Business Research Methods

Situation I :Adv. Decision

When Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., was planning the promotion for its new movie Starman, it had to decide how much to spend for advertising the movie and when the advertising should occur. "One of Columbia's biggest marketing weaknesses in the past was to spend too much in advertising its films .... It now carefully tracks the effects of its spending in twice-aweek polls of moviegoers. "(Columbia's marketing vice-president) believes that a movie that opens nationally like Starman should be known by at least 60% of the public by opening day. In the weeks before such a movie's release, his department tracks awareness of the film-by region, age group, and gender. If awareness builds faster than expected, Columbia cuts back its promotion .... If it doesn't pick up fast enough, spending is increased. 2

Situation II: Adv. Decision

The A&P food store chain introduced a new nationwide advertising campaign to show consumers its stores were clean, were staffed by friendly employees, and were well stocked with fresh food offered at value prices. "These commercials are the product of a variety of surprisingly extensive motivational research techniques .... Consumers were shown a simple sketch of a woman about to enter a supermarket. They were asked what the woman was thinking and how she felt. In another test, subjects were shown photographs of people, told they depicted both A&P customers and those who shopped elsewhere, and were then asked to separate the pictures into two groups and explain why. Some subjects were also asked to imagine A&P as a person: Is it a man or a woman; what kind of work does he or she do? "The results were not the stuff of happy A&P marketing conferences. The tests showed that consumers considered supermarket shopping to be drudgery and that the A&P chain, in particular, was seen as a grandmother who is a bit corny and behind the times. Perhaps worse, its stores were considered more expensive and less efficient than the competition's."
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Situation III
Although the United States represents the largest travel market in the world, only 2 percent of the country's travelers go to Canada for vacations. To learn why so few American travelers visit Canada, the Canadian tourism bureau interviewed 9,000 Americans who vacationed regularly. What emerged from these hour-long, in-home interviews was " ... the general perception of Canada as clean, safe, and dull, with immense stretches of wilderness broken up by cities that closed down at 5 PM. A typical comment was, 'Canada doesn't present itself as an exciting place, with a lot of activity like New York .... or California for the craziness. There's nothing I can identify with Canada. It's just. ... Canada.'" What resulted from the research was a $14 million advertising campaign " .... to jazz up Canada's public persona. Out went the moose and the mountains and in came the nightclubs, Broadway-type theaters, Old World architecture, French cities and sports opportunities."
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Situation IV: Adv. Decision

Diet Rite had less than a 1 percent market share, which was much smaller than either Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. "Diet Rite had tried ads that pushed taste, lower price, even its low calorie content, but had not found an effective way to distinguish the product from its powerful competitors'. It was looking for an emotional hook. "So Diet Rite's agency ... began by interviewing dozens of women who were dieters. The interviewers, clinical psychologists, reported that these women were convinced their bodies were unattractive, or they used food for a substitute for a balanced family life, or they were raised in homes where food was used as a punishment or reward. All said they felt dieting was difficult and made them feel more vulnerable. "On the basis of these interviews (the agency) recommended that the Diet Rite campaign not show gorgeous & slim women because women with poor self-images could not relate to them. The agency also decided that viewers would empathize with other dieters who appeared vulnerable and hardworking."
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Situation V: New Product Development

When the Campbell Soup Co. first developed Juice Works, a line of fruit juices for children, " ... 200 students in elementary schools in New Jersey helped Campbell develop the new drinks by tasting and rating them. On scorecards filled with drawings of faces, the children gave the early samples low marks-a lot of frowns and children holding their noses and signaling thumbs down. Campbell modified the recipes until the scores 6 improved."

Introduction to Research
Research is the process of finding solutions to a problem after a thorough study and analysis of the situational factors

Business Research
Is defined as unbiased, structured and sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit or explicit business objective. This enquiry might lead to validating the existing postulates or arriving at new theories and methods. It is used to understand the market trends. To find out the optimal marketing mix, devise effective HR policies, or to find the best investment options and many more. 8

Situation
A domestic hearing-aid Co. is not able to keep above the red line and has identified inventory management in the company as probably one of the areas that needs to be refurbished. You take stocks of existing shipping, storing and delivery operations and find that you are losing out-of-stock conditions at your end. You track this down to a faulty inventory reporting system, where the data about stock is provided for a cycle of 40 days. A small impromptu survey with retailers stocking your products and the pathology labs recommending your products confirms your observations. You study the latest inventory management techniques available. You isolate three different practices and work out the feasibility of implementing each one of them in the company. The one that seems to be most cost and time effective is the one you choose and develop an inventory model which you implement for the base hearing aids. You realize you have a probable winner on hand. You prepare a report on the proposed inventory management model with cost implications to the management.

What do you observe here?

Basic Research
Basic research refers to focused systematic study or investigation undertaken to discover new knowledge and establish facts or principles in a particular field. It is primarily aimed at gathering knowledge. Eg: Understanding the consumer buying process Examining the consumer learning process.
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Applied Research
It refers to investigation undertaken to discover the applications and uses of theories, knowledge and principles in actual work or solving problems. It is used to answer a specific question, determine why something failed or succeeded, solve a specific problem. For eg: Evaluating the impact of a training program on employee performance Examining consumer response to direct marketing programs Identifying the reasons why product did not work well in market, when it had worked in test market.
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Some more types of research..

