MBA Online

ICS , Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy

[Term 3] Business Research (C. Ahmadjian) (2009/Term 3&4 (Spring&Summer))

This course is a how-to course in conducting and evaluating business research. Many of you will be required to do research in your post-MBA careers—in consulting, marketing, equity analysis, competitor analysis, etc. All of you are likely to be consumers of business research. Whatever you do after business school, you will probably be reading Nikkei Business, the Harvard Business Review, or The Economist. At the very least, you will be consumers of business research prepared by management consultants or securities analysts. Hence, the objective of this course is not only to prepare you to do research but also to prepare you to be wise, and critical, consumers of business research.

One special focus of this class will be on logical and critical thinking. If you think that you need more practice in becoming a more logical and critical thinker, this course will help you. One warning: This course may ruin your life! Students in previous years have said that after taking research methodology, they have trouble believing anything that they read, because we learn how to evaluate claims made by consultants, journalists, and politicians.
Course Structure

The course begins with several sessions on general issues in research design: inductive and deductive approaches, measurement, and sampling. We will then cover four main research methods: surveys, experiments, research using available data, and field or case study research. We will also consider research ethics.

In the course, we will evaluate research produced by consultants, business school professors, equity analysts, and journalists. My main focus, however, will be to give you a very firm grounding in the basic principles of research. We will examine issues such as how to choose a sample that is appropriate and will give accurate and generalizable results, how to design a survey that is not biased, and how to define a research question that makes the research process efficient and focused.

There will be two textbooks. The first is How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. Of course, I am not teaching you how to lie with statistics, but this book points out some commonly used tricks, and teaches us some fundamentals of research methodology. You should buy this if possible - it is a short paperback. The other text is Approaches to Social Research by Royce A. Singleton, Jr. and Bruce C. Straits. This book is hard core, and is used in many PhD courses in research methodology. I have assigned two chapters from this book. You don’t need to buy it - it will be on reserve in the library.

Research is much easier to read and criticize than to do. Therefore, there will be three written assignments in which you have an opportunity to do research and provide constructive criticism of others’ work. First is a short, half-page paper listing three research questions. This will be very easy. The second is a longer paper (8-10 pages), in which you will be asked to come up with a research question, and two different research designs to answer that question (you may choose between survey, experiment, available data, and field/case study). You don’t have to do the research, just come up with the design. This will be more difficult than you expect, but you will be glad that you did it. The third assignment will be to critique an (anonymous) classmate’s research design. This will be 3-5 pages. The biggest challenge will be to be helpful and constructive. There will be no final exam. All the assignments are to be done individually.
Teaching Method

The class format will be lectures and discussions.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)

Operations Management is a division of the Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management. The department was ranked 12th worldwide by INFORMS in research productivity based on publications in Information Systems and Operations Management journals. The division includes two research areas: Operations Management and Statistics.

The PhD program in Operations Management emphasizes model-based methodology and practice-motivated research. The program trains students to use quantitative tools and analytical frameworks from operations research, economics, and other disciplines to study managerial problems in business processes, such as supply chains, manufacturing, and service systems.

Faculty members in this area have PhD degrees from top universities such as Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, MIT, Stanford and UBC. They are frequent contributors to top academic journals, such as Operations Research, Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, and IIE Transactions. Several of them have served or are currently serving on the editorial boards of these journals.

The research foci of the Operations Management area are supply chain contracting, information sharing in supply chains, supply chain coordination, interface of marketing and supply chain management, production and inventory management, incentives in operations, and quality management.

The PhD program in Statistics emphasizes both the theoretical development of statistical methodologies and applications to the real business world. The program trains students to have a solid theoretical foundation and statistical expertise in applications to various areas like finance, economics and marketing, and statistical consulting.

Faculty members in this area have PhD degrees from top universities such as Stanford and UC Berkeley. Their works appear in top journals like Annals of Statistics, Journal of the American Statistical Association and Biometrika. The research foci of the Statistics area are Bayesian statistics, missing data problems, cluster analysis, semiparameteric models, data mining, sequential analysis, stochastic control, financial time series modeling, statistical methods for risk management and nonlinear time series.

University of Guam

The mission of the School of Business and Public Administration (SBPA) is:
To excel as the regional center for education and development of professionals and leaders for business and government, entrepreneurial managers and socially responsible leaders.
To serve as a community resource for research, service and the dissemination of knowledge to individuals and organizations within the region.

The SBPA missions relates to the University of Guam mission. As a land-grant institution, the University provides programs and outreach opportunities that integrate SBPA and its students into the fabric of the community and the development of regional economies. The liberal arts setting and General Education requirements of the University are integral to SBPA professional degree programs and curricula.

In its mission commitment to teaching, service and research, SBPA is dedicated to the success of its students by providing quality bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in business administration, criminal justice and public administration with concentration appropriate to the region.

The School is a repository of knowledge for economic and business issues, where scholarship and service support and enhance its educational programs. The School encourages faculty and students to undertake applied research and provide community and university services for the benefit of business and public agencies in the region. The School plays an important role in providing needed services to the community and university through small business development, conferences, seminars, and professional consulting to business and government.
The School espouses the following core values that relate to its mission, its students and its vision of the future:

Academic quality: Critical thinking supported by strong fundamental skills
Cultural diversity

Social responsibility: currency and excellence in thought and action
Lifelong learning and growth

Strong work ethic: teamwork, hard work, dedication and continuous improvement
Social and economic development of Guam and the Western Pacific region
Graduates who can compete globally, think strategically and respond to change.

Accreditation

The School of Business and Public Administration’s business programs have been granted full accreditation by the International Association for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).