Business Problem

Running head: SPOKANE CASINO BUSINESS PROBLEM

Spokane Casino Business Problem

Bryan

University of Phoenix

MBA/510: Managerial Decision Making

March 8, 2007

Spokane Casino Business Problem

Over the past decade the gaming and casino industry has enjoyed consistent annual revenue growth. In addition to being an increasingly popular form of entertainment and leisure, casinos have proven to be an undeniable catalyst for economic growth and a driver of commerce. No longer are casinos limited only to destination cities. Across the country world-class casinos, hotels, and entertainment venues are growing and thriving, and play an increasingly prominent role in today's economy (American Gaming Association). The Spokane Casino is no exception. In response to industry growth, the Spokane Casino is planning to expand and build a hotel which will employ 300-500 new employees, and needs to evaluate the viability of the project within Spokane County.

Spokane Casino problem statement

The Casino must determine if Spokane has the potential workforce to supply a sufficient number of qualified individuals to fill the estimated 300 to 500 new positions that will be created.

Independent and dependent variables

There are many variables affecting Spokane Casino that it will need to take into consideration. Identified independent variables, or known attributes effecting Spokane that will influence the level or presence of dependent variables, include age, gender, and the attrition rate of the hospitality industry. Dependent variables are ones whose value is the result or is a function of the control or independent variable. Those identified for the purpose of this study include people available for employment, area growth rates, hotel competition, other new employers into the area, natural unemployment rate, and casino business trends and forecasts.

State and support the null and alternative hypothesis and theories

Is education level of workforce the same in Spokane as it is in other cities? If the percentage of the workforce pool does not have basic educational skills, the Spokane Casino will have difficulty in hiring new employees. Therefore the:

Ho: f ≤ 3.23 except the null hypothesis. Education levels of the workforce are the same

H1: f > 3.23 reject the null hypothesis. Education levels of the workforce are not the same.

The testing will be at a level of significance of .05 for all testing purposes. This study will use ANOVA.

Methodology used to select and produce samples

Data sources

The data sources used to collect data for this study included the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington State Office of Financial Management, U.S. Census Bureau, and publish local records to mention a few. From these sources, data was collected on the population, education, mean income levels, and poverty levels. The decision was made to not use local unemployment rates due to their volatile nature. When researching to determine if unemployment rates had a correlation between age, education, population size, and population growth the research found too many other variables, for example; military base closures, overseas companies building assembly plants, and federal aid to mention a few.

ANOVA

Formerly defined, ANOVA is "the simultaneous comparison of several population means is called analysis of variance (ANOVA)" (Lind, et al, 2004, p. 387). In order for ANOVA to be applied, the populations should have a normal distribution and the data must be interval-scale (Lind, et al, 2004). The ANOVA test in Figure 1 was performed to compare the education levels of the workforce between Spokane and 13 other cities of varying sizes. (See figure 1) The results for the f-critical value are 3.328 and the f-stat value is 1.328. Based on the ANOVA test, the education level of the workforce is the same between all the cities sampled. Due to time and financial constraints no further testing was completed.

Figure 1

Data for test of Education levels

Test to determine if the education level of workforce the same in Spokane as it is in other cities

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Working Age 18-65 14 2516 179.7143 13716.53

High School Graduate 14 3157 225.5 20034.88

2005 Population 14 3741 267.2143 26788.95

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 53632.43 2 26816.21 1.328843 0.276506 3.238096135

Within Groups 787024.7 39 20180.12

Total 840657.1 41

Ho: u1=u2=u3=u4=u5=u6=u7=u8=u9=u10=u11=u12=u13=u14

H1: These do not equal.

Based on the Anova test, the education levels are the same.

Accept or reject the hypothesis?

Based on the data and the results of the statistical tests, it appears that the null hypothesis must be accepted. Spokane's workforce has the same education level of others cities making it plausible to for the Spokane Casino to hire employees with basic educational skills..

Recommendations and considerations

Recommended wages and benefits

Washington State Employment Security Department maintains a website which offers