Research Reflection Report: Business Development Plan Analysis

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Added on 2023/06/08

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This research reflection report details a student's analysis of their research process and the development of a business plan for Standard Chartered Bank in Malaysia. The report explores the chosen research methodology, which includes a descriptive research design and an inductive research approach, emphasizing the collection of primary data through interviews and survey questionnaires. The student reflects on the importance of these methods for understanding customer perceptions and identifying areas for business development. The report also highlights the key literature and sources used, including economic databases, industry reports, and academic journals, to provide a comprehensive overview of the Malaysian banking sector. The student explains the relevance of these sources in supporting the development of a robust business development plan, including the analysis of competitors and market dynamics. The report concludes with a reflection on the project's significance and the application of research findings to future employment opportunities. This report, available on Desklib, offers valuable insights into the practical application of research methods in business development.

Research Reflection Report (Assignment Format) – Guidelines for the Report
These notes are designed to help you deliver and conduct a successful Research Reflection Report.
The Research Reflection Report is a major piece of work and is designed to support your own self-critical
consideration of your research and related business skills and demonstrate that you can:-
 Reflect and comment critically on what you have learnt during the programme and during the
carrying out of your research activities
 Carefully consider the research which you have carried out and critically comment on this
 Discuss the relationship of your research, research sources and evidence, and researching
activities to the production of your Major Project
 Critically comment on the key areas, examples, sources of your research
 Consider the relationship of your research, and researching, to both your Major Project and
possible future employment opportunities
Your Research Reflection Report is not only an academic exercise but also a piece of work which you may
wish to use in future employment contexts to demonstrate your ability to consider the importance of
research and researching to:-
 business planning,
 business success,
 organisational contexts
 your own academic and business skills and the contribution which you can make to an
organisation as a result of developing these skills
The Research Reflection Report therefore aims to support the student’s ability to be self critical about their
research. It also develops the students understanding and application of the core concepts of business and
academic skills while developing their ability to perform more effectively within organisations in a real
world context. The Report therefore encourages reflection on:-
1) Research Processes
2) The research methodologies which you have considered and applied
3) Research and researching as a problem solving process used by you as a student,
4) The identification and discussion of your key learning points which could be applied to other
situations.
5) The relationship of research and your major project to your professional development
opportunities and career development intensions

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Completion of the Report
 The contents of the report are given in a template format (see pages 3&4)
 You may treat this report as a self critical evaluation of your researching experience or “Learning
Diary” or as a final summing up of your experiences while carrying out the Research and the
Major Project in which you have been involved. It is advisable not to leave the completion of the
Report until the last minute.
 Above all this Report should not be simply descriptive – it should be a self critical summary of
your learning experiences. You should adopt a ‘critical’ viewpoint – what seems to work, what
is less successful – and why? Discuss the examples of best /good/interesting research practice
which you have come across. Consider how research examples/models can be usefully used in
business situations– and be adapted to suit your future workplace/ academic environment.
 You should attempt to respond to all template sections
 You should keep to the overall word limit of 4000 words maximum for the whole Report.
Things to think about when completing your Research Reflective Report:-
The nature of your research and your Major Project
Why is it being done; why are you working on this subject and how significant is it to you and to future
employers?
Plan of your schedules
Have you managed effectively your research and Major Project schedules and are they logical?
Resources
What resources (i.e. people, evidence, references, and ideas) have you used and how are you using these?
Why are they important?
Methodologies
Are the methods which you have used specified clearly, and are they sufficiently rigorous? Are
data/evidence/literature sources specified and available? Are you conducting the research and the Major
Project in a professional manner? What analytical frameworks will be used to make sense of the work?
Are these appropriate?
Support and Barrier Issues
Have these been thought through by you? How any barriers to be/being overcome?
Anticipated Benefits to you and to a future employment organisation
What are they? – Knowledge? : Ideas? : Learning Experience? : Efficiency? : Effectiveness? Financial?:
Organisational?: Skills?
How will the project satisfy you?
How will the work contribute to your personal development? How wide a range of skills and knowledge
does it use from your programme? Will it demonstrate that you have an understanding of your programme
subject areas?
Major Project Conclusions: The conclusions which you are forming for your Major Project – are they
based on rigorous reasoning and argument?
Report Writing Skills
Write your reflections and critical views clearly and simply.

