MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland

Alice asks the Cheshire Cat

‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to’, said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where’, said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk’, said the Cat.

Source: Carroll, 1989, p.63-64 Source: Carroll, 1989, p.63-64

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha
MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Problem Definition
Session 2
Term 3, MBA 07

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Learning Objectives
• Decision making problem
• Research problem
• Problem definition

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Desired State

Gap? Vague Problem

Actual State

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Problem definition
• Desired state (the management objective): The
undesirable turnover of personnel who have been in
service for less than a year should be less than 5% for any
organisaton.
• Actual state: The undesirable turnover of personnel who
have been in service for less than a year is on average
18% over the past three calendar years.
• Why this is problematic (the motive to change the existing
situation): The high turnover rate among employees who
have been working for the organization for less than a
year leads to dissatisfaction, demotivation and dropping
out of colleagues who have chosen not to leave, to
frustration with regard to supporting inexperienced and
inefficient recruits, to extra management time needed to
deal with the negative consequences of turnover, and to
high recruitment costs.
• Gap: Hence, the organization must reduce the
undesirable turnover of personnel.

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Problem Definition
Management Confused? Empirical Evidences – Secondary data, Literature
decision Experts – Interviews, Focus group discussion
problem Problem / Symptom Exposure - Observation

Cause-Effect Mapping

Research
“WHY”
Problem

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Shodh: Market Research for Economy Housing

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha
MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Synopsis

• Shodh – Bangalore based market research company

• CEO – S. Vaseem
• Client – Oriental Builders Limited
• Market – Real estate sector
• Dilemma – Is there a market for economy housing
projects in Bangalore?

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Management Decision Problem

• Should OBL enter the economy housing?
• Which location within Bangalore should be chosen for the economy housing project?
• Which segment(s) should be targeted for the economy housing project?
• Which product and pricing strategy should be followed?
• How should the economy housing project be promoted?

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Research Problem
Desired state:
Actual state:
Gap:

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

• To estimate demand for economy housing

in selected micro markets in Bangalore.
• To identify various consumer segments in

Research housing market in Bangalore and

estimate the size of each segments.
• To identify the target segment interested

Objectives in buying economy housing units.

• To profile the customers in terms of
geographic, demographic, and
psychographic characteristics.
• To develop and test product concepts.

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

Takeaways
• To understand the issues from the management in making a decision
• To distinguishing between symptoms and problems
• To defining the research problem – “A problem well stated is half solved”
• To state the research objectives based on the cause-and-effect relationships.

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha

MBM023 Business Research Methods | MBA08

End of Session 3
Session 4, 11th Jan 2023
Topic – Theoretical framework and hypothesis development

Dr Aswathy Asokan Ajitha