Research in Business

Prabhat Mittal
profmittal@yahoo.co.in 1
 Why study Business Research?
“Business Research” is a systematic inquiry that provides
information to guide managerial decisions.
 It is a process of planning, acquiring, analyzing, and
disseminating relevant data, information, and insights to decision
makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take appropriate
actions that maximizes business performance.
 e.g. business managers has so much attention on measuring and enhancing
return on investment (ROI) that always want to know what strategies and
tactics capture the highest returns.
 With advent of technology managers look for improved methods of
measurement and tracking capabilities for better understanding of employee,
stockholder and customer behavior in order to influence the desired metrics.
Prabhat Mittal
profmittal@yahoo.co.in 2
 Factors simulating interest in research

 Explosive growth and influence of Internet (extensive

amount of information)

 Stakeholders demanding greater influence (holds extensive

information, they are more sensitive to their own self interests)

 More vigorous competition (competition is growing dynamically

and often coming from unexpected sources and need to refocus every time)

 More government intervention (govt. impose restrictions on the

use of managerial research decisions in order to show concerns with all aspects
of society like labor law etc.)

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 Factors simulating interest in research
Continued

 More complex decisions (In a dynamic environment, managers have more

variables to consider in every decision, increasing the manager’s need for more and
better information and exploring the information)

 Maturing of management as a group of disciplines (the quality of

theories and models to explain tactical and strategic results in HR, Marketing, Finance
is improving and providing more knowledge)

 Advanced analytical tools for enhanced insights (organizations

increasingly practice data mining, applying mathematical models to extract meaningful
knowledge from volumes of data contained within internal databases)

 New perspectives on established research methodologies (older

tools and methodologies once limited to exploratory research are gaining wider
acceptance in dealing with a broader range of managerial problems).

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 Significance of Business Research

 Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it

promotes the development of logical habits of thinking and
organization.
 The role of research in several fields of applied economics,
whether related to business or to the economy as a whole, has
greatly increased in modern times.
 Research provides the basis for nearly all government
policies in our economic system.
 Research has its special significance in solving various
operational and planning problems of business and industry.
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 Significance of Business Research
Continued

 To do well in such a dynamic environment, It is required to

understand and identify quality information and to recognize
the solid, reliable business research and the process on which
your high-risk decisions as a manager can be based.
 To assist in making complex decisions on goals, strategies,
and tactics, managers turn first to information drawn from the
decision support system (DSS) combined with that generated
by business intelligence (BI) on competitive environment.

Prabhat Mittal
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 Significance of Business Research
Continued

 Knowing that it costs less to retain a customer than to capture a new one, most
managers place a high value on customer satisfaction and letting them buy
repeatedly. Thus customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and the customer
assessment studies represent a significant portion of Business research studies.
 Strategy is defined as the general approach an organization will follow to achieve
its goals.
For e.g., a restaurant was receiving comments that the friendly atmosphere was
changing. This perception may have been the result of a change in strategy of the
manager. Perhaps, the restaurant decided to switch from a longer occupancy of a
table to a new strategy of turning each table over in a shorter time frame by
changing food preparation and the menu.
The exploration of opportunities and problems and the resulting strategies are
combined with business research to generate Business Information System (BIS).
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 Significance of Business Research
Continued

 Business research also contributes significantly to the design and

selection of. Tactics, those specific, timed activities that execute a
strategy.
For e.g., the restaurant manager might have changed the menu (a product tactic)
so that entrees could be prepared faster (production tactic) and delivered to a table
more quickly. The manager might also have instituted a new sales program (a
promotion tactic) one that discouraged the wait staff from making small talk with
patrons and rewarded efficiency.

Business research is often used to help a manager decide which of

several tactics is likely to successfully execute the desired strategy.

Prabhat Mittal
profmittal@yahoo.co.in 8
 Who conducts Business Research?
 Internal Research Suppliers:
• Customer goods & service producers
• Industrial goods & service producers-research is required at every stage of
production in supply chain
• Media companies-e.g. knowing the facts before delivery of news articles
• Wholesale distributors- e.g. assessing facility locations
• Retail distributors-e.g. designing of retail store layouts

 External Research Suppliers:

Because of budget, equipment, facilities and expertise reasons, and avoiding
keeping large staff in internal research, many firms feels that they services can
be outsourced with more cost benefits and are readily available form external
suppliers.
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 External Research Suppliers
External Research
suppliers

