|
|
Data collection for business and management analysis - an example from Fife
|
|
|
Top level
Business Development
|
Author: Tim Havard
|
Publishing date: 04.03.2005 13:16
|
|
At quite an early stage in the development of the Fife Coastal Path (FCP) by Fife Coast and Countryside Trust (FCCT) it became clear that the programme would need a great deal of supporting information. This information is particularly relevant to the small businesses along the Fife coastal fringe that cannot afford to make essential business decisions without substantiated information.
|
The small businesses need to identify with some degree of reliability and detail, just what aspects of the path usage will contribute most to their business. FCCT identified this need by implementing small-business workshops in Y2004, under the auspices of The EU joint-funded Nave-Nortrail programme. From these workshops, it became clear that many businesses can see the potential benefits of the FCP but they have very little solid information to base financial and business planning decisions on. Specifically, businesses need to know the degree of seasonality, the total number of people, the age range, from where they have come, and why they have come as very basic information.
A number of organisations have carried out one-off surveys to identify general visitor demographics within Scotland. Fife Council in Y2000 carried out a Fife-wide detailed Summer Survey and they have scheduled a new survey for Y2005. Fife Council has installed some automatic people counters at various key points in Fife to improve the quality of visitor data available. Some of these counters are on the coast but most are not focused on the needs of the Fife Coastal Path.
FCCT, to fulfil part of the agreed NAVE-Nortrail programme, needs to have better quality business information. To this end FCCT has purchased and supplied to the Path Maintenance group six more automatic counters, which they have installed at selected points along the Fife Coastal Path. While this identifies how many people use the Fife Coastal Path, it does not provide the detailed demographic information for making necessary businesses decisions. A short but detailed questionnaire has therefore been developed to address this information shortfall. This questionnaire is currently being utilised by volunteer groups along the path, usually away from the automatic counters. It is FCCT’s intent to incorporate the data collected within the ongoing academic work being carried out by St. Andrews University students. The questions that make up the questionnaire are generally “closed” in format and structured to facilitate in-depth statistical analysis. The results of this analysis will greatly complement and improve the credibility of the data gained from the automatic counters. The final output will provide reliable and useful information for businesses to make decisions on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
( 17.12.2009 )
|
|
|
|
( 13.11.2009 )
|
|
|
|
( 07.09.2009 )
|
|
|
|
( 15.04.2008 )
|
|
|
|
( 24.03.2008 )
|
|
