ASSESSMENT
The Demand and Supply of products at Burger King
to supply the Meadowbrook community
Territory: Jamaica
Subject: Economics
Year: 2016-2017
Candidate Number:
Acknowledgement
It is in the researchers great interest to thank those who made the completion of this internal
assessment possible. Firstly, the researcher would like to thank God for giving providing the
strength, courage and motivation to carry out this assessment. I also thank the students of
Meadowbrook High School for their support and cooperation and also for finding the time to
answer the questionnaires given. The researcher would also like to thank his Economics teacher,
Miss Jones for her basis outline on the criteria of this assessment and her constant advice and
most importantly his family for their support and providing him with all the materials needed to
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Title of Study
The Demand and Supply of products at Burger King to supply the Meadowbrook community.
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Aims and Objectives
Promote self-learning
To build research skills and gain a better understanding of the topics Demand and Supply.
Outline the demand for products from Burger King.
Explain how the rise and fall of prices affect consumers.
Explain how demand influences the supply of products at Burger King.
To examine the principal factors affecting the demand for product.
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Methods of Investigation
In this research both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. Quantitative
research is the use of sampling techniques, such as surveys and questionnaires, to gather data that
generalization. The quantitative method used in this research was the use of a questionnaire.
Qualitative research is where data is obtained from individuals based on their opinions, for
example, interviews and focus groups. The qualitative method used in this research is the use of
an interview. In this research two data sources were used to collect the relevant data, and they are
Primary and Secondary data sources. Primary data source is where data is gathered for the
purpose of that particular research problem and Secondary data source is where previously used
data is gathered to be used in the current research. The primary sources utilized include:
Meadowbrook High School over a period of three days, they were fully answered,
returned and analysed. The researcher chose to use questionnaires as quick means of
describes the economic case of demand, recognise problems associated with demand as
well as to justify these practices. The questionnaire consisted of open ended questions
because this allowed the respondent to state anything they feel is relevant and wanted the
researcher to know as there are no limits as well as this encouraged more creative
answers and self-expression. Close ended questions were used as to not intimidate the
the external consistency of a test. Individuals are asked to take the test of interest and
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then take the same test again at a later date. The scores are then compared. The closer the
scores are, the more reliable the test. Reliability is an important factor in testing because
if paves the way for accuracy. Remember, reliability refers to a test producing consistent
research method can be divided into three categories: explanatory, descriptive and
exploratory. Advantages of case study method include data collection and analysis within
analysis, and the ability to capture complexities of real-life situations so that the
phenomenon can be studied in greater levels of depth. Case studies do have certain
disadvantages that may include lack of rigor, challenges associated with data analysis and
Cape Text Books- Text books were capitalized to substantiate the different economic
Internet Internet research has had a profound impact on the way ideas are formed and
knowledge is created. One of the Internet advantages as research tool is that we can have
topic. Search engines, for example, are able to retrieve in a few seconds a list of websites
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ranked according to their relevance to that particular subject. But relevance is practically
the only parameter considered by search engines. This means that selecting what
information is useful and which not can be time-consuming and often non-productive
Introduction
The predecessor to what is now the international fast food restaurant chain
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King. Inspired by the McDonald brothers' original store location in San
Bernardino, California, the founders and owners, Keith J. Kramer and his
wife's uncle Matthew Burns, began searching for a concept. After purchasing
the rights to two pieces of equipment called "Insta" machines, the two
opened their first stores around a cooking device known as the Insta-Broiler.
all of their franchises to carry the device. After the original company began
of the chain; the first step being to rename the company Burger King. The
duo ran the company as an independent entity for eight years, eventually
expanding to over 250 locations in the United States, when they sold it to the
Economic Report
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Demand is the functional relationship between price and quantity. It is the amount of goods and
services a customer is willing and able to purchase at different prices over a period of time. The
law of demand states that the quantity demanded for a good or service rises as the price falls and
the quantity demanded for a good or services falls as price rises. The demand theory forms the
basis for the demand curve, which relates consumer desire to the amount of good available, as
more of a good or service is available, demand drops and therefore so does the equilibrium price.
There are namely two types of demand in economics, desired demand and effective demand.
Desired demand is an expressed preference for having a particular good and service.
