Effective International Business Strategies for Global Competitive Advantage in UK Sales Industry: A Study on Missguided

This dissertation explores the impact of effective international business strategies on gaining global competitive advantage within the UK sales industry, with a focus on Missguided. It examines the basic concept of international business, effective strategies used by Missguided, challenges faced, and the impact of these strategies on gaining competitive advantages.

Dissertation
(Effective international business
strategies to gain global competitive
advantage within sales industry in the
U.K)
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Overview of the topic..................................................................................................................4
Background of the organisation (100).........................................................................................4
Significance of the study.............................................................................................................4
Statement of purpose...................................................................................................................5
Statement of the problem.............................................................................................................5
Research aim and objective 150..................................................................................................5
Research question........................................................................................................................6
Dissertation structure...................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................8
Introduction..................................................................................................................................8
Basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale industry.........................8
Effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global competitive
advantages..................................................................................................................................11
Challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international business strategy in
global market.............................................................................................................................12
Impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive advantages for
Misguided..................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................16
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
Online:.......................................................................................................................................23
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INTRODUCTION
Overview of the topic
International business strategy is defined as the application which focuses on planning to
export product and service in the foreign countries. In the recent time to increase the market
share it become vital for the company to sale goods and service in the foreign market. This assist
them to gain competitive edge from the rivalry within the same industry (Agwu, 2018). With the
increase in globalisation a new door for the company is being opened which provide them the
chance to go internationally and sale their good. There are three international business strategy
that are multi domestic strategy, global strategy and transactional strategy. In the current
investigation a researcher is conducted to know the impact of these strategy on global
competition (Helmold and Samara, 2019).
Background of the organisation (100)
For carrying the current investigation, the chosen business organisation is MGL realisation
which trades their product in the market with the name Missguided. This is the company which
operates their business from UK. It is a multi-channel retailing selling cloths brand which sale
cloth from the age group of 16-35 years (Jain, Jain and Metri, 2018). The company was founded
in the year 2009 by Nitin Passi. The headquarter of the company is in Trafford park. In 2017 the
company also launches menswear in the market. The company is chosen to see the impact on
their competitive edge after implementing the international business strategy over the worldwide
market.
Significance of the study
The present investigation is quite significant as it helps in knowing the importance of
international business strategy. It is crucial for the company to adopt right international business
strategy for their firm as it helps in gaining competitive edge from the rivalry. To gain the
international competition and make a strong brand image it is important for the company to have
right strategy (Zameer, Wang and Yasmeen, 2020). The present investigation is also important
for researcher, marketing manager and organisation. For researcher it is important as it helps
them to carry their investigation ins sound manner by using the present investigation as their
foundation. For marketing manager, it is important as they will get to know about the strategies
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that they can use to expand their business in international market. At last, for organisation it is
vital as they will get to know how they can earn competitive advantage by using international
business strategy (Hannibal and Knight, 2018).
Statement of purpose
The main purpose to carry the current investigation is to acquire an understanding on the
topic international business strategy. The present research also helps in knowing the impact of
international business strategy on gaining competitive edge. In the current investigation different
international strategy would be determine which helps in enhancing the knowledge. The present
investigation also highlights the challenges which firm faces while adopting the concept of
internationally (Aguilera and Grøgaard, 2019). Apart from the existing investigation is of great
interest as it assists in achieving two objectives that are personal and professional. In perspective
of the personal it helps in building various research skills such as data communicating skill, data
presentation skill and many other. With respect to the professional objective, different
international strategy would be learned that helps me in using these when researcher will be
working in an international firm as marketing manager. Thus, it achieves the dual objective in
effective way (Liu and Atuahene-Gima, 2018).
Statement of the problem
The key problem which is identified in the present investigation is that gaining competitive
advantage in the global market is difficult for the company. this is because implementing and
deciding right international business strategy is one of the challenges. Selling the product in the
global market requires a proper market analysis which helps in attracting the customer in
effective way (Nave and Ferreira, 2019). Each and every firm operates to gain competitive edge
from the rivalry. This creates pressure and increase the international competition in large
manner. Thus, going international and gaining advantage is one of the challenging task for the
brands operating globally (Rehman Khan and Yu, 2021).