Student name: ……WRITE YOUR NAMES HERE AS THEY ARE IN YOUR PASSPORT……..
Student ID number: ……WRITE YOUR SCHOOL ID NUMBER HERE………………
RESEARCH
REFLECTION REPORT
(should contain the details given
below) Please type your responses in the spaces below:
Marks
availabl
e
Research Methods & Processes
How and why have you
chosen/decided on the research
methods and processes which you
are using/have used for the
development of your Major
Project?
How would you describe these to:
1) a reader of your Major Project
and/or
2) a future employer
(max. 550 words)
The topic for my major project was designing of a
business development plan for the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia, for which it was
immensely necessary to develop a proper research
methodological framework, including research
approaches, robust data collection and analysis
techniques as well as abiding by the ethical
frameworks and guidelines present in the purpose
of conducting the research activities. The research
design which I chose for my research was the
descriptive research design. Since the aim of my
research was to find the problems and bottlenecks
existing in the operational and service provisional
framework of Standard Chartered, Malaysia and to
capture the perceptions of the customers regarding
the strong points and the limitations of the service
framework of the concerned framework, I adapted
the descriptive research design, which facilitated
me to understand and use wide range of varied
information present in these aspects.
I also chose an inductive research approach instead
of a deductive research approach. This is primarily
because my intention was to suggest a business
development plan depending upon the data and
evidences collected and the analysis done on the
data for which the inductive approach is most
suitable. For my research I did not need to form any
kind of hypotheses before carrying out the research
activities and did not need to accept or reject the
same, based on the data collected. Thus, I chose
inductive approach over deductive approach.
For any research, generally there remain two types
of data- primary and secondary. For my research
primary data was of utmost importance since to
understand the bottlenecks present in the
operational framework of the Standard Chartered
15

Bank, I felt it essential to consider the opinions of
the direct customers and their perceptions and
suggestions regarding the aspects in which the
concerned company should concentrate to improve
their services and expand their business as well as
profitability. For this purpose, I collected primary
data with the help of interviews conducted with
survey questionnaires. I used close ended questions
with options given for the respondents since this
helped me to take the interviews efficiently and
time-effectively and also to organize the findings in
a more efficient manner. The data type was strictly
quantitative, which helped me to efficiently
calculate the weightage of the perceptions of the
customers in each category. I chose the 50
respondents with the method of random sampling
to remove all kinds of intended and unintended
bias in sample selection and also to incorporate
variations in the sample size, which enabled me to
capture various and widespread opinions of the
respondents.
1. To make the readers of my Major Project
understand the research methods and techniques
which I have chosen and the reasons behind the
selection of the same, I have written down all these
aspects categorically and in details in the research
methodology section. In this section, I have not only
mentioned the approaches, designs and
methodologies I chose for my research project but I
also mentioned the other alternatives and why the
one I chose was the most appropriate in each
aspect.
2. To make my employer understand these
concepts I would try to give practical examples of
all the options verbally and then elaborate on the
viability of the research methods, approaches and
processes which I chose and why the same appears
to be most relevant for my research. .

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Literature & sources
1) What are the most important
theories/literature sources
/evidence sources which you are
using to justify your research and
your Major Project?
2) Why are these sources
important and fundamental to your
work?
(max. 550 words)
1. To conduct the research activities for completion
of my major project, targeted to the development
of a new business development plan for the
Standard Chartered Bank, operating in Malaysia,
considerable amount of ground work and extensive
studies were required to be conducted. I need to
study extensively not only about the operations and
past activities of the concerned bank in the banking
industry in Malaysia, but I also had to study
extensively about the overall banking industry in
Malaysia, its conditions, the ways it operates in the
country, the participants in the demand and supply
side, the changes in the behaviours of the
participants over the years as well as the dynamics
which the operational frameworks of the banks in
the industry experience in the country over the last
few years. I also had to study about the competitors
of the Standard Chartered Bank in Malaysia and
their advantages over the concerned bank as well
as the aspects where these companies lag behind
the Standard Chartered Bank in the country.
For the purpose of conducting the study on these
aspects I relied on a huge number of literary works
and empirically evidenced scholarly works as well
as on various reports, news articles and statistical
databases for conducting my industry review for
the purpose of understanding the overall dynamics
in the banking industry, which are expected to have
considerable impacts on the operations and
performance of the Standard Chartered Bank in
Malaysia and are also crucial factors to be taken
into consideration for the purpose of designing the
business development plan for the concerned
organization.
For the purpose of considering and studying the
economic conditions of Malaysia and relevant
economic indicators which are required to be
studied for the concerned major project, I relied on
the statistics from reliable sources like that of the
statistical databases of World Bank and also
Tradingeconomics.com. For the purpose of
reviewing the different components and dynamics
in the operational framework of the banking
industry of Malaysia, as a whole, I referred to
various trusted and reputed sources like that of
Businesswire.com, which provides extensive
overviews of the banking industry of the country
and also highlights the different participants, their
15

