MBA

RESEARCH
PROJECT
D R . G A RY TA N & DR. KHOR WM
PHILOSOPHY OF MBA PROGRAM
• To develop leaders who are able to propose improvement and
change that can have a significant impact on an organization or a
business sector.

• The purpose of the final research project/dissertation/thesis is to

help you conceptualize the business problems and propose
strategic business and management strategies to overcome those
problems, based on the data analysis from the data collection.
THE PURPOSE OF BUSINESS
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY COURSE
• Expose you to scientific (properly documented and reproducible) research
methodology
– Scientific research is a systematic way of gathering data and
harnessing curiosity.
This research provides scientific information and theories for the
explanation of the nature and the properties of the world. It makes
practical applications possible.

• Give you a head start in your final research project/thesis/dissertation

RESEARCH PROCESS
TRIGGER YOUR HIGHER LEVEL COGNITIVE SKILLS – PROBLEM SOLVING
Research
Problem

Apply
Research
Problem
Solving
Technique
Propose
Solutions
RESEARCH PROJECT
CHAPTER OUTLINE
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (100-150 Words)

• CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW
• CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS
• CHAPTER 5 – DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER 6 – RECOMMENDATIONS

• Recommended Total Words = 20,000 (+/- 10%) not including references, diagrams, appendixes, etc. (Main
Body only)
• Research Proposal involves Chapter 1, 2 and 3.
RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL
PRESENTATION (STARTING IN MAY 2021)
• Previously known as Research Proposal Defense

• Format:
(1) You will do a voice recorded Research Project Proposal Presentation and
submit LMS
(2) A week later – you will spend about 10-20 minutes with the VUC Research
Project Panel to discuss about your research project.
(3) It is a presentation with slides
(4) YOU DON’T HAVE TO SUBMIT ANY WRITING IN WORD DOCUMENT.
MBA RESEARCH PROJECT TIMELINE
– MAY 2021 (SAMPLE)
Research Proposal Submission Deadline: 5 June 2021
Seminar 2 (Data Analysis): 19 June 2021
Final Dissertation Submission Deadline: 3 July 2021
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.2 Research Gaps
1.3 Research Problem
1.4 Research Aim
1.5 Research Scope
1.6 Research Objectives
1.7 Research Questions
1.8 Research Significance
1.9 Research Study Limitations
1.10 Research Study Organization
 1.1 RESEARCH STUDY BACKGROUND
(a) Area/Industry (e.g., Accommodation/Tourism, Food Services, Education, Retail, Construction,
Financial and Banking, Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Public Administration, Transportation, etc.) or
Product/Service.
Who are providing the feedback to you (i.e., fill up our survey form)?
Where are you going to collect your data?
FEASIBILITY CHECK – is it doable?
(b) Research the Current Trend (Past and Present to predict the future) seeking for Industry/Area
business challenges/problems – Up, Down, or Stagnant (Flat)
(c) Suggest potential solution(s) to the business challenge(s).
(d) Field (Business Administration):
Management, Human Resource, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, International
Business, Strategic Management, Project Management,Technology Adoption, etc.
(e) Topic:
Field Topic
Marketing Management Consumer Decision Making
Branding
Relationship Marketing
RESEARCH STUDY BACKGROUND
CHECKPOINTS
Feasibility • Where are you going to collect your data?
Check (Self • Who are going to provide you the data/feedback?
Checking)

• Identify your industry and area of research.

Current
• What happened in the industry (upward or
Trend downward trending, or stagnant)?

Business • Identify the business

challenges stemming from
Challenges the industry trend analysis.

~ Suggest two or three potential business solutions (refer to the Business Standards Body of
Knowledge, BOK)
ANOTHER WAY OF FINDINGS POTENTIAL
SOLUTIONS …… VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS
EXAMPLE
• Area/Industry – Food Services (i.e., Fast Food)
• Product/Service – (McDonalds, KFC, and Subway)
• Current Trend – sales are going down because of strong competitions
• Business Challenges/Problems – decreasing market share and profit
• Field – Marketing
• Topic – Customer Satisfaction

Tentative Topic:
The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction: The case of fast food
restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1.2 RESEARCH GAPS
• There is limited or lack or no solutions (from academic perspective) for the
business challenges/problems presented in the research background.
• This justification is based on your research and detailed in literature review section.
• You can find them in the conclusion/recommendation for future research section in
the journal articles.
• In Chapter 1, 2, and 3 – you will have to do a lot of citations backing up your
claims/arguments.
• You will need to read a lot of journal articles to come up with the research gaps.
• Another way of looking at research gap:
Business Challenges Exist but Research Findings for Potential Solution is
Missing
1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEM
THE COMBINATION OF REAL WORLD, BUSINESS CHALLENGES,
AND RESEARCH GAPS
• 1st Level of Problem – The World Live in Today, general business
challenges/problems (Digital Transformation, IR4.0 Adoption, Knowledge Based
Economy, VUCA – https://www.vuca-world.org/)
• 2nd Level of Problem – Within the context/background of the research (e.g.,
customer satisfaction) – business challenges/problems explained in Research
Background (i.e., Section 1.1)
• 3rd Level of Problem – Research Gaps explained in Section 1.2
• In the research problem section, you are attempting to connect the real world
scenario and business challenges with the research gaps to demonstrate that it
is a problem current/relevant/worthwhile to research.
RESEARCH PROBLEM (RP)
CONSEQUENCES – SOFT INTRODUCTION SOLUTION(S)
Decrease in Customer Re-Purchase
Intentions and Loyalty

