A survey may be your best choice when you need a quick and efficient way of getting information and you need to statistically validate information.
Think survey! Think EGNL!
Read more on our services at Edusearch Consulting
A survey may be your best choice when you need a quick and efficient way of getting information and you need to statistically validate information.
Think survey! Think EGNL!
Read more on our services at Edusearch Consulting
Filed under Management Issues
Why is research important in business?
Research is a strategy that seeks to make basic discoveries and uncover new principles or factors so far not unknown or unrecognised. It is the systematic search for new knowledge.
A business research program is an increasingly popular way for companies to train and educate their managers and other employees in a vast array of different fields. Business research can pertain to economics, business strategy, and ethics, in fact, anything related to modern business and trade.
Research is an important element in business management in many different ways as follows;
Other benefits include:
Research is an essential part of any business that wants to offer products or services that are focused and well targeted. Business decisions that are based on good intelligence and good market research can minimize risk and pay dividends by making market research part and parcel of the business process.
Research creates benchmarks and helps you measure your progress – Unless you measure, you may not be able to gauge how well your business is performing. Early research may highlight glaring holes in your service or shortfalls in your product, regular market research will show if improvements are being made and, if positive, will help motivate a team.
Research will help you better communicate – Your current customers’ experiences are a valuable information source, not only will they allow you to gauge how well you currently meet their expectations they can also tell you where you are getting things right and more importantly where you are getting things wrong.
Doing research in business management is vital as it helps a business plan for the future, based on what may have happened in the past. If carried out successfully it can help a company make informed plans on how to become more viable in its sector. Some business experts agree that looking to the future of business is very much about looking at the past. The two are interlinked and by carrying out research you are more likely to see a positive outcome in your chosen objective. In business, making ill-informed decisions may be very precarious as there may be too much money at risk or a company’s reputation may be put at stake.
Research is important in any business for it to stay competitive in the market. The foremost function of research is to provide a business with an outlet to accurately identify its customers. Through the surveys, a company can analyze the likes and dislikes of its target consumers. In addition to this, these studies can also give a business the opportunity to scrutinize its rivals in the industry and analyze and emulate key strategies that might likewise help in its operations.
Research provides a business with a chance to update itself on the latest market trends; such knowledge will prove helpful in the formulating of useful concepts and tactics for success in the market. All things considered, it is through research that a business is able to make educated and informed decisions.
Research helps the business to improve the productivity, lower the cost and save time and retain the expertise of their core competencies and this through research discovery of new technology and development which leads to the development of innovative management system for future growth.
Research helps the business to continually revise their design and range the product due to continuous technological changes and changing preference of customers.
It also helps in the recruitment of employees. It’s through research that human resource managers are able to identify and recruit skilled manpower. Proper recruitment of employees with the right skills and attitudes helps the firm to increase its productivity levels. Research for the right employees can be got via the internet, consultancy firms and institutions of higher learning.
Research helps the firm to get the right supplier at the right price and at the right time. A proper supplier selection enables the firm to get or acquire high-quality raw materials which result in the production of high-quality products that are consumed by the end user. Also reliable and efficient suppliers help a firm to perform effectively as supplies will be got in time.
In conclusion, every organization needs to conduct research, and small budgets are no excuse for lack of a research plan. By starting out with some easily accessible resources, you can begin to develop better marketing strategies that can position you for market growth.
Email info@edusearchuk.com to consult Edusearch Global Network Limited for expertise in business research services with the most appropriate methodology possible. Edusearch Global Network Limited is a growing business and management research firm based in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Nigeria, building capacity and informing best practices in the business research field globally.
Filed under Management Issues
“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”
-Fitzhugh Dodson
A presentation was made by Teingo Inko-Tariah on Building sustainable businesses through effective corporate governance at the event ACCEL by ASSEN, which was held on November 6, 2014 at The Dome. The presentation slides was published by Accord Legal. This is a must seen for every small business owner for action to aid business growth and development.
Country Representative- Nigeria at D4M Contact Ltd
Interestingly, I recently discuss this issue with a friend who owns a small business. From our discussion, I realised not all owner-manager are competitive minded. Not everyone is ambitious or ready to build a successful business at the expense of immediate profit.
Some people bring their faith or religious belief into their business and majority belief in Que sera sera; meaning, what will be will be. And like Frank rightly said, some have the ‘I know it all’ attitude.
Why do we do research?
We want to be able to benchmark our strategies and operations with those of the competition.
We are concerned about the need of the customers and how best we can appeal to them and meet their needs.
