Zoological Society of London Living Conservation

MARKET RESEARCH REPORT: ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND SOFTWARE

USE BY OIL PALM GROWERS
Business Report Review

Business Communication
November 3, 2021
 I. COPY OF BUSINESS REPORT

Gnych, S., Zrust, M., D'Arcy, L., & Priatna, D. (n.d.). Market research report -
international finance corporation. Market Research Report: Environmental
Monitoring and software usage by oil palm growers. Retrieved November 3,
2021, from https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/a0a14a9f-9f54-457c-ab17-
46048de1e51f/Market+Research+Report_RC.pdf?
MOD=AJPERES&CVID=kjG1HMc

II. BUSINESS REPORT REVIEW

A. Background about the Report
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Market Research Report is about the
market research conducted by ZSL between February and April 2012 that
indicates that current environmental monitoring of High Conservative Value
(HCV) areas within oil palm plantations is limited and as well as the use of basic
software to facilitate this process. High Conservation Value (HCV) areas are
defined as natural habitats where these values are considered to
be of outstanding significance or critical importance. A HCV area is simply the
area (e.g. a forest, a grassland, a watershed, or a landscape-level ecosystem)
where these values are found, or more precisely, the area that needs to be
appropriately managed in order to maintain or enhance the identified values.
Environmental monitoring is needed in the oil palm plantation to monitor oil palm
growers commitment to environmental and social best practice and avoid
harming the HCV areas. As increasing demand for palm oil is linked to
deforestation in the world’s most diverse ecosystems, ZSL is working with
organizations such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to
engage companies and build trust in the supply chain by making operations more
transparent, in order to reduce negative environmental impacts.
The problem with the environmental monitoring of High Conservative Value
(HCV) areas within oil palm plantations is that despite the availability of
environmental monitoring software designed specifically for the agricultural
sector, usage amongst palm oil growers is virtually non‐existent. This can be
attributed to limited knowledge of the software systems available and a lack of
technical and financial capacity to make use of them. A practical, easy to use and
comprehensive software programme for data storage, analysis and output would
improve monitoring, analysis and reporting. It would also encourage
communication and integrated management within companies, enabling better
management practices. The report also discusses the suitability of various
monitoring software in current use based on surveys and research, and
discusses recommendations to successfully deliver the monitoring protocol and
software so as to ensure uptake and usage amongst oil palm growers for
software developers.
B. Parts of the Business Report
The Zoological Society of London Market Research Report consist of 11 parts in
their report. These parts are:
o Title Page o Results

o Table of Contents o Discussion

o List of Figures o Conclusion /

Recommendations
o Executive Summary -
o References
o Introduction
o Appendices
o Methods

