USC BUS703 Managing Research: Task 1 Problem Definition Assignment

This assignment solution addresses the problem definition task for BUS703 Managing Research. The task involves analyzing five different business scenarios, including a tyre retailer facing declining market share, a Singaporean management consulting company dealing with rapid market changes, an FMCG supply chain issue, a health festival seeking to attract more visitors, and a human resources problem in a healthcare setting. For each scenario, the solution identifies the specific problem, the management decisions that need to be made, the research questions to be answered, and the information objectives. Furthermore, it specifies the relevant subject area of business management (e.g., HRM, marketing, strategy) and suggests keywords for literature searches. The document provides a comprehensive breakdown of each scenario, offering insights into the core issues and the research approaches needed to address them. The solution highlights the importance of understanding customer needs, adapting to market trends, and addressing internal challenges to achieve business success.

BUS703 Managing Research: Task 1 Answer Sheet
Name:
Student Number:
Date of Submission
Answer 1: Tyre Retailer
Answers Max
Marks
1.1 Problem and management decision (what is the specific problem or issue to be investigated?
What is the company seeking to find out? What do they not know, what management decisions
will be made?)
The specific issue to be investigated is the problem of declining market share every year. The
mentioned Australian tyre retailer having 25% of its market share in Australia faced sudden
decline in their sales and profits . The company is trying to find out the reason behind their
declining sales. They have been serving for so many years to the reputed brands like Good Year
and Dunlop but are recently on the verge of losing all their loyal customers one by one. The fact
is that they do not know about their lacking until the new CEO tells them . They do not know that
their sores have high counters . The customers find difficulty in interacting with the store
managers. Most of their customers were women who did not receive pleasant welcome and
tried to leave the store as soon as possible. The overall problem that they did not know was the
problem with the retail environment. The management decisions will be made to conduct a
practical survey of the other stores and find out whether the situation is same (Brav et
al. )stores. The modification of the retail environment based on the customer requirements will
help to address the issue that is outlined by the CEO. The SWOT analysis of the company can
serve to point out their strengths, weaknesses, what they can d and what they cannot do. It will
help them to identify the areas of improvement (Weiblen and Chesbrough 2015).
1.2 Research question (What is the specific research question they should focus on? What
information is required to answer the management problem?).
They should focus on why their sales are declining?
Why the customers are leaving and never visiting again?
Are they lacking in their customer services or in their retail services?
What can retail their potential customers and increase their growth?
The information of why the customers are being dissatisfied can be received by conducting a
customer survey. The feedbacks of the customers will allow them to modify the areas where the
customers want the change. The information from the other stores also needs to be there to get
a clear view f the scenario.
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1.3 (Information/Research) Objectives (Given the research question, what are the smaller sub-
questions or information objectives related to this research question that should be answered?
As a guide, minimum of three and no more than six).
 What is the resource based strength of the company?
 Do they have proper store setting ?
 Are the customer queries and requests responded on time ?
 Why do the customers want to leave the store as soon as possible ?
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1.4 What is the subject area of business management that is relevant to this problem?(ie what
is your parent discipline e.g. marketing, HRM, strategy etc) and what are the keywords to use
when conducting a literature search of research that has been done about this issue? (about 10
words)
Subject area - HRM ……………………………
Keywords……… The human resource management, the management style of a store manager ,
the customer oriented service, the retail services, the store environment, the customer
satisfaction , customer retention .
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Answer 2: Singaporean Management Consulting Company
Answers Max
Marks
2.1 Problem and management decision (what is the specific problem or issue to be investigated?
What is the company seeking to find out? What do they not know, what management decisions
will be made?)
The problem is the fast changing trends in Singapore’s and in the global context. The competitors
are rising fast and in such situation, organizations must implement innovative initiatives to move
at par with the market conditions. The company is seeking to find out how innovation can be
brought within the organization and in what way it can help the company gain the competitive
advantage among the market rivals (Schweisfurth and Raasch 2015).
They do not know about how to implement the initiative of innovation and how it will impact on
the members. They also do not know how the innovation will support their profitability,
reputation and profitability. The management decision will be made on knowing what the staffs’
perceptions are and what they think about the current innovation climate of the organization.
Overall, the staffs’ opinions and perceptions on innovation will be considered before stepping
into any innovative activity. It is because the current situation of the company has to be perfoecr
for starting any innovative approach.
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2.2 Research question (What is the specific research question they should focus on? What
information is required to answer the management problem?).
The research question they must follow is what can be the innovative initiative which will help to
keep up with the competitors and the fast changing trends in the management.
In order to conduct an innovative approach the perceptions of the staffs has to be understood.
Their feedback will inform whether the company has done innovation earlier in any way or not.
The information about the success rates of the innovation also needs to be known and how it
was designed.
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2.3 (Information/Research) Objectives (Given the research question, what are the smaller sub-
questions or information objectives related to this research question that should be answered?
As a guide, minimum of three and no more than six).
What services the company provides to the customers ?
What are the strategic ways of dealing with the customers ?
Has the company earlier tried to work in some innovative way?
How much successful the approach has been ?
What are the strengths of the company based on which it can innovate ?
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2.4 What is the subject area of business management that is relevant to this problem?(ie what
is your parent discipline e.g. marketing, HRM, strategy etc) and what are the keywords to use
when conducting a literature search of research that has been done about this issue? (about 10
words)
Subject area…………innovation and development
………………………
Keywords… The innovation strategies , corporate innovation strategy, organizational
communication , agile development , design thinking , open innovation , disruptive innovation
………………………
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Answer 3: Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) Supply Chain
Answers Max
Marks
3.1 Problem and management decision (what is the specific problem or issue to be investigated?
What is the company seeking to find out? What do they not know, what management decisions
will be made?)
5
3.2 Research question (What is the specific research question they should focus on? What
information is required to answer the management problem?).
5
3.3 (Information/Research) Objectives (Given the research question, what are the smaller sub-
questions or information objectives related to this research question that should be answered?
As a guide, minimum of three and no more than six).
10
3.4 What is the subject area of business management that is relevant to this problem?(ie what
is your parent discipline e.g. marketing, HRM, strategy etc) and what are the keywords to use
when conducting a literature search of research that has been done about this issue? (about 10
words)
Subject area…………………………………
Keywords…………………………
5

