Session -1

Introduction to Busines Research

Objectives: after this session, you would be able to
 s elf
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What could be some important considerations for a
business?????
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info
• Jelly Belly brand’s market research has capitalized on consumers’
.
desires to produce fifty varieties of jelly beans as well as recipes on
how to create snacks with them.

• More recently, Jelly Belly is trying to capitalize on consumers’ desires

for sports performance products. Survey research suggests that
consumers would respond favorably to food and drink products
providing benefits that improve one’s ability to exercise.3 As a result,
Jelly Belly has introduced Sport Beans. Sport Beans contain added
electrolytes, carbohydrates, and vitamins designed to provide added
energy and alertness.
Benefits of business research

• In how many ways research can help a business??????????

 The nature of business research
• For managers, the purpose of research is to provide knowledge regarding all
functional areas of the organization, the product, customers, employees, the
market, the economy, or another area of business interest.

• The ultimate goal of business research is to supply accurate information that

reduces the uncertainty in managerial decision making/ helps managers
make informed decisions. Business research helps decision makers shift from
intuitive information gathering to systematic and objective investigation.
What is Business research ????

• It is a systematic collection, analysis , and interpretation of

information (data) with a clear purpose

• 1)To solve a business problem (Applied Research)

• 2) To add to the available knowledge regarding a particular business

area (Pure/ Academic research).
Some commonly researched areas in business
• 1.Employee behaviors such as performance, absenteeism, and turnover, counter productive work
behaviors.

• 2. Employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and organizational commitment.

• 3. Supervisory performance, managerial leadership style, and performance appraisal

• systems.

• 4.Study the impact of job sharing, flexitime, flexiplace, and part-time work.

• 5. Research into leadership positions, salaries, and leadership styles.

• 6. Employee engagement /motivation……….

• 7. How to increase business performance.

• 8- Study consumer behavior…………………………………………………………

 (Data)

Explanatory Research
(causal studies)
 Scenario 1 To acquire or not to acquire: that is the question

• Companies are very interested in acquiring other firms. For example, Coca-Cola has

announced that it wants to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group in an effort to expand its

activities in one of the world's fastest-growing beverage markets.” However, given the

uncertain nature of the stock market and the slowing down of business, many companies are

not sure whether such acquisitions involve too much risk. At the same time, they also

wonder if they are missing out on a great business opportunity if they fail to take such risk.

Some research is needed here!

 Scenario 2 Reasons for absenteeism

• A university professor wanted to analyze in depth the reasons for

absenteeism of employees in organizations. Fortunately, a company within
20 miles of the campus employed her as a consultant to

• study that very issue. She thinks that the information she will receive from
here will be generalizable to other companies also.
Scenario 3 Effects of service recovery on customer satisfaction

• A research scientist wants to investigate the question: What is the most

effective way for an organization to recover from a service failure?

Her objective is to provide guidelines for establishing the proper “fit”

between service failure and service recovery that will generalize

across a variety of service industries.

Business Research orientations
• Product focused

• Production focused
• Marketing oriented/customer focused
Characteristics of valuable research information/data

Relevance

Timeliness completeness

quality
 Data sources for
business research

Academic
Research