International Business Research
– lecture slides
Lecture 1. Setting the scene
Why is a business research course important?
What is business research?
o A series of well-thought out activities and carefully executed data analyses that help
a manager to avoid, solve, or minimize a problem
Why should future managers know about future research
o Managerial decisions based on
The results of “good” research tend to be more effective
Hunches, intuition, and past experiences are more likely to be be wrong
o To be able to perform business research (eg. undertake research yourselves to solve the smaller
problems you encounter)
o To be able to steer business research (eg interact effectively with researchers/research agencies)
o To be able to evaluate business research
To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of
researchers/research agencies
To discriminate between goo and bad published research studies
Myths about business research
The ‘managers are from Mars, researchers are from Venus” myth
o Myth: there is no need to study business research for a future manager
o Reality: managers without knowledge about research have an advantage over those
without
The “most research is not read” myth
o Myth business research ends up in the bottom drawer
o Reality: for knowledgeable managers, research need not be intimidating
The “big bucks” myth
o Myth: business research is only for the wealthiest organizations
o Reality: business research is very diverse – it can be cheap or expensive
The “big decision” myth
o Myth: business research is only useful when you have a major decision to make
o Reality: for small decisions, the best managers carry out their orwn research
The “universal truth” myth
o Myth: there is just one best way of researching a business problem
o Reality: there is no such thing as an absolute truth in business
The hallmarks of ‘good’ (business) research
Purposiveness: knowing “the why” of your research
Rigor: ensuring a sound theoretical base / ensuring a sound methodological design
Objectivity: drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
Parsimony: Shaving away unnecessary details / explaining a lot with a little
Replicability: finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
o Describe your study design in detail
, Generalizability: Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different things
o Should hold for fundamental research
o … but much less so for applied research
Fundamental vs applied research
Applied research: to solve a current problem faced by a manager, applies to a specific
company, within firms or research agencies
Fundamental (or basic) research: to generate new knowledge about how problems that
occur in several firms can be solved, applies to several organizational settings, mainly within
universities and knowledge institutes
Deductive vs inductive research
Deductive research: theory data
o Testing theory
Inductive research: data theory
o Building theory
, Lecture 2. The research process
When does a business problem occur?
Step 1: define the business problem (in both the inductive and deductive research process)
Feasibility: is it doable
Relevance: is it worthwhile?
o Managerial relevance: who benefits from have the problem solved?
o Academic relevance: has the problem not already been solved in prior research?
What makes a good problem statement?
Step 2. Formulate the problem statement ( in both the inductive and deductive research process)
From business problem to problem statement
o Business problem (manager-focused) & problem statement (research-focused)
preliminary research: organization/context and extant literature
Theoretical research questions
Context question (eg. What is) only if context needs elaboration
Conceptualization question(s) (eg. what is) only for key variable(s) that need(s)
elaboration
Relationship questions (eg. which variables / how does … affect …) all relationships in the
problem statement should be covered
– lecture slides
Lecture 1. Setting the scene
Why is a business research course important?
What is business research?
o A series of well-thought out activities and carefully executed data analyses that help
a manager to avoid, solve, or minimize a problem
Why should future managers know about future research
o Managerial decisions based on
The results of “good” research tend to be more effective
Hunches, intuition, and past experiences are more likely to be be wrong
o To be able to perform business research (eg. undertake research yourselves to solve the smaller
problems you encounter)
o To be able to steer business research (eg interact effectively with researchers/research agencies)
o To be able to evaluate business research
To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of
researchers/research agencies
To discriminate between goo and bad published research studies
Myths about business research
The ‘managers are from Mars, researchers are from Venus” myth
o Myth: there is no need to study business research for a future manager
o Reality: managers without knowledge about research have an advantage over those
without
The “most research is not read” myth
o Myth business research ends up in the bottom drawer
o Reality: for knowledgeable managers, research need not be intimidating
The “big bucks” myth
o Myth: business research is only for the wealthiest organizations
o Reality: business research is very diverse – it can be cheap or expensive
The “big decision” myth
o Myth: business research is only useful when you have a major decision to make
o Reality: for small decisions, the best managers carry out their orwn research
The “universal truth” myth
o Myth: there is just one best way of researching a business problem
o Reality: there is no such thing as an absolute truth in business
The hallmarks of ‘good’ (business) research
Purposiveness: knowing “the why” of your research
Rigor: ensuring a sound theoretical base / ensuring a sound methodological design
Objectivity: drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on subjective ideas)
Parsimony: Shaving away unnecessary details / explaining a lot with a little
Replicability: finding the same results if the research is repeated in similar circumstances
o Describe your study design in detail
, Generalizability: Being able to apply the research findings in a wide variety of different things
o Should hold for fundamental research
o … but much less so for applied research
Fundamental vs applied research
Applied research: to solve a current problem faced by a manager, applies to a specific
company, within firms or research agencies
Fundamental (or basic) research: to generate new knowledge about how problems that
occur in several firms can be solved, applies to several organizational settings, mainly within
universities and knowledge institutes
Deductive vs inductive research
Deductive research: theory data
o Testing theory
Inductive research: data theory
o Building theory
, Lecture 2. The research process
When does a business problem occur?
Step 1: define the business problem (in both the inductive and deductive research process)
Feasibility: is it doable
Relevance: is it worthwhile?
o Managerial relevance: who benefits from have the problem solved?
o Academic relevance: has the problem not already been solved in prior research?
What makes a good problem statement?
Step 2. Formulate the problem statement ( in both the inductive and deductive research process)
From business problem to problem statement
o Business problem (manager-focused) & problem statement (research-focused)
preliminary research: organization/context and extant literature
Theoretical research questions
Context question (eg. What is) only if context needs elaboration
Conceptualization question(s) (eg. what is) only for key variable(s) that need(s)
elaboration
Relationship questions (eg. which variables / how does … affect …) all relationships in the
problem statement should be covered