The Title Page contains the name of the report, the author and other necessary
detail, the address of the organization, and the date of the submission. The
Table of Contents page of the report contains the heading and secondary
headings of the reports and their page number which will enable the audience to
quickly locate the specific parts of the reports. The report also includes List of
figures considering that there are many figures in the report showing the results
of the survey conducted by ZSL. Just like the Table of Contents, List of Figures
contains the name of the figures and their page number in order to locate a
specific figure of the reports. The report also has an Executive Summary that
presents the overview of the report. The executive summary introduces the topic,
the problem, the findings and analysis as well as the conclusion and list of
recommendations regarding about the report. The Introduction is divided into
subheadings which discusses the purpose and mission of the report and
situational analysis that includes the background information and product and
market analysis about the oil palm industry. The Methods parts contains the
methods of gathering data and what kinds of tools they used in gathering data for
the research of ZSL. The Results, on the other hand, includes the results of the
survey and interview that they conducted. It includes the figures or charts based
on the result of the survey and the analysis of the responses to the interview
conducted. Discussion includes the findings of the research and the key themes
and problem areas relating to the current environmental monitoring practices and
software usage. Conclusion of the reports convey the key results from the
analysis in the discussion of findings and also includes recommendations on the
problems identified. The report also includes Reference that cites the links and
resources that they used and Appendices includes the list of the Companies
that they interviewed and have participated in the survey.
C. Analysis of the Parts of the Business Report
According to the Business Writing for Everyone by Cruthers, Reports is all about
knowing your audience. In the case of the Market Research Report of ZSL, the
target audience of the report is the ZSL themselves since they are the one who is
monitoring the environment within the oil palm plantations and the developer of
the software. The report is created in a way for ZSL to find the problems with
their current environmental monitoring practices and software usage and on how
they will address the problems. The aim of the report is to improve the current
environmental monitoring practices and usage of software in order to properly
monitor the oil palm growers in their commitment to environmental and social
best practice and avoid harming the HCV areas.
The market research report of ZSL has the essential elements parts of a report
that the reading material discusses. I think the report that I found is a
Recommendation Report based on the research conducted of ZSL because the
research has identified problems in the current environmental monitoring
practices and software usage of the oil palm growers and the report gives
recommendations on how to address this problem. Upon reading the report, I
noticed that I find it hard to understand the report itself since the report is really
not really for people who are not from ZSL and oil palm growers so I have to
research about them to fully understand the topic since the report didn’t really
provide a detailed information about the subject matter. In regards to the parts of
the reports, I noticed that the formatting of the report is slightly different from
what the reading material explained. In paging number, the page 2 is the table of
contents which means the page 1 is the Title page and not the Introduction.
According to the reading material, the title page is counted as “page i” and not
page 1. In the Heading of the Reports, the fonts are not in uppercase and
centered but is capitalized in each word and the font color is blue. The Executive
Summary contained the overview or summary of the entire report as indicated in
the reading material. The Introduction is also divided into parts addressing the
background information, problems or purpose, etc. Since the report is about the
market research of ZSL, the reports contain parts that indicated what kind of
research methods they used and gathering data like survey and interviews, and
the results of the said survey and interviews. The results of the survey are shown
as figures or charts that has a clear and correct label as well as description for
each figure that can easily be understood by the audience. The Discussion
contained the findings of the research based on the results of the survey and
interviews conducted by ZSL. It contains all the problems that the organization
 has identified and thorough explanations that can help them identify what proper
actions a recommendation they can provide. The Conclusion contains the overall
conclusion and findings in the research as well as the recommendation provide
for ZSL to enhance their environmental monitoring practices and software usage.
The Reference of the report is questionable since it has no clear format and it is
in bullet form. Th Appendices only contains the name of the person and
organization they interviewed and person who participated in their survey.
Overall, I think the report was able to serve its purpose since it has identified the
problems of the organization as well provide a recommendation in addressing the
problem that can help the ZSL in making decision.
D. Summary
All in all, the market research report of Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has all
the essential elements or parts of a formal report. It has a Title Page, Table of
Contents, Executive Summary, Introduction, Body / Discussion, Conclusion /
Recommendation, Reference, and Appendices. Although reading the report will
be difficult to the person who doesn’t have any background information about
ZSL or the oil palm industry, I think that the report has provided a concrete
explanation about the topic and was able to identify the problems and provided
recommendations that can help them in enhance their performance and activities
in their environmental monitoring practices and software usage. The report was
able to cater the needs of ZSL to further understand what they lacked in their
services and provide recommendations that can help them in their decision
making.
III. REFLECTION ON THE BUSINESS REPORT WRITING
Business reports are valuable and essential tools for any enterprise regardless of
size or industry. They provide a means to track and analyze the performance and
overall health of the business while identifying areas for improvement and
opportunities for growth. It is an important tool to guide decision-making and to allow
business owners and senior managers the opportunity to investigate and solve any
identified issues.
Upon making the business report review, I learned that before making the report, it is
important to know who the audience or who will receive and reads the reports.
Identifying the audience will help in making a report because if your audience is
familiar with the background information related to your report, you don’t want to
bombard them with details. Instead, you will want to inform your audience about the
aspects of your topic. If your audience does not already know anything about your
project, you will want to give them all of the necessary information for them to
understand. In my case, the report I found was difficult for me to understand at first
since I didn’t have any background knowledge about the topic of the report because
the audience of the report is not targeted to me but to the ZSL. If the report is really
intended for the public, the report should have explained what the environmental
monitoring practices and software usage for the oil palm growers and what HCV
area means. Furthermore, I also learned that there are various type of reports
depending on what kind of expectations that is being address in the organization. A
report can be a progress report which is about giving update on a status or a project,
a recommendation report which is used to help management make decisions and
identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth, or a summary report
which is about giving the management information and give a general overview. In
regard to the formatting rules in business report writing, I think the report I found has
questionable formatting like headings not being uppercase and centered, the paging,
the work citation, etc. but the report was still able to give necessary information to
the audience and each part contain the relevant information in accordance to the
features of each parts.
All in all, making reports might be hard at first, since you will need to gather, compile
and review information and data, know your audience’s needs and expectations and
being aware of the formatting rules the your organization are following which can be
a daunting task but after making the report, the final product will enables you to
contribute directly to your company’s success considering that a report serves as a
decision making tool that provides information and help business or organization
reach solution.