Effective demand is a desired demand that is backed by the capability to acquire the good or
service, that is, effective demand refers to the willingness and the ability to pay for the
commodity.
b) Non-Price factors such as consumers income, preferences, related products (substitutes and
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``
1. Price- A change in the price of products gives rise to the law of demand which states that as
price the price decreases, the quantity demanded increases which causes a downward movement
along the demand curve. As price increases, quantity demanded decreases and there is an upward
movement along the demand curve. Members would purchase more of the product when the
price decreases but less as it increases. The price increase would cause Burger King to be in
2. Consumer Income- An increase in consumer income will lead to an increase in demand for
Burger Kings product and this will cause an outward shift on the demand curve, while a
decrease in consumer income will lead to decrease in demand for their products which will cause
3. Expectation- Consumers expectation may vary, therefore, if a consumer expects the price of a
product to increase, the demand for the Burger Kings product may decrease and the demand
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curve my shift inward to the left, while if it is expected that the price of a product will decrease,
the demand will increase causing the demand curve to shift outward to the right.
4. Related products- If two products are substitutes and there is an increase in the price of one,
the demand for the other will increase, causing the demand curve for that product to shift to the
right. If two products are complement, a decrease in the price of one product will lead to an
increase in quantity demanded for that product and the demand for its complement will also
increase.
Supply is the functional relationship between price and quantity. It is the amount of goods and
services that firms/producers are willing and able to produce and sell at different prices over a
period of time. The Law of Supply states that as the price of good or service increases the
quantity demanded increases and as the price of good or service decreases the quantity supplied
decreases.
b) Non-Price factors such as natural disaster, nature of the product, taxes and subsidies,
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1. Prices of alternative goods: when the prices of alternative good (alternative goods are
meat and milk, for instance, as both goods can be produced by the same resources, i.e.
cows, land, the same type of capital) increases, producers find it very profitable to
increase its production and the supply increases. If Burger King was to increase their
prices demand would decrease as members of the community would buy the alternative
become more productive and can produce more under the same quantity of factors, as a
result the supply increases and so there would be room for improvement in Burger Kings
products.
3. Number of producers: when the number of producers increases, there are more suppliers
in the market and the supply increases, this would be a disadvantage for Burger King as
there would be substitutes for the members of the community to purchase from.
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4. Producers` future expectations: when producers expect higher prices in the future, they
may increase their production to earn higher profits in the future and as a result the
supply increases (naturally, they could also cut down production in order to wait higher
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The basic insight underlying the law of supply and demand is that at any given moment a price
that is too high will leave disappointed would-be sellers with unsold goods, while a price that
is too low will leave disappointed would-be buyers without the goods they wish to buy. There
exists a right price, at which all those who wish to buy can find sellers willing to sell and all
those who wish to sell can find buyers willing to buy. This right price is therefore often called
Supply-and-demand theory revolves around the proposition that a free, competitive market does
in fact successfully generate a powerful tendency toward the market-clearing price. This
proposition is often seen as the most important implication of (and premise for) Adam Smiths
famed invisible hand. Without any conscious managing control, a market spontaneously
generates a tendency toward the dovetailing of independently made decisions of buyers and
sellers to ensure that each of their decisions fits with the decisions made by the other market
participants. Were this tendency to be carried to the limit, no buyer (seller) would be misled so as
to waste time attempting to buy (sell) at a price below (above) the market-clearing price. No
buyer (seller) would in fact pay (receive) a price higher (lower) than necessary to elicit the
agreement of his trading partner. To the extent that this proposition is valid, free competitive
markets achieve what F. A. Hayek has justifiably called a marvel. But it is in regard to the
validity of this proposition (and in particular to our reasons for being convinced that this
proposition is both valid and relevant) that Austrians differ sharply with mainstream textbook
economics. And it is precisely because of the universally acknowledged centrality of the supply-
and- demand proposition for all of economics that this disagreement is so important.
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Presentation of Data
Question 1: All age groups enjoy burgers. 80% of the respondents were in the age range of 15-
17.
Age of Respondents
Table 1
(11-14) 2
(15-17) 18
Figure 1
Age Of Respondents
10%
(11-14)
(15-17)
90%
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Question 2:All students ate burgers at least once per year. 45% of the students eat burgers
weekly.
Table 2
Daily 4
Weekly 9
Monthly 6
Yearly 1
Never 0
Figure 2
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Question 3: 60% of the students prefer Burger King while 40% prefer other.
Table 3
Burger King 12
Other 8
Figure 3
Burger King
8
Other
12
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Questions 4 and 5: Location is the main factor that affects the choice of the students source of
burgers.
Table 4
Figure 4
Number of Outlets 7
# of students
Location 16
Advertising 14
Taste/ Fashion 14
Price 9
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
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Question 6:55% of the students would buy the same amount of burgers, even if there was an
increase in price of 10%, while 4% of the students would buy less burger.
