Importance of research in business

Importance of research in business, social and economical development

Research plays a vital role in business, social and as well as in economical development.

Importance of Research in Business Development:

Business development is an important factor in resource-development. In developing countries, business systems are neither efficient nor effective enough to enhance business development to the extent that they make substantial economic, social and technological contribution. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is that the term “Business Development” is not comprehended quite well nor is its relationship to resource development fully defined.

Business development denotes increase and/or expansion in the number of business, economic, agricultural, mineral and service organizations, which have economically as well as ethically sound objectives, and are, managed efficiently so as to achieve their objectives. The presence of economically as well as morally sound business goal, and efficient use of means to attain them, would be a necessary condition for business development. However, it may be pointed out that neither business organizations nor government agencies have fully analyzed the problem and issues involved in:

Ø            Establishing economically and ethically sound goals; and

Ø           Applying efficient means in managing business organizations.

Few points are mentioned as below:

Ø      If in a business the provided value was declined in spite of the fact that the prices were low and quality was up to the mark. The only solution could be sorted out with the help of research.

Ø      If we want to launch a new product in the market. Before its launching, the study of market is necessary. This can be done by research.

Ø      If the customers of a company refuse to purchase the products of that company then this problem could also be solved by proper research.

The research process also helps to get an idea about the market value of a product before its introduction.. Before introducing any product the importance of that product and market survey is studied.

Consider the example of Haleeb Milk. When their milk was not consumed adequately, they decided to search the causes. For this purpose, they conducted a survey. The aim of that survey was to ask people about the quality of good milk. Some people said that milk should be pure, some said that packing should be soft, but the most people agreed on the point that the milk should be thick enough. After this survey the company decided to produce and supply the required quality with proper packing. Now the Haleeb milk is the thickest milk with good packing available in the market. There could be many other examples on the importance of research.

The Role of Business Research:

The need for business research is imperative to improve business efficiency. In Social and business research major effort is directed to the solution of practical problems. Practical problems require solutions and some solutions are provided by socio-business research. Problem solving research, and strategic planning research studies are of greater value not only for better resource utilization but they also contribute to the theoretical advancement in the social sciences. To what extent practical problems are solved with research also depends upon the extent to which theoretical research has been already conducted in that area.

In developing countries, applied research has received greater attention. The reason this attitude is that in the developing countries results of applied chemistry, botany, mathematics or physics can be easily comprehended.

It may be pointed out that business administration is more of an applied art than a science. In industrial countries big firms make their decisions almost on a scientific basis while in developing countries like Pakistan adequate facts may not be available to enable a business decision on scientific analysis.

It is a fact that research has played an important role in making business administration both an applied art as well as a valuable emerging social science.            

It has been observed that in developing countries as well as developed countries that research provides better solutions to business problems and assist in organizing and managing them systematically. To create confidence in the business decisions, research has become a valuable tool not only for earning profit but more so for enhancing company image, goodwill and trust. Business research has played an important role creating confidence among the business executives and trust in the minds of investors. Even in small and medium-size business organization, research can help owners/managers in solving their short and long –term problems.

Long-term planning strategies require continuous research in managing and modernizing business. Both the private and public sectors require adequate facilities for research. Today business firms cannot manage their operations efficiently without the help of good research.

Importance of Research in Social Development:

Social development is a continuous process of educating members of society to use scientific and reliable knowledge as a basis for making decisions to improve their living style. Sociologist and other social scientists of USA, UK and other developed countries have conducted a large number of research studies, which are immense of value for understanding and solving social problems. Pakistan also needs such research studies, which may help in understanding various facets of our social system and the nature of social problems. Identification of present social problems and their classification would be essential for formulating short-term socio-economic plans.

An examination of the basic purpose of social research is essential to understand the appropriateness of methodologies to study expectations of people from government departments, public administrators, professional persons like business administrators, engineers, doctors, teachers, advocates and police officers, who are the pillars of a developed society.

Research plays an important role in all the fields of life such as business, social and economy. In social development research can play very important role. With the help of research we can find out how efficiently and effectively social development could be made. The major areas could be employee behaviour such as performance and employee’s attitude such as job satisfaction and loyalty.

Importance of Research in Economic Development:

In Pakistan, economic research has provided the base for many social, business and other scientific studies, sufficient facts are not available to businessmen, educators, health experts, bankers and welfare workers to make economically viable plans to rise the standard of living of the people and their participation in economic development.

More research studies are required to understand the problems of:

ü      Farmers, farm labor and farm management;

ü      Economic size of holding in the enhancing technological environment;

ü      The impact of traditional attitudes of farm labor and zamindars on mechanization at various levels, modernization in managing farms and treating farming as a business enterprise;

ü      High ratio of bad debts in agricultural loans;

ü      Village people educational standards to enhance farming know-how;

ü      Exporters on finding stable markets for Pakistani manufacturers;

ü      Financial institutions on reducing bad debts and advancing borrowers in planning and managing their firms on modern lines;

ü      Factory workers;

ü      New Business Entrepreneurs;

ü      Urbanization;

ü      Government on providing better services to public;

ü      Effective training of public servants and their promotional policies.   

Impact of research studies on economic and business development

There has been a significant impact of research studies on economic and business development. This impact can be visualized by observing changes in the following areas:

v           Changes in industrial, agricultural, fiscal and commercial policies of Government of the developing countries.

v           Changes in institutions and structure, e.g., greater participation of the population at various levels, namely, greater political role played by municipal corporations or other similar institutions today than before, overall changes in the economic policies for redistribution of national income, etc.

v           Greater expenditure on health and education, infrastructure, greater realization by the governments of the developing countries of the importance of providing job opportunities to reduce unemployment and greater role of women in economic development. Governments are now much more conscious about greater participation of women in economic and social development.

v           Increase in the number of socio-economic research studies for providing guidelines for urbanization.

v           The importance of transport and communication facilities has been realized and government of developing countries are much more serious not only to increase the facilities but also to make them more efficient.

v           The need for business research and its effect on cost of production and marketing has been recognized.

v           Increase in research studies to determine the cost of finance and better methods of financing business enterprises.

v           Recognition of the importance of research studies for marketing better investment decisions.

v           The contribution of research to further improves managerial efficiency as well as decision-making ability.

v           An understanding of business development needs encouragement of effective private entrepreneurs.

v           The advantage of providing training and other facilities to administrators, manager, bankers, entrepreneurs, foremen, workers and farmers.