Research Project: Digital Technology Impact on SMEs Activity

This research project investigates the impact of digital technology on the business activity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), specifically using The Holiday Inn Express, London, UK, as a case study. The project aims to understand how digital technologies affect day-to-day operations and customer service efficiency. The research employs a literature review, examining the adoption of new technologies by SMEs, and a survey of employees to gather data on the implementation and impact of digital tools. The findings reveal that digital technology is widely used, considered beneficial for the organization, and positively impacts employee performance and customer relations. The research analyzes the use of digital technology in the hotel, assessing its impact on productivity, conflict resolution, and the need for employee training. The report concludes that digital technology is crucial for SMEs' growth and efficiency, with recommendations for further improvements.

Research Project

Table of Contents
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Research proposal that clearly defines a research question supported by a literature review
................................................................................................................................................1
Activities and timescales..................................................................................................................3
P2 Suitable research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research...............4
P3 Conducting primary and secondary research through use of appropriate research methods.6
P4 Utilising suitable analytical tools, analyse research findings and data.............................8
P5 Communicating outcomes of research............................................................................17
P6 Reflection of effectiveness of research methods applied for meeting business objectives23
P7 Considering alternative research methodologies.............................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26
APPENDIX I.................................................................................................................................28

TITLE
The impact of digital technology on business activity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's)
P1 Research proposal that clearly defines a research question supported by a literature review
The main aim and motive of any organisation is to earn and generate maximum amount
of revenue so that growth and development can be initiated effectively and efficiently. In the
rapid rising of technologies, small and medium enterprises increases their investment in digital
technologies so that effectiveness in quality can be promulgate efficiently. In this context,
research proposal aim to examine the implication of digital technologies in Holiday Inn Express,
London City. How the impact digital technologies and its implications have affected their day to
day operations and increases the efficiency in customers services. The aims and objectives of
research proposal are provided below:
Aim
“To understand the implication of digital technologies on business activity: A study on The
Holiday Inn Express, London, UK.”
Objectives:
 To comprehend the business activities at The Holiday Inn Express London, United
Kingdom.
 To identify the digital technologies used at The Holiday Inn Express London, United
Kingdom.
 To evaluate the impact of digital technology on business operations of The Holiday Inn
Express London, United Kingdom.
 To recommend and suggest methods through which The Holiday Inn Express London,
United Kingdom, can improve their digital technologies effectively and efficiently.
Reason for choosing this research project:
In order to conduct research, I have developed my interest in this sector. In this I have
applied multiple strategies that assist in improving the performance level in effective and
efficient manner. In this way, this research will assist in developing my comprehending and
understanding skills. Further, this will lead to my overall growth and development and I will be
able to develop my career in hospitality sector. Thus, I will get to know about the implication of
digital technologies in improving the efficiency of business operations.

Literature Review
Nambisan, (2017) said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are adopting new
technologies for our business, which includes the drivers and barriers to take up. Digital
technology is one of the best technique, which helps to implement their businesses very easily.
Digital technology is important for all enterprises to give speed, to their business process .
According to the Oldham and Da Silva, (2015) '' United Kingdom have currently more
than one billion smartphone users, which is more important to accelerate the digitisation.
Customers are using the internet and other apps for buying and selling the product. ''
Analytics also reviled that digitisation is rising and the implementation of digital technology into
the businesses have also increased the profitability. As per this context, Goodall, Newman and
Ward, (2014) said that Digital marketing is one the best and valuable tools for achieving the
goals of small and medium enterprises very easily. There are so many problems arises to
adopting digital marketing towards the small and medium enterprises. That means there are
many businesses around the world in which that do not have the necessary tools to work in
digital technique . There are some technical barriers arises in the small and medium enterprises
like, internet problems, lack of knowledge in the digital marketing and lack of securities . SMEs
also faces the financial problem in which they do not have proper financial infrastructure.
Blackwell, Lauricella and Wartella, (2014) said that there are so many categories of
digital marketing products available in the market, companies can select any type of technologies
for there business. There are some solutions to decrease the problem arises in the businesses
relating to the digitisation. The first one is to refuse the cost of buying the digital marketing
products, growing the awareness among customer about the digital marketing , uses of internet
effectively and by increasing the efficiency .
Small and medium sized enterprises believe that digital technology is beneficial for their
business growth but they also accept that digital marketing is very complicated to use . Around
40 percent area can not achieve their goals due to lack of resources. Nowadays government also
doing some programs to help the small and medium enterprises (Fitzgerald, Bonnet and Welch,
2014). SMEs should be aware of the cost and from the other barriers to use the digital
technologies . To help the SMEs government should adopt digitisation and employees should
also learn to use the digital technologies .