We want to be able to maximise revenue and as such invariably maximise profitability rather than directly maximising profitability at the expense of increasing revenue.
We want to be able to adopt best practices that will minimise cost and waste, increase productivity and generally improve business process efficiency.
We want to always be abreast with related trends and maximise opportunities in the business environment while being on top of existing and/or possible threats.
We want to be trend drivers rather than trend followers or worst-still trend neglectors within the industry we operate in to become the best- market leader.
The probability of Gut Instinct working out to deliver intended result is always lower compared to engaging in systematic research.
Filed under Management Issues
Individuals enter into management arrangements for business management functions. Some people might like to manage the business as they might not have enough resources to out-rightly purchase it.
Other reasons for entering into management arrangements are:
The owner doesn’t want to run the company and have somebody else run it instead without selling it, the would-be purchaser might want to test run the company prior to purchasing it;
The seller and purchaser have signed an agreement for the deal of the company having an extended settlement date but the purchaser wants to begin running the company immediately.
A few of the items which should be attended to when entering into a management deal for a company are:
Details of the parties and their various rights and duties
The goal of the management arrangement and the actions to be undertaken by the manager
The duration of the management agreement and any renewal of the agreement
Any fees to be paid to the company owner for letting the manager to manage the company
The remuneration of the manager and whether the manager will be entitled to the profit and additionally be responsible for any loss
Duties of the manager for repairs, maintenance and replacement of any equipment and chattel of the company
The operation of the company by the manager and maintenance of appropriate banking and bookkeeping records, and adherence to all applicable national and state laws
Filed under Management Issues
A recent online group discussion on Linkedin; The Marketing Research & Insights Group | Powered by Quirk’s triggered interesting comment from members of the group and I have decided to blog it on our page as you would find it interesting and informative too. The topic of discussion is: Why Do People Prefer Gut Instinct to Research? shared by Michaela Mora, PRC. Owner at Relevant Insights, LLC Dallas/Fort Worth Area whose specialty is Market Research.
The question is an article originally posted by Neal Cole on his blog site at http://conversion-uplift.co.uk/post/81917362546/why-people-prefer-gut-instinct
Terry Grapentine
Author, Applying Scientific Reasoning to the Field of Marketing; Principal, Grapentine Co.
I don’t disagree with this article; however, over my nearly 40 years in the marketing research business, I’ve seen many examples of companies in the midwest (where I live) that have been very successful AND have never conducted a marketing research study. In pondering what common characteristics these companies share, I would say that they made a quality product and knew their customers well. Their products’ awareness was driven more by word-of-mouth and reputation than by advertising. Also, the head of the company was exceptionally smart, with excellent inductive reasoning skills.
Bennett Wolk
Market Researcher and Consultant
In general, good decision making should be based on a combination of syndicated research sources, custom consumer research, internal company sources/analyses, as well as gut instincts. Once all of the information is collected and insights obtained, people still have to decide what directions to take. Many times, all of the data and analyses and insights can be wonderful, but the decisions made (or the execution of those decisions) fail. Research that is conducted should not just be used to confirm a gut decision or direction; further research that is conducted should not be ignored if the findings and insights differ from the gut instincts of senior management.
Terry Grapentine
Author, Applying Scientific Reasoning to the Field of Marketing; Principal, Grapentine Co.
Bottom Line: all marketing decisions are based on inductive arguments that are composed of premises and a conclusion–the conclusion being the decision or recommendation. These decisions are inductive because even if the premises of the argument are all true, the conclusion (or decision) is not guaranteed to be true. The point I wanted to make in my earlier post is that some people are real good at making their inductive arguments successful, notwithstanding how many sources of information they have at their disposal.
Bennett Wolk
Market Researcher and Consultant
I have no doubt that some people can make their inductive arguments successful, if they spend enough marketing and company resources to make them happen (to get distribution, advertise, promotions, internal sales incentives, price reductions or sale prices, etc. etc.), but that might not be the best or most efficient use of those resources if the underlying arguments are really weak. Then, of course, how is success evaluated (profit margins, gross sales, etc.)?
Terry Grapentine
Author, Applying Scientific Reasoning to the Field of Marketing; Principal, Grapentine Co.
Another reason people prefer gut to research is that they don’t trust research–and I suspect that for some of them, that belief is justified.
Frank Guo
User experience and consumer insight expert, Entrepreneur, Business Consultant
Very interesting observation. As a UX research consultant, I have to always deal with the mentality of “I know it all” from business owners and educate them about how to integrate insights into decision making.