Exploratory research is a type of research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. Often relies on secondary research. Descriptive & Analytical research Quantitative & Qualitative research Conceptual & Empirical research

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Why is it important for managers to know about research?

Solve problems Decision making tool Competition Risk Investment

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Why Business/Marketing Research has evolved and grown

Managers are separated from their final consumers. They need information from their final consumers. Target Market Product & Services Price Distribution Promotion
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What is Marketing Research

.is the process of designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting information that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem. (Burns & Bush) is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve the understanding of marketing as a process. (AMA)

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Research applications in marketing

Market & consumer analysis Product research

Pricing research
Promotional research Place research

Research applications in finance

Asset pricing, capital markets and corporate finance Financial derivatives and credit risk modeling research

Market-based accounting research

Auditing and accountability Other areas: financial forecasting, behavioural finance, volatility analysis

 Training & development studies

Research applications in human resources

Selection and staffing studies

Performance appraisaldesign and evaluation Organization planning and development

Incentive and benefits studies

Emerging areascritical factor analysis, employer branding studies

Research applications in production & operations management

Operation planning and design Demand forecasting and demand estimation Process planning

Project management and maintenance effectiveness

studies Logistics and supply chain-design and evaluation Quality estimations and assurance studies

Market Research during different phases of administrative process

Setting goals and Establishing strategies Developing a plan Putting the plan in action Evaluating the plans effectiveness

Phase I

Phase II
Phase III Phase IV
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Factors affecting Business Research

Time constraint Availability of resources Nature of information sought Benefits versus costs

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Business Research Process

Problem & Objective Formulation Research Proposal & Hypotheses Formulation Research Design & Methods Select sample procedure Data collection Analysis & interpretation of data Research Report
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Problem Formulation
Research Problem refers to some difficulty which is impacting towards negativity on the business or Management and requires best solution. Components of research problem are: There must be some objective to attain. There must be alternative means for obtaining the objective, i.e., there must be more than one problem which can lead to generation of objective. There must be some doubt in the mind of researcher as to the selection of alternative. i.e. researcher must know that which problem is effecting more to the business.

1) 2)

3)

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Establishing the objective

After defining the problem, next stage is of establishing the objective. Defining of Objective is the most critical stage, as whole research is to be conducted to the objective.

Example: the scope for bringing about lasting changes in attitude by means of training programs.
(Problem: prior to objective that Projects are not completing on time or conflict level is increasing)

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Sources of Problem
1) 2) 3) Reading: reading critical articles related to the problem scenario. Experience: Experienced researchers can understand the scenario and can formulate problems easily. Exposure to field situations: Researcher has to visit field and sometimes has to do internship to understand the market closely and practically. Consultation to experts: discuss scenario to Experts and Business executives. Business executives interacts more to customers so can understand market easily. Brainstorming: discussing among the group about the case.
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4)

5)

Process of Identification of Problem

1) Selecting the discipline: Specify in which discipline research is to be done. Like: Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations, Economics etc Particular aspects of the selected subject: Here concentration is more into the area of discipline which has been specified. Identification of two or more specific topics in the selected broad area: This stage requires grasp of the area and awareness about the related problems and work which already has been done. (Sources of problem can be used on this stage)

2) 3)

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Criteria of Selection
Internal Criteria Researchers interest Researchers competence Researchers own resources External Criteria Researchability: Problem should be researchable Importance & Urgency Novelty or Originality Feasibility Usefulness and Social relevance

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Management Research Question Hierarchy

Discover the Management Dilemma Discover the Management Question Discover the Research Question Exploration
Refine the Research Question

Exploration

Stage 1 of Research Process

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Formulating the Research Question

Discover Management Dilemma Exploration Review published sources and interview information to understand true dilemma.

Identify symptoms rather than problems

Discover Management Question

Using collected exploratory Information to word the dilemma into question

Exploration Clarify the possible management action that might be taken to solve the dilemma.

Define Several management questions may be taken here. Research to Questions Each question is an alternative action that may be used 29
solve the dilemma

The Research Question: MindWriter

Discover Management Dilemma An increasing number of letters and phone complaints about postpurchase service. Discover Management Question
What should be done to improve the Complete Care program for MindWriter product repairs and servicing?

Exploration Employee shortages, Tech-line operator training, Uneven courier performance, Parts shortages, Inconsistent repair servicing, Product damage during repair, Product damage during Shipping, Packaging and handling

Exploration Service manager, Call center manager, Independent package company account executive

Research Questions

Should the tech-support operator be given more intensive training Should ABC Courier Service be replaced by an air-transport service Should the repair diagnostic and repair sequencing operations be Modified 30 Should metropolitan repair centers be established to complement or Replace in-factory repair facilities

Selecting between specific alternatives under consideration

Using Typical Research and then results will tell about the research question out of available questions Research from the past behavior and including some Quantitative techniques to research further. (Decision tree analysis)

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Research Proposal
Research Proposal is a blue print for conducting and controlling research. It is considered as a research plan to serve as a mean of communication between the researcher and the research supporter. Purpose of Research Proposal
Need of the particular research Beneficiaries of research Kind of data to be collected and the means Type of analysis that will be done Duration, facilities, and funds required to carry out the research Credentials of the proposals

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The Content of Research Proposal

Executive Summary Research Questions & Objectives Literature Review Hypotheses Generation Importance/Benefits of the Study Research Design/Method Time scale and Budget Data Analysis Bibliography and Appendices

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