COURSE: RESEARCH METHOD AND SKILLS

ASSIGNMENT NO: 1
“CASE STUDY
THE LAROCHE CANDY COMPANY”

SUBMITTED BY:
Fehmeen Dua (13269)
Mahnoor Fatima (13288)
Maria Khan (13346)
Ramsha Gul Shaikh (12290)
Ujala Sohail (13348)

SUBMITTED TO:
Sir Hamza Farooqui
Q1. What is Business Research?
The process of undertaking a detailed study of all the areas of a business including its customers
and the market and effectively using such information gathered in maximizing the sales and profit
of the business can be defined as Business Research. Purpose of undertaking business research.
The sole purpose behind undertaking Business Research could be for any one or all of the reasons
such as, Targeting of customers, understanding of market trends, better knowledge about
production departments, projection of sales, gaining knowledge about financial practices, locating
opportunities, and for adopting steps to prevent future problems. Business research when
undertaken helps companies in better understanding of the needs and requirements of the existing
and potential customers. This in turn acts as a guiding force in the development of products and
services as per the customer’s requirements.
Q2. Why is the project that Paul Thomas Anderson is doing for The Laroche Candy
Company a research project?
In this scenario, Research is all about analyzing and examining the overall the position of the
company and the issues it is going through with the company as a whole. In this scenario, Mr.
Anderson made a research considering the Mr. Davy's business issue which he is facing and then
find out the solutions to solve his problems through research. Mr. Davy's issue was that he was
really concerned about his business that either will be able to grow that business? Will he be able
to keep business strong enough to continue or will it affect his family relationships.
Q3. Which steps will Paul take now that he has clearly defined the problem that needs
attention?
First of all on the basis of his problem statement Paul will design the research, later he will collect
the aggregate data which is required for the complete understanding of this issue. After analyzing
all the collected data he will come out with his suggestion and findings of this particular issue.
After all of these things he will write down his findings and probable solutions and will publish it
to Luc Laroche and the whole company if required.
Q4. Luc Laroche has decided to hire an external consultant to investigate the problem. Do
you think that this is a wise decision or would it have been better to ask his son Davy or an
internal consultant to do the research project?
It is a wise decision by Luc Laroche, he did the right thing by hiring a professional person. Luc
Laroche himself wasn't able to identify the problem, Davy pointed out the issues. But as Davy’s
abilities are restricted to the accounts department only. He wasn't sure about taking over the
company at that moment. McKinsey Consultant. As his elder son Davy, is basically a field person
of accounting. So he would be only able to point out and look after this department particularly.
On the other hand, an internal consultant will only be able to examine the company at a micro
level. Whereas an external professional consultant 'Paul Thomas Addison' is able to examine the
company on a macro level as well. He did a thorough research and after that he was able to identify
all the issues such as financing related issues, the legal government regulations for the family
business and the overall performance and productivity of the company.

Q5. What can (or should) Luc do to assist Paul to yield valuable research results?
As Luc has established this company and he is there from the beginning till now. So he knows
everything related to this company. By using his experience luc can provide Paul with all the
information that he believes is important for him to know. As well as he should cooperate and try
his best to provide Paul with the information he required with accuracy. Although the external data
is easily accessible for Paul...but internal data is quite vulnerable hence, difficult to gather. So luc
can help him out in that manner.
Q6. How can basic or fundamental research help Paul to solve specific problem of The
Laroche Candy Company?
As the basic research is depend upon the problem that will occur in the future so Paul used basic
research and become familiar with statistics about the failure rate of family transitions and
triggered that the main problem of the Laroche candy company was familyism which state that
family values are important but sometimes it give negative impact on the development of the
company so Luc was only promoting his family members in the company .So basically he was not
hiring the fit person for the job and that was making the company weak.
Q7. Try to find relevant books, articles, and research reports relating to this issue. Use,
among others, electronic resources of your library and/or the Internet.

External consultants are hired for the sole purpose of their expertise and ability to create change
for a specific business problem. This brings more clarity and focus to the role, and helps
concentrate efforts on the project at hand, and often, helps ensure client buy-in. A consultant can
supplement the staff. Sometimes a business discovers it can save thousands of dollars a week by
hiring consultants when they are needed rather than hiring full-time employees. They also can save
additional money because they don't have to pay benefits to the consultants they hire. Even though
a consultant's fees are generally higher than an employee's salary, over the long haul it makes good
economic sense to hire a consultant.

Family-held businesses often suffer from their relationship dynamics such that it can be difficult
for the family members themselves to speak openly and honestly about problems dragging the
company down. Maybe one family member’s poor performance is being detrimental, or maybe an
inter-familial power struggle is causing the company to lack a unified strategy. A neutral and
objective consultant will be able to speak openly about these problems without fear of reprisals.