends related to income levels and production

of goods and services n  Sudden change in market viability

¤  Political/Legal – factors and trends related to governmental activities and laws and regulations n  New regulations affecting promotion or distribution

¤  Social – factors and trends relating to groups of people n  Changing demographics, changing culture

¤  Technological – factors and trends relating to innovations in products or production n  A major competitive technology breakthrough

34

Find The Problems Early

¨  Practice scenario planning ¤ Helps the organization predict and plan for unforeseen

circumstances ¤ Planning can uncover assumptions that might impede

problem-solving

35