North South University

School of Business Economics

EMBA Program

EMB 501
Project Submission

Submitted by:

S. Name Student ID
l
1 Tasnuba Sinha 1935126090

Date of Submission: 26 December 2019

Submitted to: Professor Dr. Mehdi Hussain

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 Table of Contents
I. Why do you think ‘Quantitative Tools in Business’ is needed for executives / top-level

managers or mid-level managers of a business organization? 2

II. Two concepts of the course: 2

a. Select any two concepts of the course materials you learned in the class and apply it

developing any real-world problem. You should include few academic references and citation

(not grey material) in your writing. 2

b. Find out the limitation of the applicability of the model you picked in your respective

scenario. 2

Annexure 11

Question Guide for MFS Personal Account Holders 11

1
 I. Why do you think ‘Quantitative Tools in Business’ is needed for executives / top-
level managers or mid-level managers of a business organization?

In a progressively multifaceted business environment top level managers or executives have

to tackle with problems and issues which range from the reasonably insignificant to
tremendously strategic. In such an environment the quantitative techniques have an
important role to play. They give top-level managers/ executives a better grasp of the
problems so that they can make the best decisions in regard to issues such as what should be
the quantity produced, the marketing based on the information available, finance and other
areas. Quantitative techniques are used by managers in practically all aspects of a business.
The main strength of quantitative methods is in their usefulness in producing factual and
reliable outcome data. It is a useful tool for measuring and analyzing large amounts of data.
It is also used for estimating customer behaviors and attitudes, market sizing, segmentation
and identifying drivers for brand recall and product purchase decisions, all of which, is
highly critical for a top-level manager.

II. Two concepts of the course:

a. Select any two concepts of the course materials you learned in the class and
apply it developing any real-world problem. You should include few academic
references and citation (not grey material) in your writing.

b. Find out the limitation of the applicability of the model you picked in your
respective scenario.

Answer (a). Quantitative Tools used: Using SPSS to analysis the responses of 35
respondents of MFS Personal Account Holders for a Deep-dive analysis of Mobile
Financial Services (MFS) Transaction Data

Mobile financial services (MFS) is veritably the most popular medium for digital transactions
in Bangladesh because of the convenience it provides in speed of transaction and relative ease
of usage. As of December 2019, there are more than 16 number of banks who provides
mobile financial services, more than 951,777 agents1 in the country, who conduct 7.07
million transactions worth USD 141 million every day. 2

1
These agents are non-exclusive and are likely to work for multiple MFS providers
2
Mobile Financial Service data, Bangladesh Bank, can be accessed at: https://www.bb.org.bd/fnansys/paymentsys/mfsdata.php

2
The mobile financial service in Bangladesh is bank led model and is closely regulated by
Bangladesh Bank. The regulator has, from time to time tweaked the transaction limits for
MFS transaction to align with market needs or to prevent the spread of money laundering and
misuse of the MFS platform. It is to be noted that in January 2017, Bangladesh Bank issued a
circular to all MFS providers to comply with the notably reduced transaction limits for MFS
transactions. The cap on MFS transactions was deemed to be inconvenient by providers,
agents and customers alike.

In view of the above, and to gather more insights on the recommended actions, Business
Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) sanctioned a study to understand current volume
and number of different types of MFS transactions especially B2B, P2B, P2P and B2P
transactions. Additionally, the study looked barriers observed by the MFS providers for
business account opening and constraints related to B2B and B2P transactions. The study also
assessed whether the existing rules/policy guidelines of BB supports the opening of business
accounts and B2B transactions. It is worthwhile mention that a recent circular by Payment
Systems Department (PSD) of Bangladesh Bank again revised the MFS limits and increased
the limits near to the pre-January 2017 levels.

The study conducted was descriptive in nature, i.e. based on survey and observation and the
study method was a mixed method study.

