Ashford University
Business Research Methods & Tools
BUS 642
Dr. Raj Singh
Assignment 1
What is business research? Why should there be any question about the definition of research?
In business, managers need to respond to any issues that may arise in the business. While one may be prone to do this based on past experience, the wiser choice would be to use business research to gather the information to make decisions as business research will increase the likelihood that the solution would make a positive impact. According to Business Research Methods, the definition of business research is the structured questioning which provides information by which to guide wise decisions that maximize the impact of the manager’s actions. Business research includes planning, gathering, analyzing, and disbursing information to pullout the pertinent facts so that the management may gain insight in order to make decisions that are more likely to achieve the goal of maximizing profits (Cooper, D.R. and Schindler, P.S., 2011).
Questions to the definition of research will arise as research will be different depending on the manager, goals of the business and strategy. No situation exists in an objective vacuum as such there are subjective tendencies when picking and choosing what information is pertinent for decision making. Even if businesses are alike the goals of the business may be different. One can plainly see this in viewing a business’ mission statement. Success could be based mainly on profits, but in many cases there are several goals such as revenue, profits, customer satisfaction and loyalty. The strategy may not be based merely on making money but on expansion. Sometimes a business would rather expand and the definition of research would be entirely different more or less canvasing areas that may prove to be profitable in the future. As well, strategies within a business are often not singular; rather there are several strategies running
References: Cooper, D.R. and Schindler, P.S. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York : McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN: 9780073373706.