market share and dominance and other vital
statistics about them over the years. Apart from
that I also relied on trusted peer reviewed journals
and papers published in academic journals like that
of Jstor, Emeraldinsight, Elsevier and various other
literary sources, which in turn helped me to
conduct an extensive review of the literatures and
evidences present in the aspects relevant to my
research on the market development plan for the
Standard Chartered Bank, which has already been
operating in Malaysia. I also relied to various
government sources and databases, primary for the
purpose studying the practices which exist in the
banking industry of Malaysia and the strategies
which the government of the country takes to keep
the concerned industry floating.
2. The resources and literary as well as scholarly
sources which I chose for the purpose of conducting
my research have been of fundamental importance
for the research. This is primary because, I gathered
all the relevant and highly necessary information
about the banking sector of Malaysia, economy of
the country as well as the different aspects in the
operational framework of the Standard Chartered
Bank in its operating framework of Malaysia. The
authentic and extensive empirical evidences also
helped me in taking into consideration the
bottlenecks and aspects of change for the
concerned bank more efficiently. .
Your Knowledge
What key areas of knowledge
have you gained from undertaking
your research and the Major
Project?
Indicate why these are so
important to you?
(max. 400 words)
Conducting the major project and doing the
research related activities for the purpose of
designing the business development plan has been
an enriching experience for me from many
perspectives. The activities which I carried out for
development of the business development plan for
the Standard Chartered Bank and its operational
framework in Malaysia helped me increasing my
knowledge and skills in the following domains:
• Firstly, working on the project enhanced my
knowledge on the overall operational framework
banking industry in general and also regarding how
the industry works. It also helped to increase my
knowledge about the Standard Chartered Bank in
particular and also in getting a useful insight about
the economy of Malaysia also.
• The project also increased by research
skills, including those of undertaking extensive
10

review of the literatures, organizing them according
to the relevance and need of the major project,
which in turn increased my capability of reading
and taking in various points simultaneously.
• For the concerned research, I collected
primary data, by interviewing customers of the
Standard Chartered Bank in Malaysia. For this
purpose, I needed to develop a proper survey
questionnaire consisting of relevant and close-
ended questions with appropriate and easily
comprehensible options which the respondents
needed to select from. This substantially added to
my research tools development skills and
conducting those interviews with a sample set of
respondents, each having their own perceptions
and attributes, also developed my communication
skills.
• The analysis of the data which I collected,
have been done on the statistical software
platform, SPSS, which I learnt particularly for this
project. I carried out statistical tests like those of
correlation, regression and ANOVA. These,
cumulatively, enhanced my knowledge about
statistical tools, models and techniques and the
relevance of the same as well as the aspects of how
to apply these tests to the project which I am
working on.
• While interpreting the findings of the
research as well as while carrying out the
interviews of the respondents, I learnt the
importance of abiding by the ethical norms and the
importance of ethics in research.
All these factors and aspects which have led to an
increase in my knowledge are of immense
significance for me. This is because the knowledge
in different key areas, as mentioned above, which I
gained by conducting the research are not only
important for this particular research but also for
my future endeavours, both in my academic and
future professional careers, as I believe the skills
which I adopted will be useful in these domains of
my life and will help me succeed in my career.

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Your Learning
What are the most important
aspects/examples of learning
and/or skills which you have
gained from:
(1) undertaking the MBA
programme,
(2) following through your
research, and
(3) applying your knowledge and
what you have learnt in your
Major Project
(max. 400 words)
The entire MBA programme and the major project
which I have completed have been together
extremely learning and skill developing experience
for me. The most crucial aspects of learning and
skills which I acquired from each of these activities
and programmes can be elaborately discussed as
follows:
1. From undertaking the MBA Programme- I have
primarily undertaken the MBA programme with the
intention to develop my skills and increase my
qualification as well as credibility in the corporate
world. The programme has been a learning
experience as a whole. Firstly, it opened both my
vision and mind about the corporate world, how
vast it is, the different operations and components
which are simultaneously needed to be taken into
consideration by the business organizations in
order to stay buoyant as well as the different skills
which the employees and managers in the
corporate world need to acquire in order operate
efficiently and prove them as valuable resources for
the companies in the corporate world. The MBA
programme has also helped me acquiring several
personal skills, which I believe to be of immense
importance in my future endeavours. These include
the ability of time management, multi-tasking,
communication skill enhancement, interacting with
diverse people with different origin, academic and
work experiences and religion as well as ethnicity,
which I believe will help me to help me in my work-
life.
2. Following though my research- The research
which I undertook, has helped me in enhancing my
old skills and in acquiring new skills as well as
productive and unforgettable learning experiences
for my future endeavours. The aspects of immense
importance in this case, is that of the development
of time management skills, cost management skills
(for that of budgeting for the major project) as well
as my analytical and researching skills as a whole.
The most important learning experience which I got
through my research activities is that knowledge
has no boundary and one can go on going deeper
and deeper regarding knowledge acquiring in any
aspect. But one should know how to filter the huge
information bundle which they receive, to get the
relevant and appropriate information for their
works.
10

