Writing Business Reports

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Writing Business Reports

• By
• 
  Papia Bawa

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Definition of a Report

• A business report is a professional document
  designed to convey information to assist in
  decision-making.

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Scope of Reports

• Some reports might present the actual
  solution to solve a business problem.
• Other reports might record historical
  information that will be useful to assist in
  future decision making.

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Purpose Statements in Reports

• Purpose statements give a clear understanding of
  why a report is written. They could be written
  either as a statement or a question.
• To determine ways to improve employee morale.
  (statement)
• To design a new procedure for the companys
  annual inventory. (statement)
• Should new computers be purchased to replaced the
  older models? (question)
• Should the office arrangement be open or modular?
  (question)

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Types of reports

• Short Reports
• Expense reports
• Incident reports
• Periodic and progress reports
• Lab and test reports
• Field reports
• White Papers

• Long Reports
• Feasibility reports
• Recommendation reports
• Proposals
• Quarterly and Annual reports
• Long range planning reports
• White Papers

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Steps in Writing a Business Report

• Determine the Scope of the Report
• Consider Your Audience
• Gather Your Information
• Analyze Your Information
• Determine the Solution
• Organize Your Report

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Determine the Scope of the Report

• The scope of the report is defined by determining
  the factors which you will study.
• You need to limit the amount of information you
  will gather to the most needed and most important
  factors.

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For Example

• Factors to be studied to determine ways to
  improve employee morale might include
• SalariesFringe benefitsWork
  assignmentsWork hoursEvaluation procedures

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Consider Your Audience

• Avoid false assumptions
• That the person who will first read or edit the
  report is the audience.
• That the audience is a group of specialists in
  their field.
• That the audience is familiar with the subject of
  the report.
• That the audience has time to read the entire
  report.
• That the audience has a strong interest in the
  subject of the report.
• That the author will always be available to
  discuss the report.

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Kinds of Audience

• PrimaryPeople who have to act or make decisions
  on the basis of the report
• SecondaryPeople affected by actions of the
  primary audiences would take in response to the
  report
• ImmediatePeople responsible for evaluating the
  report and getting it to the right people

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Additional questions to ask regarding your
audience are

• How much background will the audience need?
• Do you need to define any terms you are using?
• What language level will be most appropriate for
  your readers?
• How many and what kind of visual aids should you
  use?
• What will the audience expect from your report?
• Does the reader prefer everything given in detail
  or merely a brief presentation that touches upon
  the highlights?

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Gather Your Information

• Information you gather can be of two types
• Secondary information gathered and recorded by
  others.
• Primary information you gather and record
  yourself.

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Remember

• Process your information carefully.
• Secondary information may be outdated,
  inaccurate, or biased.

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Analyze Your Information

• Analysis is the most important source of
  gathering material for any report.
• Analysis serves as a focal point for research and
  as a criteria list.

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The importance of Analysis, continued

• Your analysis (both internal and external)
• serves the task of both clarifying your
  thinking.
• and also becoming the backbone of your
  recommendations later.

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Analysis in report writing

• PEST or Macro-environmental Analysis
• S.W.O.T Analysis
• Micro-environmental Analysis
• Internal environmental Analysis
• Five Forces Analysis.

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PEST or Macro-environmental Analysis

• Deals with
• Political issues
• Economic issues
• Socio-Cultural issues
• Technological issues

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Why Political issues

• The political arena has a huge influence upon the
  regulation of businesses, and the spending power
  of consumers and other businesses.

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What Political Issues

• How stable is the political environment?
• Will government policy influence laws that
  regulate or tax your business?
• What is the government's position on marketing
  ethics?
• What is the government's policy on the economy?

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Why Economic issues

• Marketers need to consider the state of a trading
  economy in the short and long-terms.
• This is especially true when planning and
  reporting for international marketing.

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What economic issues

• Interest rates
• The level of inflation
• Employment level per capita
• Long-term prospects for the economy Gross
  Domestic Product (GDP) per capita

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Why Socio-cultural issues

• The social and cultural influences on business
  vary from country to country.
• It is very important that such factors are
  considered.

