Research Methods and Processes

Question: Give Justification for choosing research methods and processes. Answer: For the research to develop a proper business plan for Arkar Restaurant, both primary and secondary research methods were used. From the literature, it was figured out that in past few years Myanmar has experienced several changes in their political environment which apparently affected their social preferences and likings. For most of the researches related to the business plan, secondary research can alone provide data on customer buying behavior and their food preferences (Soule et al. 2014). However, as the country is still developing in its major areas, the chances were high that with the change of atmosphere people now like things that they did not use to like before. Especially with the entry of European companies such as Starbucks, it is evident that buying behavior has changed. Therefore, relying on only secondary data could not help to collect present preferences of the customers. It could only show what the people of Myanmar used to like before. That was the reason a prima ry research was conducted to find out what the customers like now and what are their current buying behavior. However, secondary research method was used to gather information on what the customers used to like in order to find out any competitive advantage (Aral et al. 2013). For example, it is entirely possible that people of Myanmar used to like a type of coffee or food; however, after Starbucks entered the market and offered several new food products, that previous food product lost its attraction. This type of information is handy as Arkar can re-launch that product with innovation to attract the customers which will give them a significant competitive advantage. Besides, secondary research also helped to decide the target market of the country such as people of which age are more likely to spend more time in a coffee shop. Based on that, Aarkar could develop a proper marketing and advertisement strategy to build a brand value among those customers (Dawson 2014). During the pri mary research, a close ended questionnaire was developed with an aim to collect customer behavior such as how much they are currently spending on the food items and at what amount. This step was taken by the authority of Arkar so that they can suggest a proper pricing strategy for the foods that the restaurant will offer including coffees. However, primary and secondary researches were not the only areas that were explored in order to collect appropriate data. The observational research method was also used to gather data from information checklist (Guthrie 2012). Primary and secondary research methods helped to collect data regarding product efficiency and observational method was used to select a proper site for the restaurant. In order to carry out the observational research, it was noted that which part of the city is mostly populated and which part of the city includes those people who are said to be more frequent to spend time in coffee shops according to secondary research data. Based on this aspect, then it was decided that Burma will be the best place for the Authority of Arkar to start their business venture in Myanmar. Besides, observational research was also necessary to understand the behavior of the potential customers towards several advertisement strategies. For example, it was observational research th at helped to understand that internet connectivity is not frequent in the country; therefore, the authority of Arkar was suggested to focus on traditional advertisement strategies along with online advertising. Most important theories/literature sources Business market research is known as a healthy tool for collecting data that helps to determine whether a new product will satisfy the needs of the customers or not. As mentioned by Peng and Lai (2012), a proper market research will obtain valuable data on about the existing market competitors, economic shifts, demographics, present market trends and the buying behavior of the customers. As Arkar is going to launch a restaurant in a very uncertain market of Myanmar where the country is still undergoing the stages of development, it was highly critical to carry out primary researches and secondary researches to not only find out the current market trends but also to find out how the trend has changed over the past few years. Market research as said by Wahyuni (2012), has mainly two types of research, which are primary and secondary. Primary research is used to monitor the effectiveness of sales, existing business practices, and quality of services and tools that might be utilized for communication. Besides, it also helps to assess the current market competition by finding out the business plans of the rival organizations. That is the reason that in this business plan primary research was conducted to identify the strategies used by existing restaurants. On the other hand, Lawrence et al. (2013) mentioned that secondary research helps to collect already published data to develop a database of an organization that can help to conduct situation analysis. It defines a strategy for benchmarking and helps to determine the market segments that an organization must target. With the help of secondary data, Arkar could understand the potential customer base and could target who they should target for their promoti onal strategies. The importance of market research for a new business organization is defined in three parts as mentioned by Rodriguez et al. (2012). A market research, most importantly guarantees the success of future market campaigns which in turn increases the number of sales. It provides cherished information about the potential or particular market segment, during a specific amount of time within a particular age group. Secondly, it can also help to track and monitor the competitors by studying their existing and past strategies. If Arkar can understand the market strategies of Starbucks taken to allure the customers of Myanmar, then they will also be able to take proper measurements that would keep them ahead of their future business rival. Last but not the least, market research can also be considered as a useful tool that helps to minimize the chances of loss to a great extent. Both from primary and secondary researches management of Arkar restaurant now knows the potential problem they might face in the future; therefore, they can