Research Proposal Applied Business Research - Click Now

Question The purpose of this assignment is to bring together your accumulative knowledge which you have acquired throughout the semester. You will be required to submit the following in order to successfully complete this assessment: Complete the below Research Proposal Form , see pp. 3-4 (20% of the overall grade). Professional appearance guidelines Adhere to APA 6.0 referencing style; Print on only one side of the page; Text should be 1.5 spacing; 12 point font. Answer: 1. Introduction Customers are the lifeblood of any business and thus meeting their requirements and making sure their satisfaction level is highly imperative. Therefore, it can be stated that analyzing the significance of customer loyalty is one of the discussed topics of the present day scenario, especially in the service sector and thus this particular research topic has been selected (Baumann, Elliott Burton, 2012). Muthoot Finance has been selected as the target organization and it is expected that this particular research work would be a source of sound secondary research work to the future researchers. Therefore, selection of this research topic considering the nature of present day scenario is justified enough. 2. Background of the study Several academicians have done research on the importance of customer loyalty, as in the era of strong competition; gaining faith of the customers has become one of the powerful aspects. Therefore, it is regardless to say that there exists a vast span of research in this specified area, especially when the field is service sector. Benoit and Van den Poel (2012) have stated that while gaining new customers is highly necessary, at the same time, it is required to retain the existing customers as well as giving extra attention to make the customers loyal, as the loyal customers play vital role in ensuring business sustainability (Chen, 2012). Literature review has tried to analyze several aspects of customer loyalty from some alternatives. After going through the already done research papers, peer reviewed articles, it has been summarized that there is no avoiding of this fact that in order to gain competitive advantage and sustainability in company operation, every organization is required to have loyal and repeat consumers. However, it can be stated that these customers are the ones who keep the lights on and the doors open and are most likely to advocate for the brand. In the present marketing scenario, customer loyalty is the new currency and that is why it is significant enough to provide the customers positive buying experience across all the channels throughout the time (Jahanshani et al., 2014). The research questions have been prepared based on the requirements of the research variable, i.e. customer loyalty. The research questions have been designed in such a way that the requirements are properly fulfilled with special emphasis on Muthoot Finance. Therefore, these research questions have been properly designed and the selections of these research questions are justified as well. 3. Research questions The research questions have been mentioned here in details: How to line up customer satisfaction and trust along with corporate reputation with the help of customer loyalty programs? Why loyalty factors are significant in effectively managing customer loyalty for the specified organization for a long time in future? What are those magic factors that the customers generally look into an organization for being mentally attached? How can these factors might affect the loyalty function of Muthhot Finance? 4. Research Design In research design, the researchers interpret the results of data analysis depending on the objectives as well as the motive of the study. Among exploratory, explanatory and analytical research design, in this particular research work, analytical research design has been taken into consideration, judging the nature of the this research design (Bergh Ketchen, 2011). 4.1 Methods of data collection The data collection method takes into account the primary and the secondary data gathering, where emphasis would be shed on the primary data collection procedure for the present research work. This particular research work is based on customer loyalty and thus the involvement of the customers is highly necessary for the purpose of data analysis (Morgan, 2012). The customers are expected to state the reasons for selection of the Muthoot finance over the other organizations in the industry and at the same time prefer to rely on the same brand and refer others as well. This is the main reason behind the selection of the primary data collection approach and on the other hand, it can be stated that the primary data is collected directly from the respondents, which ensures transparency (Brannen, 2012). 4.2 Sampling techniques As this research work required gathering primary data, sampling is highly necessary procedure to select the respondents for carrying out the survey work. Sampling procedure refers towards the selection of proper entrant for the research work, so that relevant data can be gathered through the data gathering manner (Hanson Grimmer, 2012). These two basic sampling techniques are the probability sampling technique and the non-probability sampling technique. In this research work, non-probability sampling technique has been taken into consideration considering the nature of this research work. Ellis and Levy (2012) have stated that convenient sample is mostly used to decrease the divergence of answers composed from the applicants in case of the main data collection. 