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What Socio-cultural issues

• What is the dominant religion?
• What are attitudes to foreign products and
  services?
• Does language impact upon the diffusion of
  products onto markets?
• How much time do consumers have for leisure?
• What are the roles of men and women within
  society?
• How long are the population living? Are the older
  generations wealthy?
• Do the population have a strong/weak opinion on
  green issues?

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Why Technological issues

• Technology is vital for competitive advantage,
  and is a major driver of globalization.

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What technological issues

• Does technology allow for products and services
  to be made more cheaply and to a better standard
  of quality?
• Do the technologies offer consumers and
  businesses more innovative products and services
  such as Internet banking, new generation mobile
  telephones, etc?
• How is distribution changed by new technologies
  e.g. books via the Internet, flight tickets,
  auctions, etc?
• Does technology offer companies a new way to
  communicate with consumers e.g. banners, Customer
  Relationship Management (CRM), etc?

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S.W.O.T Analysis

• Means
• Strengths and Weaknesses internal to the
  business, and
• Opportunities and Threats external to the
  business.

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Uses of S.W.O.T

• SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an
  organization and its environment.
• It is the first stage of planning and helps
  marketers to focus on key issues.

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Strengths could be

• your specialist marketing expertise.
• a new, innovative product or service.
• location of your business.
• quality processes and procedures.
• any other aspect of your business that adds value
  to your product or service.

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Weaknesses could be

• lack of marketing expertise.
• undifferentiated products and service (i.e. in
  relation to your competitors).
• location of your business.
• poor quality goods or services.
• damaged reputation.

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An opportunity could be

• a developing market such as the Internet.
• mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances
• moving into new market segments that offer
  improved profits
• a new international market
• a market vacated by an ineffective competitor

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A threat could be

• a new competitor in your home market.
• price wars with competitors.
• a competitor has a new, innovative product or
  service.
• competitors have superior access to channels of
  distribution.
• taxation is introduced on your product or
  service.

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Be careful not to

• Confuse the internal (SW) with the external (OT).

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Rules for S.W.O.T

• be realistic about the strengths and weaknesses
  of your organization.
• analysis should distinguish between where your
  organization is today, and where it could be in
  the futures.
• be specific. Avoid gray areas.
• always analyze in context to your competition
  i.e. better then or worse than your competition.

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In addition, remember

• That elements of some characteristic of a
  business may be a strength,
• Whereas other elements of the same characteristic
  may be a weakness.

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For example,

• An autocratic all-powerful leader is probably a
  strength in terms of purposefulness and speed of
  decision-making,
• Yet a weakness in terms of participative
  management.

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Internal environmental Analysis

• All factors that are internal to the organization
  are known as the 'internal environment.
• These are determined by the Five Ms.

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The Five Ms

• Men
• Money
• Machinery
• Materials
• Markets

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Five Forces Analysis

• Five forces analysis helps the report writer to
  contrast a competitive environment.

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The Focus of Five Forces

• The single, stand alone, business or SBU
  (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single
  product or range of products.
• For example, Dell would analyze the market for
  Business Computers i.e. one of its SBUs.

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The Key Areas of the Five Forces

• threat of entry
• the power of buyers
• the power of suppliers
• the threat of substitutes

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The threat of entry

• Economies of scale e.g. the benefits associated
  with bulk purchasing.
• The high or low cost of entry e.g. how much will
  it cost for the latest technology?
• Ease of access to distribution channels e.g. Do
  our competitors have the distribution channels
  sewn up?

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Continued

• Will competitors retaliate?
• Government action e.g. will new laws be
  introduced that will weaken our competitive
  position?
• Cost advantages not related to the size of the
  company e.g. personal contacts or knowledge that
  larger companies do not own or learning curve
  effects.

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The power of buyers

• This is high
• Where there a few, large players in a market
  e.g. the large grocery chains.
• If there are a large number of undifferentiated,
  small suppliers e.g. small farming businesses
  supplying the large grocery chains.
• The cost of switching between suppliers is low
  e.g. from one fleet supplier of trucks to
  another.

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The power of suppliers

• The power of suppliers tends to be a reversal of
  the power of buyers where
• The switching costs are high e.g. Switching from
  one software supplier to another.
• Power is high where the brand is powerful e.g.
  Cadillac, Pizza Hut, Microsoft.
• Customers are fragmented (not in clusters) so
  that they have little bargaining power e.g.
  Gas/Petrol stations in remote places.