determine the solutions even after beginning the business. The observational research method was also used alongside primary and secondary research as to find out a proper location for the restaurant was impossible to decide from questionnaires and interviews. By doing observational research, it is now found that how people actually act rather than what they say they do. Besides, another reason for including this research method in the business plan was facilitated by the views of (Ho and Chua 2015), who said that most of the people are not always willing to write their true views on a questionnaire or a stranger what they really think of interview. Key areas of knowledge have gained from undertaking the research After completing the research in order to develop a business plan of Arkar Restaurant, the most important part was learned about the current political condition of Myanmar. According to Kyi (2014), political factors are the most influential factor that can cause either positive effects or adverse effects on a business organization. It also determines if the organization will gain success or not. Currently, the political condition of Myanmar is utterly unstable; however, peace talks are going on between the Government and rebels. However, the situation is critical as no one knows what will be the results of this peace talk and what new policies will be introduced after this peace talk. The chances are high that new policies might affect the business organization and will bind them within a limitation. Restaurants that already exist in the market are capable enough to deal with any upcoming policy as they have gained customer loyalty and enough financial strength to make changes in the ir organizational structure (Belton et al. 2015). Therefore, Arkar will face difficulties as it would be tough for them to bring any changes in their business plan within few months of launching the business. Besides, the research also helped to figure out another drawback of the country related to their banking sector which is still considered as an under developing sector. Therefore, any transaction through the local banks will take more time than usual which might also affect the business proceedings of the organization. High corruption in every field of the country will force Arkar to keep their eyes wide open for any chances of fraud and fake commitments done by the suppliers and other stakeholders. However, the study also shed light on a major positive factor that is the buying behavior of the Myanmar people. From the primary research, it is seen that a huge amount people are currently spending more than 500 Kyat on their breakfast. The result is also nearly same for lunch and supper. However, this buying behavior changes according to the time of the day. During the morning period, most of the people like to take their breakfast in a restaurant that is near to their homes. The scenario changes during the time of lunch as that time people are forced to select a restaurant near to their workplaces. Again during the supper time people love to spend time in restaurants near to their homes. Therefore, it can be said that Arkar must select a location that is in the middle of a populated city in order to gain a real presence of the customers in the morning and the night. The most important aspects and examples of learning During the research, communication with the people was the main thing that I learned. It is never easy to communicate with individuals who belong from a different background, culture and speak the entirely different language. While doing the research, I had to conduct a primary research with the people of Burma in order to obtain valuable data for the Arkar Restaurant. Most of the time people were not ready to participate in the survey process as the current unstable political environment injected a sense of disbelieving among them. That is the reason during the research I faced challenges to gather information. However, slowly but steadily I adapted the skills and abilities to convince people to take part in the research. According to Mitchell et al. (2013), convincing skills are one of the most important ability for a student who will be seeking a job in the marketing sector. Therefore, I can admit that this research has blessed me to learn the basics of convincing skills. Communication was not the only skill that I learned as during the research I also learned to use observational research method in a positive manner. In spite of having some advantages, this research method also includes some disadvantages such as problems of past cannot be studied through observational research, attitudes cannot be measured with the help of observation, complete answer to an issue cannot be figured out using observational method and sampling cannot be brought into use during this research method. However, as the research demanded the use of observational research, I learned how to use the method correctly by minimizing the disadvantages. In ever tried to obtain sampling from the observational method; however, I compared it with the data collected from the primary research method (Ross et al. 2016). When both methods showed that during the breakfast people are more likely to go to a restaurant near to their house, I came to a decision that this is the correct data. Another thing I learned during the research is to use three research methods such as primary research method, secondary research method and observational research method altogether. While doing the study, the existing literature from past researches were not enough to propose a business plan for Arkar as the recent data reflected the customer behavior of the country during that time. I found out that the current condition of the country is very much different from the past, therefore, I decided that secondary data will not be relevant totally. Therefore, I used primary research method (Torres and Sidorova 2015). The observational method was used to compare it with primary data and to figure out whether the answers of the participants were honest or not. This was a supreme experience to combine three types of research methods in one research to determine best possible data. The most important discovery or piece of evidence, or theory, or viewpoint, or critical idea, or significant addition Most of the Asian countries are undergoing serious evolution in their political and social areas. While doing so, those countries are getting