Statement of the Problem

Supply chain is the most crucial part of any business organization. By examining research data on this topic, there will be a better understanding of whether delays in supply chain will affect the whole chain in the supply network. As a Business/Logistic major, it is essential to have a good understanding of supply chain delays and the effects it has on small businesses. This is a very interesting topic because a lot of small businesses ended up closing due to Covid 19.

Data

The data for this research was from published analysis on which United States small businesses are being hit hardest by supply chain disruptions. The data was analyzed using The U.S. Census Bureau'sSmall Business Pulse Survey (SBPS) (Callen, 2022). The data was set up in different chart formations.

Literature Review

The research on the topic of delays in supply chain focused on a peer-reviewed research study on this topic. The survey shows that 38.8% of U.S. small businesses reported domestic supplier delays (Callen, 2022). The researchers did find that supply delays were coming from both domestic suppliers and international suppliers. The survey shows that 15.9% of U.S. small businesses reported foreign supplier delays. The research shows that all types of businesses are seeing delays in supply chain, not just a certain type. The percentage of businesses by sector that reported domestic and foreign supplier disruptions are manufacturing, retail, construction, accommodation, and food services (Callen, 2022). The survey also measures how hard it was for small businesses to find alternative suppliers (Callen, 2022). For small businesses, 18.9% reported difficulty to find alternative domestic suppliers and reported 7.2% difficulty to find alternative foreign suppliers.

Goal Statement

The end result of my research is to determine if supply chain delays would affect the whole chain in the supply network or just some business. By using my research and using Excel to analyze my research data, I will compare that data with what I found in the literature review research article listed in the literature review section.

Research Questions

There are two research questions for this research paper.

Research Question 1: What caused the supply chain delays?

Research Question 2: How do delays with supply chain measure by state?

Methodology

Hypothesis. My hypothesis is that when there are supply chain delays there are delays in delivering/shipping to customers.

Testing my Hypothesis. I will primarily use descriptive statistics and my literature review to test my hypothesis.

Organizing my Data. My data will be organized using Excel. The data will be organized by state in relation to delays in each state in relation to supply chain. The data will be organized with the states with the most delays and their associated percentage rates at the top of the Excel data table. Then, as the data moves through each state in order of a decrease in delay rates will be identified in Excel.

Calculating my Statistical Data. Using the Data Analysis Descriptive Statistics tool in Excel, the data analysis was carried out with that specific tool.

Identifying Conflicts. Any identified conflicts will be discussed with each research question.

Use of Descriptive Statistics. Descriptive statistics will be the primary tool for identifying the conclusions through data analysis.

Data Analysis

Below is the descriptive statistics from my research data. Below is a sample of my data with the lowest delays in delivery/shipping to customers by state and lowest supplier delays:

State	Supplier Delays	Delays in Delivery/Shipping to Customers
Hawaii	60.7	17.0
Louisiana	55.2	18.1
Utah	55.6	18.2
West Virginia	46.5	19.3
North Dakota	68.1	19.4
Alaska	28.6	19.8
Kentucky	60.2	19.9
New Mexico	48.0	20.0
Nevada	51.9	20.6
Connecticut	61.6	21.3
Oklahoma	63.5	21.4
Maryland	58.5	21.6
Missouri	64.4	21.6
Delaware	52.8	21.7
Iowa	67.0	22.1
Virginia	57.8	22.2
Massachusetts	70.0	22.2
New York	57.5	22.8
New Hampshire	69.3	23.0
Montana	65.3	23.1
Illinois	62.2	23.2
Colorado	65.2	23.3
Pennsylvania	71.1	23.3
California	59.1	23.5
Alabama	58.1	23.8

Below are the states with the highest supplier delays and highest delays in delivery/shipping to customers:

State	Supplier Delays	Delays in Delivery/Shipping to Customers
Vermont	74.9	26.4
Wisconsin	73.7	31.1
Mississippi	73.6	32.6
Arkansas	72.4	26.3
Idaho	72.3	32.5
Minnesota	72.0	30.1
Pennsylvania	71.1	23.3
Georgia	70.6	28.1
Massachusetts	70.0	22.2
Oregon	69.4	31.8
North Carolina	69.4	24.6
New Hampshire	69.3	23.0
Florida	69.1	26.3
Kansas	68.5	28.2
Michigan	68.4	26.6
Arizona	68.3	26.6
Washington	68.1	27.1
North Dakota	68.1	19.4
Ohio	67.5	27.5
Iowa	67.0	22.1
Wyoming	66.6	28.6
Maine	66.3	24.4
Montana	65.3	23.1
Colorado	65.2	23.3
Nebraska	64.4	24.1

Below you will find the Mean, Median, and Standard Deviation of the data. The Mean of 24.502 means the average of delays of delivery/shipping to customers out of the fifty states was 24.502% Based on all the data, there was a standard deviation of 3.94 delays of delivery/shipping to customers.

Descriptive Statistics
Mean	24.502
Standard Error	0.557190401
Median	23.95
Mode	26.3
Standard Deviation	3.939931109
Sample Variance	15.52305714
Kurtosis	-0.579813263
Skewness	0.285878291
Range	15.6
Minimum	17
Maximum	32.6
Sum	1225.1
Count	50

Below is a graphic depicting how states with higher delays from suppliers did not mean they had the highest delays of delivery/shipping to customers. The graphic tells us that the states with higher delays of delivery/shipping to customers did not always have higher delays from suppliers. Whereas, the states with the lowest delays of delivery/shipping to customers did not always have the lowest delays from suppliers.