Transcript Lecture 04.ppt

Research Tools and
Techniques
Aid of Technology in Scientific
Investigation - I
Lecture 4
Previous Lecture Topics Covered
• The Building Blocks of Science in Research.
• Seven Steps of Hypothetico-Deductive Method
• Detail of the Seven Steps.
• Action Research & Case Study Methods.
What We Are Going To Cover In This
Lecture
• Information Needs of Business.
• Some Commonly Used Technologies in Business
Research.
• Some Software Used in Business Research.
• Information Systems and Managerial Decision
Making
INFORMATION NEEDS OF BUSINESS
DATA
INFORMATION
EVALUATED
ANALYZED
SYNTHESIZED
1.
Figures of gross sales
2.
Profits
3.
Employee leave record
Technology actually helps in
•
Info/data gathering
•
Communication of data/info
•
Decision making
•
Speed of data gathering
•
Volume of data gathering
Sales strategies
Further growth of company
Employee commitment
INFORMATION NEEDS OF BUSINESS
Companies continuously engage in assessing
• Market trends
• Competitor analysis
• New products
• Effectiveness of internal policies & procedures
{Therefore they need data from both within and
outside the organization}
Some Commonly Used Technologies in
Business Research
Internet:
• Primary source of secondary data
• Computer aided telephone interviews
• LAN COMSIS
• Digital Libraries  www.digitallibrary.edu.pk/comsatisb.html
• JSTOR, Emerald, Springer Link, Wiley Blackwell Journals etc. Google
Scholar
Some Commonly Used Technologies in
Business Research
The e-mail:
• Send questionnaires electronically. (The return rate is low,
supplement with telephone/mobile call
• Data collection assistance
The Intranet
F
a
c
t
o
r
y
+ + + + + + + +
(Company earns
Regional Offices:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Suppliers
Head
Office
profit)
+
+
+
+
+
Specifications transferred to
factory
Ford Motors Intranet
Manufacture of Cars on
Demand
Sales/Marketing/HR/A
ccounts
Showrooms
+
Customer
•Gives order
+
+
•Specifications
•Makes
payment
SOME SOFTWARE USED IN BUSINESS
RESEARCH
1. Groupware:
Groupware is a software that runs on a network so that teams
can work on joint projects
2. Neural Networks:
Neural Networks are designed to trace patterns in a set of
data and generalize therefrom
3. ERP:
Enterprise Resource Planning
ERP
• It is a business management software,
usually a suite of integrated applications
that a company can use to collect, store,
manage and interpret data from many
business activities including traditional
manufacturing, finance and marketing.
• PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
• CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
• TELECOM INDUSTRY
COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO ALL
COMPANY NEEDS ON A DAILY BASIS
Example of Records for ERP
Finance/Accounting:
General ledger, payables, cash management, fixed assets,
receivables, budgeting, consolidation
b)
Human Resources:
payroll, training, benefits, 401K, recruiting, diversity
management
c)
Manufacturing/Engineering:
Bill of materials, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow
management, quality control
d)
Supply Chain Management:
Inventory, order entry, purchasing, inspection of goods,
claim processing
e)
Customer Relationship Management:
Customer Contact, Call Center Support
a)
INFORMATION SYSTEMS & MANAGERIAL DECISION
MAKING
(1). Data Warehouse:
Automatic storage of company records and data
1.Accounts department
2.HR department
3.Sales department
(2). Data Mining:
Hidden relations and meanings in data stored + Retrieval of data
Business intelligence  trends, seasonal variations, retail sales pattern by
zip code can be assessed.
(3). Operations Research:
a) Inventory(what is the optimum level of keeping an inventory)
b) Sequencing(what is the best possible sequence in a given situation)
c) Done with the help of decision trees, linear programming, network
analysis, mathematical models etc.
An Example of Data Retrieval in the form of a Table
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Sales
30,000
35,000
40,000
41,000
38,000
39,500
Sales
Force
31
42
48
45
40
41
Sales and Sales Force Data, Macy’s Superstore, F-11, Islamabad, Year 2011 Jan-Jun
Summary
• Information Needs of Business.
• Some Commonly Used Technologies in Business
Research.
• Some Software Used in Business Research.
• Information Systems and Managerial Decision
Making.