Research aim and objective 150
Research aim:
To analyse the Effective international business strategies to gain global competitive
advantage within sales industry in the U.K: A study on Missguided
Research objective:
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 To understand the basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale
industry
 To analyse the effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain
global competitive advantages
 To determine the challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the
international business strategy in global market
 To examine the impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive
advantages for Misguided
Research question
 What is the basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale
industry?
 What are the effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global
competitive advantages?
 What are the challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international
business strategy in global market?
 What is the impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive
advantages for Misguided?
Dissertation structure
There are many chapters involves in order to conduct the research in current topic. These
are described below:
Introduction- It is a first chapter of a dissertation that used to describe about the basic
understanding related to the research topic (Scalfani, 2020). It also describes about the purpose
of doing research, it significance, identified problem, outlined of methodology and overview of
the company.
Literature review- It refers to the second chapter of the dissertation that covers
secondary information about the research topic. It includes opinions, ideas and views of different
authors for the research topic.
Research methodology- It refers to the third chapter of the dissertation that describes
about the what methods, procedure and techniques used by the researcher to conduct research.
The current research is conducted by using qualitative methods by collecting secondary data
(Putri, 2021).
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Data analysis and findings - It is the fourth chapter of dissertation that is used to
analysed and discussed the collected data for outlining the findings of the research.
Conclusion and recommendation- It is the last chapter of dissertation that summarised
whole research as well as conclude the findings. This chapter recommend some ways to the
company that will help them to solve research problem.
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CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
A literature review refers to a set of academic writing content showing the understanding
and knowledge of the academic literature on a certain subject ordered in context. It involves a
critical evaluation of the chosen topic by considering the concepts of different authors, scholars,
authors, journals or sources. For the current research, it will help researcher to write a
dissertation or thesis on the topic. The following literature review will be based on understanding
the basic terminology of international business within sales industry of UK. There are different
ways or strategies that can be used by organisation to go globally which will also be part of this
chapter (Salim, Ab Rahman and Abd Wahab, 2019). Moreover, an international business may
face different challenges and risks while implementing their international business strategy so it
will also be critically analysed. An international business strategy may impact the organisation in
different ways to gain competitive benefits so it will also be discussed by the researcher.
Basic concept of international business within the context of UK sale industry
According to Hartmann, Inkpen, and Ramaswamy, (2021), the concept of international
business involves the business which crosses the national borders of country by involving
importing and exporting, movemen6t of goods, services, employees, technology etc. It is the
study of the internationalization process of multinational enterprises. It also involves investment
in financial and immovable assets in foreign countries. Apart from this, individual firms,
governments and international agencies are also involved in international business transactions in
which assets can be products, knowledge, capital or labour. Within the UK sales industry, the
operations of the organisation are conducted on very huge scale in international business as their
activities of production and marketing are performed. The surplus goods are exported. In context
to the UK sales industry, the reason of emerging international business is due to attaining higher
rate of profits which motivates the business to expand its operations to international countries.
The acceleration of the financial, commercial process and IT innovations in global market
creates the opportunities for organisation to extend their activities beyond their countries borders
through trade & investments. It is required by the organisation to have thorough understanding of
language & culture in order to get international sales right & taking advantage of world-wide
business opportunities (Zapletalová, 2021). The globalisation takes place in terms of market in
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which trade barriers are falling and there is change in buyer preferences. When the firms within
UK sales industry internationalize it improves the profitability by leading enhancement of
development prospects. In the global business different political consideration of countries are
involved which facilitate or hinder the business. in context to the UK sales industry the political
factor must be taken into consideration as trade agreements entered between the governments of
countries which affects political stability, foreign trade regulations, and many more. The
technology factor also puts both positive and negative impact on the UK sales industry sue to
cross border business in countries which may threaten the existence of local business to level of
extinction or increase level to global standards.
