Foundations Of Business Analysis For Evaluating Problem

Problem Statement

Discuss about the Foundations of Business Analysis for Evaluating Problem.

The paper focuses on conducting a research activity for evaluating a problem associated with a computer manufacturer and retailer. It would focus on understanding the fashion in which the research activity can be organised through the designing of interviews and surveys in that the same would contribute in the generation of effective solutions.

Problem Statement

The computer manufacturer and retailer, Computer R Us is observed to suffer from a problem owing to the launch of the service and repair division, CompleteCare for providing service solutions to customers on purchase of laptops, computers and notebooks. The CompleteCare division of Computer R Us is identified to suffer from lack of experienced technical customer service staffs. Further, the failure in the reliability parameter of the couriers deputed for carrying the faulty computer and laptops from the customers to the service centres also is observed to affect the quality of technical services promised by the service centres. Again the failure in the availability of needed parts for the different machines is also observed to enhance the magnitude of the problem. The above reasons are accounted for the increase in the number of complaints relating to the services provided by CompleteCare.

Purpose of the Research

The purpose of the research activity is to understand the manner in which the different problems associated with the customer and technical services of CompleteCare can be effectively addressed for helping in the enhancement of customer satisfaction and also reduction in the number of complaints. Further, the research activity would also contribute in conducting a root-cause analysis of the different problems like failure in generating effective customer servicing, failure in the availability of parts for repairing of computer and laptops and also for problems associated with faulty courier services. The purpose of the research activity is to conduct a holistic understanding of the perceptions of both the consumers and the staffs associated with finding effective solutions to the growing problems concerning CompleteCare.
Research Design

The research activity is evaluated to be conducted based on the use of different types of research methods like secondary, primary, qualitative and quantitative. The secondary research activity focuses on the study of relevant literatures associated with customer servicing functions both on the technical and non-technical front. It would help in gaining a clear understanding about the parameters that need to be incorporated for enhancing the quality of the customer services to increase the level of customer satisfaction. Further, other literatures written by experts in the field of computer and laptop servicing also needs to be rightly studied to understand the fashion in which the right parts can be sourced, assembled and stored and then to be used for generation of quality services. The use of secondary research activity serves as a background for conducting of primary research activities in the future. Moreover the use of secondary research activity also contributes in reducing the cost and time taken for conducting the research activity (Rubin, 2008).

Purpose of the Research

Along with the use of secondary research activity the use of primary research activity is also focused on being incorporated for conducting the research activity. The use of interviews and survey activities are focused on being conducted for gaining pragmatic inferences in addressing the research objectives and questions. The use of interviews would help in gaining of narrative and descriptive inferences from the respondents pertaining to the different problems concerning the CompleteCare division. It would focus on understanding the cause of the different problems and would evidently aim at evaluating the perceptions of the managers and customer servicing and technical staffs operating in CompleteCare to arrive at potential solutions. These inferences being broad based in nature would also be of qualitative type (Kuckartz, 2014). The interviews would be conducted through the development of unstructured questionnaires while also through the identification and designing of a focused group of respondents. The survey activity on the other hand would be conducted through the development of structured questionnaires. The development of structured questionnaires would encourage the respondents for generation of specific inferences to the parameters of the likert scale. The inferences gained as percentage of responses against each of the different parameters of the likert scale contributes in the gaining of quantitative research inferences. The use of primary research activity though contributes in the gaining of pragmatic research inferences is observed to be both costly and time consuming in nature (Bynner & Stribley, 2010).

The incorporation of qualitative and quantitative research activity based on the use of interviews and surveys in the research activity rightly fulfils the objectives of Triangulated Research. Use of triangulated research contributes in enhancing the quality and the aspect of the research activity (DeVaus, 2002).

The design of the questionnaires whether structured or unstructured requires the researcher to effectively understand the research objectives and the research purpose. Further, the researcher is also required to understand the different types of information and inferences that are required to be gained from the respondent groups. Again, the nature of the respondents also needs to be effectively evaluated and understood for helping in designing the right type of questions that match the sentiments of the respondent groups. The questionnaire designed need to be pre-tested over a small sample set before being used in the research activity (Brown, 2010).

The interview and survey questions that are required to be designed to address the research purpose for the current research activity are designed as under.

Interview Questions

Research and Questionnaire Design

1. What are the main reasons that affect the quality of customer services offered CompleteCare division of Computer R Us?

2. What are the steps that have been taken to resolve the issue concerning shortage of trained technical operators?

3. How do you plan to mitigate the problem associated with the reduced availability of needed parts for the different machines?

4. How can the activities of the courier companies be effectively monitored to make them more reliable in fashion?

5. How do you evaluate the customer service for the organisation and the CompleteCare division and what steps do you take to increase the level of consumer responsiveness in your different activities?

Survey Questions

The quality of customer and technical services needs to be improved.

• Strongly disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

The customer and repairing services provided by the company fails to generate adequate customer satisfaction.

1. Strongly disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neutral

4. Agree

5. Strongly Agree

The availability of the right type parts for conducting of repairing functions regarding computers and laptops and the prompt answering and addressing of complaints by the technical and customer servicing staffs contributes in enhancing customer satisfaction.