the full support of their political leaders. However, doing this research in Myanmar I experienced a different scenario where the political leaders are still very much corrupt and creating a barrier for the country. Another thing that I discovered through this research is the Government's rules and regulations that are not supportive of the foreign organization (Zink 2012). Especially for the British organizations, it is very tough to start their business in Myanmar. On the other hand, a huge change is seen among the people of the country as their buying and spending behavior for the food products is changing drastically. From the primary research that was done using the questionnaire survey method, it is found that most of the people of Myanmar are spending a handful amount of money in the restaurants. After collecting data from 81 participants, it is seen that almost 31% people are paying more than 500 Kyat daily while spending their time in restaurants. Being an underdeveloped country, this data was quite unexpected. Besides, another interesting thing that was discovered was the current condition of the local banks (Wiek and Lang 2016). An organization that is planning to spread their business in a foreign country entirely depends on the local banks of that country. The banking sector of Myanmar is not only underdeveloped but also operates manually. This consumes not only extra time for the transactions but also possesses several risks. The most important thing that was discovered during the study was the country's present condition related to its internet availability. Nowadays, The Internet is not only just a bridge of communication among the people but also a great tool for the business organizations to implement their marketing strategy. Business organizations are mostly spending money on their online advertisements and communications to build a connection with their existing customers and potential customers. Therefore, the rate of spending money for traditional advertisements such as newspaper advertisement is slowly losing their grip (Roberts 2013). This process helped the companies, as internet advertisement is less cost effective than any other traditional advertisement sources. In Myanmar, the internet connection is still not up to the mark and outside the urban areas; the connectivity is more than poor. Therefore, Arkar will have to adopt the hard way of implementing advertisement strategies via tradition al strategies, which will increase their overall cost. The main difficulties and barriers (1) Undertaking the research The biggest problem was faced while undertaking the research was the cultural gap between the people and the present political condition (Kubo 2013). The political condition of the country is unstable and no one knows what policies and regulation will come out of the current peace talk that is going on between the Government and the rebels. Therefore, it was quite difficult to convince people to take part in the survey method. Most of the people did not want to participate in something that was coming from an unknown person from another country. Therefore, it took the time to convince 81 people to take part in the survey method. However, the chances were high that the participants were playing safe and did not reveal their comments honestly. On the other hand, the cultural gap was another problem as people of Myanmar belong from a different background. That is why communicating with them in a friendly manner was not an easy task to do. Another problem was faced while combining the da ta collected from primary research, secondary research and observational research. According to the condition of the country, it was decided that doing these three types of research is the only way to figure out accurate and proper data. However, it was quite difficult to measure these data and to find a similarity between them. (2) Completing your Major Project While completing this project, as already mentioned the main problem was the current political environment of the country. While doing the research, it was important to collect data about the existing restaurants and their marketing strategy. I strongly believe that as a result of unsupportive atmosphere in the country, it was not possible to collect a good amount of data about those restaurants. Besides, in most of the places as a result of limited access, it was not feasible to venture freely. That is the only reason that I was unable to conduct interviews with some of the managers of the other organizations. The observational research method was used as conducting interviews was impossible. The main problem of following observational research method was its uncertain process of observing. Therefore, it is quite hard to declare that all the data collected by the observational method was accurate and relevant. However, most of the data collected by observational method were justifie d by the data that was collected by the primary research method (Roulston 2014). However, the chances are also high that the participants did not reveal actual thinking, as they could not trust an outsider. The most important business and/or management skill(s) or academic idea(s) or lesson(s) learned from undertaking the research and Major Project. While carrying out research, some of the major management skills that were learned are communication and interpersonal skills, ethical or spiritual orientation, skill to manage change, ability to motivate and problem solving skills. Communication and interpersonal skills are one of the most demanded skills in any business organization that helps an employee to successfully negotiate with the customers and clients (Teichler 2014). Doing primary research using the survey questionnaire was quite challenging in Myanmar, as their language is very difficult. Therefore, I had to learn their way of talking by adapting some of the major ice breaking works such as k'amy ne-kan-l? which means, Hello, how are you? Ethical orientation was another factor that was learned while doing this research. In most of the times, the situation pushed me to collect data by unethical manner. However, I helped myself to take out all the unethical factors and adapt only ethical factors while doing the research. As I already mentioned that most of the people were not ready to conduct this survey as the they did not want to trust a person from another country. In this situation, I always revealed the actual reason