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The threat of substitutes

• Where there is product-for-product substitution
  e.g. email for fax
• Where there is substitution of need e.g. better
  toothpaste reduces the need for dentists.
• Where there is generic substitution (competing
  for the currency in your pocket)

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Micro-environmental Analysis

• This environment influences the organization
  directly.
• It includes suppliers that deal directly or
  indirectly, consumers and customers, and other
  local stakeholders.

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What micro means

• Micro describes the relationship between firms
  and the driving forces that control this
  relationship.
• It is a more local relationship, and the firm
  may exercise a degree of influence.

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Determine the Solution

• Your solution must be based on the results of
  your analysis and gathered information.
• You must consider all alternatives before
  recommending the best one.

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A word of caution

• A tendency in business report writing is to
  "slant" information in the report to lead the
  reader to the decision the writer wants.

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Remember

• You must report all pertinent information--good
  and bad.
• The credibility of the report (and your
  credibility) is at stake.

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Also make sure

• That a solution is even requested. Depending on
  your position in the organization and the
  particular business study, a solution may NOT be
  requested in the report.
• Your purpose would then be to present the
  objective facts. These facts would be used by
  someone else to determine the best solution.

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Organize your Report

• A report could be presented as a
• memo report
• a standardized form report
• or a formal report 

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Organization Process

• Inductive order - moving from known to
  unknown
• Orientation (introduction)
• Facts (perhaps including their analysis)
• Summary or conclusion
• Recommendation

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Organization Process continued

• Deductive Order
• Start with conclusions.
• Then present support facts and analysis.
• Often preferred for short reports.

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Organization by Division

• Division by time period (e.g., quarter)
• Division by place (e.g., sales region)
• Division by quantity (e.g., sales by categories
  of amounts)
• Division by conceptual factors (e.g., worker
  availability, transportation facilities, etc.)

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Effective Organization involves

• Design
• Presentation

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Design Issues

• Coherence
• Each fact must be in its logical place.
• Relationship of each fact to other facts and to
  overall report must be clear.

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Elements of Design

• Text Headings
• for helping the reader find a topic or component
• making transitions
• establishing order
• We can use multiple levels of headings.

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Text Fonts

• Variations in fonts can be used to set off pieces
  of text (headings, quotes, etc.)
• Do not get carried away with use of fonts - too
  distracting

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Text Indentation and justification

• As with headings and subheadings, can be used to
  show relationship/hierarchy of topics.

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TextBullets

• Excellent for lists
• Excellent for emphasis
• Make sure they use parallel structure (i.e., text
  in each is worded similarly)

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Graphics

• Tables - Used to list values of at least two
  variables - excellent for comparison
• Pie charts - how parts relate to the whole
• Bar graphs - for comparing values, showing trends
  
• Line graphs - for showing trends
• Illustrations and photographs

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Why use graphics?

• Presents a message in an economical manner using
  less space than would be needed to provide the
  same information in the text.
• Saves your readers time.
• Focuses the readers attention on specific
  information.
• Adds interest.
• Shows relationships.
• Presents facts and figures in a condensed manner.
  

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Presentation

•  More than just "making it pretty," good
  presentation makes your document more
  understandable.
• It is highly related to the organization of the
  document.

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A well-designed presentation

• Creates an immediate positive impression for the
  reader.
• Highlights the major topics of the document.
• Helps the reader read effectively (faster and
  more efficiently).
• Gives the reader the choice of alternatives.

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Remember

• You cannot just tell the reader your
  recommendations without showing that you have
  considered the alternative options.
• Each contending option needs to be rationally
  rejected to complete the process of giving
  yourself and the reader maximum confidence in
  your recommendations.

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Basic parts of a Report

• Title page
• Abstract or executive Summary
• Introduction
• Discussion
• Summary and conclusions
• Recommendations
• Appendix
• How you do this depends on the topic and purpose.
  You may need to read, interview, experiment and
  observe. Get advice from someone more experienced
  if you need to.

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Good Luck!

• With Your Report Writing