1. Strongly disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neutral

4. Agree

5. Strongly Agree

The research activity would be conducted based on the designing of two types of samples like the non-probability and probability sampling modes. The non-probability sampling styles are like the cluster sampling, snowball sampling, quota and convenient sampling methods that are used for the conducting of qualitative research activities. Cluster sampling method is chosen for the conducting of the current research activity (Wellington, 2015). The use of cluster sampling method is chosen in that the same helps the identification of samples from two different clusters like the customer service and technical staffs involved with the CompleteCare division of Computer R Us. Sample group of 5 respondents would be chosen from each cluster for designing the sampling population of 10 respondents to be interviewed for meeting the research objectives. The sample respondents in each of the different clusters like customer service and technical departments are observed to be homogenous in terms of work or service attributes.

Regarding, probability sampling styles two types of sampling methods like random and stratified random sampling modes are employed for conducting of analytical research activities. For the current research activity the use of the stratified random sampling method is used such that the total population is divided into two different strata sets like the customers and the staffs operating in the CompleteCare department and also in Computer R Us as a whole. The use of stratified random sampling style requires the selection of sample respondents in a random fashion from each of the different strata sets (Breakwell, Hammond, Fife-Schaw, & Smith, 2006). The use of stratified random sampling style is recommended for conducting research activities in that the use of the same reduces the chances of sampling errors occurring in the case of random sampling activities. 30 respondents would be chosen from the different staffs operating in Computer R Us while 70 respondents are selected from the consumers. The total sampling population would thus be constituted by 100 respondents that would help in meeting the objectives of the survey activity (Babbie, 2009).

Questionnaire Design

Regarding the interview activity, data collection activity would be carried out through the designing of unstructured questionnaire sets. The interview questions thus designed would be used for conducting of the focused interview of the 10 respondents. Further, the interviewer is required to employ a microphone, recording gadgets and also pen and paper for generating interview transcripts. The interview activity would contribute in the generation of qualitative data which is thereby required to be analysed based on the grounded theory approach. The qualitative inferences would be categorised and unitized based on the identification of phrases and words such that the analysis is carried out through evaluating a correlation between them to generate needed inferences (McNabb, 2015).

Regarding the survey activity, the data collection activity is carried out by the researcher through the designing of the structured questionnaires. The survey activity would be conducted in the process of using mailers and online survey tools such that the structured questionnaires designed can be distributed among a larger population. This would help in gaining quality inferences based on the use of 100 respondents. The structured questionnaires are designed to encourage the respondents in providing their responses on a five point likert scale having parameters ranging from ‘Totally Disagree’ to ‘Totally Agree’. Here the responses gained based on the use of the likert scale are tabulated in the excel sheet such that the use of statistical models or also the use of diagrammatic analysis is employed for generation of needed clarity regarding the inferences gained (Paltridge, 2012).

Budget

The budget for the research activity can be effectively developed as under.

Activity	Budget
Sourcing and Study of Literatures	$200
Conducting of Interviews and Surveys	$400
Analysing the Qualitative and Quantitative Inferences	$200
Generation of Reports	$100
Total Budgeted Cost	$900

Timeline

The timeline for conducting the research activity is expressed in the form of a Gantt Chart as follows.

No	Tasks/duration	July	August	September
1	Weeks	1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	4
2	Issue Identification
3	Designing template
4	Introduction
5	Conducting of Literature review
6	Framing of Research Methodology
7	Collection of Data
8	Analysis of the Data
9	Generation of Conclusions and recommendations
10	Referencing and generation of Abstract
11	Review of Proposal and submission

Dummy Tables

The Dummy Tables linked to the survey questionnaires are generated as follows.

Dummy Table for First Question

Customer satisfaction	Count	Percentage of Total
1-      Strongly disagree	5	5
2-      Disagree	7	7
3-      Neutral	10	10
4-      Agree	40	40
5-      Strongly agree	38	38
Total	100	100

Dummy Table for Second Question

Customer satisfaction	Count	Percentage of Total
1-Strongly disagree	10	10
2-Disagree	8	8
3-Neutral	12	12
4-Agree	35	35
5-Strongly agree	35	35
Total	100	100

Customer satisfaction	Count	Percentage of Total
1-Strongly disagree	15	15
2-Disagree	10	10
3-Neutral	10	10
4-Agree	30	30
5-Strongly agree	35	35

References

Babbie, E. (2009). The Practice of Social Research. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Breakwell, G. M., Hammond, S., Fife-Schaw, C., & Smith, J. A. (2006). Research Methods in Psychology. United Kingdom : SAGE.

Brown, A. P. (2010). Qualitative method and compromise in applied social research. Qualitative Research , 10 (2), 229-248.

Bynner, J., & Stribley, K. (2010). Research Design: The logic of social inquiry. USA: The Open University.

DeVaus, D. (2002). Surveys in social research. USA: Routledge.

Kuckartz, U. (2014). Qualitative Text Analysis: A Guide to Methods, Practice and Using Software. United Kingdom : SAGE.

McNabb, D. E. (2015). Research Methods in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management. New York: Routledge.

Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. United Kingdom : Bloomsbury Publishing.

Rubin, A. (2008). Practitioner’s Guide to Using Research for Evidence-Based Practice. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Wellington, J. (2015). Educational Research: Contemporary Issues and Practical Approaches. United Kingdom : Bloomsbury Publishing.