Business research process steps and variable relationships in applications

Business research process is unique in that it may be tailored to individual types of organizations and their needs. For example, business research for a large, multinational pharmaceutical company would have slightly different needs than that a local fast-food franchise group. However, there are six basic steps that most every business research project should cover:

Appraisal -- Before any research can be done, it is important to do an honest assessment of the organization. The business needs to know where it is in terms of fiscal strength or weakness, what kinds of human and other resources are available, and what its goals are.

Competitive Analysis -- Identifying the competitive landscape is important and can be done through secondary research; market share, market sales, number of employees, and key strengths. This can usually be done through the Internet, using secondary or, in large organizations, their own annual reports.

Customer Analysis- It is vital to understand customer needs and wants prior to undertaking new product launches or improving the business. Typically, depending on the market niche, primary research of questionnaires, phone surveys, mall intercepts, or focus groups are used to get consumer information.

SWOT or other Analysis -- SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a simple spreadsheet used to analyze the information from the above analyses. Taking the current organization, the competitive landscape, and all available primary and secondary research provides a tool to give a broad, yet powerful, overview of the organization.

Target and Strategic Goals -- Study the target audience through primary research after a thorough analysis is done with the SWOT. Use this information to develop strategic and/or medium-long-term goals.

Application and Tactics -- Once this is done, use the information to develop tactics; glean funding, upgrade manufacturing, etc. (Bryman and Bell, 2007).

Part 2 -- Variables

Any theoretical framework is a collection of concepts that are interrelated -- not always completely worked out, but ways to guide research and experimental design. Within each theoretical framework we find cases that are objects in which we study behavior, characteristics, and attributes. Then, we must have dependent and independent variables. The dependent variable is the outcome -- or the variable one is trying to explain or predict; the independent variable is the explanatory factor(s) that explain variation -- the causes. The terms actually have meaning only in relationship between each other. The dependent variable, for instance, is reliant on the value of the independent variable (Understanding the Difference, 2010). For example, if we were studying the relationship between price and sales volume for a pizza restaurant we would try to predict sales based on price per piece or per pizza. Sales, then, are dependent upon price -- our assumption is that there is a drop in sales if the price becomes too high.

Standard or Functional Model of demand -- would hold that the Dependent variable is the amount demanded (quantity) and the independent variables are price, consumer's income, price of competitive pizza, and consumer's preferences. Or: A (Pizza) = D (A, Income, Competitive Price, Tastes for other foods).

We might expect this:

A Functional model of demand would put precise numbers into the equation and calculate how much pizza would be sold based on price. So we might assume that all things being equal, we have a large pizza at different prices: A = $20, B=$15, C=$10, D=5 -- we know the cost of making this particular pizza (ingredients, labor, but no share of rent, etc.) is $4. We would use a demand schedule to find the following:

Price

Quantity Demanded

Per Week

Gross

Price*Qty

Net

Gross-Cost

A

$20

$2,000

$1,600

B

$15

$3,000

$2,200

C

$10

$3,500

$2,100

D

$5

$2,500

$500

Thus, in this case, despite demand rising when price lowers, the preliminary data shows that the optimum price/profit is the $15 price. (Sources: Adil, 2006; Supply and Demand, 2005).

Part 3 -- The Internet in business research

Marketing is so ingrained in the modern way of life we almost do not notice it -- yet we are all ingrained and enraptured by its very power and existence. However, in order for most any marketing application to be successful, data is needed to provide access to the best possible scenario and result. This aspect of marketing is called market research and is charged with gathering and interpreting information that will help businesses make better decisions by understanding consumer behavior (Hartman 2003).

One of the newer issues in marketing research, though, is the use of the Internet as a primary mode of information collection. So much controversy over privacy and use of data has ensued, for example, that legislation now exists to protect and define just how and when marketing research data may be used, under what conditions, and even how it is collected, stored and disseminated. One of the primary functions of the very nature of marketing research is interpretation of the vast amounts of data being collected at every juncture of the consumer experience. This interpretation requires a robust understanding of the marketplace, the organization, the consumer, and the means necessary to equalize all the gaps that might exist. Ethical lapses include: 1) Maliciously misrepresenting recommendations to meet personal or functional goals at the expense of the firm's goals and best interests; 2) Misrepresenting the expertise and understanding by the marketing research group; 3) Being less than knowledgeable in the marketing research craft, improperly conducting the research and then analyzing and making recommendations based on this incompetency; 4) Discovering a mistake in the analysis and interpretation and not coming forward to correct this mistake. Consequences are, of course, many -- from the level of trust in the data to a legal suite and monetary damages (Wayde, 2006).