Decrease in Brand Reputation

Decrease in Customer
Satisfaction
Increase in Customer Complaints

Increase in Customer Switching Brand

1.4 RESEARCH AIM (RA) - VISION
• The research aim is to solve the research problem.
• The aim of this research study is to understand factors impacting customer satisfaction.
• How? This is where you started to formally introduce your solution (i.e., quantitative study
– Dependent Variable – in this case = Customer Satisfaction).
• The figure below demonstrate the impact of solving the problem using the proposed
solution (i.e., customer satisfaction).
Increase in Customer Re-Purchase
Intentions and Loyalty

Increase in Brand Reputation

Increase in Customer
Satisfaction
Decrease in Customer Complaints

Decrease in Customer Switching Brand

THE FOUR PILLARS OF RESEARCH
• Purpose of conducting a research study?
To the Solve Problem and we need the 4 pillars to solidify our
solution(s).

• 1st Pillar – Research Background

• 2nd Pillar – Research Gap(s)
• 3rd Pillar – Research Problem
• 4th Pillar – Research Aim
1.5 RESEARCH SCOPE
• Extension of Research Aim – understand more about the solution (i.e.,
customer satisfaction)
• Started to introducing factors or independent variables (recommend 3 to 5
factors) impacting your solution (i.e., dependent variable).
• What do you focus on? Why? (i.e., Customer Service Quality)
• What do you not focus on? Why? (i.e., Service Attributes and Service Value)

F1 F2

F5 CS F3

F4
RESEARCH SCOPE

Customer Service Quality (IV)

Service Attributes Customer Satisfaction (DV)

Service Value
ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THE
RESEARCH SCOPE
1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE (RO) - MISSIONS
• RO1 – Examining the relationship between Tangibles (IV1) and Customer Satisfaction (DV).
• RO2 – Examining the relationship between Reliability (IV2) and Customer Satisfaction (DV).
• RO3 – Examining the relationship between Responsiveness (IV3) and Customer Satisfaction (DV).
• RO4 – Examining the relationship between Assurance (IV4) and Customer Satisfaction (DV).
• RO5 – Examining the relationship between Empathy (IV5) and Customer Satisfaction (DV).
• RO6 – Evaluating the most important Customer Service Quality factor impacting Customer
Satisfaction (DV).

• Your DV = Customer Satisfaction

• Your IVs = Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy.
• Customer Service Quality Factors = Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy

• Objective ends with a full stop or period. Objective is a statement.

• Your research objectives depend on your research scope.
1.7 RESEARCH QUESTION (RQ) – ACTION PLANS
• RO1 → RQ1 – What is the impact of Tangibles on Customer Satisfaction?
• RQ2 – What is the impact of Reliability on Customer Satisfaction?
• RQ3 – What is the impact of Responsiveness on Customer Satisfaction?
• RQ4 – What is the impact of Assurance on Customer Satisfaction?
• RQ5 – What is the impact of Empathy on Customer Satisfaction?
• RQ6 – What is the most important Customer Service Quality factor impacting
Customer Satisfaction?

• Customer Service Quality Factors = Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness,

Assurance, and Empathy
RESEARCH MODEL
Tangibles (IV1)

Reliability (IV2)

Customer
Responsiveness (IV3) Satisfaction (DV)

Assurance (IV4)

Empathy (IV5)
 1.8 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
• If you successfully accomplish your research aim – what will happen
next?

• It provides details to the reader on how the study will contribute to the
field of study/body of knowledge/filling the research gaps.
Specifically, what the study will contribute and who will benefit from it?

• It also includes an explanation of the study’s importance as well as its

potential benefits. It is sometimes called rationale.
Try to relate back to your research aim (i.e., solving the problem).
RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE – FIGURE
1.9 RESEARCH STUDY LIMITATIONS
• Divided into two parts:
(I) Before Research Proposal:
(a) Population Scope
(b) Time Constraint
(II) After Research Proposal (post data
analysis):
(a) Reliability of the Survey Instrument
(b) Number of Respondents

• No research study is perfect.

• Think about the challenges you faced
while completing the research study.

https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/limi
tations
1.10 RESEARCH STUDY ORGANIZATION
• The following are the outlines of each of the chapters in this research and its contents:

• Chapter 1 – This chapter highlights introduction of the research which covers research
background, research problem, research aim, research objectives, research questions,
significance of study, scope of study, definition of the terms and outline of the entire chapter.

• Chapter 2 – This chapter focuses on the literature review of the dependent variable and the
independent variables, summa1y of the literature review and the research model which
includes the research framework.

• Chapter 3 – This chapter discusses the research methodology which includes the introduction,
research design, data collection method, sampling process, data analysis and the summa1y of
the research methodology.
 RESEARCH STUDY ORGANIZATION
• Chapter 4 – This section includes discussion of results gathered from the data
analysis after the data had been collected, analysed and arranged. The data would
then use to determine whether the hypothesis is acceptable or not.

Chapter Content
• Chapter 5 – This is the second to last chapter of the entire research. The results
will be discussed and compared to previous research studies. The researcher in 1
this research study compares the findings of this research study with previous 2
literature and offer an evaluation of the findings.
3
4
• Chapter 6 – This is the last closing section of the entire research. The researcher
in this research study provides recommendation on how to improve future 5
research (theoretical implications) as well as business relationship development 6
strategies (practical implications).

• Recommendation:
To put this information into a table format using Excel, then copy and past it to the
Word file as a picture.
CHAPTER 1 – MIND MAPPING