According to the Nambisan (2017) '' when businesses change the way of working there
are some changes arise in the business goals too. '' Currently SMEs are also adopting e
commerce to dovelop their businesses and to increase the profitability, which is very useful for
the development of the businesses . Some times there are many difficult situations arises, which
have been made possible by the explosion of digital technologies. Digital technologies improves
the various process of working by which small and medium enterprises can identify the
opportunities for adaptation and analyse the efficiently and they are adopting digital
technologies faster
Activities and timescales
Activity 1th
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2nd
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3rd
Week
4th
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5th
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6th
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7th
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8th
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9th
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10th
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Identify
research
topic
Review of
Literature
Drafting
Methodol
ogies
Complete
Proposal
Design
question
and pilot
research
Document
ation of
records

Analysing
data and
interpreta
tion
Discussion
and
Conclusio
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Final
Report
Editing &
Completio
n
P2 Suitable research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research
In order to carry out the research, it is essential that all the methods, techniques and
approaches should be utilised and considered so that research can be conducted in systematic
manner. It is very important to utilise all the research methodologies effectively and efficiently
so that research can be conducted and readers can comprehend the research. The approaches and
methods used in this research project are provided below:
Research philosophy: A research philosophy is a belief about the way in which data
about a phenomenon should be gathered, analysed and used. The term epistemology (what is
known to be true) as opposed to doxology (what is believed to be true) encompasses the various
philosophies of research approach (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Research philosophy is
classified into two parts which are positivism and interpretivism. In the following research
project, the researcher will aim to use the combination of positivism and interpretivism so that
research proposal can be formulated effectively and efficiently. In this manner, researcher will
able to concentrate on both aim and objectives of the research and will conclude to the efficient
conclusion.

Research Design: The research design means the overall strategy that researcher selects
to integrate the multiple components of research study in coherent and logical manner. The
research design aid in deriving effective answers and conclusion of the problems (Flick, 2015).
Thus, in order to conduct the research project, investigator needs to carefully selects the type of
research design. In the following research project, descriptive research design has been used by
the researcher. The descriptive research design aid in determining theories which are related with
the research topic. Thus, descriptive research design enables the researcher to analyse the
research theories and methodologies so that comprehension of problems can be made effectively
and efficiently.
Research Approach: Research approach are the methods which are used by the
researchers in order to carry out research in effective and efficient manner. Basically, there are
two approaches of research which are qualitative and quantitative (Silverman, 2016). The
qualitative research approach is used by the researcher in order to analyse the objective and aim
of the research in theoretical aspects. Qualitative research approach is used by the researcher in
order to compute the data and information. In the following research project, the researcher
desire to opt for qualitative research approach in order to compute and analyse the data
effectively and efficiently.
Data Collection: Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information
on the basis of data collected by the researcher. The data has been collected either by
questionnaire or by interviews or by surveys. Generally there are two methods of data collection
which are primary and secondary methods (Smith, 2015). Primary methods include gathering of
data from the primary or from first source. It includes, questionnaire, observation, interviews and
surveys. Secondary source of data collection includes collection of data from the secondary
sources which includes internet, books, journals and other articles. In order to conduct the
research data has been collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary will be
conducted with the help of questionnaire from the employees of the Holiday Inn Express hotel
and secondary through books, journals, online websites, etc.
Data Analysis: Data analysis is the process of analysing the gathered and collected data
so that useful information can be formulate (Panneerselvam, 2014). This can be done by
inspecting, cleansing, transforming and modelling of data with the aim of obtaining useful

information and recommending conclusions. It is one of the most important and essential process
in research methodologies as all the collected data will be interpreted effectively and efficiently
(Gast and Ledford, 2014). This will aid the users and readers to comprehend the meaning of the
collected data in effective and efficient manner. In the following research project the researcher
applied thematic representation of data which enables to present and interprets information in the
form of tables and graphs.
P3 Conducting primary and secondary research through use of appropriate research methods
For the research project on implications of digital technology in small and medium enterpriese,
the following research methodologies have been used:
Research philosophy
The motive of research philosophy is to recognising the belief of research rather than
collection and analysis of data. In respect of Saunder's onion, research philosophy is the
outermost layer which is very essential and that provide a brief idea about the research project.
The research philosophy is classified into four main types (Tarone, Gass and Cohen, 2013).
Pragmatism philosophy, positivism philosophy, realism philosophy and interpretivism
philosophy. In order to carry out the research on Holiday Inn Express, London combination of
both positivism and interpretivism philosophy has been used by the researcher.
Research Approach
The research approach indicates the methods which are used by researcher in order to
carry out the research project. In order to carry out the research project, qualitative research
approach has been used by the researcher in order to calculate and interprets the data collected
from employees of the Holiday Inn Express London, United Kingdom (Reynolds, Stringfield and
Teddlie, 2014). Further, in order to understand the functioning and structure of hotel, quantitative
research approach has been used by the researcher.
Research Design
The research design means the overall strategy that researcher selects to integrate the
multiple components of research study in coherent and logical manner. The research design aid
in deriving effective answers and conclusion of the problems (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault,
2015). Thus, in order to conduct the research project, investigator needs to carefully selects the
type of research design. In the following research project, descriptive research design has been

