business research report

7/28/2019 Business Research Report

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Business Research, Reports, Executive Summaries, and Presentations

For many students, their first job after graduation involves performing research and eventually

preparing and presenting business reports. The following is a short-cut guide to help in the

preparation of a formal business report and some pointers on presentations.

This is not a comprehensive guide, but it does give the reader some simple rules to follow.

Typically, organizations have their own preferred format for reports, so this is only intended as a

guide.

Business Research

The two generally accepted forms of business research are qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative

research involves descriptive reporting of information. Common methods of collecting this information

are by observing, interviewing, and focus groups. Quantitative research, on the other hand, involves

the collection of numerical data for analysis. This is often accomplished with surveys, experiments, or

content analysis.

Care must be taken when using qualitative research because the quality of the information is

only as good as the researchers ability to read the situation and is subjective as to the

interpretations of reality. At the same time, the validity of the quantitative research can be heavily

biased without anyone knowing it.

The two principal methods of collecting information for business reports are primary research

and secondary research. Primary research involves conducting original research. This is usually only

undertaken when secondary research is not available. Secondary research is information that has

been compiled by someone else, and others use this information to analyze the situation.

We must be concerned with gathering relevant and accurate data from both internal and

external sources. Internal sources include company records, reports, managers, and so on.

Stakeholders (e.g., customers, suppliers, etc.) are examples of external sources.

We must consider what method of collecting information to use and the type of research to

analyze. This will depend on many factors, including time, money, concern for validity, and so on. The

general rule is that we should use proven methods until they prove to be unreliable or outdated.


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Business Reports

Components of typical business report are:

1. Title page2. Executive summary3. Table of contents4. Report5. Appendices6. Works cited/bibliography/references

Title Page

The title page is intended to communicate the following information to the reader:

1. Name of the report (this should represent the nature and purpose).2. Who the report is presented to (including name, title, and organization).3. The name of the person who is submitting the report.4. Date of submission.

Formatting of the title page will depend on the expectations of the organization that requests

the report. Generally, at a minimum the above information must be included.Exhibit 1 is an example

of a typical title page.

Executive SummaryAn executive summary highlights the reports findings, conclusions, and recommendations. It is a

condensed version of the report. It is important that the executive summary is labelled as such (i.e.,

Executive Summary) so that the reader can identify it.

The executive summary is a stand-alone document (i.e., the reader may never read the actual

report); therefore, you must include what you did, how you went about doing it, what you found out

(with enough support), and your conclusions and recommendations.

The components of the executive summary include the objectives/purposes of the report, a

review of the points to follow, methodology (how the research and analysis was completed), the main

points of the report with support, and conclusions/recommendations.

Generally, the length is anywhere from one paragraph to two pages in length. A helpful hint

when writing the executive summary is to use your table of contents as a guide to ensure that you

have covered the major points of the report. The executive summary process is as follows:
http://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdfhttp://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdfhttp://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdfhttp://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdfhttp://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdfhttp://www.futureofbusiness3e.nelson.com/student/book/exhibit.pdf


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Scan the report Highlight the objectives/purposes. Look for key ideas. Group similar ideas. Eliminate secondary points.

Table of Contents

The purpose of the table of contents is to provide the reader with an overview of the report topics and

to help the reader to locate the topic. The listings in the table of contents are usually the headings

that are used in the report and their initial page numbers (i.e., their starting page number). It is

important that the table of contents is prepared after the report is prepared; otherwise, mistakes are

probable.

Report

Business reports typically have an introduction to the report, the body of the report, conclusions, and

recommendations.

Introduction

The introduction of the report sets the scene for the report to follow. It should include:

Backgroundevents leading up to the problem or need. Problem or purposeexplains what the report topic is. Significanceexplains why the topic important. Scopetells what is included and what is excluded in the report. Organizationpreviews the structure of the report. Methodologydescribes secondary sources and details how primary data were collected.

Body of the Report

The body of the report is the principal section of the report. The purpose is to discuss, analyze,

interpret, and evaluate the research findings or solutions. It is best to use clear headings for each

major section to help the reader to navigate through the report.

It is important to use your words economically; do not repeat yourself except for emphasis,

and do not pad the report with words that do not contribute to your message (e.g., instead of in

order to be able to provide use to provide). Other hints for the body of the report are to be

consistent with the name or acronym you choose to refer to the target of your investigation, use it


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throughout the report (i.e., do not use variations), and keep the person and tense consistent (e.g., if

the subject is the company then the subsequent pronoun should be it not they).

Conclusions

The conclusions tell what the findings mean. This must be tied to the discussion within the body of the

report (i.e., do not make conclusions that are not discussed in the report). The conclusions are often

combined with the recommendations.

Recommendations

When requested, the recommendations give precise suggestions of different courses of action and

their justifications. The writers of the report must use appropriate language (e.g., The following

recommendations are supported by the findings and conclusion of this report.).

Appendices

Appendices are used for incidental or supporting materials that are relevant to the findings of the

report and important to some readers but not necessarily to all. Using appendices helps send the

message that you have done a thorough job.

Use appendices to expand, highlight, and detail, but do not repeat what you have said in the

report. Label the appendices Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on. The order of the appendices should

coincide with the order they are mentioned in the report.

References

The purpose of the references is to help the reader to locate the sources of ideas of the report and to

give acknowledgement to the originator of the materials or ideas. If you are using information that is

not widely known, cite it. Use Ibid. to repeat a citation on the same page.

