Essentials of Business Research Methods

Managers increasingly must make decisions based on almost unlimited information. How can they navigate and organize this vast amount of data? Essentials of Business Research Methods provides research techniques for people who aren't data analysts. The authors offer a straightforward, hands-on approach to the vital managerial process of gathering and using data to make clear business decisions. They include such critical topics as the increasing role of online research, ethical issues, data mining, customer relationship management, and how to conduct information-gathering activities more effectively in a rapidly changing business environment. This is the only such book that includes a chapter on qualitative data analysis, and the coverage of quantitative data analysis is more extensive and much easier to understand than in other works. The book features a realistic continuing case throughout the text that enables students to see how business research information is used in the real world. It includes applied research examples in all chapters, as well as Ethical Dilemma mini - cases, and interactive Internet applications and exercises.

Joe F. Hair, Jr. is Alvin C. Copeland Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ourso College of Business Administration, Louisiana State University. He was a United States Steel Foundation Fellow at the University of Florida,-Gainesville, where he earned his Ph.D. in Economics and Business Administration. He is the author of twenty-six books and more than seventy articles on a variety of topics. He has been retained as a consultant for firms in the food, lodging, healthcare, transportation, banking, utilities, and electronics industries, as well as by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Interior. Has has presented executive development and management training programs for numerous companies in a wide variety of industries and served as an expert witness in several litigation matters.

Barry Babin holds a Ph.D. In Business Administration. he is author of over fifty research articles covering a wide range of topics and appearing in marketing, retailing, psychological, and management oriented journals. Currently, he is Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Research and professor of Marketing and Consumer Research at the University of Southern Mississippi. Prior experience includes engineering, managerial, and marketing related experience in numerous industries including defense, specialty retailing, and consumer products. He is former President of the Society for Marketing Advances and his research has been recognized with several national and international awards. He performs consulting and executive education in the areas of creative decision making and business research.

Arthur H. Money is Professor of Management and Chairman of the faculty of Information Systems, Project and Operations Management at Henley Management Information systems, Project and Operations Management at Henley Management College, Henley on Thames, England. Prior to joining Henley Management College he was Professor of Business Administration in the Graduate school of Business of the University of cape Town. Professor Money received his Ph.D. degree (1972) in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Cape Town. Currently he is a member of the Executive of th4e European Doctoral Programs Association of Management and Business Administration (EDAMBA) and on the Steering Committee of the European Doctoral School of Knowledge and Management (EUDOKMA). He has Authored more than one hundred journals articles, working papers, and book chapters, and is the co-author of five books and co-editor of two books. professor Money focuses his research on statistics, management science, and applications in the areas of information systems, finance, and marketing.

Phillip Samouel was educated in the UK gaining a BA First Class Honors in social science and two master, one in Economics and the other in Maagement Science, from the London School of Economics and Imperial College, respectively. He earned his Doctorate in Business Administration from Henley Management college/Brunel University in 1995 and most recently received an Honorary Ph.D. from the Academy for the National Economy, Moscow. His career has included successful endeavors both in academia and the commercial world. Between  1974 and 19884 he built Sammy George Fashion Ltd, a garment manufacturer in London with its own label-London Lady. Since 1984 he has been running a successful Farming Enterprise. Ladyland Farm-The Living Classroom, which also is an Education Centre delivering aspects of the UK Science National Curriculum to over thirty-five thousand children a year. He is currently on the faculty of Kingston University, UK, where he has been Head of Department-Business Strategy and Operations, Directio of the Business School, and most recently Dean of Faculty and a Member of the University's Executive until 2002