SETTING THE SCENE

International Business Research

Elke Schrover
The IBR-team

Elke Schrover Gijs van Bussel Victoria Karpova

• Course coordinator • Tutorials • Tutorials
• Lectures • Assignments • Assignments
• Tutorials
• Assignments

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Agenda
1. Why is a business research course important?
2. Myths about business research
3. Hallmarks of good business research

4. The seven-step research process

5. Course information

6. Exam information

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1. Why is a business research course important?

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What is business research?

A series of well-thought out activities

and carefully executed data analyses
that help a manager
to avoid, solve, or minimize a problem.

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Why should future managers (you!) know about
business research?
• Managerial decisions based on

• The results of “good” research tend to be

more effective

• Hunches, intuition, and past experiences are

more likely to be wrong

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Illustration 1: The death of Coke C2

No sugar Half of the sugar

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Illustration 1: The death of Coke C2

No sugar Half of the sugar No sugar

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 OK, intuition does not work.

But how about experience?

That must surely work … or not?

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Illustration 2: The wet mop flop

4 hours per week

21 hours per week

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Illustration 3: Ikea goes USA

“People told us they were drinking out of the

vases instead of the glasses.” 11
Why should future managers (you!) know about
business research? (cont’d)
• To be able to perform business research
• E.g. undertake research yourselves to solve the smaller problems
you encounter

• To be able to steer business research

• E.g. interact effectively with researchers / research agencies

• To be able to evaluate business research

• To discriminate between good and bad research proposals of
researchers / research agencies
• To discriminate between good and bad published research studies

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2. Myths about business research

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The “managers are from Mars, researchers are
from Venus” myth
• Myth: There is no need to study business research for a
future manager.
• Reality: Managers with knowledge about research have
an advantage over those without

Manager Researcher

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The “most research is not read” myth
• Myth: Business research ends up in the bottom drawer.
• Reality: For knowledgeable manager, research need not
be intimidating.

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The “big bucks” myth
• Myth: Business research is only for the wealthiest
organizations.
• Reality: Business research is very diverse – it can be
cheap, it can be expensive.

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The “big decision” myth
• Myth : Business research is only useful when you have
a major decision to make.
• Reality: For small decisions, the best managers carry out
their own research.

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The “universal truth” myth
• Myth: There is just one best way of researching a
business problem.
• Reality: There is no such thing as an absolute truth in
business.*
Natural sciences Business research

1+1=2 1+1≈2

*This does by no way imply that any approach is good. 18

3. Hallmarks of good business research

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The hallmarks of “good” (business) research

• Purposiveness

• Rigor

• Objectivity

• Parsimony

• Replicability

• Generalizability
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Hallmark #1: Purposiveness
• Knowing “the why” of your research

The stock market Employees are

reaction to our dissatisfied.
sustainability
investments is
weak.

The sales of our

new product are
lagging.

Traffic to our
website is low.

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Hallmark #2: Rigor
• Ensuring a sound theoretical base
• Ensuring a sound methodological design

Representative sample? Unbiased questions?

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Hallmark #3: Objectivity
• Drawing conclusions based on facts (rather than on
subjective ideas)

“You are completely free to carry out whatever research you want, as long
as you come to these conclusions.” 23
Hallmark #4: Parsimony
• Shaving away unnecessary details
• Explaining a lot with a little

“Things should be made as simple as possible,

but not any simpler.” (Albert Einstein) 24
Hallmark #5: Replicability
• Finding the same results if the research is repeated
in similar circumstances

Describe
your study
design in
detail!
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Hallmark #6: Generalizability
• Being able to apply the research findings in a wide
variety of different settings
• Should hold for fundamental research
• … but much less so for applied research

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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

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4. The seven-step research process

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Deductive vs. inductive research

DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE
RESEARCH RESEARCH

Theory Data Data Theory

Testing theory Building theory

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Deductive or inductive reasoning?
• If it rains, everything outside becomes wet.

• It rains.

• The car is outside.

The car will become wet

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Deductive or inductive reasoning?
• The first duck in the park is brown.

• The second duck in the park is brown.

• The third duck in the park is brown.

Every duck in the park is brown

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Deductive or inductive reasoning?

Where is the lion?

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Deductive or inductive reasoning?

Where is the lion?

