Economics School-Based Assessment Essay

Introduction LIME, an acronym for ‘Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment’, is owned by the British based Cable & Wireless Communications. The company formed from the integrated businesses of Cable & Wireless in the Caribbean which adopted the LIME name on 3rd of November 2008. With people spending a lot of time accomplishing tasks and doing researches, the internet has becomevery important to individuals nowadays. Without the internet some individuals think that they cannot survive because of how it is used to provide a variety of information and communication facilities in order to get the work done quickly and/or enjoy one’s self with family and friends. People are becoming very lazy and find it difficult to open a book to find information, so instead they use the internet to gather the information quickly. Businesses also use the internet to do market researches and many other activities. The internet has basically any and every thing. More than 50% of homes in Jamaica has internet and for those that cannot afford the internet, the Government has provided facilities to them. With people wanting to send or receive emails, use search engine to gather information, looking for hobby or interest on the web.I have decided to do an investigationof the Internet Service industry within Jamaica with reference specifically to LIME . Acknowledgement I would like to thank everyone who would have contributed to the completion of this School-Based Assessment. First of all I would like to thank God firstly for the opportunity to do such a project and also for the wisdom, strength and understanding to complete this assignment. Other people who I would like to thank are: My Economics teacher for her constant advices and willingness to help. All those who answered the questionnaires distributed. My family for helping and supporting me during the execution of this project. Objectives of research The aims of this investigation are: 1. To establish the type of relationship there is between price and quantity demanded for internet service at LIME. 2. To examine of the principal factors affecting the demand of LIME and Flow 3. To examine the price elasticity of demand of internet service at LIME and Flow 4. To determine whose internet service can mainly be found in form 5 of the St. Martins secondary school. 5. To briefly examinethe market structure for internet service in Jamaica. 6. To briefly examine the market conditions affecting the supply of internet service at LIME and Flow in Jamaica. Methodology:The SBA was conducted in my community. Primary Sources: 1. Questionnaire: Twenty questionnaires were shared out to students in form 5 of the St. Martin’s secondary school. 2. Interview:The managers of LIME and Karib Cable were interviewed to obtain information such as how they attract customers to their business. Secondary Sources: 1. Textbooks: Economics textbooks were used to have a clear understanding of the Laws of Demand and Supply. 2. Internet: The websites listed in the bibliography were used to further clarify economic concepts to enhance the school-based assessment. 20 questionnaires were given to the students of form 5 in the Community of. Two interviews were conducted with the managers of LIME and Flow outlets inOchi rios. The internet service industry in Jamaica is one of an Oligopoly market structure. Thus, there are only a few large firms, Homogeneous or differentiated products, imperfect knowledge of the market, they are price makers with price rigidity and also have many buyers. As such, there are little competition levels which ideally lead to the producers satisfaction and welfare. After the data were collected from the questionnaire, I discovered that all the participants were between the ages of 16-17. The study as shown that LIME’s internet service was the most  demanded internet service in Guys hill. Question 1 )10 of the students who were given questionnaires had access to the internet at their homes. This may due to the addiction to social networking or the need of having the internet to gather information. Since the internet is the quickest way of gathering information and communicating with others the demand for internet would be high. Question 2: In question (2) 60% of the students said that they have LIME’s internet service while 40% have Flow internet service. The fact that more students preferred LIME’s internet service shows that some method of attracting customers that Flow is lacking. Based on the supply information gained from the interviews, these methods include the sponsoring of events and other methods. Effective use of these methods can increase the demand for internet, lower production cost, will result in a decrease cost price and lead to an extension of demand, all of which increases a firm’s profits. Question 3: The question â€Å"Who pays for the internet you have access to† was asked in question 3. Majority (80%) of the students said that they parents pays for the internet while the other 20% said that their grandparents pays for the internet. This shows that even students may have the desire and the willingness to pay for the internet service; they are not backed by t he ability to pay for it. Question 4: All (20) of the students said that the person who pays for the internet at their home currently has a job. This shows that persons who have jobs are the ones who have ability to pay for internet service at their homes. Question 5: In relation to question 5 responses, 16 of the persons who pay for the internet are full-time employees while the other 4 are part-time. The 16 full-time employees who might be eligible for