Understanding Business Drivers and Improving Business Forecasts

You are in a brainstorming session at WidgeCorp, where no idea is too outrageous. You are discussing penetration in the school lunch market. Ideas around school lunch subsidies, Internet subsidies, and Internet target marketing are being discussed. As the end of the meeting, the group asks you to prove or disprove some assumptions by looking at correlations. First, acquaint yourself with the Internet subsidy issue by reading the article Closing the Digital Divide: Internet Subsidies in Public Schools by Austan D. Goolsbee and Jonathan Guryan. Next, download the file Sample Data. Based on the findings as reported in this article, prepare a chart similar to the one in the downloaded file to indicate if the correlation between Variables A and B were found to be positive, negative, or minimal. In your own words, explain what it means if the correlation of 2 variables is positive, negative, or minimal (close to 0), and give an example of each. Reference Goolsbee, A. D., & Guryan, J. (2003). Closing the digital divide: Internet subsidies in public schools. Capital Ideas, 5(1). Retrieved from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Web site: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/summer03/digitaldivide.html