As per the view point of Pergelova, Simeonova‐Ganeva, and Yordanova, (2019),
international business defines the trade of goods, services, at global or transnational scale by
including the cross-border transactions of goods & services between two or more countries. The
focus of the international business is on the resources of globe & objectives of the company on
the international business opportunities & threats for producing or exchanging worldwide goods
& services. The economics of many countries are integrated in international business which take
use of finance from one country, labour from other country etc. in which product is design in one
country and sells in several countries. The company internationalize their operations when the
size of home market is limited because of small size of population or due to lower purchasing
power of people. National economies that have achieved the goal of self-sufficiency are now
monitoring a course toward international business (Habani, and Kamaruddin, 2021). The
international business is important is establishing business relationship among the countries as
national economies are dynamically getting borderless. Within the UK sales industry it is
benefiting nation in obtaining foreign exchange which can be utilized to import merchandise
from global market. Apart from this it enhances the development prospects & generates
employment opportunities. Due to increase in environmental awareness the external
environmental factor is become significant issue for international business which involves the
factors of climate change, weather etc. The demand is moving towards the environmentally
friendly products & services of different levels in countries which is essential in the UK sales
industry to consider this factor. The company internationalize to diversify risk by spreading its
operations to different and diverse countries instead of depending on any one market or region. It
provides the great insight to learn new ways for accomplishing things leading to success.
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In the opinion of Bolwijn, Casella and Zhan (2018) international business refers to any situation
in which distribution or production of goods and services crosses boundaries of a country.
Globalisation is considered as the shift towards a more integrated and interdependent global
economy that creates greater opportunities for the international business. It decrease trade
barriers as well as rapidly changed buying behaviours and preferences of customers in global
market. International business involves a full range of cross-border, exchange of goods, services
or resources between two or more countries. These exchange are also be conducted through the
international transfers of several other resources such as people, intellectual property like
copyrights, patents, data and brand trademarks as well as contractual liabilities or assets like
providing some future service to foreign buyers, the right to use of some foreign assets or
executing a complex financial instrument. Successful international businesses recognise the
diversity of market across the world as well as they are able in order to cope with the risks and
uncertainties for operating a business within a rapidly changing global market (Jean, R.J. and
Tan, 2019). It provides an advantage to a country over other countries in respect of access to
resources, affordable land, labour and capital. Participation in international business allows
country to export those goods and services that utilise abundant factors of production. It also
allows countries to take advantages of specialised expertise as well as abundant factors of
production in order to deliver goods and service into the international market. It involves a
benefit of increasing availability of variety of goods and services in the market. International
business helps in increasing the competition in domestic markets as well as introducing the new
opportunities for the foreign markets. Due to increase in global competition, companies are
encouraged in order to become more efficient and innovative within their use of resources.
International business increases the variety of goods and services in the market that change
consumer preferences and buying behaviour of customer. It enhances their living standard as
well as exposure of new devices, ideas, services, products and technologies. It helps in
improving the profits of the companies by selling products in those countries where costs are
high. It assists them in proper utilisation of their surplus resources as well as increasing
profitability of their activities (Luo, 2021). In addition to this, companies can enhance their
development prospects through international businesses.
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Effective international business strategies used by Misguided to gain global competitive
advantages
As per the opinion of Lilien, Petersen, and Wuyts, (2022), globalization influences world
economies which increase capital mobility that allows companies to connect with global
financial market & expanding business internationally. In framework to misguided international
business strategies are adopted are adopted for having successful expansion and achieving
competitive advantage. It is seen that international business comprises dealing with foreign
stakeholder, employees, consumer & governments. There are several types of international
business strategy which used by Misguided as to attain global competitive advantage such as
international strategy helps in putting focus on exporting products & services to foreign
markets or conversely import goods & resources from the other countries for the domestic use.
The follow of this strategy is neither concerned regarding cost nor adopting to local cultural
conditions in which they attempt to sell their products internationally. It yields plenty of new
opportunities for the organisation to have growth (Dzwigol, Dzwigol-Barosz, and Kwilinski,
2020). By adopting international strategy in misguided it offers the benefit of increase in market
size, greater return on investment, global brand recognition and customer satisfaction. The
company is required to invest in staff and facilities overseas. The other effective strategy is
multi-domestic strategy which makes investment in establishing the presence in foreign market
& adapting its products to local market. In context to Misguide, it reposition its marketing
strategies to engage with the foreign audience which involves taking into consideration of
foreign customs, traditions and cultural traits. Its features involve the focusing on establishing
presence and competitive advantage is determined separately for each country. This strategy
emphasises on the local requirements within each of its markets. It benefits the misguided in
meeting the customer needs and marketing mix to meet differing regional preferences. It
increases the global competitiveness by reducing the manufacturing cost leading to competitive
advantage. In framework to Misguided, it benefits to work with local resources while company
establishes operations in new locale which may involve local workforce and natural resources.
