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Strategic Analysis and Research Methods Management Essay
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Meet the requirements
STO302 PROJECT PLAN – PRE-SUBMISSION COHORT FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK ON COMMON ERRORS AND TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Ahead of your STO302 ‘Project Plan’ deadline on December 17th 2020, we thought it would be helpful to share some feedback on ‘common errors’ to avoid as well as a few ‘top tips’ for success.
We have been really impressed by your progress so far and hope that the below feedback – based on many years of experience marking Project Plans – will help you to achieve a good grade!
Common Errors to Avoid:
- References only in the literature review, with none or too few on aspects such as methodology and research ethics.
- Use references from research methods textbooks to help you explain your methodological choices (e.g. why you have used a survey; why you have used a particular sampling approach) and show your understanding of good practice in research methods.
- We expect to see a range of references from different sources in your methods sections – Saunders et al is a good starting point and there are plenty of other texts in the library.
- Poor quality references
- Try to use journal articles and books as your key sources for the literature review – use PRIMO to search for good quality articles on your topic.
- You will almost certainly need to use some industry / business sources too (e.g. company reports, industry reports, newspaper reports, trade magazines). This is fine, so long as you are also using books and journals. In other words, try to strike a balance between academic and industry sources.
- Be wary of blogs and unattributed material on websites – and steer well clear of cheat sites (Student Essays etc)!
- Weak justification
- You need to explain why your research is useful or important. A good place to do this is towards the end of the literature review, just before you outline your aim and research objectives.
- Good justifications draw on the existing literature to explain (1) how your research will fill gaps in the existing literature (2) why the research is important and valuable (and to who – e.g. consumers, businesses in a particular industry, policy makers in government). Try to support your justification with evidence and references where possible.
- Aim and objectives too broad
- Don’t be too ambitious – remember that we don’t expect your project to change the world and you don’t have unlimited time and resources to collect data at a national / global level! Let what is feasible for you shape your objectives.
- Normally, 3 or 4 objectives is plenty.
- Try to structure objectives in a way that shows logical progression and flows nicely – e.g. (1) to identify students’ choice of bank (2) to analyse the factors affecting students’ choice of bank (3) to evaluate the implications of the study findings for the retail banking industry
- Objectives not focused on the purpose of the research
- Sometimes students write research objectives like ‘to do a literature review’, ‘to undertake a survey’ etc – these are NOT research objectives as they are about the process you will be following. Research objectives should relate to the aim / purpose of your primary research – see the above example on student bank choice.
- You should cover the process you will use in your methodology, not in the objectives.
- Confusion about limitations and delimitations
- ‘Delimitations’ is just a different word for scope (the boundaries of your project – what industry you are focusing on, what geographical area, what consumer group etc)
- Limitations refer to the problems you might encounter and the issues that may limit the usefulness of your study (e.g. having a low response rate to your survey; not having a representative sample; not having access to the right people for interviews)
- It is a GOOD THING to identify limitations. All projects (even those by professional researchers) have limitations. By identifying them, it shows that you have a good understanding of the research process. You won’t lose marks – on the contrary, you will gain marks by showing a clear understanding of your project limitations. Even better if you can suggest ways to avoid potential limitations.
- Not much detail on ethics
- Think about the ethical issues that are relevant for your study – it will help you greatly to refer to the ‘University Ethics Statement’ and the ‘PBS Ethics Form’ posted to the STO302 Moodle page.
- For most projects, at least ‘Right to Withdraw’ and ‘Confidentiality’ are important considerations. Explain how you will address these – e.g. by informing participants of their right to withdraw before an interview.
- Time plan issues
- Remember, the time plan should go up to mid-May (i.e. when STO310 students submit their final project)
- Include all important activities – don’t miss out important things like data analysis. If you have more than one data collection method (e.g. survey + interview), show both as separate activities
- Show start and end dates for each activity in the style of a Gantt chart (no need to use fancy software, but it should cover these basics). It is normal for some activities to overlap / run concurrently for periods.
- Presentation not of a good standard
- Label any graphs and figures you use
- Reference and cite correctly – Harvard style is recommended. There are links to resources in the Module Outline if you are unsure about referencing. The reference list should be presented in alphabetical order by surname.
Finally, our Top Tips for Success:
- Make sure that you are familiar with the feedback / marking scheme. This shows the areas that we will be considering when marking your Project Plan.
- Be clear on what should be covered in the Project Plan – check Mohamed’s lecture if you are unsure
- Make use of the recommended text book – Saunders et al is an excellent guide and provides good advice on all aspects of planning a project. It is free to access via PRIMO.
- Remember, we are here to advise and give feedback if you get stuck!