Answer 4: Health Festival
Answers Max
Marks
3.1 Problem and management decision (what is the specific problem or issue to be investigated?
What is the company seeking to find out? What do they not know, what management decisions
will be made?)
The specific problem or issue is that the local, the regional and the international tourists are not
aware of why they should visit the local health festival. When the visitor’s motivation is not
known to them, the effective tourism marketing strategies cannot be established (Kumar 2016).
Different tourists have different motivation having socio - cultural, demographic characteristics
or few situation specific characteristics. The visitors’ motivation plays a crucial part in the
developing visitor specific strategies. The company is not aware of this fact that the visitors do
not have the strong ground on which they would come to visit the local health festival (Johnson
et al. 2018). The management decision will be made on how the visitors’ perceptions can be
known along with their motivating factors.
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4.2 Research question (What is the specific research question they should focus on? What
information is required to answer the management problem?).
The specific research question on which they should focus is that how the visitors’ motivation can
be known and how the marketing strategies can be established addressing the visitors’ specific
demands.
The information of what kind of tourists is targeted in the local, regional and international level
will play a crucial part in the management of the main issue. The interests of the visitors ‘ can be
easily known when their demographic , psychographic , academic background will be known.
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4.3 (Information/Research) Objectives (Given the research question, what are the smaller sub-
questions or information objectives related to this research question that should be answered?
As a guide, minimum of three and no more than six).
What are the goals of the health festival?
What are the target markets of the festival?
What are the benefits of the health festival one can have?
What are the visitors’ expenses of visiting the health festival ?
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4.4 What is the subject area of business management that is relevant to this problem?(ie what
is your parent discipline e.g. marketing, HRM, strategy etc) and what are the keywords to use
when conducting a literature search of research that has been done about this issue? (about 10
words)
Subject area……………………marketing ……………
Keywords…………………digital marketing , the market research , market cap , market
segmentation , target market, visitor’s motivation , advertising and brand awareness,
promotion………
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Scenario 5: Human Resources
Answers Max
Marks
5.1 Problem and management decision (what is the specific problem or issue to be investigated?
What is the company seeking to find out? What do they not know, what management decisions
will be made?)
The issue is that the hospital staffs are frequently falling off sick. He work related stress they are
facing are leading them towards fatigue, burnouts and other work related stress. It is disrupting
the well –being of the healthcare service sector (Bridgeman, Bridgeman and Barone 2018).
The company is seeking to find out the ways by which these issues can be addressed. Since there
are limited programs to address this issue, e conditions are worsening day by day (Howlett et al.
2015). They do not know that the major reasons behind such situation are the pressure on the
employees for viewing the residents, sudden urge to learn the new IT systems. These factors are
collaboratively resulting in the staff burnouts. The management decision will be how to find out
the reasons behind the staff’s turnover and challenges in the particular organization. It is
necessary for designing proper programs to address their concerns and make their duties easy
and comfortable.
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5.2 Research question (What is the specific research question they should focus on? What
information is required to answer the management problem?).
The specific research question must be focused on knowing more about the work pressure
impacting on the staff burnouts.
In order to answer the management problem, the information on what are the existing staff well
–fare programs the organization is currently having has to be available. Moreover, what is the
service style of the aged care facility also needs to be known. The working hours of the staffs and
what is the work –life balance related issues they are facing must be known too.
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5.3 (Information/Research) Objectives (Given the research question, what are the smaller sub-
questions or information objectives related to this research question that should be answered?
As a guide, minimum of three and no more than six).
What are the working conditions in the aged care facility of the particular organization?
Are there working flexibility for the aged care service providers?
What are the staffs concerns related to the working environment and work pressure ?
What can make them work comfortably?
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5.4 What is the subject area of business management that is relevant to this problem?
(ie what is your parent discipline e.g. marketing, HRM, strategy etc) and what are the
keywords to use when conducting a literature search of research that has been done
about this issue? (about 10 words)
Subject area……………HRM……………………
Keywords……ethical climate in the healthcare , staff turnover, excessive work pressure ,
disruption in the work-life balance , employee dissatisfaction ……………………
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Reference
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innovation?.
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Bridgeman, P.J., Bridgeman, M.B. and Barone, J., 2018. Burnout syndrome among healthcare
professionals.
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Howlett, M., Doody, K., Murray, J., LeBlanc-Duchin, D., Fraser, J. and Atkinson, P.R., 2015. Burnout
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