A paint company is considering setting up factories in two of four European Union countries in which legislation and institutional setup affecting its business is basically the same. Preliminary information on similar ventures gathered from specialized publications suggests there may be differences in the profitability of each country, considering all other factors equal, associated with differences in tastes and or in the proportion of household owners to those who live in rented apartments.

For the purpose of optimizing its decision on where to setup its plants, management needs to have a clearer picture of the situation.

How the use of either the One-Way ANOVA methodology OR the regression and correlation analysis can help management acquire a better understanding of its situation in terms of exploring whether there are differences in profitability or what are the possible causes of these alleged differences.

1 How would you formulate your project and how would you go about applying it to which variables?

2 What type of result or outcome would be expected from your project and how could this result be interpreted in terms of clarifying a strategy for possible future expansion of the company?

3 How would you complement your study with the other approach ?