Research methods study - a brief note

Increasingly, students do not read textbooks, do not read academic articles and, do not read Research Methods references. Very often, students have difficulties to express ideas in English... Basically, these are labelled as academic stuff, not relevant to practical requirements. Thus, why study these readings if all is required is to gain a recognized certificate? I do believe otherwise. Here, I provide a reading list for you to learn Research methods. Studying the subject takes time; you will do well if you just ignore the time consideration and enjoy the learning process. The list is as follows:

Stage 1:

1. Bailey, K.D. (1994) Methods of Social Research, Free Press.
2. Chalmers, A.F. (1992) What is this thing called Science, Open University Press.
3. Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. (2007) Research Methods for Business Students, Prentice Hall.
4. Mitroff, I.I. and Linstone, H.A. (1993) The Unbounded Mind, Open University Press.
5. Lind, D.A., Marchal, W.G., Mason, R.D. (2001) Statistical Techniques in Business & Economics, McGraw Hill.

Stage 2:

1. Gerring, J. (2007) Case Study Research, Cambridge University Press
2. Bauer, M.W. and Gaskell, G. (editors) (2000) Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound, Sage Publications
3. Griseri, P. (2002) Management Knowledge: a critical view, palgrave.
4. Jackson, M.C. (2000) Systems Approaches to Management, Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers.
5. Morgan, G. (editor) (1983) Beyond Method: Strategies for social research, Sage.

Studying these books well for a start, and then move on to more specialized references, including academic journals on research methods, in your own pursuit to learn Research Methods.  Studying the books identified above takes several years. Just do not expect to learn the subject of Research Methods well in 3-4 months on a part-time basis. What the advertisements in the marketplace tell you about management education can be quite misleading...

On auditing - a brief note

There are three major branches in auditing: internal audit, external audit and information systems audit. Thus, students in accounting, business managementt and information systems all study auditing and could adopt auditing approaches in their final year dissertation works. I provide some relevant references to indicate the scope of the study:

• Griffiths, P. (2005) Risk-based Auditing, Gower.
• Millichamp, A.H. and Taylor, J.R. (2008) Auditing, South-western CENGAGE Learning.
• Musaji, Y.F. (2002) Integrated Auditing of ERP Systems, Wiley.
• Parker, X.L. (2003) IT Audits, ASPEN Publishers.
• Pickett, K.S. and Pickett, J.M. (2005) Auditing for Managers, Wiley.
• Pickett, K.H.S. (2004) The Internal Auditor at work, Wiley.
• Reilly, P. (1999) The Human Resource Planning Audit, CSPLtd.
• Weber, R. (1999) Information Systems Control and Audit, Prentice Hall.

There are a number of refereed journals on auditing, such as Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, published by Elsevier and International Journal of Auditing, published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

On financial services marketing - a brief note

Some students in business admin and information systems studied marketing or e-marketing in the financial servcies sector. It is important to note that when reviewing literature in marketing, you need to consider more specifically the literature of financial services marketing. The following textbook is useful for a start:

Harrison, T. (2000) Financial Services Marketing, Prentice Hall.


A relevant academic journal is International Journal of Bank Marketing, published by Emerald. Journal of Banking &  Finance published by Elsevier is also relevant for literature review purpose.



Marketing topics in the financial sector have been covered in general business and marketing journals from time to time, obviously.

On Management Information System (MIS) as a subject of study

Students in the Information System field should have studied Management Information Systems (MIS) at the Diploma level; increasingly, this is not the case. Many students do not want to read textbooks. I want to provide the following references on MIS to you.

1. Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P. (2004) Management Information Systems, Prentice Hall.
2. Hagg, S., Cummings, M. and Dawkins, J. (2000) Management Information Systems for the information age, McGraw-Hill.
3. Turban, E., Leider, D., Mclean, E., and Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information Technology for Management, Wiley.

There are other textbooks and academic journals on MIS and IT management, but these three textbooks are quite popular ones on MIS. So, do study them to learn MIS; you cannot learn MIS just by reading a few powerpoint notes before the examination.

Performance measurement and management - a brief note

Performance measurement and management is a muti-disciplinary subject that catches the attention from the theorists in management accounting, human resource management and industrial engineering, among others. I note the following references:

Human resource management-related

• Armstrong, M. and Baron, A. (2007) Managing performance, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Management accounting-related

• Broadbent, M. (1999) Measuring Business Performance, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
• Williams, R.S. (2002) Managing Employee Performance, South-Western Cengage Learning.

The refereed journal of International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management published by Emerald is a highly relevant reference for this subject area.

On decision support system - a brief note

Students mainly learn the term of decision support system (DSS) in the subject of Managment Information System (MIS). DSS as a subject is stimulating because of its focus on how information systems can support decision making processes of various kinds. There is a huge literature on the subject; some of the books on DSS are as follows:

• Hopple, G.W. (1998) The state of the art in Decision Support Systems, QED Information Sciences, Inc.
• Silver, M.S. (1991) Systems that support decision makers, Wiley
• Sprague, Jr. R.H. and Watson, H.J. (editors) (1993) Decision Support Systems: putting theory into practice, Prentice Hall.

The refereed journal of Decision Support Systems, published by Elsevier is a key reference.

Some Internet resources:

1. http://www.tech-faq.com/decision-support-system.html
2. http://www.decisionsupportsystem.info/
3. http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/decision-support-systems.htm

Global Business Management - a brief note

The subject of global business management involves a number of sub-domains of study:

About the global business environment

• Hill, C.W.L. (2009) Global Business Today, McGraw-Hill.
• Park, S.J. (editor) (2003) Asia and Europe in the new global system, palgrave.
• Rajan, R.S. (2003) Economic Globalization and Asia, Institute f Policy Studies.
• Shin, J.S. (editor) (2007) Global Challenges and Local Responses, Routledge.

About global marketing management

• Hollensen, S. (2004) Global Marketing, Prentice Hall.

About global human resource management

• Scullion, H. and Collings, D.G. (editors) (2006) Global Staffing, Routledge.
• Mejia, L.R.G. and Werner, S. (editors) (2008) Global Compensation, Routledge.

About global supply chain management

• Cook, T.A. (2008) Managing Global Supply Chains, Auerbach Publications.
• Wood, D.F., Barone, A.P., Murphy, P.R. and Wardlow, D.L. (2002) International Logistics, American Management Association.

About global financial management

• Moffett, M.H. and Stonehill, A.I., Eiteman, D.K. (2006) Essentials of  Global Finance, Pearson Addison Wesley.

About global strategic management

• Gupta, A.K. and Govindarajan, V. (2004) Global Strategy and Organization, Wiley.
• Stonehouse, G., Campbell, D., Hamill, J. and Purdie, T. (2004) Global and Transnational Business: Strategy and Management, Wiley.

There are also academic journals on global business management such as International Business Review, Global Business Review, published by Sage Publications, Global Strategy Journal, published by Wiley, Thunderbird International Business Review, published by Wiley and Journal of Multinational Financial Management published by Elsevier.

Reference
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