Communication
Business research firms Consultants Trade Associations
agencies

Full-service Advertising Marketing General

research firms agencies consultants business

General
Customs Public relation Business
business
researchers agencies specialties
consultants

Sales
Specialist research Research
promotion
firms specialties
agencies

Proprietary Direct
methodology marketing
researchers agencies

Syndicated data
provider
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 Business Research firms
 Full-service research firms:
• Involved in research planning for their clients from the moment of discovery of the
management dilemma, or, at the very least, from the definition of the management
question.
• Such firms are expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and capable
of serving research designs, including both fieldwork and laboratory operations.
• Clients of these firms demand not just research reporting but also the managerial insights.
Hence, these firms are often act as a combination of research and consulting operations.

 Custom Researchers: (adhoc research or custom-designed research)

• A custom researcher crafts a research design unique to the decision maker’s dilemma.
Such firms start each project from zero with an assumption that a given methodology is
not appropriate for each client’s research.
• A custom researcher might not always be a full-service research firm, but a full-service
research firm would always fit into the custom research category.
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 Business Research firms
Continued

 Specialty Research Firms:

• These firms represent the largest number of research firms and tend to dominate
the small research firms operated by a single researcher or a very small staff.
These firms may have a specialized arena like Methodology (e.g. survey
research, customer satisfaction research, retail design research), Process (e.g.
sample recruiting, telephone interviewing), Industry (e.g. pharmaceutical
research, entertainment research or telecommunication research), Participant
group (e.g. children, doctors, country golf players).

 Proprietary Methodology Researchers:

• A proprietary methodology is a research program owned by a single firm that
provides and establish methodology for branding and to make a distinction in
the minds of perspective clients.
•Without proprietary methodology, all firms essentially offer the same research
Prabhat firms
Mittal
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 Business Research firms
Continued

 Syndicated data providers:

• When managers want comparative performance and opinion data, pitting
themselves against their competitors in sales, market share, share of voice,
image as a corporate citizen or employer, or salary and benefit levels, they turn
to researchers that are syndicated data providers.
• A syndicated data provider tracks the change of one or more measures over
time, usually a given industry.
• For e.g., a syndicated data provider might track product movements through
various retail outlets and wholesale environments. The tracking of sales
performance measures during promotional events like coupon drops, distribution
of product samples, special events is often the key of successful strategic
planning.

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 Communication Agencies

• Advertising agency cannot recommend advertising in a particular medium like

radio, television unless understanding the demographics and lifestyles of the
viewing audiences of each show. This originates the need of syndicated research
data, especially from media research industries.
• Without communication research agencies, it is more difficult to understand the
target audience knowledge, motivations, attitudes and behavior and hence
developing a creative strategy.
• Communication agencies like public relation, sales promotion, direct marketing
research agencies do extensive basic research to identify influences on ad recall
and ad wear-out, on ad placement effectiveness, on the effectiveness of various
creative approaches (for e.g. celebrity endorser versus animated product as
spokesperson), on the effectiveness of communication strategies (for e.g. humor,
violence, or sexuality in advertising)

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 Consultants and Trade Associations
 Consultants
• Business consultants offer a wide range of services at the strategic and tactical
levels. These consultants are majorly influences in research design of both
custom research and the selection of proprietary models.
• All are involved in extensive secondary data research for their clients.
• They conduct both qualitative (notable focus groups and expert interviews) and
quantitative (usually though surveys) depending upon the depth of the client’s
problem
 Trade Associations
• Trade associations have as their purpose to promote, educate, and lobby for the
interests of their members.
• Majority of the trade association commission pure research that advances trade
interests.
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 Types of Research
 Exploratory (formulize) vs. Descriptive research
• Exploratory research formulates a problem for more precise investigation or of
developing the working hypotheses from an operational point of view. It discovers
ideas and insights and make critical evaluation on the basis of the available facts.
• Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.
The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over
the variables: he can only report what has happened or is happening . Most of the
social research comes under this category. e.g. ex post facto research
 Applied vs. Fundamental
• Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a
society or an industrial/business organization.
• Fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalizations and with the
formulation of a theory.
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 Types of Research
Continued

