What Effect will the Stansted Expansion Essay Example for Free

What Effect will the Stansted Expansion Essay In order to achieve my objectives properly, much research is going to need to take place. I will conduct some of my own primary research which will involve creating a questionnaire and then asking some local businesses to complete it for me. The questionnaire will include questions which will give me information on the businesses views on the expansions effects on demand, profit, competition, customer base, employees and employee transport. Different businesses I am hoping to receive a completed questionnaire from include banks, estate agents, hotels, taxi firms and businesses in the airport itself. The data I will collect through primary research will be quantitative data with which I can create graphs in order to compare results and form an idea of trends. Its important to remember however that these results are very time relative and could become of less value over time because situation and views will change with the changing economy and times. I will also do some secondary research; this will consist of finding already collected data on the internet, in books or newspapers. With this I will see how other projects similar to this have affected business, or simply using already collected information on the Stansted expansion itself to forward my project. I may also be able to find information on a much more national basis, as the primary research I conduct will only be local, and will not represent the national view of the expansion. This qualitative information has to be carefully used as sometimes the sources could be bias or out-dated. The information collected will also not be directly relating to my investigation as it was gathered for other reasons, so I must ensure I analyse it properly, considering this. Once the primary research and secondary research is completed I will combine and analyse them. I will compare the main worries or benefits that the businesses have to what I have found through the secondary research, and maybe pinpoint things that the businesses may have overlooked. I will also be able to compare the local, and the national effects of the expansion, using this research. I will then present my findings in an overall report showing the main benefits and disadvantages to businesses of the Stansted expansion proposal. Primary Research For my primary research I sent a questionnaire to 10 businesses in or around the airport that are likely to be affected by the expansion. This will give me realistic and relevant information on how the expansion will benefit the businesses, and what problems may also arise from it. I tried to make the questions as easy to understand as possible to make sure the answers are coherent in understanding and are not distorted through mislead answers. The answers and results are presented in quantitative form and therefore are easy to compare and understand, but this does mean however businesses cannot give specific explanations, and any views held that are not represented in the possible answers I have given, will not be accounted for. I have presented the results in the form of a graph to clearly show the trends of the business answers. 1. To what extent do you believe the expansion will effect your business? The results of this question clearly show that most, if not all, businesses will be affected by the expansion of the airport in some way or another, therefore indicating that they all have a vested interest in it. 2. If at all, do you believe this will be a beneficial or problematic affect? The results show that 66% of the businesses believed that the expansion will incur both positive and negative effects onto the businesses. These effects will be discussed in the following questions. It should be noticed that none of the businesses thought that they would only face negative effects from the expansion. (It should also be noted that the business who, in the previous question answered Dont Know did not answer this question) 3. As a result of the expansion, will travel to work for your employees become easier/ cheaper? The evidence in this pie chart shows that 70% businesses believe that transport to work will be affected positively through the expansion of the business, in terms of cost and ease of use. The airports expansion will probably mean an increase in the amount of Stansted Express train services running between the airport and other destinations, the same can also be said for the bus services. The increase in the amount of demand for these services could result in lowered price through economies of scale. However, 20% of businesses have opposite views, believing that transport will be more complicated and possibly more expensive. This could be due to the increased amount of congestion of cars travelling to the airport, and people wanting to use the services. This controversy is not surprising as these two problems are likely to occur, with the expected effects. 4. As a result of the expansion, do you believe lateness of employees will increase or decrease? The graph shows that a majority of only 60% of the businesses believe the lateness of the employees to work will decrease as a result of the expansion on the airport. This could be due to the increased consistency of the train and bus services, and possibly an increase in their efficiency due to higher profits from the increase in demand. However, 40% think differently; that the expansion will cause their employees lateness rate to increase. This could be due again to the increased amount of congestion on the roads, or the amount of people using the public transportation services. As a result of the expansion, do you believe your employment costs (recruitment/ wages) will rise? Again the difference in the results is not very large. 50% of the businesses believe that employment costs will decrease, whether it is in recruitment or wages. Recruitment could decrease because of the increased amount of people moving into the area hoping for employment from the expansion, therefore potential candidates will not be as hard or costly to find. Also, the increase in the amount of people hoping for employment moving to the area will mean jobs are in higher demand, and wages can be lowered. However, 40% of businesses though employment costs would rise. This could be due to the increase in the amount of competition moving into the area to benefit from the expansion; therefore employees will also be in higher demand making the recruitment process more competitive and costs higher. Wages will also have to be higher to attract more candidates. 6. As a result of the expansion, will demand for your product rise? The results shown in this graph clearly show that the expansion of the airport will not affect any of the businesses negatively in relation to demand. 70% of the businesses believe that it will actually prove to be beneficial to their demand levels; this is likely to be because of the increased amount of people moving through the area, or coming to live here, therefore increasing their customer base. 30% of businesses also however decided that it would not affect their demand at all. This is probably because their customers tend not to be those who would be users of the airport. 7. As a result of the expansion, do you believe your profits will increase? Interestingly here some businesses have said that, despite demand growing, their profits are possibly going to fall. This could be due to the extra costs that the business will face in employment costs, travel costs or extra advertising because of increased competition. However, 60% of businesses still claimed that their profits will rise; this is no doubt due to the increase in demand from the extra people in the area. However it could also be due to taking advantage of the economies of scale opportunities they may face with increased demand. The next question addresses this.