In accordance to Rana, (2020), international strategies involve the different approaches
which help the organisation in attaining the global competitive advantage. The globalised world
has made easier to cross national border and doing business abroad which leads to growth of
revenue. The adoption of the global strategy by Misguided leverages the economies of scale in
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order to boost revenue & growth of company. The company headquarter is in their country of
origin while establishing operations in foreign markets. This strategy involves the homogenized
products & services. This strategy emphasizes on lower cost and better efficiency which leads to
attain competitive advantage. The misguided company follow the global strategy in effort to
expand their customer base and selling products in more foreign markets (Cantoni, Rocha,
Galhanone, and Righetti, 2019). The company has unified branding style with few variations in
marketing or products from region to region. The risk for the firm is decreased to achieve
efficient operations it requires the sharing of resources along with coordination and cooperation
across country boundaries. Transactional strategy is another effective international strategy that
seeks to combine the best of multidomestic and global strategy as to get both global efficiency
and local responsiveness in context to Misguided. On the plus side, firms that successfully
implement a transnational strategy frequently outperform competitors who use either
multidomestic or global corporate-level strategies. This strategy allows the company in context
to misguided to expand with full-scale operations in foreign markets along with products &
services are sell in multiple countries across the globe. This also involves the identification of
effective management tactics & large investment costs. This strategy allows misguided to
centralize and streamline operations by getting advantage from the economies of scale.
Challenges faced by the Misguided while implementing the international business strategy in
global market
As per the viewpoint of Acuña-Carvajal and et.al. (2019) international business refers to
the making and selling of products and services all around the world. Many of business
enterprises tend to make goods overseas because of the impact of low labour costs or taxes and
they merchandise products or services in international marketplace due to its high potentiality for
attaining a massive audience, increased volume and new customers. A company can face
different types of challenging while implementing international business strategies in their
business. One of the major challenges is the language barrier in order to engage business globally
(Acuña-Carvajal and et.al., 2019). It is essential to consider the languages spoken in the nations
to which the organisation is seeking to expand their business. For example, in case of Misguided,
in order to sell their fashion items in certain country such as France, they need to hire interpreter
to translate language and to communicate the brand message to the global audience. It is also
hard to consider the languages used by the employees based on global offices. Hence, investing
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in interpreters can assist ensure the organisation peruses to operate smoothly at international
level. Cultural differences, just as each nation has its mix of languages, each global place has its
own culture or mix of cultures. Culture involves traditions, arts, holidays, social beliefs and
many more followed by a certain group of people (Li and et.al., 2019). It is fundamental to
enrich to learn about differences in culture where one can their business. When handling team of
employees in international offices, selling items to a global retail or running an overseas
production facility, displaying that the company have taken to acknowledge their cultures can
project the respect as well as emotional intelligence essential to conduct enterprise successfully.
Reynolds (2017) views foreign laws and regulations as a challenge to implement
international business strategy. It is seen that gaining a deep knowledge of the local laws and
regulations is the key to attain target market globally. From implementing tax through trading
laws, is the primary function for any sort of international business. Qualification to trade is a
vital consideration as are potential tariffs along with lawful expenses related with entering new
markets. For example, Misguided need to take consideration of employment laws of the country
wherever they operate their business. These laws may differ from country to country such as
organisation need to pay salary on time, maternity leaves and so on in accordance with the laws
where they operate their business. International accounting is also a challenge in the international
business strategy. Tax compliance is perhaps the most challenging part of the international
business. Accounting is shown as a challenge to global business who may be accountable for
corporation tax. Hence, different tax rates, systems and compliance needs can make the
accounting function of a global organisation vitally crucial. Accounting tactic is the key to
increasing profits along with the location where the organisation is registered can influence the
obligations regarding to taxes (Álvarez Jaramillo, Zartha Sossa and Orozco Mendoza, 2019).
