A note on historical studies for MBA dissertation project works

A note on historical studies for MBA dissertation project works (information from perplexity.ai)

 

My question 1: "In the context of doing MBA dissertation projects, what could be value of studying historical and past events, e.g. Asian Financial Crisis, a corporate merger failure of a company some years ago or, an IT project failure of a company a few years ago, in the design of an overall research methodology for the dissertation projects. It appears that MBA dissertation projects should focus on studying contemporary business issues, not historical events (which is study domain of history)."

The reply: "Studying historical events like the Asian Financial Crisis or corporate failures adds significant value to MBA dissertation methodologies by providing empirical depth and practical insights into contemporary business challenges. These analyses bridge past patterns with current issues, enhancing research rigor without confining it to pure history.

Key Methodological Benefits

Historical case studies enable qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, such as comparative analysis or event studies, to test theories against real-world data. For instance, dissertations have applied Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis to the 1997 Asian crisis, using secondary sources and interviews to inform regulatory reforms relevant today. This supports inductive theory-building, where patterns from failures (e.g., merger integration issues or IT project mismanagement) validate or refine frameworks like risk assessment or governance models.

Linking to Contemporary Issues

Past events illuminate recurring risks in modern contexts, like financial vulnerabilities or project execution flaws, allowing MBA research to draw actionable lessons for strategy and policy. Examples include theses analyzing Lehman Brothers' collapse or IT failures to highlight people-related predictors of success, directly informing current portfolio diversification or agile methodologies. Up to 40% of management master's dissertations employ case studies for this holistic view, blending archival data with stakeholder insights.

Pragmatic Research Fit

In pragmatic methodologies—aligning with your interests—these studies favor mixed methods over pure positivism, prioritizing practical outcomes like crisis prevention strategies. They counter the "contemporary-only" view by showing history as a repository for avoiding fads, as seen in business history integrations that evolve management research. This approach suits MBA projects by focusing on transferable lessons, not rote history, enhancing employability through evidence-based recommendations."

 

My question 2: "Suggest four advices on research method practices (e.g. in data gathering and data analysis methods) on studying historical events in the context of MBA dissertation projects."

The reply: "Studying historical events in MBA dissertations benefits from structured research practices that ensure data reliability and analytical depth. Here are four key pieces of advice on data gathering and analysis, drawn from established case study methodologies.

Use Triangulation for Data Gathering

Collect data from multiple secondary sources like archival records, financial reports, news articles, and academic papers to validate findings on events such as the Asian Financial Crisis. Supplement with semi-structured interviews from experts or survivors for contextual richness, ensuring comprehensive triangulation that enhances credibility in pragmatic MBA research.

Apply Thematic and Content Analysis

Employ qualitative methods like thematic coding to identify recurring patterns in historical documents, such as governance lapses in merger failures, using tools like NVivo for systematic organization. Combine with quantitative event study techniques to measure market impacts, providing robust evidence for theory testing.

Ensure Validity Through Rigorous Checks

Establish trustworthiness by cross-verifying data across sources, documenting biases (e.g., hindsight in failure analyses), and using peer debriefing or member checks where possible. Pilot your analysis plan on a subset of data to refine codes and address limitations inherent in retrospective studies.

Leverage Mixed Methods for Insights

Integrate qualitative narratives with statistical analysis of trends, such as regression on economic indicators from past IT project failures, to link history to contemporary applications. This pragmatic approach aligns with MBA goals, yielding actionable recommendations while maintaining methodological balance."

 

My question 3: "In general, what does the field of history study tell us the "valuable and holistic lessons learned" and "problem-solving insights offered from history study that can enrich research methodology design and practices in MBA dissertation project works?

The reply: "Historical studies offer MBA research profound lessons on contextual complexity, long-term patterns, and human factors in decision-making, enriching dissertation methodologies beyond ahistorical snapshots. These insights promote methodological pluralism, turning history into a tool for rigorous, forward-looking business analysis.

Contextual Nuance and Causal Depth

History teaches that events unfold in layered contexts—economic, social, cultural—demanding multi-source triangulation in MBA designs to avoid oversimplification. Holistic lessons emphasize narrative analysis alongside data, revealing non-linear causation (e.g., how overlooked human elements fueled past crises), fostering richer problem-solving via abductive reasoning.

Long-Term Patterns and Recurrence Risks

By identifying cycles and contingencies in business history, such as management fads or governance failures, studies provide predictive insights for scenario planning in dissertations. This counters positivist biases, advocating mixed methods that integrate archival data with contemporary metrics for robust risk modeling and strategy validation.

Human-Centric Problem-Solving

History underscores behavioral drivers like leadership biases or cultural inertia, offering MBA researchers tools for qualitative depth in quantitative-heavy fields. Insights from past experiments (e.g., Hawthorne) inspire ethnographic elements in designs, enhancing holistic evaluations of ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder dynamics.

Methodological Pluralism and Innovation

Business history promotes openness to diverse epistemologies—archival, oral, digital—enriching MBA practices with secondary data rigor and peer learning models. Valuable lessons include democratizing knowledge exchange, as in interwar management movements, to build adaptable, evidence-based frameworks that bridge theory and practice."

My question 4: "Provide one illustrative example of using a historical research method, together with 2 other primary research methods, to constitute an overall research methodology, based on critical realism, for a part-time 4-month MBA dissertation project."

The reply: "Critical realism (CR) suits short MBA dissertations by enabling layered analysis of underlying mechanisms behind observed business events, blending historical depth with primary data for practical insights within 4 months. A strong example is studying "Governance failures in corporate mergers," using one historical method (archival case study) alongside two primary methods (elite interviews and surveys).

Overall CR Methodology Design

Adopt a retroductive logic: start with empirical merger failure patterns (e.g., value destruction), interrogate real mechanisms (e.g., power asymmetries), and validate via actual experiences. Timeline: Month 1 for design/literature; Month 2 for historical data; Month 3 for primary collection/analysis; Month 4 for synthesis/write-up. Use stratified ontology—empirical (data), actual (events), real (causal powers like cultural clashes)—with triangulation for trustworthiness.

Historical Method: Archival Case Study

Analyze the 1999 AOL-Time Warner merger as a single in-depth case, drawing secondary data from SEC filings, earnings calls, and news archives to reconstruct events and identify mechanisms (e.g., over-optimism masking integration flaws). Code thematically with NVivo for patterns, spending 4-6 weeks; this grounds CR's "real" domain in verifiable history, avoiding present bias.​

Primary Method 1: Elite Interviews

Conduct 8-10 semi-structured interviews (30-45 mins each) with merger-experienced executives/managers from Hong Kong/Singapore firms, recruited via LinkedIn/alumni networks. Probe lived experiences of similar failures to surface demi-regularities (e.g., trust erosion), using CR-guided prompts for reflexivity; transcribe/analyze interpretively to refine historical mechanisms.​

Primary Method 2: Targeted Surveys

Distribute online surveys (e.g., Qualtrics) to 100+ MBA peers/professionals on merger risk perceptions, using Likert scales and open fields for quantitative trends (e.g., regression on governance factors) plus qualitative nuance. Analyze via SPSS for correlations, integrating with interviews to test generative mechanisms across CR domains.​

Integration and Outputs

Converge findings iteratively: historical case demystifies structures, interviews reveal agency, surveys quantify tendencies—yielding a CR-informed framework for merger success (e.g., adaptive governance model). This pragmatic, multi-method design fits part-time constraints, enhancing validity through explanatory critique."

My suggested videos to study: (1) What History Was, Is, and Will Be and (2) why study history?

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.