Impact of Social Media on Global Business Operations: A Case Study

This research project investigates the impact of social media on expanding business operations globally, using THIRDWAY, an interior design firm, as a case study. The project defines research questions, objectives, and a hypothesis, supported by a literature review exploring the roles of social media in promotion, effective social media tools (Facebook, Twitter), and potential barriers like cultural complexities and language differences. The study aims to identify how social media can enhance brand recognition, improve customer engagement, and increase conversion potential. The research includes primary and secondary data collection, analysis, and communication of findings, concluding with reflections on the effectiveness of research methods and alternative methodologies. The project seeks to understand how THIRDWAY can leverage social media for business growth.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
TITLE .............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1) Research proposal which clearly define question and hypothesis with literature review. ...1
P2) Research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Conduct primary and secondary research by using appropriate methods and techniques.....7
P4 Apply appropriate analytical tools, analyse research finding and data..................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................18
P5. Communicate research outcomes in an appropriate manner for the intended audience......18
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................18
P6. Reflection on the effectiveness of research methods and techniques..................................18
P7) Determine alternative research methodologies for the project............................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................................23

TITLE
“To identify the impact of social media in expanding business operations globally. A case
based on THIRDWAY”.
INTRODUCTION
With the change in course of time digital technology has played an important role in
promotional activities. This has been considered as a revolution for current market scenario, as
companies are using social media platform for reaching to every individual in order to increase
their customer base. Thus, this has assisted firm in attaining goals and objectives in speculated
time frame. For this, with the help of advanced technologies enterprises finds it easy in
developing its operations and function at market area (Aral, Dellarocas and Godes, 2013). This
research is based on implications of digital technology, which can have an effect on
organisational performance either in a negative or positive manner. Company that is taken in this
research is THRIDWAY, which is a commercial interior designing firm and helps enterprise in
making their interior more attractive within budget. Organisation is working with the aim of
providing best services to offices so that enterprise can increase space areas and workplaces.
Thus, THIRDWAY work in both interior and exterior components and customers can choose the
best out of them. Company includes around 65 employees including directors and owners as
well.
Therefore, entire research will include the implications of digital technology in business
operations. For this certain aims and objectives are being made which will help researcher in
evaluating the suitable outcomes. Further literature review will aid research in giving a
theoretical framework so as to validate it using thoughts and views of authors and writers. Like
this way, entire report will be assembled and valid conclusion and recommendations will be
evaluated.
TASK 1
P1) Research proposal which clearly define question and hypothesis with literature review.
Investigation is being done in present context in order to locate the impact of social
media on expanding business operations at international level (Awa, Ojiabo and Emecheta,
2015). Through this, researcher can easily pull out the results in an effective and befitting
manner. THIRDWAY which is a small organisation that majorly deals in interior designing for
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corporate world. It has been analysed that major aim of this organisation is to bring out space as
much as they can while developing an office. On the other hand, it has also been found that they
have taken under in use of distinctive tools in order to develop an approach through which
benefits can be gained right on time.
On the other hand, it has also been located that company have adopted some unique
strategies and take in use of them while making modifications in clients office. Employees of this
firm are also carrying positive attitude towards their work and company which offered
THIRDWAY in attaining goals and objective of this firm. Here, researcher is looking forward to
develop a report in order to see the impact of social media and their pros and cons as well on
expansion of business operations at global level (Ball, 2012). Social media in modern world
plays an important role and helps business organisations in promoting their products and
services. Apart from this, with the help of social media company's two offices at different areas
can also stay connected with each other.
Most of public in all over world are using social media with different purposes.
Therefore, if this organisation develops a befitting promotional activity with the aim of gaining
eyes of customers. With the help of this sort of strategy, good position can be gained in front of
competitors. Apart from this, it has also been examined that enhancement of business operations
and sales can get done in much effective and efficient manner.
Research Aim
Research cannot be properly done if its aims and objectives are not being prepared well
(Crane, Matten and Spence, 2013). An aim of investigation consists with problem that researcher
needs to examine and wants to resolve it with appropriate measures and try to draw outcomes as
well. In present context, aim of this investing project is “To identify the impact of social media
in expanding business operations globally. A case based on THIRDWAY”.
Research Objectives
Developing objectives is being considered as the first step which plays a vital role when a
researcher looks forward to pulling out appropriate outcomes according to set aim. In present
context, where investigator has set some objectives in order to locate the role of social media on
THIRDWAY and these are given beneath:
 To identify the role of social media in promoting services of company.
