Business and Management Research

WELCOME
 Lecture 2
Business and
management research?
 Learning objectives
By the end of this lecture, you should understand:

■ What is a business research?

■ What do business and management researchers study?
■ What is a research idea?
■ the definition of Goals and Objectives
What is a business research?
• Business research may be defined as a systematic
inquiry whose objective is to provide the information
that will allow managerial problems to be solved.

• Management problem : any problem or opportunity

that requires a management decision.

•In real life, management problems are not always so

clearly defined.
What do business and management
researchers study?
 What is the problem facing the
researcher or manager?
Air Swiss Case
You work for Air Swiss, an aviation company that is searching for new
international partners. The senior vice president for development asks you to
head a task force to investigate six companies that are potential candidates. You
assemble a team composed of representatives from the relevant functional areas.
Pertinent data are collected from public sources because of the sensitive nature
of the project. You examine all of the following: company annual reports;
articles in business journals, trade magazines and newspapers; financial
analysts’ assessments; and company advertisements. Your team members then
develop summary profiles of the candidate firms based on the characteristics
gleaned from these sources. The final report highlights the opportunities and
problems that acquisition of the target firm would bring to all areas of the
business.
 Discussion
How carefully you read and understood
the case?
 Discussion
How carefully you read and understood
the case?

■ The researcher’s/manager’s problem is fairly well

defined in the Air Swiss case.

■ In the Air Swiss case, the senior vice president for

development must make a proposal to the president, or
possibly the board of directors, about which is the
preferred international partner with which to join forces.
The research Spiral
 Research Process
•The research begins with a problem and proceeds
through data collection and analysis to the written report.
 What is a research idea?
• Good research starts with something that
catches your attention (Weick, 1992)
• A research idea is general enough to describe
anything you might research (Lundberg, 1999)
• A research topic defines an area to research
• A research setting and sample will emerge
 Generating ideas for your research
project

• Good ideas come from all kinds of places

• Don’t close down the idea-generation process
too early
• Don’t let your method or context dictate your
topic
Getting to one idea
 Sources of ideas

– One that you identify

– One that is identified for you by an organisational
sponsor
– One that comes from the world
– Make sure that it is relevant
 Brainstorming
• A technique for generating and selecting
ideas
• Sources of ideas might include
– Your personal interests
– Your studies
– Other students’ projects
– Other sources
 Selecting ideas
• Does it meet the project requirements?
• Is it relevant to any practical problem?
• Am I interested in this project?
• Is it worth studying?
 Characteristics of good research
topics
 Your topic satisfies project guidelines
 Your topic is feasible or possible
 Your topic is relevant to business and
management practice
 Your findings/recommendations are relevant to
your project stakeholders
 Refining your research topic

• Narrow down the topic to a reasonable

scope using research questions that
– define your research topic
– define the nature of your research
– define the issues that you will explore
• Use the literature for support
Using a hierarchy of concepts to refine
your research topic
 Goals/Objectives

• The most important element of a successful

research is the development of attainable goals
and measurable objectives

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 Goals and Objectives

Objective One

Goal Objective Two

Objective Three

Maintain a clear connection between your goals and

objectives.
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 Goals: Characteristics
• Describe the overall purpose of the research
• Describe broad outcomes and concepts (what
we want to accomplish)

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 Objectives
• Specifically state how the goals will be achieved
• Are measurable: Define what you want to see

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 SMART Objectives

• Specific: Be precise about what you are going

to achieve
• Measurable: Quantify the objectives
• Appropriate: Align with the needs of the target
audience
• Realistic: Do you have the resources to make
the objective happen?
• Time-Specific: State when you will achieve the
objective

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 SMART: Specific Objectives

Specific: Be precise about what you are going to

achieve
– Specify target
– Specify intended outcome
– One outcome per objective
– Sample: By January 2010, at least 3% of the engineering
majors at the institution will be female

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 S MART: Measurable Objectives

Measurable: Quantify the objectives

– Use measures as indicators of program success
– Sample: By January 2010, at least 3% of the engineering
majors at the institution will be female

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 SM ART: Appropriate Objectives

Appropriate: Align with the needs of the target

audience
– Meeting the objective will advance the goal
– Identify a specific target audience
– Are inclusive of diversity within your group
– Sample: By January 2010, at least 3% of the engineering
majors at the institution will be female
– Note: The “A” is sometimes called “Attainable” or
“Achievable” in the literature.

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 SMA RT: Realistic Objectives

Realistic : Do you have the resources to make the

objective happen?
– Are important to stakeholders
– Are adequately resourced
– Can be achieved
– Sample: By January 2010, at least 3% of the engineering
majors at the institution will be female
Take care on what you say you can do! The January
2009 baseline was 2%. Is a 1% increase in one year
realistic?

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 SMAR T: Time-Specific Objectives
Time-Specific: State when you will achieve the objective
– Provide timeframe indicating when objective will be met
– Sample: By January 2010, at least 3% of the engineering
majors at the institution will be female

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