Business sector research for dissertation projects of PGBM161

Business sector research for dissertation projects of PGBM161

(re: module guide of PGBM161)

The research proposal will review your ability to achieve the following:

1. To identify a suitable strategic project for an organisation or sector and select a project that could if designed and implemented well be of strategic importance (not just operational) with a significant impact on results. For example, in reducing costs opening up new markets, introducing a new product or service, enhancing skills capability and knowledge, improving quality and or service, redesigning internal business operations etc. This is not an exhaustive list.

2. To define and locate the main academic ideas, theories and business practices evolving from these ideas in a critical literature review. This should cover the main subject area (e.g. service quality) and thereafter briefly review the main ideas: the main ideas and business practices and key areas of possible contention where there are alternative issues either in the nature of the idea or methods of implementation etc. This review should aim to locate some of the primary sources/authors you believe it necessary to review. This will not at this stage be exhaustive as your study is at an early stage in its development.

3. From this you will be required to specify the objectives of the dissertation as clearly as possible. These should be presented as outcomes to be achieved for the dissertation in terms of what business improvement or change the dissertation seeks to implement. The reason and rationale in terms of the sector/ organisation need to be covered under 1 above. You should avoid hypotheses and statements that reflect ‘what’ you are going to do in terms of say investigation or information review. These are not objectives.

4. Finally you will be asked to identify some appropriate ways that you could investigate: - The subject you have selected to ensure that the objectives are met and that information is collected from both primary and secondary sources to ensure that the study can be completed in appropriate depth to achieve masters learning outcomes. These methods should aim to reflect the real methods that can actually be introduced rather than the theory.

e-resources
FB group on academic literature on business sector study

Diagramming technique for housing dissertation proposal formulation: a note

Diagramming technique for housing dissertation proposal formulation: a note

Step 1: using cognitive mapping technique to produce a housing-concern diagram. An example is as follows:

Step 2: convert housing-concerns into high-level research tasks and low-level research tasks:

An example:

Concerned about current situation on the homeless status of the HK youth. (re: the housing-concerns diagram in step 1)



Converted into:

** To evaluate the current situation on the homeless status of the HK youth.    {a high-level research task}

** To learn how the homeless youth perceive their homeless status via semi-structured interview. {a low-level research task}

Note on research tasks and questions in housing dissertation

Note on research tasks and questions in housing dissertation:

A. High-level research task [i.e. research objective]:

E.g., to evaluate the present public housing policy of the Hong Kong Government from different stakeholders' perspectives.

B. Low-level research task:

E.g. to find out HK citizens' perceptions on the present public housing policy soundness to their living districts by semi-structured interview.

C. Research question:

E.g. Does a citizen's gender affect his/her perception on the present public housing policy soundness to his/her living district?

** note: a dissertation could have 1-2 main research objectives, and a few minor research objectives.

Dissertation title is also based on the main research objectives:

E.g. An investigation to evaluate the present public housing policy of the Hong Kong Government based on stakeholders' thinking.

Analyzing interview research findings with multiple interviewees

Analyzing interview research findings with multiple interviewees:

On comparison, the differences of viewpoints from different managers on different factors (e.g. compensation packages, relationship with colleagues, and job satisfaction) could be due to gender, seniority, educational background, and organizational department, etc..

MBA dissertation scope types and feasibility

MBA dissertation scope types and project feasibility: 


Note 1

Note 2

Steps to log into academic publisher's website for literature search

Steps to log into academic publisher's website for literature search:

Note: you need to log in as an institutional user (i.e. your university name). You also need to do single sign-on log in with you university user id and user password (unless the computer system remembers this information).

Step 1: visit an academic journal publisher's website

Step 2: specify your university name here.

Step 3

Step 4: now you are an authorized user.

Step 5: now you could do journal browsing or literature search with the website's search engine.

Geographical imagination - assignment report template 2020

Geographical imagination - assignment report template 2020 [report length in 2,000 words]

Essay title (e.g. "Hong Kong as a divided city", "Taranto as a polluted town")

1. Introduction [estimate 250 word]

1.1 introduce the city theme (e.g. "a ruined city", "a divided city", " a global city", "a livable city", "a crime city", "a modern city") and city profile (e.g. history, city culture, population size, location, weather, GDP per ca pita.) [** show a map to indicate the city location is OK here]
1.2 why the city and the city theme have been chosen by you (e.g. personal and public interest, and personal familiarity)

2. Description of the city representation [1350 words] and how it has been communicated to people [200 words]

2.1 show 1-5 cultural artifacts (e.g. photos, films, paintings, etc). of the city representation and describe how they can be interpreted to represent a particular city representation

2.2 elaborate on you point 2.1 with additional information gathered via Internet search.

2.3. further express, examine and clarify your points 2.1 and 2.2 with some geographical (e.g. place, locale, scale, spatial connection, spatial movement) and sociological concepts (e.g., socialization, social norm, gender, social class, social conflict).

2.4. briefly discuss (i) how the city representation has been communicated to people and (ii) what are the targeted audience and main supporters of such communication and for what purposes. [** some usage of discourse analysis ideas could be useful here]

3. Concluding remarks [about 200 words]

3.1 some reflection of your discussion in section 2, e.g. (i) about actionable values to stakeholders and (ii) limitations (e.g. blind spots).  strengths of such a city representation.

References

Appendix



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a. Need harvard referencing and some academic references (e.g. via Google scholar search with key words, e.g. "place", "sense of place", "spatial connection", "social norm", etc.. [you may find some of the academic articles on the FB group of geographical imagination useful.]
b. Regarding scale, the case study can be a city (including a city state), a district, a town, BUT not a street, nor a region (e.g. the southern region of Vietnam), nor a country.

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Assignment info - extract

For the assignment you must choose:  one representation of a city (an object, film, book, map, painting, song, advertisement, tourist guide, etc) 

Your task is to examine and discuss the ways in which your chosen city is (or was) imagined and / or represented through your chosen media. 

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The word length for the assignment is 2,000 words and should be structured in the following way: 

1. An introduction outlining your chosen city and representation; and the REASONS for your choice. 

2. A main section critically discussing how your city is represented and imagined in your source material. You should also refer to relevant academic literature. 

3. A conclusion summarizing your analysis and the key messages/forms of representation identified.

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Relevant resources
On harvard referencing [also a video]
On a video about plagiarism