Nils Baker

Abstract

This very short and seemingly straightforward case is an efficient vehicle for exploring the nuances of hypothesis testing via regression modeling and t-tests in the context of an MBA or advanced undergraduate analytics course.

Excerpt

UVA-QA-0793

Aug. 7, 2012

Nils Baker

Nils Baker, vice president of a large regional retail bank in the United States, always loved talking to strangers about their banking needs and habits. Such conversations gave him unfiltered, firsthand insights about what people thought of retail banking; he ultimately wanted to use those insights to improve his bank's offerings.

So when a middle-aged woman sitting next to him on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Lisbon, Portugal, started complaining about how difficult it was for her to buy euros at her local bank, Baker was expecting another insightful conversation.

She was frustrated that the bank she usually went to did not carry euros. Consequently, she was forced to withdraw dollars and later exchange them for euros when she arrived in Europe. To have some pocket change upon arrival, she exchanged $ 100 at the airport, at what she believed to be an “outrageous” exchange rate.

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Keywords: quantitative analysis