Business Research Week 1

Problem 1

Business research is defined by Cooper and Schindler (2011) as “a process of planning, acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating relevant data, information, and insights to decision makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take appropriate actions that, in turn, maximize performance.”

The definition of research is defined in order to clearly define the purpose and goals. By clearly defining the purpose, it makes sure that everyone is on the same page and that everyone has a common goal. By not defining research clearly, one runs the risk of gathering data that is useless to the decision maker (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). This would be a waste resources that could be avoided by avoiding ambiguity.

Problem 2

Per Cooper and Schindler (2011), the difference between applied research and pure research is that applied research answers questions in relation to specific problems within an organization. For example, it could be performance problems or policy needs. Pure research is a more broad based and general. Pure research has no direct impact on performance or policy decisions. It is about the gathering of information (Cooper and Schindler, 2011).

Management must determine if a salesperson should be paid via commission or salary. In applied research, the question posed would be, “Will paying salespeople by commission instead of salary increase sales of blue widgets?” In a pure research sense, the question would be more general. “Does paying salespeople via commission rather than salary increase productivity?”

Problem 5

The first and very significant dilemma the sales force manager faces is cost. The manager needs to find out if it is more economical to create the custom motivation program or to outsource it.

The next dilemma the sales force manager faces is time. The manager requires accurate estimates of man-hours that it will take to develop the program in house. Along the same lines, personnel will have to be available to...