3. From application of knowledge and learnings
from Major Project- The most important aspect
which I personally feel to have experienced in
application of my knowledge in the major project is
the increase in my intuitive abilities to design an
entire business development plan for a reputed
bank like that of Standard Chartered, where I kept
myself in the place of the management.
Critical Thinking and your
ideas
In carrying out your research, your
analysis, your evaluation of
evidence, and in identifying or
proposing conclusions, what has
been the most important
discovery, or piece of evidence, or
theory, or viewpoint, or critical
idea, or critical addition to your
knowledge, or other item of
importance and why?
(max. 400 words)
In carrying out the research project about the
designing of the business development plan of the
Standard Chartered Bank in Malaysia and while
inferring and drawing conclusions regarding my
findings, I have come to various important
discovery and evidences, especially regarding the
perceptions of the people regarding the aspects on
which the companies in general and the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia, in particular, need to
emphasis upon in order to develop their businesses
in the economy of Malaysia.
In this context, the most important discovery has
been that the customers, while availing the services
of any service provider (in this case the service
provider being the Standard Chartered Bank of
Malaysia), concentrates on several aspects and
components of the services in order to judge the
quality of the same and evaluate the level of
satisfaction and utility which they acquire from
availing the services from the concerned service
providers. Of these the primary aspects which are
focussed on by the customers are that of the
overall behaviour of the employees, the level of
knowledge of the employees regarding their job
roles and the sector in which they are working. The
promptness of the employees in providing services
to the customers as well as their empathy and
10

eagerness to solve the problems of the customers
and in answering their questions are also
considerably important aspects considered by the
customers (especially of that of the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia), while rating the
services availed by them. The findings of the
concerned research also highlight that these
aspects play significant roles in repeat purchase
intensions of the customers and adds to the
reputation of the companies, thereby increasing
the profitability and sustainability in a competitive
market. Based on this discovery, I also have
bestowed large weightage on the development of
the skills of the employees of the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia and on proper human
resource management in the company, in the
business development plan which I designed for the
same.
I also found a significant and relevant evidence in
this aspect, regarding the huge popularity of online
banking activities in the contemporary period and
the increasing level of acceptance of the same over
conventional banking methods, especially by the
youth and young generation customers in the
banking industry, especially for the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia. The customers can also
be seen to be evaluating the quality of service of
the concerned bank based on the quality, ease and
accessibility as well as the number of services which
it gives in its online banking interface.

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Barriers met
What were the main difficulties
and barriers which you were faced
with in:
(1) undertaking your research, and
(2) completing your Major
project
(max. 400 words)
The major project has been an immensely enriching
and learning experience for me and one of the
major aspects in this aspect has been the difficulties
and limitations which I have experienced in this
process as I will keep in mind the limitations and
difficulties and will also try to get over the same, in
my future endeavours, both academic and
professional. The main difficulties which I
experienced can be listed as follows:
1. In undertaking the research activities:
• The primary difficulty which I faced in
conceptualizing the entire research and in deciding
how to proceed, was that of deciding upon the
company I want to focus on as there were multiple
options for my research. I had to read a lot about
the business-related problems as well as regarding
the important sectors in the economy of Malaysia
which needs attention before selecting the
company I want to proceed with.
• Another difficulty which I experienced while
carrying out the research activities was that of
selecting the sample size whom I wanted to
interview for the purpose of capturing the
important opinions and perceptions as well as
suggestions based on which I intended to form the
business development plan for the Standard
Chartered Bank in Malaysia. For the purpose of the
research I needed to collect opinions and
perceptions of various customers, varying in the
attributes like income, gender, work, social status
and demands from the bank whose services they
are availing. The customer base of Standard
Chartered in Malaysia being huge, I experienced the
challenge of taking a robust sample set with decent
sample size and devoid of any kind of bias, for
which I had to rely on random sampling techniques.
• Another difficulty or more of a limitation
which I felt to be left in the research was that of
non-incorporation of all the perceptions and
opinions available which was however, unintended.
2. In completion of my Major Project
• Interpretation of the data collected and
analysed was one of the most difficult and draining
activities which I experienced in the completion of
my Major Project as I had to stay completely
10

unbiased while interpreting them and had to rule
out the incorporations of my own perceptions, the
unintended chances of which were considerably
high.
• Another difficulty which I faced in the
completion of my Major Project was that of
inclusion and proper incorporation of the
assertions, perceptions, opinions and suggestions of
the customers interviewed, efficiently and
appropriately in the business development plan for
the concerned organization.