Free Sample Notes For Research Methods For Business

1. Comment on the following situation.

The dilemmas of Dorothy Dunning

Dorothy Dunning, Chief Production Manager, was on top of the world just two years ago. In her nontra¬ditional job, she was cited to be the real backbone of the company, and her performance was in no small measure responsible for the mergers the institution was contemplating with other well-known global corporations.
Of late, though, the products of the company had had to be recalled several times owing to safety con¬cerns. Quality glitches and production delays also plagued the company.

To project a good image to consumers, Dunning developed a very reassuring website and made sweep¬ing changes in the manufacturing processes to enhance the quality of the product, minimize defects, and enhance the efficiency of the workers. A year after all these changes, the company continues to recall defective products!

2. Given the situations below:

a. discuss, with reasons, whether they fall into the category of applied or basic research;

b. for Scenario 1, explain, with reasons, who will conduct the research.

Scenario 1 To acquire or not to acquire: that is the question

Companies are very interested in acquiring other firms, even when the latter operate in totally unrelated realms of business. 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. Such acquisitions are claimed to "work miracles." However, given the volatility 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 risks. 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 organiza¬tions. Fortunately, a company within 20 miles of the campus employed her as a consultant to study that very issue.

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 organi¬zation 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.

Comment on the following situation

Dorothy Dunning, the chief production manager for the company had taken every possible measure to correct the situation. The company’s image had suffered a lot due to deteriorating quality of products. Dunning’s efforts to enhance the image by launching an online campaign by launching a reassuring website. This step seemed to be correct as this is the fastest and the cheapest way to connecting with customers. Dunning seemed to be aware of the power of the power of the internet and its impact on the minds of the customers without incurring high costs of traditional marketing campaign. This was an innovative idea on rhe part of Dunning to start a positive campaign. The results of this campaign is however not very clear form the case study as it is not stated whether the company had been able to gain advantage from the online campaign.

On the other hand the most critical problem was to plug the production of faulty products. Dunning took the usual steps that one would take to enhance quality assurance and quality maintenance. Dunning also tried to improve employee efficiency. But even after a year the steps seem to have not resulted in any positive result. It seems that Dunning had not been able to locate the actual problem as even after taking all the usual possible steps the situation did not improve. Hence it can be said that Dunning was unable to locate the actual problem in the production line. Secondly, even after not getting results using the usual steps taken for quality enhancement and assurance, Dunning needed to take some innovative steps to enhance and maintain quality of products.

2 (a)

In the scenario 1 where Coca Cola wants to acquire China’s Huiyun Juice Group by buying out much research is needed into the proposal. The research needed would be applied research about the actual market situations in China, which the Coca Cola Company is backing on the world’s fastest growing beverage market, China, for its increased sales from the acquisition. The theories of market research, risks theories of acquisitions and volatility of the global market need to be tallied with the actual on the ground situation in the Chinese market (Collier, 2003).

In scenario 2 where the university professor wants to analyze the reasons for absenteeism has to employ applied research. Here the professor would have to find out from the factory workers where she has been offered employment as a consultant, their reasons for absenteeism and arrive at practical decision on the subject. The aim is to find out in-depth knowledge about absenteeism based on some basic knowledge about the subject already known and use the actual on the ground situation at the factory (Fields, 2002). As in scenario 1, here too the research aims to find out practical solutions to the problem.

In the scenario 3, the researcher needs to conduct basic research where he would find solutions to a general problem. The researcher would not have access to practical situations. The researcher would depend on the researches already done. The aim of the research is to prepare general guidelines on the subject and hence basic research work is needed.

2 (b)

In scenario1, the research should primarily carried out by market experts form the company. Some help can be sought from survey agencies who can do a survey among the customers in the Chinese market about beverages. The reason for conducting the research by in house representatives is that they are the best judge of the situation and are aware of the company objectives behind the research. Moreover there is also the question of integrity as the research is vital for the Coca Cola Company to take a business decision that would have far reaching consequences (Webster, 2004).

References

Collier, P. (2003). Accounting for managers. West Sussex, England: J. Wiley.

Fields, E. (2002). The essentials of finance and accounting for nonfinancial managers. New York: AMACOM.

Oldcorn, R. (1993). Accounting for managers. London: Routledge.

Webster, W. (2004). Accounting for managers. New York: McGraw-Hill.