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Implementing Business Research Last week I participated as a judge on behalf of the Economic Development in the OUC Honours business students Best Business Research Presentations. As I have spent much of my consulting life conducting market research, I was very interested in the research projects and outcomes that the students would describe. I absolutely love market-driven research. Every research project is a challenge that is full of surprises. The critical success factor in any research project is to plan the research well enough to anticipate the types of questions and findings that may arise during the research and how you will handle them. Each of the students presented the results of their research projects, including their methodology, approach, conclusions and recommendations. The scope of the research projects was quite broad, including research on employee satisfaction, tourist destination branding, employee communication, volunteer attraction and retention, quality management and compensation models. I was thoroughly impressed with both the scope of the projects and the content of the presentations. Congratulations to OUC students Vickie Naumann, Melissa Dobernigg, Paul Casey, Janice Berehulke, Linda Ingram, Victor Darel, Tyler Siegmann and Edward Summers for excellent presentations. In particular, on behalf of the Economic Development Commission, congratulations to Victor Darel and Linda Ingram for winning the EDC awards for the top presentations. In the business world, companies embark on research projects to obtain answers to burning questions, to help set the direction for their business. The information that they gather is vital to their long term success. I have always maintained that it is better for a company to not ask the tough questions than to ask them and do nothing with the results. Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction surveys are classic examples. Taking the time to ask the questions is simply not enough. Companies must take action to benefit. I heard some excellent presentations from students, including innovative recommendations that could be easily implemented. While the most immediate reward for the students was being well prepared and getting through their presentations, I suggest that there is another component that is critical as well. From my perspective the most important criteria for any business research project isn’t so much what new information the researcher found that the company or organization did not already know but more importantly there are three critical evaluation questions to be answered:
So here is my challenge. To the organizations that participated, firstly, I challenge you to take the next step and implement the student’s recommendations. Secondly, I challenge you to take the time to report back to the business program the impact that the research had on your organization and what you are doing about it. From my perspective, nothing drives a researcher’s passion and satisfaction than to know that they made a tangible difference in your organization. Like any good market researcher, you can find improvement in almost anything. My suggestion for future such presentations is that they be co-presented by the student and the organization. The student could provide an overview of their findings and recommendations and the organization could outline how they are using this research to operate differently – how they have actually implemented or not implemented the market research recommendations and why. I take courage from the example of another student. Unfortunately, this student’s market research project received a failing grade. His professor commented "your market research does not lead me to believe that this concept is viable.” Unfortunately for the professor, Frederick Smith took his own market research so seriously and believed so much in his results, that he created what is now the world’s largest courier company, Federal Express. His market research showed that people were tired of receiving their business packages late and he built an entire company around his research. Years later he commented on the value of this experience “the market research that I conducted was invaluable. I knew the results would lead me in a direction that no one else had thought of before. However, the key is that I acted on the research." Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the President and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716 |
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