Principle of Business

School Based Assignment

Candidates’ Names: Alyssa Atkinson

Rasheed Gardnear

Reneicia Peddie

Terry Robinson

Javane James

Name of School: St. Catherine High School

Centre ID: 100105

Teacher: Ms. S. Graham

Date of Submission:
 Table of Content

Acknowledgement 3

Topic/Issue/Problem 4

Objectives 5

Questionnaire 6

Background / Overview 9

Methodology 10

Presentation of data 12

Conclusion 15

Recommendation 15
 Acknowledgement

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to our Principle of Business teacher,

Miss Graham, for her guidance and support in accomplishing this project. Additionally, we

would also like to extend our special thanks to our parents and fellow classmates for providing

the necessary help required, to successfully complete this assignment.

 Topic/Issue/Problem

An investigation into the study of feasibility, offering a courier service in Portmore, St.

Catherine.
 Objectives

1. To identify market/ demand for courier service affects people in Portmore.

2. To discuss the marketing strategies that can be employed in the establishment of courier

services in Portmore.

3. To identify the different companies that offer courier services in Portmore.

4. To examine the different courier service in Portmore.

 Questionnaire

This research was conducted by researchers that attended St. Catherine High

School for their School Based Assessment. Please do not write your names or any

personal information, as this document will be confidential. Select your options by

placing a tick in the boxe/s and state your answers on the lines provided. There would be

no wrong answers.

1. Have you ever used a courier service?

□ Yes □ No

2. What courier do you typically use?

□ DHL Express

□ FedEx

□ YRC Worldwide

□ PostNL

3. How often do you use courier services?

□ every day

□ once a week

□ monthly

□ once per year

4. What do you transport mostly?

□ Food items

□ Household items

□ Clothing

□ Technology

4. How effective would it be to have a courier service in your area?

□ Very effective

□ Effective

□ Not effective

5. Would you recommend others to use that service?

□ Yes

□ No

6. What method ordering would you prefer to use?

□ Online

□ Telephone

□ In person

□ Other ______________________________________________
7. Modes of transportation

□ Road □ Air

□ Sea □ Train

8. How much would you pay?

9. What is the best method of marketing you would use?

□ Social media

□ Newspaper
 Background / Overview

According to the Webs Dictionary, a courier is a company or a person who delivers a

message, package, or letter from one place or person to another. As a small business owner, you

have various reasons to use a local courier or local messenger service. You might even

contemplate acting as your own delivery driver to your payroll, but would either option be wise?

Using a courier or delivery person comes with pros and cons that can affect your bottom line and

the way you do business.

When you think of courier services, you may consider them to be new phenomena,

something that has come into being with the advent of new technology and new ways of doing

business. However, courier services and companies have been around for over millennia. Courier

services originated from Persia. Around 422 BC, the prince Cyrus the younger enlisted runners,

homing pigeons and men on horseback to deliver important messages throughout the many years

of its existence there has been many changes to this business, with the most impactful change

being the invention of the motor vehicles. Whereas before the van was introduced around 1892

everything had to be done by foot, on a bicycle, or using a horse and cart, once a motorised

vehicle was available everything changed. Not only could deliveries be made more quickly, but

multiple deliveries could be carried out on one route.

The Name of the business is R.R.T.A.J. It is located at Shirley Plaza, 105 Burke Road,

Spanish Town. We distribute in all Portmore residential areas. We transport clothing, technology

and household items. The aim of the research is to test the feasibility, offering a courier service in

the Portmore and surrounding vicinity.

 Methodology

According to libguides a research methodology is the specific procedures or techniques

used to identify, select, process and analyse information about a topic. In a research paper, the

methodology section allows the reader to critically evaluate a study overall validity and

reliability. It is a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity. The data

sources used for this research are primary and secondary. Primary sources are the original

evidence of certain events, objects, persons or work while secondary sources are interpreted,

analysed or explain primary sources.

The primary source data used was questionnaire. A questionnaire is defined as a

structured set of questions that collected the data of interest, Jotds ,Eric 19 January 2019.

Questionnaires were chosen because they provide speedy results,allowing us to gather

information from a large audience. Secondary sources used were books,statistical reports such as

national income statistics. Books and the internet were used as they are reliable, valid and

provide a vast amount of information on the topic.

For our questionnaire we chose twenty (20) random participants from a Portmore

residential area to participate in this questionnaire. All respondents received a questionnaire that

consisted of one (1) open ended questions and nine (9) close ended questions. The age group

ranged from 16-43, including females and males. An analysis was done upon collecting all

questionnaires which showed the following results.

 We chose to use a questionnaire for our primary source. It is a set of printed or written

questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purpose of a survey or statistical study. The

reason for selecting a questionnaire is because it was convenient because of the current Covid 19

pandemic. We were given a sample to help us during the completion of this project. A sample is

a small part or quantity intended to show what the full project looks like.
 Presentation of data

The pie chart above shows the percentage of how many people have ever used a courier

service. 18(90%) persons said yes and 2(10%) said no.

The pie chart above shows the courier service the respondents normally use. 9(45%) uses

FedEx, 7(25%) uses DHL Express, 2(10%) uses YRC Worldwide and 2(10%) uses PostNL.
 The pie chart above shows how the respondents use courier services. 9(45%)once per

year ,8(40%) monthly,2(10%) once a week ,1(5%) every day.

The chart above shows the respondents opinion on how effective it is to have a courier

service in your area. 10(50%) very effective , 8(40%)effective ,2(10%) not effective.
 In the bar graph above it shows how much money the respondents would pay for the

uses of the courier service.

In the pie chart above it shows the respondents opinion on the best marketing method for

our services. 16(80%) social media,2(10%) television, 1(5%) radio, 1(5%) newspaper.
 Analysis and Interpretation of data

It was revealed that 90% of the respondents have in fact used a courier service before and

10% have not. The courier service that is mostly used is FedEx according to 45% of the

respondents, 25% uses DHL Express and 10% both YRC worldwide and PostNL. When asked

how often courier services are used 45% said once per year ,40% said monthly, 10 % said once a

week and 5% said daily. The respondents were then asked how effective it would be to have a

courier service in their area to which they answered, 50% said very effective , 40% effective ,

10% not effective. Then the respondents were asked how much they would pay for a courier

service the majority of the respondents said $1000-$1500, others said amounts like $300-$650

and $4000-$5000. The final question was, what the respondents thought was the best method of

marketing, 80% stated social media, 10% stated television, 5% stated radio and another 5%

stated newspaper.
 Conclusion

Based on the findings of data, evidence shows that most people prefer to use courier

services in Portmore. Data shows that people in Portmore usually use courier services once per

year. They also tend to use FedEx more than any other courier service. It can be concluded that

courier services throughout the many years of existence have helped citizens from Portmore a

lot. They would normally pay $ 1000-1500 dollars. Their best method of marketing is through

social media.
 Recommendation

1. From observations of the findings of data, the conclusion states that people in the

Portmore vicinity use carrier services less than (3) times per annum, but with such

underwhelming results I have summed up two recommendations which can help for such

predicaments.

2. To help prevent failure in the courier service, management could invest in the advertising

of the company in ways such as radio, television and print to gain widespread

identification from the public.