Research In Business Decision Making

To assure that only high quality papers are published, all research articles are subject to peer review before they appear in the journal. While the actual members of the board of editors are of German or Austrian nationality, the editorial review board represents 15 countries. The goal of the editors is to provide timely feedback within 70 days after submission. For the first three issues, the average review time was 46 days with an acceptance rate of 20%.

BuR is an open access journal. Articles published in this electronic journal are made available to the public for free. In addition, articles published by BuR are listed in, and hence can be found and accessed by, databases like EBSCO, SSRN and others. A specific feature of BuR is the opportunity to publish online appendices (e.g., datasets, simulations etc.) along with the article itself. For this purpose, the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) cooperates with the City- and University Library Cologne and the Library Service Center for North Rhine-Westphalia (hbz) in technical and editorial issues.

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In general, business research refers to any type of researching done when starting or running any kind of business. For example, starting any type of business requires research into the target customer and the competition to create a business plan. Conducting business market research in existing businesses is helpful in keeping in touch with consumer demand. Small business research begins with researching an idea and a name and continues with research based on customer demand and other businesses offering similar products or services. All business research is done to learn information that could make the company more successful.

Business research methods vary depending on the size of the company and the type of information needed. For instance, customer research may involve finding out both a customer’s feelings about and experiences using a product or service. The methods used to gauge customer satisfaction may be questionnaires, interviews or seminars. Researching public data can provide businesses with statistics on financial and educational information in regards to customer demographics and product usage, such as the hours of television viewed per week by people in a certain geographic area. Business research used for advertising purposes is common because marketing dollars must be carefully spent to increase sales and brand recognition from ads.

The Role of Research in Business Decision Making

Research is essential to collect facts and statistics about a company’s customers, employees and competitors. On the basis of these numbers, companies are able to make better managerial decisions. The collected statistics are organized into reports and the management team uses them to take action. A good research mechanism is essential, irrespective of the size of the company and its client base. Research is imperative for staying competitive in the market.

Significance

A business is able to make knowledgeable decisions because of research. In the research process, the company is able to obtain information about key business areas, analyze it, develop a strategy and distribute business information. Reports, provided to the top management, often include information on consumer and employee preferences and all the available routes for sales, marketing, finance and production. Management uses this information to decide the best strategy. Research is a prerequisite at all stages and phases of business operations. Initial research is required to gauge whether getting into the given type of business would be profitable and whether there is demand for the proposed product.

Function

By conducting business research, the organization ascertains what its customers want and then takes steps to prepare a product meeting those desires. Research also helps determine whether a product is accepted in the market. Research aids expansion into new markets.

Methods of Data Collection

There are two ways organizations typically collect data.

One is primary data collection from your immediate consumers, who provide feedback on your products. You can also invite customers to offer opinions on future products. To gain this information, an interviewer asks the customer to provide views on how the company can modify the existing product to satisfy his needs better. The interviewer uses surveys and questionnaires to collect and record data. This method is helpful for gaining insight about a company’s particular merchandise.

The second method is secondary data collection, which uses data that has already been printed over the Internet and in magazines and journals. This is predominantly useful in gauging the broad market scenarios.

Considerating a Consultant

Conducting research involves cost and time. The organization must weigh the pros and cons before hiring consultants to conduct research. Consultants must be made fully aware of what the organization is looking for from the research.

Advantages

The primary benefit to business research is that the organization is able to learn more about consumer choices and preferences. Research provides information on the product features that lure customers and flaws in the product or marketing that contribute to slow sales. Research helps the organization fix problems and cash in on the strengths. Research also contributes to a company’s ability to clearly identify the customer demographics and target demographic, including age, gender, monthly income of the household and educational levels. Research mitigates business risks and can help increase demand and sales.

Importance of business research

Business research programs are an increasingly popular way for companies to train and educate their managers and other employees in a vast array of different fields. Business research education can pertain to economics, business strategy and ethics, in fact, anything related to modern business and trade. In a corporate world that is seemingly more cutthroat than ever, company executives must consider whether their staff members can really fulfill their jobs effectively without specialist education. 