 To analyse effectual social media tools which can be used by THIRDWAY.
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 To examine the barriers which are related to social media while expanding business
operations at global level. To determine the effectiveness of social media in grabbing attention of targeted
customers.
Research Questions
Some of questions that are being prepared according to the
 What are the roles of social media in promoting services of company?
 What are the effective social media tools that can be used by THIRDWAY?
 What barriers can be seen in social media that may put impact on expansion of business
operations?
 What can be the effectiveness of social media in grabbing attention of targeted
customers?
On the other hand, after structuring the questions in an appropriate manner it has been
analysed that literature review part takes over (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2013). It has been found
literature review plays a crucial role when it comes to hit their targets and information can easily
be developed with taking under in use of primary and secondary data. Accumulation of data
takes place and in present context literature review consists with perceptions of different authors
and scholars which may help researcher in developing his/her knowledge in specific time of
period.
Roles of social media in promoting services of company
According to the view point of Gronum, Verreynne and Kastelle, (2012), most of public
are using mobile in this world and stays connected with their friends and relatives through
different social media sites. It has been found that there are many famous and powerful platforms
related to online media like Twitter Facebook and Instagram which can be used by organisation
through which many benefits can be gained. If organisations like THIRDWAY do not stay active
in social media and do not make an account on it then they may miss out ample number of
opportunities that are related to marketing. Some roles of social media are given below:
Interaction with Target Market: Social media directly aid in grabbing attention of
customers and helps in staying connected with them directly. For an example: If customers
purchased a something from store of an organisation then they can directly give review to them
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as per their point of view. Their queries can easily be resolved by them and can be considered as
one of simplest but effective marketing strategy.
Improve Responsiveness: It is being found that social media mostly aid in receiving and
providing feedbacks. With the help of this, problems that are being faced by customers can easily
be resolved right on time.
Competition: In this competitive business world, most of business organisations are
concentrating on developing their brand image with taking help of different famous social sites.
Therefore, it is required for THIRDWAY to keep on looking at different areas and then try to
adopt befitting strategy that may aid in developing high rivalry. On the other hand, in order to be
able to boost online traffic to THIRDWAY's site and increase sales, it is required to stay ahead of
the competition while providing customers with the best products and services.
Effective social media tools that can be used by THIRDWAY
As given by Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, (2012), social media can help organisations in
different ways when it comes to expansion of business at global level. It has been analysed that
marketing department of most of companies are rapidly looking into different aspects and have
adopted many effective online tools that are cost-effective in nature. This is one of latest online
marketing strategy which is used by organisations in order to grab attention of customers or to
provide them information of what exactly they are selling. Some of social media tools that can be
adopted by THIRDWAY are given below:
Facebook: This is one of most effective social media tool which is being mostly adopted
by organisations in all over world. Facebook where most of people stays online and interacts
with each other. Company has given an opportunity to business firms to develop their own page
or account where they can deliver information to customers of normal people that what they have
made and what they are offering (Hahn and Kühnen, 2013).
Twitter: It has been analysed that it is another social media tool that can be adopted by
THIRDWAY in order to deliver information to customers and with the help of this, it has been
found that they can take feedbacks as well from their existing customers.
Barriers of social media that may put impact on expansion of business operations
According to Mai P. Tran, (2015), today's digital market space customers and business
both relies on interaction, sales and buying process if organisation is doing business at
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international level. But there are some barriers which business organisations have faced while
using social media at the time of expansion of business operations and these are given below:
Cultural Complexities: It has been examined that people in many nations consists
various values along with precedence of products that are being offered by THIRDWAY. On the
other hand, it has also been examined that some of customers mostly prefers to buy products in
traditional form (Hajli, 2014).
Language Obstruction: It is being found that communication majorly carries a crucial
part and can be considered as a major barrier when a firm looks forward to sell their products and
services at international level. Language differences are subtle and complex. For example, the
literal translation of KFC’s infamous slogan “Finger-lickin’good” in Chinese is “Eat your fingers
off.” Not surprisingly, the company had a bad start there in the 1980s.
Effectiveness of social media in grabbing attention of targeted customer
As given by Laroche, Habibi and Richard, (2013), social media have high potential to
reach to high number of customers than any sort of offline channel. As a result, these platforms
have become the number one choice for savvy marketeers. They are the perfect tools to engage
with stakeholders, increase brand awareness, drive traffic to a website and generate a buzz
around your business. Some of these are given beneath:
Increasing brand recognition: In order to increase brand’s visibility is invaluable. Social
media is simply another way to get all the voice heard by a wider audience. It is an effective
platform to reach and engage new or prospective customers, whilst continuing a dialogue with
and becoming more familiar to your existing customer base and other stakeholders.
