Business research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business research methods - Essay Example Sports events have become big business generating huge income from sports related entertainment and tourism events. In the UK, sports event management has become a threshold for creating economic rejuvenation of many of the UK cities. It is interesting to observe how Manchester appeared on the global horizon by holding the Commonwealth Games. Sports provide scope for urban renewal by developing commercial infrastructure and conducting of cultural and educational events and celebration (Getz 2007). Now-a-days, each major city has sports tour agencies with a specialised workforce aspiring to compete for organising global sports events. The cross-roads of sport management and sport studies with tourism tackles two main themes: sport events for the benefit of sports people and their fans and another active type of sports that needs travelling like skiing and other adventure sports (Getz 2007). Sports & Corporate Group Travel is also one such UK based tour operator company holding sports events such as rugby, cricket, swimming, football, water polo and ice hockey. It conducts sports tours, camps, tournaments and corporate tours and events. 1. ... Normally, customers’ perception is high for such companies that avoid failure than those companies that take recovery measures later (McCollough et al. 2000). Regarding major research questions on event tourism, people state their responses through behavioural, emotional and cognitive means. Possible research methods of knowing their perceptions on the tour event could be analysis of the related texts and self-reporting by them. Researchers can conduct in-depth interviews directly or through participants’ observations. Customers of event tour operator companies can provide sampling of their experiences; it could be diary or time-sampling with a unique set of questions. Routine consumer and market surveys can also help in analysing consumer behaviour and responses (Getz 2007). Velazquez et al. (2011) have researched on the loyalty aspect in tourism for tour operators to construct strategies to help tourism companies focussed on customer relationships. They have researche d on attitudinal and behavioural approaches for customer satisfaction, quality of service, value and customer loyalty. Davidow (2003) has summed up the research on customer complaint handling and how organisations’ responses affect customer attitude after registering complaints. Responses of the companies have been divided into 6 dimensions of timeliness, assistance, damage control, regret, credibility, and consideration for the complainants. Andreassen (2001) has used the method of posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups, called ex post facto. Dissatisfaction studies have been made that included dissatisfied but not complaining customers. Less research has been made on analysing recovery functions and their effect on corporate identity or

Making business decisions and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Making business decisions and ethics - Essay Example Ethics involves making decisions between right and wrong. Following all the rules and regulations is a good thing for a business enterprise, but it does not mean that a person is being ethical. Ethics are subjective and its application depends on the circumstance. For example a company in order to maximize shareholders wealth decides to fire 1000 employees. The move might be a wise business move, but some people might consider it unethical because the firm put out of work people that needed those jobs. Ethical standards vary depending on the culture. In many Asian countries paying off bribes to governmental officials is viewed by many as a standard business practice. In the United States paying off a bribe is considered an unethical act. 2 In the normal course of making business decisions, there are many instances where determining the exact opportunity cost for a project or opportunity is not possible. The best sometimes one can hope for is being able to calculate a reasonable estim ate for specific opportunity based on known parameters and assuming certain outcomes. For example one might decide six months ago that a specific process improvement project for a product line is better than investing in the development of a new improved product line, but after finishing the process improvements unexpected changes in technology significantly lower the demand for the product making it obsolete. There is a high level of uncertainty in business and factors such as changes in the economic, social or business environment can have a detrimental effect on previous assumptions .3. Rising interest rates can have a detrimental effect in the ability of a firm to obtain new financing since overall financing costs will increase. If the businesses current and long term liabilities are under a variable interest the firm is fully exposed to interest rate risks, unless interest rate hedging is incorporated in the company's financial structure. If the firm has a fixed rate for their liabilities, an increase in the interest rates will raise the market value since it would trade at a discount but would not affect the book value of the liability unless financing terms are modified or the liability is refinanced. 4. A few years ago I worked at an organization in which there was absolutely a complete lack of ethics by the administration. The firm did not believe in treating the employees with respect. Every pay cycle the company would steal hours worked from different employees in order to pay them less. The payment of payroll was always late. Sometimes the payroll would be late as much as two to three weeks. The company promised paying production incentives and then it decided not to pay them. This place was a breeding ground for unethical behavior. 5. To me one of the biggest ethical scandals in the last few decades is the Nike Corporation fiasco. Nike Corporation is a firm that generates billions of dollars in sales annually. At the end of the 1990’s Nike was involved in the utilization of sweetshops to manufacture its products. Imagine a company that charges on many of its shoe models between $100 and $150 paying its workers a few cents per hour. It is abusive and inhumane. The workers in these sweetshops were exposed to horrible working conditions. 6. Possibly the biggest accounting scandal in the history of business is the Enron case. This case involved a company that violated all ethical standards you can think of. The managerial staff of the company was composed of a bunch of gangsters. Prior to the price of the stock losing all its value the executives sold off their shares using insider information. The pension fund was horribly administered since the company invested the majority of the pension fund on Enron stocks. 7. To truly know whether a business decision is the best alternative available one must consider opportunity costs. Take for example a person that decides to give up his job in order to open a hot dog stand. The e ntrepreneur is generating $2000 a month from the hot dog business. The person is making a