Thus, decreasing the risk of various layers of taxation makes potential business sense for any
organisation trading abroad. Being conscious of tax between different nations where the
organisation is trading will support to make sure that the company is not paying multiple taxes
unnecessarily. Universal payments method is also a challenge that the organisation may face
while implementing their global business strategy. The increase of global e-commerce websites
has made the shopping of products and services overseas simple and even more affordable for
consumers and organisations. Therefore, payments that are normally accepted in the home
market might be not available globally. Ascertaining acceptable payment strategies as well as
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making sure to secure the procedure must be a key consideration for organisations who look for
international trade. Political risk contains uncertainty along with instability challenging of
operating business (Habib and Hasan, 2021). Emerging countries that may provide considerable
opportunities for spreading business may also contain challenges and risks. The company need to
assess the risks of the political and economic landscape of the country which is critical in nature.
Challenges such as unstable or ill-defined policies or corrupt practices can be widely challenging
in developing markets (Reynolds, 2017). Changing in government can evolve changes in
regulations, policy or interest rates that can prove damaging to international business along with
its surroundings.
Impact of effective international business strategy on gaining competitive advantages for
Misguided
According to the view point of Abdulwase and et.al. (2022) business strategy is
considered as a crucial factor which can be used for strengthening and improving organisational
performance. The author has also stated that it can create competitive advantage as more crucial
in comparison to international market, thereby realising sustainable business development where
continuity and survival within workplace for the best. The survival, growth as well as
continuation of an organisation relies on the nature of the effective business strategies adopted by
it. The international business strategy view point states that gaining competitive advantage hinge
on pursuing a cohesive competitive strategy. The author has also identified that effective
international business strategies have a great impact on gaining competitive advantage for the
organisation like Misguided. There are three main types of international business strategies and
these include multi-domestic, global as well as transnational. In context to the multi-domestic
international business strategy, the organisation has greatly influenced by it as according to this
kind of business strategy the company has to focus on its local customers over global
standardisation through making it the most localised of different models that are available. As
per this strategy, the respective organisation has to compete independently within its various
domestic markets. In such manner, the company can chase competitive advantage. As per the
global international business strategy, organisation like Misguided has to develop its business
and expand it into the global markets. In such manner, the impact of global international business
strategy has a major influence on the process of gaining competitive advantage as it helps the
company in enhancing the volume of its sales operations throughout the global world. In relation
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to the transnational business strategy, the impact of this kind of international business strategy on
gaining organisational competitiveness is that it positively impacts the performance of the
business. This kind of international business strategy provide assistance to the organisation in
coordinating its global business activities through cooperation and interdependence among its
headquarter, operational divisions and globally located subsidiaries. In such way, these different
types of effective international business strategies have a major impact on the process of gaining
competitive advantage of the organisation. On the other hand, George (2012) stated that
organisations that make changes within their business strategies are bound to gain the advantages
from the activities in many ways consisting of opening more business opportunities, increasing
level of performance as well as enhanced ability to chase competitive advantage. The author has
also explained that the role and effect of international business strategies are significant within
the success of enhancing the business level beyond its national borders. However, the
prospective of these can only get maximised when taking into consideration its other components
which contribute to the process of internationalisation like local culture, demands of the
customers and many more.
In the opinion of Hampden-Turner, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (2020)
an effective international business strategy provides positive impact on gaining competitive
advantage. International business strategy allows Misguide to offers their products and services
in international markets also for gaining competitive advantage. Due to increase in globalisation,
today’s corporate work is very competitive and challenges thus, company need to focus on
selling their goods and service in international countries in order to take several advantages and
for survival and progression of businesses. When the domestic market of the company is not
saturated then they need to focus on going internationally for making product available in
another country. Company’s objectives and resources along with the demand of their products
and services are important before taking the decision to globalise their business. Company need
to first find out the demand of their products and service in international market and then select
the best international business strategy that match with their resources and objective before going
international (Rehman Khan and Yu, 2021). When the demand of products and service is high in
another country, it helps in gaining competitive advantage in the international market.
