Week 5 Discussion

Business Research Projects From Problem to Potential Solutions Research Project: An Example A business research project is typically undertaken because there is a problem at a company that needs to be solved. By effectively conducting business research projects, companies should be able to find solutions to problems that they may be experiencing. Let’s look at an example. Problem A company’s current sales from a year ago are down by 20 percent. The company undertakes a research project to determine why the sales are lower. There are many reasons why the sales may be lower. These reasons are as follows: • The company may find that the economy is not doing well. • The company may find that the competitor’s prices are lower. Pilot Test To gain proper insight into the problem, the company created a research design. A research design aids in achieving the research goals and acts as a template for answering the research questions. After the research project is designed, the company conducted a pilot test. If the pilot test goes well, more efforts should be conducted in accumulating the appropriate amount of data to thoroughly study the problem. If the pilot study does not go well, the research project should be redesigned. Result Through business research, the company found out that the sales for a particular company product are lower than the same time period a year ago because the company has not been sufficiently advertising the product. The company can use this business research to ask the advertising department to spend more money advertising the product. Parts of a Research Report A research report is prepared to communicate the research results to the business decision maker. Therefore, it is important the researcher adjust the style and organization of the report according to the requirement of the decision maker. A research report may consist of various parts and can be communicated through a written document, a conference call, a letter, an oral presentation, or a combination of these methods. However, a standard research report should contain four parts: an executive summary, an overview of the research, implementation strategies, and an appendix. Executive Summary The executive summary, or abstract, should contain a summary of the studied problem, results found, and recommendations to solve the problem. It is important to note that executives, or business decision makers, are busy individuals; they may not have time to read the entire report. The executive summary may be the only thing they read; thus, it is important to succinctly present information. Overview The overview of the research, or the process description, should contain an explanation of why the topic was studied, a literature review of various journal articles, an explanation of the process used to conduct the research, and a description of the research findings. Implementation Strategies A separate part of the report should recommend steps to resolve the problem. Appendix The appendix should contain all the information that is needed to recreate the project. The appendix can include the data used in the project and any computer programs used to calculate statistics. © 2017 South University