Research Methods in Business: Factors Influencing SME Success

This report investigates the significance of research methods in commercial enterprises, with a specific focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It examines the methodologies employed in current research on factors influencing business success, considering the challenges SMEs face, including customer demand understanding and competition from larger organizations. The research reviews various papers, analyzing research methods, data collection techniques (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods), sample sizes, and data analysis procedures such as Structural Equation Modeling and Regression. The report summarizes key findings, including the impact of brand image, social media marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurial attitudes on business success, and highlights the limitations of existing research while suggesting areas for future study. The analysis includes a chronological presentation of research findings and methodologies used in selected articles. This report, available on Desklib, provides valuable insights into the application of research methods for business development and success.

Contents
1.1 Abstract.................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Introduction...........................................................................................................................1
1.3 Methodology.........................................................................................................................2
1.3.1 Sample Size....................................................................................................................4
1.3.2 Sampling Method...........................................................................................................5
Instrument.....................................................................................................................................5
1.3.3 Data Analysis techniques...............................................................................................5
1.4 Results...................................................................................................................................6
1.5 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................9
References.........................................................................................................................................9
1.1 Abstract
This research is aimed to explore demonstrate the importance of research methods in
commercial enterprise. This research also aimed to examine the research methods used in
current research on factors affecting successful business, with special focus on Small and
Medium Enterprises. It has been observed that SMEs play an important role in the economic
growth and creating employment. However there are major challenges faced by this
organisation to make the business successful. On one hand it has to understand the demand of
the customers and also map the behaviour of the customers. On the other hand it faces
competition from large organisations that enjoy cost advantages due to economies of scale.
With the twin challenges this paper tries to review the major research papers in such areas
and identify the research methods. The first part of the research will be devoted to the
introduction part which will give the general overview of the topic and the major research
related to the topic. The second section focus on the research methodologies used in the
research papers. Results are shown in the third section followed by conclusion in the last
section.
1.2 Introduction
The research aims at finding the various relationship that exist & finding how various factors
play role in creating a successful business, especially the Small and Medium Size Enterprises.

To understand the various factors that affect this business is important since SMEs are
responsible for driving the economic growth of many countries. Major advantages of SMEs
are their flexibility & their ability for innovation in changing according to the business
environment.
Since the area is very critical to any economy, various researches have been focussed on this
area. Different researches have focused on different areas and try to fill the gap in the
literature
Study by (1) tries to find out the intention of foreigner visiting the home country. Whether
they are interested in the various business activities attracts the tourists to visit the particular
country (C.-W. Wu, 2015). Similarly another Study by (Huang, Lin, & Yang, 2015) focuses
on whether the local environment government is efficient on executing the environmental
planning & management policy. Also the study investigates their behaviour & attitudes affect
the business sentiment (Jin-Hwa Wu, Cheng, & Cheng, 2015).
Furthermore important role played by the social media marketing for SMEs and their success
was highlighted by (Chang, Yu, & Lu, 2015). This study was conducted to find the
understanding whether any firm’s success can be measured by the popularity of the business
in the digital world. Similarly some research compares whether corporate & individual mind-
set is interlinked & the success of business depends on the factors linking this mind-
set(Felicio, Caldeirinha, & Navarrette, 2015). Study by(Leal-Rodriguez, Eldridge, Roldan,
Millan, & Gutierrez, 2015) focus to identify the key to any firm’s success on creating &
sustaining its competitive advantage depends upon the innovation. Various studies have been
done on how innovation affects the firm’s performance.
On contrary some Studies have been conducted to check the firms’ success from the
managerial point of view. One study by(Marti, Porcar, & Tur, 2015) examines whether the
attitude of the entrepreneurs affects the firm’s success. This research has focused majorly on
how women entrepreneurs’ motives which is determined by risk propensity, work-life
balance, and new business skills determine how successful the business will be. Another
research by (Jih-Hwa Wu, Wu, Lee, & Lee, 2015) show that business is always concerned
about its consumer & their intention on buying their product. Understanding the consumer’s
intention plays important role in marketing as well as product innovation. Finally (Liao,
Chou, & Lin, 2015) focus on research which studied why the consumer suddenly changes
their preference for the product. What are the key factors driving this behaviour. The survey
has done to understand how service innovation failure causes the consumer to avoid the
product or service. How it affects the brand reputation (Lai, Lin, & Lin, 2015).
Objective:
The main objective of this study is to find out various factors that are from the consumer
attributes as well as the business attributes which affects the success of any business.
The methodology used in the selected research papers has been discussed in the nest section.
This includes how hypothesis is created, how data has been collected, which statistical
method is used & what kinds of results are found.