 Quantitative vs. Qualitative

• Quantitative research is based on analysis of numerical data and expressed in
terms of quantity. e.g. time series analysis, measuring volatility
• Qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenomena, i.e. investigating
the reasons for human behavior, attitude or opinion research. This type of
research is designed to find out how people feel or what they think underlying
motives of human behavior.
 Conceptual vs. Empirical
• Conceptual research is related to some abstract idea or theory. It is generally
used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret the
existing ones.
• Empirical research relies on experience or observation (like surveys) without
regard for system and theory. It is a data-based research with conclusions.
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 Types of Research
Continued

 One-time research or longitudinal research

• One time research is confined to a single time-period
• Longitudinal is carried on over several time-periods.
 Field-setting or laboratory research or simulated
• Depends on the environment in which research is conducted
 Clinical or diagnostic research
• Such research follow case-study methods or in depth approaches to
reach the basic causal relations. Such research goes deep into the
causes of events using samples.

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 Characteristics of a Good Research
1. Purpose clearly defined
• Statement of the decision problem should include its scope, its limitations, and the precise
meanings of all words and terms significant to the research.
• This characteristic is similar to developing a strategic plan for achieving an objective
before developing a tactical plan or an action map.

2. Research process detailed

• Except when secrecy is imposed, research reports should reveal wit candor the sources of
data and the means by which they were obtained.
• Omission of significant procedural details makes it difficult or impossible to estimate the
validity and reliability of the data and justifiably weakens the confidence of the reader.
• This characteristic is comparable to developing a tactical plan.

3. Research design thoroughly planned E.g. when a sampling of the population is

involved, the report should include evidence concerning the degree of representativeness of
the sample. This characteristic is comparable to developing detailed action plan for each tactic.
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 Characteristics of a Good Research
Continued

4. High ethical standards applied

• A research design that includes safe guards against causing mental or physical harm to
participants and makes data integrity a first priority should be highly valued.
• Ethical issues in research reflect important moral concerns about the practice of
responsible behavior in society.

5. Limitations frankly revealed

• The researcher should report, with complete frankness, flaws in procedural design and
estimate their effect on the findings.
• The imperfections may have a little effect on the validity and reliability of the data or
many a times invalidate them entirely.
• A competent researcher should be sensitive to the effects of imperfect designs.
6. Analysis adequate for decision maker’s needs Analysis of the data should be extensive
enough to reveal its significance, what manager call “insights”. Correct classification of the
data assist the researcher in reaching pertinent conclusions and clearly reveal the findings that
have led to those conclusions.
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 Characteristics of a Good Research
Continued

7. Findings presented unambiguously

• Presentation of data should be comprehensive, easily understood by the decision maker,
and organized so that the decision maker can readily locate critical findings.

8. Conclusions justified
• Conclusions should be limited to those for which the data provide an adequate basis.
• Equally undesirable is the all-too-frequent practice of drawing conclusions from a study
of a limited population and applying them universally.
• Good researcher always specify the conditions under which their conclusions seem to be
valid.
9. Researcher’s experience reflected Greater confidence in the research is warranted if the
researcher is experienced, has a good reputation in research, and is a person of integrity. For
this reason, the research report should contain information about the qualifications of the
researcher.

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 Problems encountered in research
1. The lack of scientific training in the methodology of research
• Many researchers take a leap in the dark without knowing appropriate methodology.
Research to many researchers and guides is mostly a scissor and paste job without any
insight shed on the collated materials.
• Efforts should be made to provide short duration intensive courses for meeting this
requirement.

2. Insufficient interaction between the research departments and the business

• A great deal of primary data of non-confidential nature remain untouched/untreated by
the researchers for want of proper contracts.
• Efforts should be made to develop satisfactory liaison among all concerned for better and
realistic researches.

3. Research studies overlapping results in duplication and fritters away resources. The
problem can be solved by proper compilation and revision at regular intervals, of a list of
subjects on which and places where the research is going on.

Prabhat Mittal
profmittal@yahoo.co.in 22
 Problems encountered in research
Continued

4. No confidence in the researchers by the business entity

• Most of the business units in the country are reluctant in supplying the needed
information to researchers in fear of misuse.
• There is the need for generating the confidence that the information/data
obtained from a business unit will not be misused.

5. Library management is not satisfactory at many places

• Researcher are spending their valuable time and energy in tracing of books,
journals and reports because of improper maintenance of the library system.
• Libraries need to manage efficiently with using IT resources.
6. Timely availability of published data . Researcher faces the problem on
account of the fact that the published data and vary quite significantly because of
differences in coverage by the concerning agencies.

Prabhat Mittal
profmittal@yahoo.co.in 23