MBM400A Research for Business Decisions

• Topics

  Good decisions require good information. Therefore, the course introduces basic research principles to make sure that students are able to assess decision relevant information. Further, the course focuses on a couple of central business decisions to improve the ability of students to request and analyze necessary information to improve business decisions (most examples focus on marketing decisions). Students will also be presented common research techniques used to inform business decisions.

  Themes:

  Basic Business Research Principles.

  Presentations of Concepts and Research Techniques to Support Business Decisions Involving:

  Experiments.

  Factor Analysis.

• Learning outcome

  Knowledge

  Upon successful completion the student

  • will know basic business research principles
  • will have some knowledge about central metrics useful for making business decisions
  • will have an understanding of research processes and techniques

  Skills

  Upon successful completion the student can

  • define research problems and questions
  • develop research design relevant for answering research questions
  • assess and revise measurement of relevant concepts
  • apply relevant tools and techniques to solve brand research problems              

  General competence

  Upon successful completion the student

  • can initiate and supervise business research processes
  • can evaluate information produced by business research
  • can plan and evaluate the research methodology approach for the master thesis

• Teaching

  • Flipped classroom approach.
  • Group assignments.
  • Only a few plenary sessions.  

• Recommended prerequisites

  A basic background in statistics may come in handy. However, this is not a requirement.

• Compulsory Activity

  • Quizzes.
  • Participation in group work (presence required)
  • Approval of group assignments.

  Previously obtained course approval is still valid.

• Assessment

  One group term paper (15 pages). Group size 4-6 students.

  The group term paper task is provided early in the semester and students will work on it during the course.

• Grading Scale

  A-F

• Computer tools

  None. Students will be presented some material in R.

• Literature

  Students get access to the course material on Canvas.

  If students want to read alternative sources, any recent text book on market research or business research may serve the purpose. However, the course material offered on Canvas do suffice to meet the requirements in the course.

• Permitted Support Material

  No materials permitted for the multiple choice exam.

  One bilingual dictionary permitted.