Qualitative / Quantitative
Combine financial thresholds with customer, brand and execution risks. Build a balanced yes-or-no recommendation instead of relying on numbers alone.
- Quantitative
- Revenue and cost
- Payback
- Qualitative
- Brand and strategic fit
- People and risk
Watch out: Lead with the numbers, then say what could overturn them.
On a case
Should a jeweller open stores in malls?
- Quantitative
- Rent against sales per square foot
- Payback
- Qualitative
- Buyers trust standalone stores
- Visibility to younger buyers
Illustrative case. Figures and conditions below are assumptions for practice, not market data.
Assume a mall store requires Rs 40 lakh upfront and generates Rs 12 lakh annual incremental cash flow after rent, staff and other operating costs. Simple payback is 40 divided by 12, about 3.3 years. It clears an assumed four-year threshold, but payback omits later cash flows and the time value of money.
Now test the non-financial side: do customers trust a mall jeweller, are security and staffing adequate, and does the format fit the brand? Ask whether sales are incremental or diverted from an existing store.
Recommend a limited pilot if the financial case survives lower sales and trust concerns can be tested. Make expansion conditional on repeat purchases, contribution and acceptable security performance. A favourable spreadsheet does not cancel a risk that could make the store unacceptable.
Sources and further reading
- HM Treasury: The Green Book (2026)
Guidance on comparing options, costs, benefits, uncertainty and distributional effects. This is appraisal methodology, not Indian legal guidance.