Sally Sharp is the managing director of a construction and service-based company named Go For Broke Enterprises. The company’s philosophy is to give tourists the chance to experience the wonders of nature in comfort. Go For Broke specialise in small scale tourism transport developments. Previous projects have been light-rail and scenic-balloon flight operations. The company employs 250 managers and technicians across five divisions: construction, finance, service & operations, human resources, and special projects.

Sally came up with a new idea for a short (about two kilometres in length) cable car system suspended above a pristine rainforest (see illustration above). Now she’s found a perfect location for it. Tourists visiting the small town named Venture would embark on the suspended cable cars through a pay-toll booth located close to the local train station. The cable car ride as planned would last about 30 minutes (travelling at a slow walking speed), taking the tourists to a mountain peak, while at the same time offering fabulous forest views (when there’s no fog or heavy rain). The ride has 50 cable cars and capacity to transport up to 200 persons per hour. At the mountain peak tourists disembark at a viewing area that will likely include a small restaurant, kiosk, gift shop and various short walking tracks. When ready, tourists again board a cable car for the return journey. It should be a wonderful tourist attraction.

Go For Broke has a binding contract with a large hospitality service organisation to develop and manage the mountain peak section of the attraction (food outlets, shops, activities). So Sally’s just focused on the cable car development.

The ride will operate 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. When ready to ride, customers purchase numbered tickets at the pay-toll booth. This waiting area will have enclosed seating for about 30 people. A TV screen in this area shows ticket numbers ready for boarding. Access to the cable car platform (similar to a small train platform) is through locked glass doors. Customers line up when their ticket is called using a roped-off single queue system. An attendant takes tickets from up to six persons (the cable car’s capacity) and then leads these customers to a waiting cable car. Two cable car operators, located at the bottom and at the top of the mountain, manage the timing of cable cars to allow embarking and disembarking (i.e., getting on and off). Once on board, the ride up to the mountain is continuous unless something unexpected happens (on occasions the ride has to be stopped). Each cable car has roomy bench seating plus speakers, and a phone system for emergencies. The cable cars have 360o windows allowing excellent forest views plus inside posters about scenic landmarks and local wildlife. All cable cars are fully enclosed with self-contained air conditioning. Once inside, doors cannot be reopened until reaching the destination platform. Based on past experience, Sally knows that not too many customers report feeling sick or dizzy from the gentle ride.

Questions- applied to the above case:

Identify, detail and justify a potential business problem or business opportunity associated with this case

Detail at the concept level a relevant business analytics application and steps taken for investigation or rectifying this business problem or business opportunity

Identify and justify a suitable business analytics process by describing the method of data collection, analysis and forms of results from this analysis

1. Outline with applied examples potential new insights that this business analytics approach will provide to the business, based on the business case, which would otherwise not be available