4.3 Number of participants involved and the justification for the selection For this specific research work, 75 customers of Muthoot Finance have been taken into consideration, as they are directly linked with the organization. As the size of sample is larger than usual, the convenient sampling technique is appropriate in order to reduce the amount of deviation of responses. Besides, 3 executive managers have been interviewed for gaining qualitative data. 4.4 Place of conducting the research work For the convenience of the research work, online survey questionnaire has been distributed among 75 customers of Muthoot Finance. Apart from that, for the managers, telephonic interview has been conducted for their convenience. 4.5 Methods of data analyzes used in this research work The quantitative research answers gathered from the customers of Muthhot Finance has been analyzed with the help of graphical representation like charts, bars and tables. In order to analyze the qualitative data, transcripts of the managers have been prepared and this has helped to understand the answers properly (Hanson Grimmer, 2012). 5. Project Implications It can be stated that this specific research work would be beneficial for those future researchers, who have been planning to conduct further studies on this research topic. This research work might become one of the sources of secondary research works to those people (Ellis Levy, 2012). Apart from that, this research might help the organization, i.e. Muthoot Finance for enhancing their present performance. This research work is based on the primary data collection procedure and thus the transparency of this research paper is high. Therefore, this research paper is beneficial from several angles. This research paper would be published online and thus, several people would get the chance to go through this research paper. However, it can be stated that, if the customers of Muthoot Finance want to get this research paper, they can get this report easily. This research paper would enable the customers to explore some different aspects of this organization (Morgan, 2012). If the research findings are positive, more number of customers would get attracted towards this organization. This would help the organization to get more number of loyal customers who would enable the sustainability of this organization in the long run. 6. Ethical approval Ethical approval is mandatory to be pursued in case of conducting the research work in a very systematic manner. No respondents would be forced to take part in the research work and at the same time, they must not be influenced in any way, as biasness might hamper the research result (Morgan, 2012). As per the Data Protection Act of 1998, no respondents are allowed to force and at the same time, the survey answers of the individuals would not be published anywhere without their consent. All information is required to keep confidential and proper referencing style has to be used in the entire research work (Morgan, 2012). 7. Own learning After completing the entire research work, it can be stated that I have learnt the through procedure of conducting a research work. From the research works of the eminent professors, I have learnt that customer loyalty is one of the significant aspects of any of the organization, as the sustainability of the business largely depends on these types of the customers. Apart from that, I must say that conducting the survey and analyzing the results was the most appropriate and interesting part to me at the time of conducting the research work. This research paper has helped me to grow deep knowledge about the research topic and this would help me in future to conduct further research works. However, at the time of conducting the research work, I faced some issues. The entire research paper is depending on primary data and this is one of the strong limitations. Apart from that, customer loyalty again is a limitation that hampers in gathering authentic data. I have found that loyal custome rs might provide fake data in order to hide the flaws or they must emphasis on the positive sides and this might hamper the research works. Moreover, it was tough to convene the managers for the telephonic interview and thus it was one of the research limitations at the time of conducting the research work. References Baumann, C., Elliott, G., Burton, S. (2012). Modeling customer satisfaction and loyalty: survey data versus data mining.Journal of Services Marketing,26(3), 148-157. Benoit, D. F., Van den Poel, D. (2012). Improving customer retention in financial services using kinship network information.Expert Systems with Applications,39(13), 11435-11442. Bergh, D. Ketchen, D. J. (2011). Research methodology in Strategy and Management, 1st ed. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Brannen, J. (2012). Prologue, mixed methods for novice researchers: reflections and themes, International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 3(1), 812. Chen, S. C. (2012). The customer satisfactionloyalty relation in an interactive e-service setting: The mediators.Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,19(2), 202-210. Chu, P. Y., Lee, G. Y., Chao, Y. (2012). Service quality, customer satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty in an e-banking context.Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal,40(8), 1271-1283. Ellis, T. Levy, Y. (2012). Towards a guide for novice researchers on research methodology: Review and proposed methods, Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 6, 323-337. Hanson, D., Grimmer, M. (2012). The mix of qualitative and quantitative research Harrison, R. L. and Reilly, T. M. (2011) "Mixed methods designs in marketing research", Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal, 14(1), pp. 7 26 Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., Khaksar, S. M. S. (2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Johnson, M. D., Herrmann, A., Huber, F., Gustafsson, A. (Eds.). (2012).Customer retention in the automotive industry: quality, satisfaction and loyalty. Springer Science Business Media. Morgan, D. L. (2012) Paradigms lost and pragmatism regained: methodological implications of combining qualitative and quantitative methods, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(1), pp. 48-76.