A survey was carried out with 400 samples across urban and rural geographies. Samples were
drawn from different users of MFS channel such as Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs),
retailers, merchant account holders, salary account holders, MFS agents and personal account
holders with different sub-segments (women, students, remittance recipients, informal sector
workers and so on). Furthermore, some qualitative interviews with different customer
segments and key stakeholder interview with industry practitioners/think thanks was also
conducted.

For this assignment, I have taken the quantitative responses of the MFS personal account
holders and have conducted SPSS to segregate the responses. The sample size of MFS
personal account holders is 35. I have also simplified the question responses and have kept a
few questions.
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Data Analysis and Interpretation:
The following data set had 14 questions as detailed below. The detailed questionnaire can be
found in the annexure.

Using the SPSS  Analyse  Descriptive Statistics  Frequency, we have found that
amongst the 35 respondents, 4 were general male, 2 were general female, 16 were students
and 13 were daily labours or rickshaw pullers. All of them owned a mobile phone.

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The descriptive formula has also allowed us to find the level of education of the respondents
in terms of the percentage. 28.6% of the respondents had up to primary education, 31.4% up
to secondary education level, 5.7% were other diploma holders and 28.6% were graduates.

Using the SPSS  Analyse  Descriptive Statistics  Descriptive, we have found that on
an average 13.69 times respondents have received money in their MFS wallet in the form of
salary, gift from others, etc.

The main advantage of using SPSS is that it is set in a way that makes it easy for beginners to
request analysis and yet conduct fairly complicated statistical tests with more advanced
features. Data files are also easily imported to and from many other programs such as
Microsoft Excel. 3 Additionally, a large number of data can be easily categorized and divided.
For this research, our team have analyzed the data of 400 respondents using SPSS.
3
Arkkelin, Daniel, "Using SPSS to Understand Research and Data Analysis" (2014). Psychology Curricular Materials. Book 1.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/psych_oer/1

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There are a number of limitations, however. The default graphics of SPSS are far from
publication quality and as such, one would require a graphical software for the data analysis
such as excel or any other chart generator software.

Answer (b). Quantitative Tools used: Comparison of monthly savings plan of BDT 5000
for 3 years for five commercial banks in Bangladesh using the Annuity concept

The future value of an annuity is the total of the cash payments for a set number of periods,
increased by the interest one could earn on the payments by saving them rather than spending
them. Ordinary annuity payments are usually made monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or
annually. One of the main advantages of calculating the future value of an annuity is that it
can help a person understand how much he or she will receive after a certain period of time.
Such a savings scheme guarantees a lumpsum return at the end of a specific period of time.

Given that there are more that 16 commercial banks in Bangladesh and each provides
different interest rate, my main objective was to compare the savings scheme of five
randomly chosen commercial banks in Bangladesh and see which scheme is the most
profitable. All the interest rates have been taken from the respective banks’ websites and the
future value of the annuity has therefore been calculated.

For Eastern Bank Ltd:

Interest rate: 8%4
4
EBL Deposti Rate Sheet 2019, Eastern Bank Ltd, can be accessed at: https://ebl.com.bd/assets/home/interest/EBL-Deposit-Rate-Sheet-
November-1,2019.pdf

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Annuity payment: BDT 5000 per month (5000 X 12) = BDT 60,000 in a year
Years: 3
Future value of the annuity:

For City Bank:

Interest rate: 7.25%5
Annuity payment: BDT 5000 per month (5000 X 12) = BDT 60,000 in a year
Years: 3
Future value of the annuity:

For BRAC Bank:

Interest rate: 5%6
Annuity payment: BDT 5000 per month (5000 X 12) = BDT 60,000 in a year
Years: 3
Future value of the annuity:

5
City Bank Deposti Rate Sheet 2019, The City Bank, can be accessed at: https://www.thecitybank.com/upload/Deposit_rate_30112019.pdf
6
BRAC Bank Deposti Rate Sheet 2019, BRAC Bank Ltd, can be accessed at:
https://www.bracbank.com/storage/app/public/InterestRates/Deposit_Rate_05_11_19.pdf