for doing this research is an ethical way without using any lies or distractions. Besides, the data that I collected was kept safe and I did not share it with any other person in any situation. Skills to manage change and to motivate the participants were linked to each other. The condition of the country regarding language, culture, lifestyle was entirely different from any other European country, therefore, at first I was having a problem while communicating with the people of Myanmar. However, slowly but steadily I adapted their way of talking and their style of living in order to blend with their culture. Adapting these factors helped me to motivate the people of Myanmar to take part in the survey in an ethical manner. Once I learned their ways of behaving and talking, I could gently force them to take the survey for their own good while staying the boundaries of ethics. The objectives of the major project are achieved. The objective of this project was to build a proper business plan for the Arkar restaurant that is going to open their restaurant in Myanmar. The aim of the research was to evaluate all the aspects of the country and to find out what would be the best strategy for Arkar restaurant that they can implement in Myanmar in order to attract potential customers. For example, from the research, it is revealed that the organization will have to focus more on traditional advertisement strategies rather than entirely depending on online marketing and advertisement strategies. This research was also conducted to understand the buying behavior of the customers. For example, whether the people of Myanmar are spending ample money in the restaurants or not. If they are spending then what are the most popular food products and what is the most productive hour of the day. By doing this research almost, all the answers were found such as people of Myanmar are frequently spending money in the restaurant s and the most productive hour of the day are during the breakfast time and supper time. It is also found that most of the people like to spend time in a restaurant that is near to their house during the time of breakfast and the scenario remains same during the time of supper. However, the situation changes during the time lunch when the people like to spend their time in restaurants that are near to their workplaces. Therefore, it can be easily said that for Arkar it would be better if they build their restaurant in a highly populated city. Based on this information, this research was also able to suggest a finance plan and an action plan for Arkar, which would help them to correctly implement all these strategies. Besides, Arkar is not about just sitting and enjoying food inside the restaurant. The authority also allows the consumers to take away their foods. The research also supported this plan of their by showing that an enormous amount of people likes to take their breakfast and lunch in their houses. However, it is also true that in some cases the research was unable to shed light. As a result of unstable political environment, it was impossible to conduct interviews with the managers of other organizations in order to find out their strategies and methods by which they acquired the attraction of the customers. On the other hand, observational research method was also adopted in order to minimize the gap that was created by the absence of interview method. However, as the observational method is only subjective, it is possible that the data collected will not be relevant and pure. Usefulness of the findings, recommendations, conclusions, or outcomes of the Major Project Most of the data acquired by the research are useful for the authority of Arkar including the recommendations and conclusion. Going out of the current trend of investing high in the online advertisement and marketing methods, it is recommended that Arkar must invest highly on traditional advertisements methods such as newspaper advertisement, advertisements through magazines, televisions and banners. This recommended was made only after finding out that, the internet is not frequently used in all parts of the country. Therefore, this recommendation was obviously useful for the organization. On the other hand, it is also recommended that the organization must select a location near a residential area. Most of the restaurants and coffee shops are currently trying to select the location that would be near to a corporate zone as they want to target the employees of that corporate sector. However, after this research, the recommendation is totally justified as primary research data shows most of the people of the country loves to spend time in the restaurants that are near to their homes during the time of breakfast and dinner. Only during the time of lunch, people go to the restaurants near to their offices. Therefore, it would be better if Arkar targets the people that are committed to restaurant foods for two times a day rather than targeting the people who only likes to go to restaurants only during the time of lunch. Another recommendation was made that was to share hands with a licensee before starting their venture in the country. As a result of a current political co ndition in the country, the organization must not believe any other existing organization in the country as the rate of corruption is very high in the country. The chances are there that in future Arkar might face problems due to their partnership with any other local organization. That is why it was recommended that they could only borrow a license from a licensee and rest of the work they can do themselves. Based on the recommended strategies and methods a financial plan was also supported for Arkar Restaurant, which is also useful to decide how much starting money they need to start their venture in Myanmar. However, as most of the research was done using observational research method, some of the data might be irrelevant and not up to the mark. That is why a recommendation for future research is also proposed which should be done after the political condition of the country becomes stable. Until then, Arkar should not completely use all the resources and must not commit entirely . References Aral, S., Dellarocas, C. and Godes, D., 2013. Introduction to the special issue-social media and business transformation: A framework for research.Information Systems Research,24(1), pp.3-13. 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