Improving your converting potential: Engaging customers with valuable and relevant
content on social media, it is an opportunity to move them through the customer journey.
Building an effective social media presence helps you to reach out and create positive
interactions, with each interaction building on the last. Even if THIRDWAY click-through rates
are low, social media simply increases the number of opportunities your business has to reach
out and target new customers (Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu, 2014).
P2) Research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research
Research methodology is a particular technique opted for identifying and analyse data for
the specific topic. This method is the composite of ideals, philosophy which is going to used. It is
the systematic process of identifying the appropriate method to achieve the valuable result. There
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are two types of methods that is qualitative research & quantitative research used by researcher
to collect data for the specific topic. Qualitative research is based on the quality of the
information like beliefs and experiences of the humans whereas quantitative research is based on
the numerical values, facts & figures and statistics data (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). With the
help of this, it has been examined that information related to perception of selected respondents
can easily be gathered. In this project there are two different types of research methodologies
which are used to perform different situation and condition of research. Some of research
methods in present context are given beneath:
Qualitative Research Method: This type of research method is being considered as one
of effective approach that can be used by researcher. It has been analysed that it is mandatory for
investigator to look into different aspects and then adopt the befitting method so that desired
outcomes can be drawn in specific and set time frame. Qualitative method helps a researcher and
delivers a data which consists with perceptions or point of views of selected respondents.
Investigator in present context have adopted this type of research methodology in order to reach
to specific outcomes of desired aims and objectives.
Quantitative Research Method: Another effective method which can be adopted by
investigator in order to draw befitting outcome as per goal that has been set. It is necessarily
important for researcher to look at the desired aim and then take in use of appropriate method.
Failure into this may lead research conducting person to delay the process of investigation and at
last point it is may be possible that he/she may not attain coveted goal. Investigator uses different
mathematical and statistical approaches where he gets the results in numerical or in percentile
form. It is being found that results which are being drawn with the help of this method stays
authenticated and exact amount can get drawn. But in present context, this type of research will
be less effective because information which investigator is looking forward to gather is
perception of respondents (Pacione, 2013).
Data Sampling: A statistical and analytical method where investigator can select number
of respondents from public. With the help of this, information can be gathered as per the answers
which are being given by the selected respondents. Fundamental role of this type of research
developing method is that to bring out results right on time. There are two major elements which
can be adopted by researcher and these are probabilistic and non-probabilistic (Paniagua and
Sapena, 2014). Apart from this, in present investigation researcher have used purposive sampling
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where respondents that are being selected from public are 30 respondents which will help out
researcher in drawing befitting outcomes.
TASK 2
P3 Conduct primary and secondary research by using appropriate methods and techniques
Q1) Whether introducing digital technology and various social media platform
for promotional activities will give long term benefits to THIRDWAY?
Frequency
Agree 27
Disagree 3
Q2) Does digital technologies plays an important role in performance and
productivity of a company?
Frequency
Yes 26
No 4
Q3) What are the major benefits that can arise after introducing digitalisation at
workplace in THIRDWAY?
Frequency
Improve productivity 8
Increase sales 7
Enhance market share and value 9
Getting consumer's attraction 6
Q4) Benefits of implementing social media in present scenario for company and
an individual as well?
Frequency
Improves Knowledge 10
Effective communication and Connectivity 10
Better transfer of information 10
Q5) Whether use of digital technologies and social media platforms are
effective in developing capabilities of THIRDWAY at market area?
Frequency
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Agree 28
Disagree 2
Q6) What type of impact is achieved through kind of impact is attained by
THIRDWAY to offering better services to its existing consumers through
executing digital technologies?
Frequency
Positive 25
Negative 3
Neutral 2
Q7) According to you what are the tools and technologies THIRDWAY is using
for operating its business and performance at market area?
Frequency
Eligible employees 8
Internet Filtering 7
Social Media 10
Advance Technologies 5
Q8) What kinds of tools and technologies THIRDWAY is using in order to grab
attention of maximum number of people?
Frequency
Mobile Application 15
Digital Advertising 7
Social media 8
Q9) According to you what you think it is necessary that THIRDWAY make
modifications in their business operation or tools company are using so as to
increase profitability?
Frequency
Yes 18
No 12
Q10) Any kind of suggestions you want to give in order to improve business
activity and its function by company?
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9