introduction to br

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Piyoosh Bajoria 1

Business Research Methods

Introduction to Research



A Corporate Problem An expensive Ad campaign is running on TV for 3

weeks.

Not produced expected jump in sales in major sales

territories

Marketing manager has to decide whether todiscontinue campaign, change it or reconfirm that it is

good

If Ad campaign is good it is some other marketing

variable such as price, or distribution or strong

competitive promotion are reasons for low sales

On what basis can the manager take this decision ?

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A Corporate Problem

A company wants to launch a new brand

of deodorant in the market

It desires to know how to position the

brand in the market

It needs estimate of market size in the

chosen segment

How to fulfil the information need of the

company?

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A Corporate Problem

A company has launched a new brand of

frost free refrigerator

After six months it wants to determine

customer satisfaction with the new brand

How to determine the customer

satisfaction in an authentic manner?

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A TV Channel Problem

A popular music channel on TV desire

information on

Who is the most popular video jockey?

Which show is most watched?

How to fulfil this requirement?

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A Public Utility Problem

BEST wants to increase occupancy

Should it drop fares by 5%, 7.5%, or 10%?

On all days, only weekends, or weekdays?

For AC buses, express, or ordinary

buses?

In city, west suburbs, or east suburbs?Piyoosh Bajoria 7



A Union Budget Problem

Would a 10% reduction in excise duty

lead to more than 10% increase in

demand & production of manufactured

goods?

For which product categories?

For large companies, or SMEs, or both?

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Traditional Real Life Riddle

Are bullion, real estate and

commodities supplementary or

complementary to Indian private

equity (PE) market in short term? In

medium term? In long term?



Real Life Problems

All these problems are too important

to be tackled in a naïve manner.

They need a systematic research

study.

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Piyoosh Bajoria 11

Definition

• Business research is defined as the

systematic and objective process of

gathering ,recording and analysing data

that generates information to guide

business decisions.



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USE OF BUSINESS REASEARCH• BR is used to help solving operational and

planning problems in various functional areas in abusiness organisation

• Marketing:

• To understand market trends

• To Gain Competitive advantage• Finance:

• To find the best investment option

• HR :

• To devise effective HR policies• Manufacturing :

• To find optimal product mix



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Scope of Business Research

• Market Research:

• Aims at understanding and examining marketplace in which the company operates (Deviseeffective marketing strategies & marketing plan)

• Operations Research:

• Involves use of mathematical models to findoptimal solutions to business problems(forecasting demand, optimising production,finding best investment option)

• Motivational Research:• Involves analysing reasons and motives behind

people’s behaviour (to understand consumer behaviour ,employee behaviour)



Basic research

Applied research

Business Research Types

14Piyoosh Bajoria



Basic Research

• Attempts to expand the limits of

knowledge.

• Not directly involved in the solution to a

specific problem.

• Concerned with generalizations and

formulation of theory

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Applied Research • Conducted when a decision must be made

about a specific real-life problem

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Applied Research Examples

• Should McDonalds add Italian pasta

dinners to its menu?

• Business research told McDonald’s it

should not?

• Should Procter & Gamble add a high-

priced home teeth bleaching kit to its

product line?

• Evaluating impact of a training programme

on employee performance18Piyoosh Bajoria



Piyoosh Bajoria 19

Techniques for research

• Both the research forms use scientific

methods in various stages of research

process



Scientific Method

• Scientific method is method of all logically

trained minds

• It involves the analysis and interpretation

of empirical evidence (facts from

observation or experimentation) to confirm

or disprove prior conceptions.