1.3 Methodology
This section includes how any empirical research is done, generalizing in any field. The
below graph clarifies how the process works.
Hypothesis Building
Based on the various research & understanding of the business, also the understanding the
previous research that has been done, various hypothesis surrounding the area of research are
created. Hypotheses are questions that need to be validated using the data.
Some of the major hypothesis on the selected topic includes: The support of local government
impact the business in positive way.
 More risk taken in the business leads to more success.
 Firm’s that are dynamic & easily adapt the new technology are more successful.
 Having good interaction with their customer in social media positively affects the
firm’s business.
Data Analysis:
This section will discuss the major data analysis procedure used by the previous researches to
identify the factors affecting the success of the business, especially the SMEs.
Collection Method
From the study, it has found that the major ways of collecting data in the fields are based on
quantitative methods consisting of questionnaire, online survey, online data source etc. In
quantitative methods focussed on getting the data on a numeric scale. The other methods are
qualitative method which is also collected through survey as well as interviews. This are
Data Collection
Hypothesis Building
Model Building
Results

marked as qualitative since the data collected are opinion of a person which are subjective.
Also in few papers, mixed method has been used which includes both quantitative as well
qualitative methods.
Mixed Qualitative Quantitative
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Count of Methodology used
Figure 1 Major research methods used in the previous researches
1.3.1 Sample Size
Data collected around the areas are mainly the online survey & questionnaire, the sample size
are quite less as compared to the data collected from online sources. This restriction is mainly
due to the feasibility of collecting information from large sample. Also the data has to be
collected such that it is representative of the area.
Descriptive Statistics
1 Min. : 35.0
2 1st Qu.: 175.0
3 Median : 294.0
4 Mean : 504.9
5 3rd Qu.: 334.8
6 Max. :2357.0
As shown in the tabl above table, the mean sample size in the research has been 504.9 while
the median is 294.0. The distribution is not uniform as we can see from the difference

between mean & median value. The maximum sample collected is 2357 whereas minimum is
very low at 35.
1.3.2 Sampling Method
Most of the case the sampling method has not been mentioned explicitly. But based on the
understanding of the research paper, most of them are random sampling. Respondents were
chosen randomly. Only in 1 case stratified sampling was done. Stratified sampling is based
on categorising the sample on various groups, then taking the random sample from each
group. This will ensure the representativeness of the population in the sample.
Instrument Data collection
Majorly the data collected is thorough the primary research. In most of the cases, the
researcher has conducted survey, created questionnaire, took interviews & collected the
required information. Some of the data related to the company were collected from the annual
reports & stock exchange of the given country.
1.3.3 Data Analysis techniques
It is focussed on the statistical technique that was used to establish the relationship &
validating statistically whether they actually exist or not.
Correlation, Logistic Regression
PLS
PLS, SEM
QCA
Regression
SEM
SEM, fsQCA
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Count of Data Analysis
Figure 2 Most used data analysis techniques
Most of the research has used the technique called Structural Equation Modelling.
SEM

It is a multivariate statistical analysis which is used to check whether there is any structural
relationship exists among the variables. It is very popular because it uses both factor analysis
as well as multiple regressions before giving the results. From the analysis the researcher
would be able to see both interrelated dependence as well as causal relationship.
Regression is the other techniques that are mostly used. This is because it is very easy to
interpret & business can get the magnitude of the interlink age between the variables.
1.4 Results
This section will discuss the major findings from the previous research on the selected topic.
On the basis of these results one can find out the major limitations in the existing research an
also the scope for the future research. The major findings from the research on how various
factors are involved in creating a good & successful business firm are:
- The brand image, motivation, functional attachment, experiential activities are various
factors affecting small size leisure farm.
- The attitude of local government employees & subjective norm determine the success
of project/firm which are involved in environmental activities(Huang et al., 2015; Jin-
Hwa Wu et al., 2015).
- Social media marketing plays important roles in making any small firm’s business
successful (Chang et al., 2015).
- Corporate & individual mind-set are interlinked & the success of business depends on
the factors linking this mind-set.
- Various studies have been done on how innovation affects the firm’s performance.
Research shows that innovation outcomes organizational unlearning influences
overall performance of the firm. Also the size of the firm negatively affects the
indirect effect (Lai et al., 2015; Leal-Rodriguez et al., 2015).
- The attitude of the entrepreneurs affects the firm’s success. Research has been done
on how women entrepreneurs’ motives which is determined by risk propensity, work-
life balance, and new business skills determine how successful the business will be.
Women who are concerned about work-life balance have less likelihood to success.
Risk taking women are more likely to succeed.
- The key findings done to understand the customer’s perspective in buying goods has
been done. The perceived usefulness, risk value & image are key factors behind the
intention of a customer to buy commodity(Felicio et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2015; Jin-
Hwa Wu et al., 2015).
Results can be shown in chronological order in the following tables:
Table 1

