1. Business Research for the 21st Century
Chapter 1
Learning Objectives:
Provide an orientation to modern day business research.
Define business research and the people who use it.
Discuss recent business trends and how they effect business research.
Examine research related technologies.
Introduce Samouel’s restaurant case analysis.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

2. Business Research
seeks to predict and explain all phenomena that taken together comprise the ever-changing business environment.
finds answers that (a) improve business performance, and (b) improve the lives of customers, employees and owners.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

3. Business Research
is a truth-seeking function that gathers, analyzes, interprets and reports information so that business decision makers become more effective.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

4. Key Elements of Business Research
Business research is broad.
Business research can be formal.
Business research can be informal.
Good research is replicable.
Good research should provide more benefit than it costs.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

5. Applied and Basic Business Research
How will the acquisition of new vineyard property affect profitability of Martinelli Winery?
Can prospective employee psychological profiles be used to reduce turnover at Sacred Heart Hospital?
Basic
What factors relate to consumer perceptions of a wine’s overall quality?
Does job stress affect the job performance and satisfaction of male and female service providers?
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

6. Who Uses Business Research?
High Tech Firms
Low Tech Firms
Manufacturing
Service
Not for Profits
Charitable Organizations
Government Organizations
Law makers
Courts
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

7. Business Research Trends Impacting Business Research
Go On-Line
Relationship Marketing
International Research
Expanding Market Freedom
Trends
Impacting
Business
Research
Information Revolution
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

8. Information Revolution and Research
Electronic Communication
Networking
Data Warehouse
“Off the shelf” data
Organizational Learning
Satellite Technology
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

9. What do these acronyms mean?
Go On-Line
PUSH
SMART
ATM
ASP
LATEX
Crypto Rage
PATROL
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

10. The KDD process involves the following steps:
Go On-Line
Establishing access to relevant data;
Selecting the set of events (data) to be analyzed;
Cleaning this data so it is understood by the algorithm;
Developing and using rules for selecting interesting relationships; and
Developing a report of relationships that may affect firm performance.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

11. How the information age is affecting researchers and decision makers:
Matter matters less.
Distance matters less.
Time matters more.
Customization matters more.
People matter more.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

12. Business Research
Go On-Line
What is located on this website that is of value to business researchers?
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

13. Internal Versus External Researchers?
Hire outside consultant/researchers?
Does the research require special expertise?
Can employees be objective?
Are new insights desired?
Perform research “in-house?”
Do we want to save time?
Is close employee collaboration required?
Do we want to save money?
Will we need to follow up on the results?
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

14. Research Proposals
A formal written proposal is the result of interactions between a client and a researcher.
It translates business concerns into research problems.
An approach to solve the problem(s) is agreed upon (it involves performing research).
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

15. Structure of Research Proposal
Project Title.
Background Information – specifies events leading up to request for the proposal to be prepared and submitted.
Problem Statement and Research Objectives.
Research Strategy and Methods – data to be collected, how it will be collected and analyzed. This summarizes steps that will be taken to achieve the research objectives.
Nature of the Final Report to be submitted – specifies type and nature of report.
Budget and Schedule.
Qualifications of Project Consultants and Research Firm.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

16. Summary Provide an orientation to modern day business research.
Define business research and the people who use it.
Discuss recent business trends and how they affect business research.
Examine research related technologies.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

17. Description of Employee Survey Variables
Variable Description Variable Type
Work Environment Measures
X1 I am paid fairly for the work I do Metric
X2 I am doing the kind of work I want Metric
X3 My supervisor gives credit an praise for work well done Metric
X4 There is a lot of cooperation among the members of my work group Metric
X5 My job allows me to learn new skills Metric
X6 My supervisor recognizes my potential Metric
X7 My work gives me a sense of accomplishment Metric
X8 My immediate work group functions as a team Metric
X9 My pay reflects the effort I put into doing my work Metric
X10 My supervisor is friendly and helpful Metric
X11 The members of my work group have the skills and/or training
to do their job well Metric
X12 The benefits I receive are reasonable Metric
Relationship Measures
X13 Loyalty – I have a sense of loyalty to Samouel’s restaurant Metric
X14 Effort – I am willing to put in a great deal of effort beyond that
expected to help Samouel’s restaurant to be successful Metric
X15 Proud – I am proud to tell others that I work for Samouel’s
restaurant Metric
Classification Variables
X16 Intention to Search Metric
X17 Length of Time an Employee Nonmetric
X18 Work Type = Part-Time vs. Full-Time Nonmetric
X19 Gender Nonmetric
X20 Age Nonmetric
X21 Performance Metric
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.

18. Description of Customer Survey Variables
Variable Description Variable Type
Restaurant Perceptions
X1 Excellent Food Quality Metric
X2 Attractive Interior Metric
X3 Generous Portions Metric
X4 Excellent Food Taste Metric
X5 Good Value for the Money Metric
X6 Friendly Employees Metric
X7 Appears Clean & Neat Metric
X8 Fun Place to Go Metric
X9 Wide Variety of menu Items Metric
X10 Reasonable Prices Metric
X11 Courteous Employees Metric
X12 Competent Employees Metric
Selection Factor Rankings
X13 Food Quality Nonmetric
X14 Atmosphere Nonmetric
X15 Prices Nonmetric
X16 Employees Nonmetric
Relationship Variables
X17 Satisfaction Metric
X18 Likely to Return in Future Metric
X19 Recommend to Friend Metric
X20 Frequency of Patronage Nonmetric
X21 Length of Time a Customer Nonmetric
Classification Variables
X22 Gender Nonmetric
X23 Age Nonmetric
X24 Income Nonmetric
X25 Competitor Nonmetric
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.