Quantitative Research Design for Ensuring Supply Chain Flexibility and Continuity: Methodological and Ethical Considerations - System04002

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Introduction
Research methodology is an important section of the research process, which guides the
researcher in his pursuit of solutions to the research questions. The research process encompasses
the research design, research paradigm, research strategy, research approach, and research
technique. Each one of these factors, impacts the research results in a significant manner.
Therefore, it is important to select suitable research tools and techniques for accomplishing the
research. Most of the times, the researcher selects the research tools and techniques, based on his
philosophy and the research aims and objectives. The primary criterion in the selection of the
research is whether the research tools will be able to fulfill the research aims and objectives.
Most of the research methods can be divided into the qualitative and quantitative research
methods. The qualitative research methods make use of the non-statistical techniques to obtain
and collect the data (Saldaña, 2015). There are several methods to collect the data from the
qualitative methods, such as the interview or the literature review. The qualitative research is a
scientific enquiry which collects novel evidence to answer the research questions. The qualitative
research provides important information about the social characteristics, which includes the
behavior, emotions, opinions and relationships of an individual. It is an exploratory research
method, which is dedicated to obtain understanding of the reasons, motivations, and opinions of
the researchers. It provides insights to the problem, and assists in providing ideas and hypothesis
to solve the problem (Bell, 2014). The qualitative research methods comprises of unstructured and
semi-structured techniques to solve a business problem. There are several methods, such as focus
groups, interviews and observations to obtain the qualitative information. In these methods, the
sample size is very small and the respondents are selected based on strict selection criteria.
On the other hand, the quantitative research methods are aimed to quantify the problems. It is the
process of producing numerical data, which can be transformed onto usable statistics. With these
methods, the researcher can quantify the attitude, opinion, and behavior of a large sample size.
The quantitative research methods are comparatively more structured than the qualitative
research methods. Several methods, such as surveys, online polls and systematic observations
can be used for obtaining the quantitative information.
Qualitative Research Study
In this regard, the present paper is focused to develop a quantitative research study. A qualitative
research is selected as a fundamental for the paper. The research paper “Ensuring the flexibility
and continuity of supplies in the B2B market” is selected for the research. It is written by
Wieteska (2017) and published in Journal of Economics and Management. The paper resolves to
explore and compare or contrast the best practices in supply chain in B2B market in among the
small and medium enterprises. The two major criteria for successful supply chain are flexibility
and continuity of the supply chain. In order to obtain the results, a two-phase research
methodology has been designed. It includes conducting literature review and in-depth interview.
The research paper compares the issue of supply flexibility with the subject of supply continuity.

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It identifies common strategies, which can be performed to assist in prevention and reaction to
risk and uncertainty. There are certain limitations to current research, such as the limited number
of interviews conducted to obtain information. As in-depth interview has been conducted with
the research participants, interviewees is limited. The qualitative research has established that the
sourcing flexibility positively affects the supply continuity of the supply chain. The supply chain
flexibility and the continuity is dependent upon the business environment changes and events,
which have already occurred. The companies have identified their use and prevention to deal
with the supply chain issues. The findings of the survey have shed light that the present business
enterprises use the traditional ways to deal with the supply problems. It includes the alternative
suppliers and the inventory buffers. The research sheds light that the business managers do not
consider the supply problems as the long-term problems, but considers it as issues related to the
supply delays and supply quality problems. The supplier flexibility should be able to respond to
the forecasted demands and unexpected situations in the supply chain. The manufacturing
companies ensure that the supply companies use similar strategies to maintain the robustness of
the supply chain. In order to develop the reactive strategies, the sourcing decision of the
companies is crucial. On the other hand, the companies can take effective strategies for
managing the supplier performance in the organization (Wieteska, 2017).
Quantitative Research Study
The quantitative research study is the investigation of a specific phenomenon with the help of
statistical or computational techniques. The quantitative researches use the mathematical models,
theories and hypothesis regarding a specific phenomenon. It establishes a connection with the
empirical investigation and mathematical expressions to establish a quantitative relationship. The
data is analyzed through statistical means so that unbiased results can be generated for a large
population. There are several aspects of the quantitative research including generation of models,
theories and hypothesis, developing measurement instruments, establishing control variables,
collecting empirical data and modelling the data (Fine, 2018). The main purpose of the
quantitative research is to establish a relationship amid two variables. The qualitative and the
quantitative research go hand in hand. It means that both have their positive sides as well as
shortcomings. Both research methods are beneficial in their own way; however, their selection is
dependent upon the primary aim of the research. The qualitative research is used to form some
theories; however, the quantitative research is used to test them. In the below section, a
quantitative research is proposed on the research aim of identifying the factors, which ensure
flexibility and continuity of the supply chain.
Hypothesis
The research questions formed for the research are: What are the strategies that the companies use to ensure the supply flexibility and supply
continuity?