Having a well-educated and informed staff means that operations will run that more smoothly. For instance, some business research programs delve into the theories behind people management. This can be seen as one of the most important educational tools for companies. If senior managers are all officially educated and certified in the field of management they will be able to drive a workforce on using effective motivational techniques. 

Management is not the only field covered by business research programmes however. One of the most popular forms of education covers information on accounting. While specialist accountants are an available resource, by training staff members to understand accounting functions, it is possible for a company to build its knowledge base in the field, streamlining process and overall improving the efficiency of operations. Understandably, by improving the efficiency of a company, profitability is increased, meaning that the financial outlay for education is ultimately worthwhile. 

Another field covered by the umbrella term of business research is international business. For company directors who are on the brink of enlarging their operations beyond their national boundaries sending staff on courses relating to this field is highly advisable. International trade has different theories and strategies relating to it and hence by building a bank of knowledge on the subject means that it is possible for companies to find that edge over the global competition. 

As information technology becomes an increasingly large part of business, education modules in this field have also grown. Information technology can relate to using software in management, accounting or even invoicing but as the use of the internet and online trade grows, educating staff in the ways to take advantage of this new media is an advisable course of action. 

Another field in business research is sales and sales techniques. This is especially important for many companies as sales are the way of securing new income. Naturally sales techniques will differ depending upon the services or products being sold but there are certain general rules that should be followed. By having a well-trained and informed sales team, they will be able to bring more trade, and hence improve the portfolio and profits of the company. As an adjunct to sales is marketing education, this is especially important in many industries as having a well presented product or service can reap many benefits. Thankfully education will result in employees having the knowledge to produce a brand image that is desirable, dynamic and above all attractive to customers. 

In a modern world where business research is a key part of any development plan there are a large number of educational institutions arising to meet these demands. For any company director, making the realisation that a well-trained and educated workforce is an asset in its own right is an important step. Once this realisation has been made it will be possible to train staff members and acquire an employee base that is up to date with developments in the business world. Having the knowledge of how to take advantage of these developments and remain at the cutting edge of any industry sector is naturally an essential part of any strategy.

The Importance of Business Research and Surveys

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WHAT MOST business owners fail to understand is that the running of their business is not solely determined by the effort they put into production, but also what their customers think of their products and services.  This is what makes it important for a business owner to conduct research and surveys to counter the performance of his or her business.  Today, there are great benefits that a business owner can reap from conducting business research and utilizing surveys.

Proper research will help you learn the latest and the most effective marketing trends in the market.  New ways of doing things are being introduced almost on a daily basis.  The best that a person can do is learn of the most effective methods and make use of them.  This is only possible through research.  When you spend more time looking at what your competitors are doing, you will be able to learn of better ways of doing things at the end of the day.

Second, research will help you learn of more effective solutions to existing problems.  This is a very important thing to do when running a business.  Most of the problems people face has been experienced by other people in the past.  By looking at what other people did to resolve a certain challenge, it will be much easier to get over various challenges at the end of the day.  Research will help you learn of new trends and solutions while surveys will assist you in understanding your customers better.

Over the years, investors have been using surveys to learn what their customers and target markets think of the services they get.  Understanding what customers think about you will help you to better address their needs.  The responses given by customers are what will enable you to know what works for them and what doesn’t.  With proper surveys, an investor is able to understand his customers better and learn of better ways to address his needs.  This is what will lead to better performances in the long run.

It is also possible to identify flaws in the running of your business through research and surveys.  Proper research will help you understand the trends being used by your competitors and why some strategies do not bear positive results.  Surveys, on the other hand, will help you understand your customers better.  Through this research, you will be able to know what cripples the performance of your business and what can be done to improve on that.  In the long run, better business performance will be achieved.

Lastly, customer support will be heightened through research and surveys.  The nature of customer support offered to clients is what determines whether the clients will come back for more or not.  Through the surveys, you will be able to understand what is wrong with your products and services.  Understanding what the customers really need will further help you address their needs more comprehensively.  It is this understanding in what works and what does not that has led to gain in popularity in the research and surveys.