20Piyoosh Bajoria



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Use Of Scientific Method

• Basic Research :testing prior conception

making inferences

establishing general laws

• Applied Research : assures objectivity

in gathering facts and

testing creative ideas for

alternative business

strategy



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Role of Business Research in

decision Making

• It provides accurate ,timely and

relevant information to the Top

Management in various stages of decision making process



Stages in Decision Making

• Identifying problems and opportunities

• Diagnosis and assessment

• Selecting a course of action• Implementing a course of action

• Evaluating the course of action

23Piyoosh Bajoria



Piyoosh Bajoria 24

Identifying problems and opportunities

• BR helps in identifying problems and opportunities

through scanning internal & external businessenvironment

• Problems: Loss of market share

: Decline in profits

: IR problems: Ad campaign not effective

• Opportunities: To tap a new market

: To introduce a new product

:To seek a new investment opportunity: To take over a new unit



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Diagnosis and assessment• After identifying problem/opportunity BR helps in

provision of diagnostic information

• For problems specify what happened & why

• For opportunities explore ,clarify & refine the natur

of opportunity

• For multiple opportunities set priorities

• For prioritization of problems study its influence on

business operations & time factor

• Quantitative and qualitative investigations arecarried out to identify alternative courses of action



Selecting a course of action



Piyoosh Bajoria 27

Selecting a course of action

• After identifying alternative courses of

action BR is conducted to obtain specificinformation that will aid in evaluating

alternatives & selecting the best course of

action

-Selection of a marketing strategy using

results of consumer-jury test

-Selection of investment option using

results of forecasts of revenue potential



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Implementing & Evaluating a course of action

• After selecting the best course of action it has

to be effectively implemented .At this stage BRis mainly used to evaluate , monitor andcontrol the programmes that are beingimplemented.

• BR serves as a tool to find out-Whether planned activities were properlyexecuted

-Whether they accomplished what they were

expected to accomplish• Tools used :Performance Monitoring Research

: Evaluation Research



Evaluation Research

• Evaluation research is the formal,objective measurement and appraisalof the extent to which a given activity,

project, or program has achieved itsobjectives.

-Evaluation of discount couponscheme is carried out by comparingcoupon redemption rate with theobjectives set for the scheme

29Piyoosh Bajoria



Is sufficient time

available before

a managerial

decision

must be made?

Is the infor-

mation already

on hand

inadequate

for makingthe decision?

Is the decision

of considerable

strategic

or tactical

importance?

Does the value

of the research

information

exceed the cost

of conductingresearch?

Conducting

Business

Research

Do Not Conduct Business Research

Time ConstraintsAvailability of Data

Nature of the DecisionBenefitsvs. Costs

Yes Yes Yes Yes

No No No No

Determining When to Conduct

Business Research

32Piyoosh Bajoria



Piyoosh Bajoria 33

Value versus Costs

• Potential Value of a Business Research

Effort Should Exceed Its Estimated Costs



Value

•Decreased

uncertainty

•Increased likelihoodof a correct decision

•Improved business

performance and

resulting higher

profits

Costs

•Research

expenditures

•Delay of business

decision and

possible disclosure

of information to

rivals

•Possible erroneous

research results

Value Should Exceed

Estimated Costs

34Piyoosh Bajoria



Major Topics for Research in

Business• General Business Conditions and Corporate

Research

• Financial and Accounting Research

• Management and Organizational Behavior Research

• Sales and Marketing Research

• Information Systems Research• Corporate Responsibility Research

35Piyoosh Bajoria



Cross-functional Teams

• Cross-functional teams are composed of

individuals from various organizational

departments such as engineering,

production, finance, and marketing whoshare a common purpose.

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Piyoosh Bajoria 37

Business Research in the 21st

Century• Increased globalization

• Growth of the Internet and other

information technologies



Global Research

• Business Research is increasingly global

• Market knowledge is essential

• A.C. Nielsen - more that 67% internationalbusiness

• Indian Companies-

ORG_MARG

IMRB

38Piyoosh Bajoria



Th I



Piyoosh Bajoria 40

The Internet

Is Transforming Society• Time is collapsing.

• Distance is no longer an obstacle.

• Crossing oceans is only a mouse clickaway.

• People are connected 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

• "Instantaneous" has a new meaning.

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