benefitshave LIME’s internet service and this might be so maybe because of personal preference and wanting top quality service. Question 6: 16 students said that the person who pays for their internet occupational classification is white collar while the other 4 said its blue collar.The 4 blue collar workers internet service provider is Flow, which shows that people who receive less income prefers Karib Cables internet service maybe because of the price of the service. Question 7: In relation to question 8, 18 of the students use the internet mostly for social networking while the other 2 uses it for information. Sites like facebook  and twitter are social networking sites that enable users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, ect and these sites have become the most popular website on the internet. So therefore students may have a deep desire to have internet service to use these sites. Question 8: According to question 7 90% of the students use the internet on a daily basis. Based on the questionnaire this is due to addiction to social networking by these students. The other 10% uses it weekly and this is due to the need of gathering information. Question 9: In question 9 the question was asked â€Å"What is the main factor of choosing your internet service provider?† Many factors affect the demand for a specific internet service such as preference, price of the internet and advertisement. 60% of the students said that it’s because of preference while the other 40% said that it’s because of price of the internet service. This may be so because people may have a greater liking for a certain internet service because of its reliability. No onewants to be experiencing difficulties with the internet while surfing. Question 10: 8 persons said that they pay a price range of $800-$1000 while12 persons said that they pay from $1300-$1500 According to the information on the questionnaires the 12 persons who pays at the price range of $1300-$1500 internet service provider is Lime, which shows that flows rates are a little cheaper than LIME’s rates. Question 11: All of the students internet speed is 1 megabyte per sec. Although LIME and flow provides 4mbps, which is a lot faster than 1mbps shows that people only have the ability to pay for 1mbps a month. Question 12: According to question 12, 60% of these students don’t experience any problems at times, while the other 40% experiences problems. The 60% of students who don’t experience any problems internet service provider is LIME. This means that even though LIME’s rates are a little more expensive, they provide better service than Flow and that is why LIME attracts more customers to their services. The fact that LIME’s internet service is more expensive may due to the cost of production. Question 13: 6 of the students who experience problems said that they experience slow internet at times, while the other 2 students said that at times they don’t have internet at times. Question 14: In relation to question 14 these problems were experienced daily by 25% of these student, 25% weekly and 50% of the students who experience problems experiences monthly. Question 15: The question â€Å"If the price for your internet was $1000 a month for 1MBPS (Mega Bytes per Second), you would purchase â€Å"20% of the students said that they would purchase 2mbps at $1500 per month. This shows that persons have the desire and willingness to purchase 2mbps but they don’t have the ability to do so. Question 16: 50 % of the students showed willingness to purchase 2mbps at $1500 per month. As price increases from $1500 to $2000 for 2mbps, the quantity demanded decreased thus, the law of demand stands (as prices increase, demand decreases). The P.E.D was calculated as -0.15, indicating price inelasticity. As the price increases from $1500to $2000, demand also decreases and the Law of demand is also obeyed. The P.E.D. in this case was -0.3, thus indicating in another price inelasticity. Findings 1. There is a negative relationship between the prices of internet service and the quantity demanded. This simply means as price increases, quantity demanded decreases and as price decreases, the quantity demanded increases. 2. The principal factor affecting for internet service is one’s preference. 3. Internet service is price inelastic, therefore the quantity demanded is unresponsive to changes in price. 4. The existence of foreign firms (LIME) in the local economy can create good competition and result in higher consumer satisfaction. Recommendations Both LIME and Flow can endeavor into improving in the following areas if they haven’t already done so in order to boost sales and have a better competitive stance: Flow should use suggestion boxes to get feedback from customers about problems they face. Increase advertising to make the customers to have a greater liking for their internet service since preference is the factor affecting demand. The government should open up the market for internet service further. This would add to competition. Competition would lower prices and also keep money in the country since LIME is owned by the British base money is most likely exported out of the country. Sponsor more events that are taken place in the country. Sell 2MBPS at cheaper rates since more people are demanding 2MBPS. Conclusion In this investigation between LIME and Flow, I have come to realize the major role that economics plays in the operation of a business. It was deduced that LIME is a better internet service provider than Flow since bigger consumer market and their customers experience no problems. Bibliography Book: Websites: http://www.time4lime.com/vc/internet.jsp http://www.Flow.com