Grrrrowl

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The seven-step deductive research process
Theory Data
Write-up

Analyze data

Collect data

Choose a research design

Develop a theoretical framework

Formulate the problem statement

Define the business problem

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Example: Deductive research process
Define the business Many Facebook-users leave the platform and switch
problem to other social media channels
Formulate the problem Which user characteristics influence consumers’
statement usage frequency of social media?
Develop a theoretical Online behavior, privacy concerns, socio-
framework (incl. demographics, ….
hypotheses)
Choose a research design Survey-based research
Collect data Survey among a random sample of 500 consumers
Analyze data Perform a regression analysis
Interpret results Which variables are (not) significant? What does
this imply for managerial decision making?

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The seven-step inductive research process
Data Theory Develop
theory
Analyze data

Collect data

Choose a research design

Provide a conceptual background

Formulate the problem statement

Define the business problem

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5. Course information

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Course objective
• Being able to perform, steer, and evaluate business research

BSc + MSc Business

IBR
Thesis Career

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Course set-up
Lectures Tutorials Assignments

Setting the Scene Problem Statement Research Proposal

The Research Process Theoretical Framework Individual assignment

Research Strategies Research Strategies

Closing the Loop

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 Lectures
• On campus/hybrid lectures 7x
– 75 students in class, others can follow live via Zoom
– Because of limited capacity you need to subscribe for a seat

• Zoom lectures & Q&A session 4x

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Tutorials
• Multiple on campus groups, 1 online group
• 40 students per on campus group
• Because of limited capacity you need to subscribe for a seat
• No need to subscribe for the online group

• Objective: Practice the material covered during the

lectures
• Sheets posted on Canvas after the last tutorial of the
week
Important: the practice offered in the tutorials
will help you do well on the exam + group assignment
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6. Exam information

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Grading
• Written exam
exam: 60% (but: minimum 5/10
‒ Open-ended questions
• Group assignment: 30% (but: minimum 5/10)
• Individual assignments (3 in total): 10%

NB: Also repeaters need to complete the web assignments.

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What do I need to study for the exam?

• Sheets & articles (see Canvas/Course Manual)

• Everything discussed during the lectures and tutorials

(take notes!)

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Team assignment: Contents

• Find a business problem of your choice

• To do:
‒ develop a research proposal
‒ use one of four research strategies
(archival / survey / lab experimental / field experimental)
• Info on content and format: Soon on Canvas

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 Key success factors for the team assignment

• Attend all tutorials

• Make good use of the personal consults (come prepared!) (3x)

• A team assignment is team work

‒ Do not split up the work and bundle.

‒ Rather, act as critical reviewers of each other’s work. Write, and rewrite.

• Spread your time investment. Start now!

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Grading the assignment
• Assessment form will be posted on CANVAS
• Your report will receive a group grade

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Team assignment: Procedure
• 4 team members (no more, no less)

• Register on CANVAS
‒ Between Feb 3rd (1:00 PM ) – February 11th (12:00 AM, noon)

‒ Warning: NO timely registration = NO participation!!!

‒ Looking for a team or a member for your team? Use the discussion board!

Deadline
May 23 (12:00 AM, noon)
RESIT: July 4th (12:00 AM, noon) 48
Individual assignment
Assignment on Canvas

• Survey research assignment

• Lab-Experimental research assignment

• Archival research assignment

Grading
• You can earn 10 points each test

• Average of the three tests counts for 10% of the final grade
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Resit
• The exam is similar in spirit to the first sit.
• Team assignments: One feedback session, then hand in
improved version
• Individual assignments can not be repeated.
The grades obtained also hold for the resit.

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 Repeater rules
• If you participated in the course in the previous academic year but
did not pass, you have three routes to improve your grade:

– Only re-do exam
– Only re-do team assignment
– Re-do both – No action needed
E-mail to IBR@uvt.nl
Instructions in course manual
Before February 11th, 12:00 AM (noon)

• Not possible to change routes

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 What to do if you have course related
questions?
Please follow the procedure described below before sending an e-mail:

1. Consult the course manual and the FAQ document on Canvas;

2. Check the announcements on Canvas;

If you send us an e-mail (after having followed steps 1-2 above), please
always send it to IBR@tilburguniversity.edu. Do not send e-mails to
the instructors’ personal e-mail addresses.

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Read:
• Course manual (BB)

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