used by the researcher. The descriptive research design aid in determining theories which are
related with the research topic (Flick, 2015). Thus, descriptive research design enables the
researcher to analyse the research theories and methodologies so that comprehension of
problems can be made effectively and efficiently.
Data collection
Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on the basis of data
collected by the researcher. The data has been collected either by questionnaire or by interviews
or by surveys. Generally there are two methods of data collection which are primary and
secondary methods. Primary methods include gathering of data from the primary or from first
source. It includes, questionnaire, observation, interviews and surveys (Silverman, 2016).
Secondary source of data collection includes collection of data from the secondary sources which
includes internet, books, journals and other articles. In order to conduct the research data has
been collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary will be conducted with the
help of questionnaire from 20 employees and secondary through books, journals, online
websites, etc.
Sampling
Sampling is the method which is used in statistical analysis in which certain number of
data has been selected from the large population. Sampling is classified into two types which are
probabilistic and non- probabilistic sampling technique (Smith, 2015). In the following research
project, probabilistic sampling techniques has been used as it involves review of each and every
member from which data has been collected. The sample of 20 employees questionnaire has
been selected by using simple random sampling technique.
Data Analysis
Data analysis is the process of analysing the gathered and collected data so that useful
information can be formulate. This can be done by inspecting, cleansing, transforming and
modelling of data with the aim of obtaining useful information and recommending conclusions.
It is one of the most important and essential process in research methodologies as all the
collected data will be interpreted effectively and efficiently (Panneerselvam, 2014). This will aid
the users and readers to comprehend the meaning of the collected data in effective and efficient

manner. In the following research project the researcher applied thematic representation of data
which enables to present and interprets information in the form of tables and graphs.
Ethical Considerations
In the following research project, researcher consider the following ethical issues which
are provided below: Informed Consent: It is important to provide information to the participants about the
research. Further, permission of participants and respecting authority must be taken so
that no further issues can be arises. Non compliance of this lead to ethical issue (Gast and
Ledford, 2014). Confidentiality: All the information and data collected and gathered must be stored in
secured database so that confidentiality of the organisation can be maintained effectively
and efficiently. Non compliance of this can create a big ethical issues.
Research Limitations
In order to conduct the following research, the researcher faced certain issues which are
as follows: Issue in data collection: The researcher faced issues in collection of data from the
participants. They were not cooperating at first, but after taking permission from their
supervisor, they began to cooperate (Tarone, Gass and Cohen, 2013).
 Accessing Data: Another, issue faced by the researcher was accessing data from primary
and secondary resources (Reynolds, Stringfield and Teddlie, 2014). Due to secured
database and encrypted files, researcher was unable to access some journal articles
effectively and efficiently.
P4 Utilising suitable analytical tools, analyse research findings and data
As mentioned in research methodologies, the data has been collected from both primary
and secondary sources. The interpretation of data is provided below:
Primary analysis
Theme 1: Holiday Inn Express utilises new and modified digital technologies

15
2
3
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Yes No Not Sure
Frequency
Does the Holiday Inn Express utilises new and modified digital
technologies?
Frequency
Yes 15
No 2
Not Sure 3
Interpretation: From the research conducted in Holiday Inn Express, the questionnaire has been
presented to employees of the organisation in order to acquire information about the utilisation of
digital technology in the organisation. From the analysis of questionnaire it was identified that 15
employees answered yes as, they believed that their organisation implemented digital technology
in order to increase productivity and profitability. 2 employees does not believe that their
organisation utilises the digital technology effectively and efficiently. Further, 3 employees have
no idea whether Holiday Inn Express has implemented digital technology in the premises or not.
From the analysis, it can be said that Holiday Inn Express has efficiently implemented the digital
technology in the organisation. The organisation make use of digital technology in order to
provide effective coordination between reception, housekeeping and other departments of the
hotel.

Theme 2: Digital technology is beneficial for organisation.
Is digital technology is beneficial for organisation? Frequency
Yes 12
No 5
Not Sure 2
Interpretation: From the research conducted in Holiday Inn Express, the questionnaire has been
presented to employees of the organisation in order to know whether the digital technologies is
beneficial or not. In this context, 12 employees voted yes, as they feel that digital technologies is
beneficial for the organisation. Further, 5 employees voted no as they feel that digital technology
is not much beneficial for the hotel. 2 employees of Holiday Inn Express was not sure that digital
technology is beneficial for the organisation. In accordance with this context, it can be stated that
digital technologies is beneficial for the organisation. It not only aid in increasing the
productivity but also promotes growth and development of the organisation effectively and
efficiently.
Theme 3: Digital technology do not create chaos in the organisation