Dr. Herath is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Marketing Management, University of Kelaniya where she has been working since 2003. She has obtained her first degree in Business Management specializing Marketing Management with a first class honours and also the gold medal for the highest GPA in the faculty of Commerce and Management Studies. The MBA has been concluded at the Postgraduate Institute of Management with a Merit pass. She has then completed her PhD at Newcastle University, UK in Supply Chain Management. She is an alumni of Commonwealth scholarships too. She is also a CMILT and executive committee member of Wilat which is the Women’s’ forum of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.
She is serving as an editorial member of a few international journals and at present acts as the chief-editor Sri Lanka Journal of Marketing (SLJM) and an editorial member of Newsletter, University of Kelaniya. She is also the Coordinator of Higher Diploma in Marketing offered by the Department of Marketing Management. She has served in the capacity of a chair, reviewer, secretary and an editorial member for many local and international research conferences. Many research papers have been presented by her at local and international research conferences and published in local and international indexed and refereed journals too. She also works as a research consultant and her research interests lie especially on supply chain management, SMEs and fashion industries. She is a visiting lecturer for many public and private universities, too.
When the word research is taken as Re-Search”, according to the Oxford dictionary the meaning of “re” is to look back at something in a different way and “search” is to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly. Therefore, research is to look back at something already known, in a different way by seeking carefully and thoroughly. Research relevant to a certain subject or phenomenon therefore should begin from a point where the body of knowledge in that field had been paused. The new knowledge generated through research always expands the boundaries of the existing knowledge.
The key source of knowledge is research. Primary data that is generated by any research will be secondary data for another related research. Although there are many ways knowledge can be gathered, the reason behind why research is always the most valid source is, the objective nature of it, as it depends on empirical data. Research, irrespective of being academic or industry, use empirical data relevant to a particular research problem that is specifically gathered to solve a problem. The other sources of information for problem solving such as experience, ideas, opinions and perception of people can always be biased and therefore this information is subjective depending on the person who solves the problem that can be estimated one.
Business research is a “systematic and objective process of gathering, recording and analyzing data for aid in making business decisions” (William G. Zikmund). Business in brief is a process that involves planning and execution and therefore it so frequently needs to solve problems to make the right decisions. There may be many alternatives for one particular problem and choosing the right decision among them again is a challenge. The most efficient and effective solution will be the right decision that could contribute to organization’s strategic objective achievement. However, choosing the right decision always depends on the availability of right information. The information is generated through research as primary data as the justice secondary data can fulfill for the problem in hand is not always guaranteed as they have been collected for some other purposes.
Still in conduct of business research, the better communication between the researcher (if its conducted inhouse) or the research agency and the decision maker is of paramount importance. For a researcher to understand the correct research problem, managers must provide accurate and relevant background information to the researcher or research firm. The purpose of the research must also clearly be communicated. Otherwise wrong management decision problems may get converted to research problems.
Management decision problems are what managers see as the problem and it is always action oriented, whereas a researcher is seeking for reasons behind a managers’ problem, so it is information oriented. For example, when sales of any organization is continuously declining managers might see what actions should be taken to improve sales, but a researcher’s view of that is completely different to search why sales are declining.
Moreover, the optimum usage of physical and human resource is also questionable when the relevant information is unavailable. The execution or implementation of plans require both physical and human resources. The right allocation of physical and human resources for implementation of plans entirely relies upon the relevant information available. When an advertising campaign is developed the characteristics of the target audience must clearly be known to the advertising firm and it is only through research that these consumer details can correctly be gathered.
Then only proper allocation of financial, physical and human resources can be done, so the proper resource usage of an organization also depends upon the availability of the correct and timely information. In conclusion: the availability of relevant information that is generated through research is the determinant of the effectiveness of both planning and implementation phases of organizational activities that maintains the strategic fit between its corporate, business and functional level goals.
Despite of which function it is, research plays a significant role in every business function. In marketing; developing a new product, launching a new advertising campaign, segmentation, product designing, distribution, advertising and promotion, personnel selling, deciding on price, branding, market competition, demand conditions and customer satisfaction are some of the areas that research can help in making decisions.
Through proper research human resource managers are able to determine the number of manpower needed and recruit the same. Finance managers are able to mitigate risk when right information is available. The correct investment decisions and capacity expansion decisions are also viable with the availability of exact information.
Sustainability of a business depends on its innovative production and only research can help business being innovative. Business organizations must deliver customers the value expected by the target customers. Therefore, every operation that is carried out by organizations must contribute in creating value. Therefore, organizations must clearly identify the value expected by customers through market research so that proper efforts can be taken to embed value creation and enhancement throughout its supply chain.
The business environment today is highly turbulent and successful survival in the industries can be assured by being competitive and innovative.
Being competitive and innovative require the right information needed and this information can be generated through research. Therefore, it is obvious that research and the right use of information generated through research create a competitive edge for any business organization. It makes an organization cost effective, so sustainability of the organizations is possible instead being a fire fighter.