STRM059 Business Research in Practice Project Report 2022

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHAMPTON
NORTHAMPTON BUSINESS SCHOOL
MODULE: STRM059: Business Research in Practice 2018-19
Module Code Level Credit Value Module Leader
STRM059 7 30 Dr Chinny Nzekwe-Excel
Assignment Brief
Assignment title: Research Project Report (7500 words)
Weighting: 100%
Deadline 12th February 2020
Feedback and Grades
due: Four weeks after the deadline for the module (but NOT inclusive of
holidays)
Resit Dates PLEASE SEE NILE

Acknowledgements
Examining the full course of the current research, I will need enough measurement of thankful to my academic
director Subhani from HRMI. In addition to this, I am grateful to my instructor Kushul Suman who helped me right
through the research and dissertation. I want to express gratitude to my teachers, my friends, and lecturers. I also
need to show appreciation to the managers and employees of my place of work Serco Middle East – MELABS
Contract those have a vital and encouraging role for the data collection methods. I would like to bestow an honest
appreciation to my supervisors Manone Perera for successful submission of my research thesis at The University
of Northampton for allowing me to conduct the research and prepare this thesis under their administration. All of
them have provided me valuable guidance, encouragement, critics to accomplish the project and without their
humble support, this project would not have been as same as the current presentation. A humble thanks also go to
those who provided direct or indirect support in plentiful situations of this complex project. Finally, but not least, my
greeting also encompasses my family for continuous supporting and encouragement.
Thank You,
Yours Sincerely,
Rukshan Seneviratne

Table of Contents
Introduction 4
Rationale 4
Research Problem 4
Research objective 5
Literature Review 6
Methodology 8
Results/Findings 11
Interviews 11
Data Analysis 12
Primary Data Analysis 13
Secondary data Analysis 13
Discussion and Evaluation 13
Conclusion and Recommendations 15
Conclusion 15
Recommendation 16
References 17
Appendices 18

Introduction
Logistics is a trending business line in this current era. Helping other business with transportation is a market-
friendly business process. There are challenges and scopes in this business. This study is based on an operational
issue of a transport service with vehicle maintenance delays in Serco MELABS Contract in middle east. Secro is a
renowned organization providing public services since 1927. There are several services under the Organization.
MELABS is one of the contracts providing services such as Asset Hire and Transport Management, Pool Fleet
Management, Road Movement Services, Warehouse Management, Procurement Services, Waste Management,
Grounds Refuel Service and Telecommunications Services (Serco, 2019). Secro group of industries is doing their
businesses internationally and having projects of big names in the world. All the businesses are well structured.
Quality is the most influential factor to have an impact on customer satisfaction. A company always should keep
monitoring the processes running in the business. Secro has some customer negative feedback with the Asset
Hire and Transport Services, the most prominent segment of its business (Serco, 2019). The study focuses on
identifying the issues and providing a possible solution by this project. In this introductory part, the rationale of the
research, problems and objectives of the project is discussed.
Rationale
This study is done to have the solution for the current issues of Asset Hire and Transport Services, a part of Secro
Group MELABS Contract (Serco, 2019). This study will help to understand the operational issues of the business.
It is beneficial for fixing the problem of the business. To increase customer satisfaction and make a better
reputation in the market, Secro needs to have a change project in the business operation process of Asset Hire
and Transport Services. To make a big deal in future projects, the company needs to improve its service quality.
This research is useful to have better efficiency and to reach the desired success to the company.
Research Problem
The research problem is a vital point in the introductory part of any research. The research problem leads the
project to the ultimate completion of the same. In this part of the study, the primary problem of the research is
discussed. In this case, Secro MELABS Contract is facing increase number of complaints from its customer for
delays in its services (Serco, 2019). There are a lot of open requests for vehicle maintenance and servicing, both
scheduled and unscheduled requested are there in the queue. Serco is receiving request for services faster than
they can complete existing service requests and the managing department of the business is falling behind.
Therefore, number of offline vehicles are increasing. It is increasing the dissatisfaction of the client due to
operational impacts, which is having a negative impact on the current MELABS contract and could impact to future
business of the company.
Month Number of Open Service
Request
Number of Service
Requests closed
Number of Service
Requests carry forward
Dec-18 45 32 13
Jan-19 63 46 17
Feb-19 85 40 45
Mar-19 88 47 41
Apr-19 54 38 16
May-19 82 40 42
Jun-19 54 38 16
Jul-19 80 45 35
Aug-19 46 35 11
Table 1: Table of service request numbers (till solution implementation)