Essential Data Skills for Business and Management

This work provides readers with information on useful statistics from inexpensive official sources, a guide to finding the most appropriate data for different purposes, an understanding of commonly-used statistical definitions and measurement conventions, and calculation and graphing techniques which allow data to be presented effectively. The book also gives advice on how to use data intelligently to inform business decision-making. This is an introductory book written by experienced business professionals and academics. It assumes no prior knowledge of statistical methods. The book has been written with two main audiences in mind: for people who need to use data as part of their day-to-day work in business and commerce. It is relevant to all the main areas of business, including market research, human resource management and business strategy. It should also be useful for BA and MBA students of business and management, undertaking data-handling courses and project work, and as a reference for teachers of A-level business studies.

From the Introduction,

In chapter 1 Ian Maclean provides an overview of the use of statistics in business. He starts from the premise that statistics are one of the most important information flows available to management, and surveys their role in strategic planning, research and development, production and distribution and marketing. The chapter explains how a firm might estimate the size of its market, and assess how well it is doing in relation to the market as a whole using such data sources as PRODCOM and the Index of Production. The use of official statistics in an indirect manner to produce business estimates of target variables is also discussed.

In the second chapter Helen Shanks explains how official statistics are obtained, and what is done to make them more useful to data consumers. The chapter provides an essential explanation of the rationale for the UK National Accounts as presented in the Blue Book and UK Economic Accounts publications. It also describes the different forms in which the data are presented, including the differences between current and constant price measures, the calculation and use of index numbers and the process of seasonally adjusting data.

Chapter 3 focuses on time-series data. Steve Hurd begins by describing some of the main sources of time-series. The material in chapter 2 is extended to further explore nominal and real expenditures, and discuss ways to identify and describe patterns in time-series data, using the Monthly Digest of Statistics. Numerical examples are presented showing how to make sense of data in the form of index numbers, growth rates and logarithmic series. The chapter ends by discussing techniques for fitting trends to data series. Barry Harrison discusses the use of cross-sectional data in chapter 4. He begins by explaining the different ways of defining market segments. There is discussion of the use of cross-sectional data on age groups, gender, incomes and regional characteristics. The chapter introduces a number of standard sources of cross-sectional data, including the Family Expenditure Survey, the General Household Survey, and Social and Regional Trends.

In chapter 5 Julian Gough explains how firms can use published data to help them gain a perspective on their costs and prices. He explains how to analyse the dynamic movement of costs and prices over time, including how to create an index of costs and to compare various cost components with industry and economy-wide indices published in Economic Trends and the Monthly Digest of Statistics. The chapter discusses the use of price deflators, and goes on to discuss alternative approaches to pricing.

The subject of chapter 6 is demand forecasting. Using data from the National Statistics web site, Shabbar Jaffry and Frank Asche provide a step-by-step guide to constructing a model of demand and estimating its equation using the multiple regression procedure in the Excel spreadsheet. They explain how the estimated equation can be interpreted and how to use it to forecast future demand, using alternative assumptions about the movement of key variables. The chapter ends by explaining how to monitor the performance of a forecast.

In chapter 7 Nigel Healey explains the importance to firms of understanding the macro-economic environment of business. He surveys the meanings and measurement of economic growth, aggregate demand, unemployment, wage inflation, inflation, interest rates, the current balance of payments and exchange rates. While showing how data from Economic Trends and Financial Statistics can be used to track these variables, the chapter emphasises the importance of viewing the UK in a wider European context, by using such publications as European Economy.

Martin Weale provides essential background to understanding macroeconomic forecasting in chapter 8. Much of the chapter is devoted to developing an appreciation of the underlying variables that form the basis of any forecast. These include the various elements of the national accounts that make up the Gross Domestic Product, and the composition of the sectoral accounts. There is further discussion of the distinction between real and nominal values. The chapter ends by presenting a National Institute for Economic and Social Research forecast, and discussing forecast uncertainty.

In chapter 9 Donald Hepburn presents a business economist's perspective on the use of statistical data in the context of a multinational enterprise. With reference to the strategic policy issues facing multinational business, he discusses the use of national and international data from International Financial Statistics (IMF), the World Bank (web site), Economic Outlook (OECD), Family Expenditure Survey (NS) and various forecasting organisations. The chapter emphasises the need for firms to understand the economic and political climate in which they operate, and the role that judgement plays in the use of data.

In the final chapter of the book, Jean Mangan and Ian Jackson concentrate on trade and exchange rates. They begin by considering the questions that are important to firms whether they are trading in international markets, or simply competing with imports in the home market. There is a discussion of how benchmarks of performance can be established using published data from the Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics, UK Trade in Goods Analysed in Terms of Industries, UK Balance of Payments (the Pink Book) and the World Bank (web site). The chapter moves on to an examination of the effects of exchange rate changes and the determinants of international competitiveness. The book includes a Data Appendix. This constitutes an introductory guide to national government and other sources of business data. It explains how to navigate the National Statistics web site, in order to find and down load data. There is a list of some of the most useful National Statistics publications, and also of other sources mentioned within the text.

The book has an accompanying data CD-ROM and workbook. These are designed to allow readers to practice some of the techniques and investigations introduced in the individual chapters, and to become familiar with working with official data in an electronic format. The data files are provided in two alternative formats for the Secos data handling and Microsoft Excel programs.