Porter Analysis

INTERESTING POINTS:

The word Research in itself is very interesting which I realized after reading the first chapter of Research Methods for Business Graduates and Social Science Students. Meaning of Research totally depends upon the subject in analysis. The chapter has insights about the types of research, which includes Descriptive, Explanatory and Predictive Research. It really helped me to understand the way research is conducted and a major difference between Business and Social Methods of research [Adams, Khan, Raeside, White, p.19-20]. Getting ahead with the proper definition of research, choosing a perfect topic is a key for successful research. According to the author, the only thing that matter is to form deep interest in what so ever topic you have for research. [Polonsky & Waller, p.39]. 

The proper steps are required before and after selecting the research topic. One more interesting thing which I noted in a chapter that there are different approaches associated with research. The approaches are broadly classified into Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research [Adams, Khan, Raeside, White, p.26-27]. I myself faced a problem while doing a research for completion of my undergraduate degree. The topic of Ubiquitous Computing was so vast that I was not able to figure out from where to start the research. The topic had so much of things which I was not able to cater in my research paper within a specified timeline. There was a clear lack of approach and as a result, I was provided with a satisfactory remark with some feedbacks for improvement. In that case Applied Research method which majorly focus on solving specific real life problem would have been beneficial.

My another interesting finding from reading through the chapters is that good ethics plays an important role in conducting all kinds of research. It is helpful to know all the specified guidelines associated with conducting research. Author specifies that individuals or organizations should not be harmed during the course of research. The best possible philosophical approaches for student researchers are deontological and teleological philosophies, which help business managers to take ethical decision as well. The key takeaways from this chapter are: to remain alert about the ethics and to not get involved in issues like plagiarism and academic fraud during the research work [Polonsky & Waller, p.158, p.181-182].

QUESTIONS:

What is the best way to choose a research topic? (Polonsky & Waller, p.46)

As clearly mentioned by the author in the starting that choosing an appropriate topic is the most important step in the research project process. There should be a clear approach and interest regarding the topic you either choose for yourself or get it assigned by someone because the right topic will help you to achieve your target. According to the authors when student choose their topic themselves, they lack clear direction and end up complaining about difficulties in examining the topic. So it is better to follow the steps which include defining the purpose, exploring the potential topics, evaluating each potential topic and then finalizing the topic. During my under graduation, I was not very clear about choosing a topic for my Minor Research Project which was implementation of ‘Cryptography’ in E-Wallet Software. I knew the purpose of why I chose the topic, however, I did not explore other potential topics related to cyber security which was in trend at that time. This made my research too narrow. So it is clear that everything needs to be on track from interest in topic to evaluating the topic in order to get success in the research project.

What is an appropriate style of reasoning for a research? (Adams, Khan, Raeside, White, p.29-30).

This is one of the most complex problem which researchers face during the research because it is easier for them to make a reasonable statement for any argument but that statement may or may not logically correct. The authors mention that there are just two styles for any scientific enquiry. These are Inductivism which relies on verification from a finite number of observations and Deductivism which uses the basis of universal law for research findings. These kinds of reasoning are very helpful in making various decisions during a research project process. A simple example of confusion which I recently faced during making a decision in ‘Marketing’ research assignment of working in simulation. The problem looked very simple to increase the sales of an economy car associated to an automobile firm as well as to maintain their stable income. The first thing came into my mind was to cut down the price of the car. It took me a lot of time to deduct logically that cutting the price may or may not increase the sales but will have an adverse effect on firm’s income generation. So decision of cutting the price was reasonable, however, was not logical. The best way to survive the market was to do consumer marketing as well as try to adapt B2B methodology for increase of sales without lowering of the profits. What is the best style of reasoning? The above mentioned styles are both congruent and complementary with each other, hence can be used collectively and individually in decision making.