Table 6
Buy less burger 9
Buy more burger 0
Buy the same amount of burgers 11
Figure 6
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Question 7: Even if the price of the students source of burger undergoes an increase in price 60%
of them would still remain loyal and 40% would have switched to the nearest substitute or do
without burgers.
Table 7
# of students who continue buying from preferred source 12
# of students who would switch source 8
Figure 7
Loyalty to Source
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Question 8: It can be concluded that the quality of the burgers has not been the same as they
were before the increase in price.
Table 8
Better 0
Worst 15
The same 5
Figure 8
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12
10
0
Better
0 W15
orst The same
5
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Question 9: 40% of the respondents suggested healthier forms of burgers such as organic burgers
while another 40% of the respondents suggested that the firms use less oil in the production of
burgers.
Table 9
Suggestions # of Respondents
Less Oil 8
Healthier Burgers 8
No problem 4
Figure 9
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No. of Respondents
6
0
Less Oil Healtier Bugers (Organic) No problem
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Interpretation and Analysis
The fast food industry of Jamaica is one of a monopolistic competition market structure. Some
examples of firms in this industry include KFC, Wendys, Kabs, Burger King etc. In this industry
the products offered are homogenous but there are differentiated by means of branding. For
example all firms in the burger industry sells burgers of course but they all have different ways in
preparing and distributing (in this case wrapping) their products. The nature of this market
structure is shown by brand loyalty. Even if the price of the students source of burger undergoes
an increase in price 60% of them would still remain loyal to their original source while 40%
From the data collected it was found that 90% of the age respondents were in the age range of
(15-17) while the other 10% was in the age range of (11-14)
From the data collected all students eat burgers. Of the 20 students 4 of them eat burgers daily, 6
have it monthly and 1 person has it yearly because that person is a critical spender. In average
There are many factors that affect the demand of a good or service. This includes a change in
price, Income, Quality, Taste or fashion etc. In this investigation of the range of factor affecting
the demand of the students choice of burgers Location is key as all 20 students stated this. Of the
20 students 80% of them ranked Location to b their number one aspect. This is so because of the
closeness of Burger King from the school compound making it easy for them to reach. Taste is
also an important aspect which was expected as burger falls under the food industry and people
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60% of the respondents preferred Burger King to be their main source of burgers while 40% of
The quality of all burgers in the industry has not been the same. It can be conclude that the
quality has is worst. This is because the increase in price as a supplier they will seek to produce
more because of this will get them more money intern they may start doing batch production.
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Findings
As the Laws of demand suggest as the price of the good (the burger) increases the opposite
The main factors affecting demand for burgers and its consumption rate are taste and location.
Burger King is in a better financial position than Burger King because of their marketing
strategy. Burger King is a franchise so its name it already widespread recognised giving it an
increased chance of being successful hence, they have a larger consumer market.
The researcher saw that both the law of demand and supply were used. The case of the law of
demand is where the researcher asked if there was an increase in all prices what would the
consumers do and most of them answered saying they would purchase less but if there was a
10% decrease they would purchase more. This portrays the law of demand as prices increase
demands go downs and as prices decreases demands go up. Some loyal customers that depend on
Burger King stated that even if there is a price increase they would buy the same quantity as they
normally do. The factors that influenced most of the customers to shop at Burger King are the
affordable prices and the quality of the goods being sold. Burger King is one of many food
suppliers in the Meadowbrook community but persons in the community depend on them to
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Recommendations and Judgements
After much investigation and analysis of the data collected, Burger King has room for
improvements in some areas if they have not already done so to boost their sales as their
Burger King should seek to improve their advertisement skills as this is a key in
the latest trends and have an idea if they are on the right track as The customer is always
right.
Offers of more special gifts such as giveaways, combos, etc.
The suggestion of increasing the quality of goods produced and improving their services
to correspond with the increasing of the prices as this may attract more customers.
Introduce new healthier products such as vegan and organic burgers which will include
disease awareness and seek to demand less burgers as it is not good for them
To improve the quality of the burgers the consumers recommend that they use less oil to
make the food much healthier for them as well as to make the environment much cleaner.
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Bibliography
Books:
Hosein, R., &Gookool, R. (2006). CAPE Economics for self-study and distance learning
Unit 1. 27 Bath Road, CHELTENHAM GL53 United Kingdom. Nelson Thornes Ltd.
Sloman, J. (2006). Economics. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, Essex CM20. Pearson Education
Limited.
Websites:
http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp
http://www.econport.org/content/handbook/Demand/Factors.html
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