Reference no: EM131913973

Prepare research proposal on "The impact of Relationship Marketing on Business Sale in Jamaica"

In the background and problem formulation, you can explain that you are using Montego Bay, St. James, Jamaica as a case.

This way, you can claim wider implications for your study, though you focused on one city. your study can then initiate students on RM and business sales in Jamaica by recommending that further studies could be undertaken in other cities.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

Throughout this module you have been exposed to a range of research skills and have been working towards developing a research topic appropriate to the requirements of MBA study. Your outline research template was an opportunity to showcase your thinking and assisted us in allocating an appropriate academic supervisor.

The research proposal is a more robust piece of work giving further details of your research topic. There will be a fine-tuning of the aims and objectives set out in your outline research template, with a more substantial literature and methodology, as well as an indication of a feasible planning horizon. You will use the contents of your proposal as the starting point for your research project and this will be further developed and enhanced in your MBA Project.

You should be drawing on material from within this Skills for Managers module to write your proposal, with your supervisor facilitating and supporting you in the specific academic area, as appropriate. Ultimately, however, this is an individual piece of work and you will be working independently to produce your research proposal.

Remember also that this is an ACADEMIC piece of research based on subject disciplines which may have been part of your MBA programme or that you have studied to sufficient depth prior to embarking upon the programme. As a current or future manager, there is an expectation that your proposed research will have the potential to impact on some area of business and management allied to your current or future employment.

It is worth re-iterating that the research detailed in your proposal should NOT be a work-based or consultancy project and it must be firmly grounded within the functional areas of business, drawing upon relevant literature associated with that topic area. Typically, your research question(s) should be positioned in the context of frameworks and models that currently exist within the academic and practitioner literature - your proposal should incorporate these.

Introduction
In this section, you will contextualise the rationale for your proposed research. For example, you should include:

Your particular background, inspiration and motivation for the proposed research; The practitioner or work-based context that leads you to examine this topic;

The functional areas of business which you are drawing upon;

Academic literature (including supporting references) which you are using to illustrate the academic underpinning of the research;
Why this research project is potentially important - you could perhaps refer to how it might assist industry, organisations or practitioners;
How innovative the research could be e.g. using existing published research but in a different context.

Aim and objectives

This section should include a very clear statement of the overall aim of the research, leading on from the introduction.

Typically, you will have three or four specific objectives which will enable you to achieve your main aim. It is likely that these will incorporate an academic element (perhaps 'testing' a hypothesis or basing your research/analysis on an existing framework/theory) and a practical perspective (possibly leading to recommendations) relating to the workplace/sector/industry. The balance between the two is dependent on the research topic selected, but the academic focus must be visible at this stage. The objectives should flow in a logical fashion and your first objective is typically a review of the appropriate academic and practitioner (as appropriate) literature.

Identification and initial review of key literature

Unit 2 is your point of reference here. This will help you to create an overview of the basic literature in your outline research template. Since then, you will have gathered [and recorded via your database(s)] a body of literature that will need reviewing and a degree of selectivity is now essential.

As a guide, a minimum of twelve key/seminal literature sources should be cited that you believe inform your proposed research. As stipulated in Unit 2, these sources should incorporate journal articles, textbooks, practitioner-based/trade press articles, industry/organisation reports, (quality) news media articles and/or relevant and credible websites.

When writing this section, compare and contrast the literature (as you will eventually do in the main project/dissertation) using the APA 6th referencing style and ensure there is continuity and a logical link between the references and themes introduced. References of the cited authors would then appear in the 'References' section towards the end of your proposal.

Research approach

In this section, you should allude to the methodology, design, methods and analysis to be deployed in your research. The research process model is a good benchmark here. Units 3, 4, 6¬9 may all have elements of relevance, but particularly the exercises within these units.
Being realistic, although you should have a fairly clear view of the methodology and design (possibly influenced by access arrangements) aspects of your proposed research, you may not have a definitive vision of the methods and analysis that you will use. At this stage you should indicate the approach that seems most appropriate with your chosen topic and consistent with the methodology and design - if it changes later on once you have started your main project/dissertation research that will be reflected in the assessment of your MBA project module.

Research plan

This section is designed to identify the key events/activities in your research plan and then provide a concise and Research timetable which shows how they are linked, when they will take place and how long they will last. Some activities will have to be completed before others can be started, but there are others that overlap allowing activities to be undertaken concurrently.

(See sample and guidelines of what is expected with clearly defined objectives) APA style is to be used.

Attachment:- Research Proposal Guidelines and sample.rar