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For IFIC Bank:
Interest rate: 10%7
Annuity payment: BDT 5000 per month (5000 X 12) = BDT 60,000 in a year
Years: 3
Future value of the annuity:

For Merchantile Bank:

Interest rate: 9.72%8
Annuity payment: BDT 5000 per month (5000 X 12) = BDT 60,000 in a year
Years: 3
Future value of the annuity:

7
IFIC Bank Deposit Rate of Aagami Scheme 2019, IFIC Bank Ltd, can be accessed at: https://www.ificbank.com.bd/personal/ific-aagami
8
Merchantile Bank Deposit Rate of Monthly Savings Scheme 2019, Merchantile Bank Ltd, can be accessed at:
http://www.mblbd.com/home/mashik_sanchaya

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Therefore, the comparison table is given below:
Name of the Bank Monthly amount (in Interest rate (in %) Total amount (after
BDT) 3 years) in BDT
Eastern Bank Ltd 5000 8 202,677.00
BRAC Bank 5000 7.25 200,401.91
City Bank 5000 5 193,766.00
IFIC Bank 5000 10 208,909.00
Merchantile Bank 5000 9.72 208,022.00

Looking at the annuity rate, it can be deduced that opening a savings deposit scheme in IFIC
Bank will yield BDT 208,909.00 and is thus the most profitable option.

One major limitation of taking a decision solely based on the annuity concept is that it does
not take into consideration the taxes or the inflation. Solely based on the table above, all the
savings scheme may look very attractive, but these are only the face values, there are taxes
and other charges on the maturity value.

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Annexure

Question Guide for MFS Personal Account Holders

1. Basic information of respondent

Sl. Question Response

General Male 1
General Female 2
Student 3
1.7 Respondent Category
Remittance Recipient 4
Daily labor/Rickshaw puller 5
MFI/NGO beneficiary 6
No formal education 01
Up to Primary education level 02
Up to Secondary education level 03
Vocational/technical education 04
Level of education
1.8 Other Diploma holder 05
Graduate 06
Professional degree 07
Post-graduate 08
Others (Specify)____________________
Unemployed 01
Profession Business 02
1.9
Student 03
Housewife 04

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 Sl. Question Response
Salaried in private firm 05
In government service 06
Wage labor 07
Farmer 08
Other home based income generating activity 09
Retired 10
Don’t Know
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Others (Specify)______________________
Refused to answer 99

2. Access to Mobile Phone

Sl Question Response
2.1 Do you own a mobile phone Yes 1
No 2

1. Knowledge, awareness and usage of MFS

Sl Question Response
নং
3.1 With which MFS provider do bkash (BRAC) 01
you have the MFS account? Rocket (DBBL ) 02
M Cash (Islami Bank) 03
(Multiple responses possible)
U Cash (United Commercial Bank) 04
T-cash (Trust Bank) 05
Sure Cash 06
Ok cash (One Bank) 07
Others (Specify)

3.2 How long have you been For Less than one month 1
using MFS? 2
For More than 1 month up to 6 months
For More than 6 months up to a year 3
For more than 1 year up to 2 years 4
For more than 2 years up to 3 years 5
For more than 3 years up to 5 years 6
For more than 5 years 7

3. MFS for Daily Life

4.1 What is your approx.

monthly income/
payment received from
various sources?

4.3 How many times a Sl Particulars Times কতবার

day/month do you 4.3.1 Day
receive money 4.3.1 Month
(salary, from others,
gifts)

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4.5 What is your approx.
monthly expense?

4.6 What is your approx. Less than 10,000 BDT 01

monthly expense? Between 10,001 to 30,000 BDT 02
Between 30,001 to 50,000 BDT 03
Between 50,001 to 75,000 BDT 04
Between 75,001 to 100,000 BDT 05
Between 100,001 to 200,000 BDT 06
Greater than 200,000 BDT 07
Refused to answer 99

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