Companies also need to focus on making their products and service more attractive and effective
while offering in international market for gaining competition advantage. International business
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strategy allows company to find the market where they lower labour and material for the
production of their products and service. It may help company to offer their products and service
in low costs in the market for attracting large number of customers as well as gaining
competitive market. There are many international business strategies such as global strategy,
transnational strategy, international strategy as well as multi-domestic strategy. It is important for
the company to select the best and effective strategy for their business in order to promote their
goods and services in international market as well as gain competitive advantage also. Use of
effective international business strategy provides many benefits to the company. It increases their
market size that means they have wide opportunity in order to make their products and service
available for large number of customers (Wright and Schultz, 2018). It increases their demand
not domestically but also internationally that directly increases their competitive edge. Another
benefit gain through effective business strategy is economies of scale and learning that also help
company to promote their goods and service in international market in effective manner. Another
benefit that company gain through effective international business strategy is the easy access of
scare resources as well as raw materials. Through these resources and raw material, company can
produce more effective products that help in gaining competitive edge in global market.
Conclusion
It has been concluded that an international business strategy helps businesses to gain
competitive benefits within sales industry. It helps in achieving global customers and promote
business at international level. Although, it may cover different challenges or risks while
implementing the strategy of global business but with right strategies or solutions, the company
may overcome the negative influences on the business.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology refers to a third chapter of the research that describe as the
specific procedure or technique that help researcher in order to identify, choose, process as well
as analyse information related to the topic (ELLIS, 2021). It provides research legitimacy as well
as renders scientifically sound findings of the research. It allows reader in order to evaluate the
reliability and validity of the research. An effective research methodology provides a detailed
plan that helps in keeping the researcher on track as well as making the research process
smoother, manageable and more effective. It also provides justification why researcher selects
specific approach, techniques and method in order to address the research questions. It explains
how researcher will gather data and analyse it. Research methodology is considered as the way
that solves the research problem in systematic manner. To create an effective research
methodology for the research, researcher use research onion framework for selecting method,
technique, approaches for the research. Research onion classifies the whole research process in
various layers just like a onion that helps in doing the research in effective manner.
Research philosophy- Research philosophy is the first layer of the research one as well as
crucial which means a system of assumptions and beliefs about the development of knowledge.
It refers to an idea or a belief about the collection, interpretation as well as analysis of data
collected. It is divided in two main categories that are positivism and interpretivism research
philosophy. Positivism research philosophy takes the view that the knowledge exists outside of
what’s being studied (Prosek and Gibson, 2021). Interpretivism research philosophy is focuses
on thoughts and ideas of people, in light of the socio-cultural backdrop. Researcher selected
interpretivism research philosophy as it helps in collecting more detailed information for the
research. The main advantage of using this research philosophy is it helps in gaining responses
that are valid and close to the truth. It enables the researcher to be alive with the changes that
arise at the time of conducting research.
Research Approach- Another important layer of research onion is research approach. It
refers to the procedure which is selected by the researcher in order to collect, analyse and
interpret data for the research. There are two important types of research approaches in research
methodology that are name as inductive and deductive research approach. Inductive research
approach focuses on generating theories from the research instead of starting a research with a
theory as a foundation (Azungah, 2018). Deductive research approach focuses on testing existing
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theory for conducting the research. The researcher used inductive research approach for the
current research. It provides flexibility to the researcher attends closely to context as well as
supports the generation of new theory. It refers to a systematic procedure in order to analyse the
detail information and it is guided through specific evaluation objectives.
Research choice- The next layer of research onion is research choice that describes the
research method which is used by the researcher for collecting particular kind of data and
analyse it properly. It is classify in two categories that are quantitative and qualitative research
method. Quantitative research choice focuses in dealing with the numbers, logic as well as
objective stance (Iphofen and Tolich, 2018). Qualitative research means the study of the natural
phenomena and it is specific for addressing questions why something is observed, assessing
complex multi-component interventions as well as focussing on intervention improvement. The
researcher selected qualitative research choice in the current research as it produces in-depth
analysis. It produces detailed, rich and valid process data on the basis of the participant’s instead
than the investigator’s own interpretations and perspectives. It help researcher in order to gain
deep understanding of a specific topic rather than the surface description of a large sample of a
population.
