BRT Summary - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO PASS THE COURSE FIRST TIME

Module 1: The research process
Business research: a series of well-thought-out activities and carefully executed data
analyses that are aimed to help a manager avoid, solve, or minimize a problem.

i. Business research is well-thought-out.
ii. Business research entails gathering and analyzing data
iii. Business research is meant to help managers make better decisions

Knowledgeable about business research
1. To be able to PERFORM business research.
That is, you should be able to undertake research studies yourself to solve the smaller
problems that you will encounter in your future job as controller, marketing manager,
project manager, consultant, entrepreneur, ...
2. To be able to STEER business research.
That is, you should be able to interact effectively with your firm's in-house research
department and/or external research agencies who will carry out research studies for you.
If you are not able to steer business research, you may end up with great answers but to
the wrong questions.
3. To be able to EVALUATE business research.
That is, you should be able to judge whether research proposals and finalized research
reports from your firm's research department and/or external research agencies are any
good. After all, you would not want to make decisions based on bad research

Myths about Business research:
1. The ‘’big bucks’’ myth  business research is very diverse it can be cheap, it can be
expensive

2. The ‘’most research is not read’’ myth  For a knowledgeable manager, research do
not need to be intimidating

3. The ‘’managers are from mars; researchers are from Venus’’ myth  Managers
with knowledge about research have an advantage over those without.

4. The ‘’Big decision’’ myth  For small decisions, the best managers carry out their
own research

5. The ‘’universal truth’’ myth  There different way to do research and there is
different way to help you make decisions (different strategy and methods).  there is
no such thing as an absolute truth in business research

,Hallmarks of research:

Hallmarks of research
1. Purposiveness Clear goal  Knowing ‘’the why’’ of your research

2. Rigor Sound theoretical base + methodological design  strict precision or
exactness (unbiased question, representative sample etc.)
3. Objectivity Conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)

4. Parsimony Keep it simple, not too many variables  ‘’Shaving away’’ the
unnecessary details  explaining a lot – with little
5. Replicability Same results when research is repeated in similar circumstances

6. Generalizability Be able to apply the findings to different/wider setting  this should
be for fundamental research … but much less for applied research




Fundamental vs applied research:
Applied research Fundamental research
Who? Companies/organizations, students Professors, teachers
Goal? More insights to a practical issue More insights for theory building
Outcome? Solving a problem, classified General insights, public
Relevance? Mangers, consultants Academic world, society, and
companies

Applied research
 To solve a current problem faced by a manager for a company
 Applies to a SPECIFIC company
 Within firms or research agencies

Fundamental research
 To generate new knowledge about how problems that occurs in SEVERAL firms can
be solved
 Applies to several organizational settings
 Mainly within university (and knowledge institutes)

Goal of Fundamental Research is that it can be applied by organization in smaller setting to
solve their own problems

Deductive vs inductive research:
Deductive Inductive
Test theory Building theory
Theory  Data Data  Theory
Top-Down method Bottom – Up method

,7 steps of deductive research:




Quantitative vs qualitative research:
Quantitative (NUMBERS) vs. qualitative research (WORDS  No Numerical)
Quantitative researchers emphasize the importance of formulating hypotheses based on
previous work and well-supported theories. The reasoning behind quantitative research is
largely deductive.
Qualitative researchers adopt the opposite approach: they use observations as a starting
point and then seek explanations for their observations. The reasoning behind qualitative
research is largely inductive.
These two research approaches are not mutually competing. They can be used in
combination, within a single research study

, Module 2: Defining the problem and Developing Theory
Business problem:
A business problem occurs when there is a gap between the actual state of a company and
the desired state of a company.
Two types of Business problem:
Type 1: Actual situation of a company is seriously
wrong and need to be solved as soon as
possible
Type 2: The actual situation is not seriously wrong but
can be improved

The Business problem is manager focused
 Feasible  Possible
 Relevant  Important

(1) Feasible: is it doable?
A good Business Problem should not be impossible to investigate
 Is the problem demarcated?
 Can the problem be expressed in variables?
 Are you able to gather the required data (Existing or new data)?
Demarcated = it should not be too big

(2) Relevant: worthwhile to solve
A good Business problem should be important to investigate

Managerial Relevance: who benefits from having the problem solved?
 Managers… of one company/industry/multiple industries
 End users (consumers, investors, taxpayers…)
 Public policy makers (government, EU, …)

Academic Relevance: it should not have been solved before!
 Completely new topic  No research available at all, although topic is important
 New Context  Prior research is available but not in same context
 Integrate scattered research  studies focused on different IVs/moderators and
relative importance is not clear
 Reconcile contradictory research (solve contradiction)  Introducing one or more
moderators to make relationship clearer (When it is indicated that study 1 found a
negative relationship and study 2 found a positive relationship, you use this to clarify
the relationship by adding moderator(s))