WE HOPE THIS FEEDBACK IS USEFUL –
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROJECT PLAN!
Essay Sample Content Preview:
Assessing the Role of Financial Management in Enhancing Business Continuity of SMEs in Plymouth during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Assessing the Role of Financial Management in Enhancing Business Continuity of SMEs in Plymouth during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Literature Review
Definition of Key Concepts
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves globally, with a majority of businesses negatively affected. The coronavirus that originated from Wuhan, China, spread exponentially, covering a significant portion of the globe currently. The nature of transmission of the virus through droplets further makes it highly transmissible to people in a community. As a result, government regulations regarding lockdowns, quarantine, and social distancing forced businesses to close down due to a reduction in customers and capital to maintain them (Chang, McAleer, & Wong, 2020). While the pandemic was unexpected, businesses have had to evolve in order to maintain continuity despite the challenges.
Financial management plays an essential role in the planning, controlling, and organizing the finances of any organization to ultimately achieve its objectives. Small businesses require an understanding of financial management to provide guidance on the business needs for better planning. In this case, determining the profitability of the products or services offered helps to make better decisions (Musah, Gakpetor, & Pomaa, 2018). In cases of such pandemics, financial management becomes critical in preventing mismanagement, shortages, and financial difficulties.
Business continuity refers to the ability of an organization to plan in advance to improve its capabilities to operate in case of emergencies. Disruption of business operations can lead to significant losses; thus, having plans in place to counter such interruptions can ensure that consumers can continue to get services in the long run (Doern, Williams, & Vorley, 2016). Aspects of business continuity include communication with clients, maintenance of service delivery, business restoration, use of technology, and employee support (Folkers, 2017). Overall, the role of business continuity is to ensure that the business can recover in the shortest time possible and return to optimum operations.
Background of the Research
The importance of financial management in business cannot be downplayed due to the major role of finances in maintaining business continuity. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) usually have limited resources hence depend on proper management to adequately cover expenses and maintain profit margins (International Trade Centre, 2020). However, the pandemic brought about unexpected challenges that led to the closure of businesses, reduced customers, and increased losses.
The major concepts covered in this research include financial management, financial performance, and business continuity. These concepts are linked due to the direct effect that each has on the other. The relationship between these concepts are described below:
Financial Management
Financial management refers to the decision-making procedures employed by companies to deal with their finances. Proper financial management practices support better decision-making that improves the financial performance of the company. These practices include cash management, financial analysis and forecasting, and capital management. Cash management refers to the proper handling of cashflows to maintain stability, while capital management refers to the appropriate handling of the assets and liabilities of the business to maintain liquidity (Mazzarol, 2014). Lastly, financial analysis and forecasting involve the documentation and tracking of financial trends in the business to offer guidance for decision making.
Financial Performance
Financial performance measures a company's financial position when compared to others in a similar industry. This means that the proper utilization of available assets determines the performance of a business based on its revenue generation. This can be indicated by the Return on Capital Employed, which shows how profitable the investments in the company have been over a given period (Rababah, Al‐Haddad, Sial, Chunmei, & Cherian, 2020). As a result, the management of available resources directly correlates to the performance of the business financially.
Business Continuity
Financial performance is critical in determining business continuity since it enables a business to thrive despite challenges in the external environment. Better performance also provides extra capital due to higher revenues generated, enabling the reallocation of funds to support new strategies for survival (Afrifa, 2013). Business continuity is dependent on proper planning in case of disruption, thus requires appropriate financial management practices to aid in the development of effective strategies.
Theoretical Review
According to Pike (1986), the contingency theory explains that organizational operations are determined by a variety of contextual factors. In this case, the contingency theory can be used to explain the differences in financial management practices in organizations based on their corporate settings and external factors that affect them. Businesses must thus employ financial management strategies based on an analysis and evaluation of their needs and overall objectives. Increased financial performance is thus dependent on the operations of the business based on the ability to overcome challenges and strike a balance with its corporate setting (Pike, 1986). Based on the approaches by businesses after the pandemic struck, some businesses were able to thrive based on their ability to adequately use their available resources to innovate. The ability to utilize financial management in the innovation process is thus a viable factor in determining business continuity, hence the application of the contingency theory in this case.
Empirical Review
Folkers (2017) discusses the role of business continuity management in financial institutions. The author identifies business continuity as an important factor in mitigating operational risks, especially in cases where there are financial interdependencies (Folkers, 2017). This study analyses the impacts of disasters such as Hurricane Sandy in the United States and the 'Blockupy' demonstrations in Germany.
Rababah et al. (2020) studied the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the financial performance of Chinese listed companies. Their findings showed that small and medium-size companies were largely affected by the pan...
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