No Code Author Name Area of
Research
Use table or
Not
1 A01 Wu, C.-W. (2015) Behavior of
foreign
tourist
Yes
2 A02 Huang, T.-C., Lin, B.-H., & Yang, T.-H.
(2015)
Herd
behavior
and
idiosyncratic
volatility
Yes
3 A03 Wu, J.-H., Cheng, C.-M., & Cheng, P.-J.
(2015)
Behavioral
intention in
urban
Yes
4 A04 Chang, Y.-T., Yu, H., & Lu, H.-P. (2015) Social media
marketing
Yes
5 A05 Felicio, J. A., Caldeirinha, V. R., &
Navarrette, B. R. (2015)
Corporate
mindset and
international
izaion with a
focus on
SMEs
Yes
6 A06 Leal-Rodriguez, A. L., Eldridge, S., Roldan,
J. L., Millan, A. G. L., & Gutierrez, J. O.-.
(2015)
Organizatioa
nal
unlearning
and
innovation
Yes
7 A07 Marti, A. R., Porcar, A. T., & Tur, A. M.
(2015)
Female
entrepreneu
r and
business
sucess
Yes
8 A08 Wu, J.-H., Wu, C.-W., Lee, C.-T., & Lee, H.-
J. (2015
Green
purchases
Yes
9 A09 Liao, S., Chou, C. Y., & Lin, T.-H. (2015 Adverse
behavioral
relation
Yes
10 A10 Lai, Y.-L., Lin, F.-J., & Lin, Y.-H. (2015). R&D
investment
Yes

by firms
Similarly the results for the research methodologies used in the selected articles are as
follows:
Table 2
NO. Code Methodology Sample Method Reference
number
Sample Size Sample
Description
1 A1 Mixed NA (most
probably
random
sampling)
61 1227 Foreign visitor who
stopped at a
tourism welcome
center in Taiwan
2 A2 Quantitative Random
sampling
37 2357 Taiwan stock
market index from
Jan 1, 2004 to June
30, 2013
3 A3 Quantitative Stratified
Sampling
25 185 Participants in this
sample are local
government
employees.
4 A4 Quantitative Random 35 NA Participants are
Facebook fans of
40,000 recipes
5 A5 Quantitative Random
sampling
57 288 Samples are SMEs
selected from
European Union
(Portugal
separately)
6 A6 Quantitative NA (most
probably
random)
45 145 Spanish
automotive
components
manufacturing
7 A7 Quantitative Random 48 35 Women led-service
firms in Valencia
8 A8 Mixed Both
( probability and
probability)
56 305 Potential
motorcycle users

9 A9 Quantitative Random 63 424 University students
and office workers
10 A10 Quantitative Random
sampling
32 300 Financial
statements of
public firms in the
manufacturing
sector
The selected articles has been summarized in following table in terms of
sample size, references
1.5 Conclusion
As the objective had been outlined clearly initially, we have found major factors which
determine whether any business would be successful or not. The support of state (local
government) is an important factor which helps business to have good working condition as
well as provides security of their business. The business adaptability to the latest technology
such as social media platform determines their ability to connect to the customer. The attitude
of the entrepreneur towards risk that they were willing to take also impacts the overall
success of the business.
All the research papers that are referred are from a particular region hence doesn’t represent
the same for the other parts of the world. Also the most of the study uses the cross sectional
data & the time components is missing in various studies. People’s behaviour tends to change
with time which leads business to continuously innovate on delivering the kind & method of
product & service. Hence study of dynamic behaviour would help in validating some of the
key findings from the study.

References
Chang, Y.-T., Yu, H., & Lu, H.-P. (2015). Persuasive messages, popularity cohesion,and
message diffusion in social media marketing. Journal of Business Research, 68, 777–
782.
Felicio, J. A., Caldeirinha, V. R., & Navarrette, B. R. (2015). Corporate and individual global
mind-set and internationalization of European SMEs. Journal of Business Research, 68,
797–802.
Huang, T.-C., Lin, B.-H., & Yang, T.-H. (2015). Herd behavior and idiosyncratic volatility.
Journal of Business Research, 68, 763–770.
Lai, Y.-L., Lin, F.-J., & Lin, Y.-H. (2015). Factors affecting firm’s R&D investment
decisions. Journal of Business Research, 68, 840–844.
Leal-Rodriguez, A. L., Eldridge, S., Roldan, J. L., Millan, A. G. L., & Gutierrez, J. O.-.
(2015). Organizational unlearning, innovation outcomes, and performacne: The
moderating effect of firm size. Journal of Business Research, 68, 803–809.
Liao, S., Chou, C. Y., & Lin, T.-H. (2015). Adverse behavioral and relational consequences
of service innovation failure. Journal of Business Research, 68, 834–839.
Marti, A. R., Porcar, A. T., & Tur, A. M. (2015). Linking female entrepreneurs’ motivation to
business survival. Journal of Business Research, 68, 810–814.
Wu, C.-W. (2015). Foreign tourists’ intentions in visiting leisure farms. Journal of Business
Researc, 68, 757–762.
Wu, J.-H., Cheng, C.-M., & Cheng, P.-J. (2015). Behavioral intention toward urba eco-land
performance assessment model using TPB tests. Journal of Business Research, 68, 771–
776.
Wu, J.-H., Wu, C.-W., Lee, C.-T., & Lee, H.-J. (2015). Green purchase intentions: An
exploratory study of the Taiwanes electric motorcycle market. Journal of Business
Research, 68, 829–833.