Research strategy- Another important layer of research onion is research strategy which
means a step-by-step action plan that provides direction to the thought process of researcher. It
enable researcher in order to perform the research in systematic manner as well as on schedule.
There are many types of research strategies that are used in research for collecting data for the
research. These are case study analysis, systematic literature review, survey, interview,
observation and so on. In present study, researcher used systematic literature review and case
study strategy in order to collect detail information related to the research topic. Systematic
literature review help researcher in order to identifies, selects and critically appraises research for
answering the clearly formulate questions. The main advantage of this research strategy is help
researcher to deliver a meticulous summary of all the available primary research in order to
response the research questions. It also helps in reducing biasness for selecting studies for the
review (Deggs and Hernandez, 2018). It allow researcher in order to gain perspective, ideas,
opinion and views of others authors related to the research topic. The case study research
strategy is the most flexible strategy that allow researcher to attain the holistic characteristics of
real-life events while researching empirical events. The main advantage of this research strategy
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is it provides detailed, rich and qualitative information for the research. It help researcher in
order to gain insight for the further research. Both strategies are helpful for the researcher in
order to collect and analyse the secondary information for the research.
Time horizon- It is also an important layer of the research onion that used to describe the
time which is required by the researcher in order to complete the whole study. There are mainly
two important types of time horizon that are longitudinal and cross-sectional time horizon.
Longitudinal research time horizon focuses on collecting data over a multiple points at a time. It
is beneficial when the studying changes along with the progressions over time. On the other
hand, cross-sectional time horizon focuses on collecting data from many different individuals at
a single point in time (Gill, 2020). In the present research, researcher used cross-sectional time
horizon in order to conduct the whole research in less time period. The main advantage of cross-
sectional time horizon is it makes research cost-effective to perform as well as not require too
much time for collecting the data for the research. Another advantage of this time horizon is it
allows researcher in order to compare the several variables within a single time. To complete the
present study on time, researcher uses Gantt chart tool for performing all the activities within
deadline. A Gantt chart is an effective tool that helps in allocating different tasks of research
around the deadline in order to ensure researcher to complete the whole research in minimum
time.
Data Collection- It refers to the process of collecting, analysing and measuring accurate
information from a variety of relevant sources in order to find answers to research. There are two
important kinds of data collection methods that are named as primary data collection method and
secondary data collection method. Primary data collection method focuses on collecting first
hand data by directly collecting from the users. On the other hand, secondary data collection
method focuses on collecting data from the published sources such as books, journals and
scholarly articles (Green, 2020). In the current research, researcher used secondary data
collection method for collecting detail information for the current research. The main advantage
of using this data collection method is it saves times and efforts of the researcher to collect data
because secondary data is much easier and faster than the primary data collection. Another
advantage is cost-effectiveness which means that the researcher does not need to spend high cost
in order to collect data for the research. It allows researcher in order to gain more cleaned and
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structured data for the research. Secondary data collection helps researcher in order collect large
volume of data for the research.
Data Analysis- The final layer of the research onion is data analysis. It refers to a process of
changing, cleaning and processing raw data as well as extracting relevant and actionable
information that help researcher to make informed decision. There are several data analysis
techniques that are used to analyse the raw collected data and organised in well-structured
format. These are correlation, frequency distribution, thematic, regression and many more. In the
current research, researcher used thematic data analysis techniques for examining and analysing
the secondary collected data for the research (Camic, 2021). Thematic data analysis means a
method which is used for analysing qualitative information that entails searching all over the data
that are set to identify, analyse and report repeated patterns. The main advantage of this data
analysis technique is it offers a more accessible form of analysis, especially for those who are
early in their research career. It is often quite subjective as well as relies on the researcher’s
judgement.
Ethical consideration- It means as the set of principles that guide researcher’s research
design and practices. The principles which are required to follow in the current research are
confidentiality and creditability (Zhu, Sari and Lee, 2018). Confidentiality enables researcher to
keep their all collected information confidential. Creditability enable researcher to give proper
credit to the authors whose opinion, views and perspectives are used.
19

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