Generally, in the social sciences and business, the APA (American Psychological Association)

format is used for citing the sources of ideas mentioned in the report. The other two main formats are

the Modern Language Association (MLA), used in language papers, and the Science format, used in

the sciences and medicine. Regardless of the citing style used, you must include the author, title,

publication, date of publication, page number(s), and other significant data for all ideas and quotes

that are not your original thought or common understanding.

Whenever you are unsure of the format, check the Web site ofDartmouth Collegefor

examples.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/about/when.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/about/when.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/about/when.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/about/when.html


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Below are some examples of proper citation.

Guide to Bibliographies and Reference Notes

Referencing is an integral part of your work term report. Any material that you use that is not your

original thought or common knowledge must be referenced. Remember to reference interviews,

company publications, Web sites, and CD-ROMS.

The following examples of referencing are taken from the Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association.1 This manual contains over 70 examples of how to reference material from

journal articles, CD-ROMS, proceedings of meetings, television broadcasts, and other sources.

Remember that reference style is not as important as actually referencing. Regardless of the

citation method used, you must be consistent.

Bibliography

All of the material that you used in your report, whether cited in the text or not, must be listed in the

bibliography. Following are examples of bibliographic citation for various media.

Books

Mitchell, T.R. & Larson, J.R. (1987). People in organizations: an introduction to organization

behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Journal Articles

Brown, S. (1990). The wheel of retailing: past and future.Journal of Retailing, 45 (2), 143-147.

Magazine Articles

Serwer, A.E. (1994, October 17). McDonalds conquers the world.Fortune, 103-106.

Newspaper or Newsletter Articles (Author Unknown)

Partnerships for the commercialization of technology. (1997, Summer). Network, p. 1.

Newspaper or Newsletter Articles (Author Known)

Howes, C. (1997, January 25). Jobs: but nobody to fill them? The Calgary Herald, p. H1.

Web Sites and Other Electronic Data Sources

List the author, full title of the document, title of the complete work, date of publication, full http

address (URL), and date of visit:

Burka, L.P. 1993. A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions.MUD History.(5 Dec. 1994).

Remember that anybody can create a Web page on anything. Web site information has

generally notundergone any scrutiny whatsoever to ensure its accuracy.
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.htmlhttp://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.htmlhttp://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.htmlhttp://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/lpb/mud-history.html


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Reference Notes

Any direct quote, reference to a specific fact (event, date, etc.), or paraphrasing of an argument made

by the author of a published work should be referenced. This can be done by means of traditional

footnotes or endnotes, but an easier and more contemporary method is to put the author, date, and

page number(s) in brackets, as in the following example:

Scotiabank is said to have opened branches in many

countries because the depth and experience of the

international staff enabled the branch to make money in

countries where its competitors could not (Cleveland and

Huertas, 2004: 263).

Any direct quote must also be enclosed in quotation marksif you fail to do this, it is plagiarism

even if you provide a reference!

Newspaper references can be cited as follows:

(Globe and Mail, July 9, 1990: B5)

Web sites can be cited by providing the author and the URL of the exact page where you found

the information (not just the home page). For example:

http://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca/coop/coop_handbook.html

Be sure to include all referenced works in your bibliography. You must have both reference notes and

a bibliography. Most students dont reference everything they should. If in doubt, reference it.

Plagiarism and How to Avoid It

Below is an extract from Struggle for South Africa: A Guide to Movements, Organisations and

Institutions by R. Davies, D. OMeara, and S. Dlamini.2 It is followed by an unacceptable rendering

found in a recent student paper, and then by two versions that make it acceptable through (1) use of

quotation marks and (2) paraphrasing.

The original source material is as follows:

Whites, or more especially the Afrikaans-speaking section

of the white population, popularly known as the Boers, are

presumed to suffer from intense racial prejudice, and this

system of racial discrimination is the result. It is certainly
http://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca/coop/coop_handbook.htmlhttp://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca/coop/coop_handbook.htmlhttp://www.haskayne.ucalgary.ca/coop/coop_handbook.html


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true that most whites are highly racially prejudiced, but

this explains little. [...]

In other words, the various complex and intersecting class

struggles through which capitalist forms of production and

relations of production were developed and consolidated

under colonialism in South Africa, themselves generated

racist ideologies and a racially structured hierarchy of

economic and political power. The national oppression of

black people in South Africa is a product of, and was

indeed the necessary historical condition for, the

development of capitalism in that country.

[...] Fundamentally it, like the segregationist policies

which preceded it, is a system of economic and political

relations designed to produce cheap and controlled black

labour, and so generate high rates of profit (Davies,

OMeara, and Dlamini, 1984, p. 2).

The following is an unacceptable rendering in student paper (plagiarism). Note that the student

did not use quotation marks.

It is certainly true that whites, or more especially the

Afrikaans-speaking section of the white population,

popularly known as the Boers, are highly racially

prejudiced. However, the various complex and

intersecting class struggles developed and consolidated

under colonialism in South Africa, themselves generated

racist ideologies and a racially structured hierarchy of

economic and political power. The national oppression of

blacks in South Africa is a product of, and was a necessary

historical condition for, the development of capitalism in

that country.

Fundamentally, apartheid is a segregationist policy -

system of economic and political relations designed to


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produce cheap and controlled black labour, and generate

high rates of profit.

[Another paragraph followed that ended with a

bracketed reference to the source.]

Here is an acceptable rendering using quotation marks:

As Davies, OMeara and Dlamini (1984) observe, whites,

or more especially the Afrikaans-speaking section of the

white population, popularly known as the Boers... are

highly racially prejudiced. However, they maintain that

the various complex and intersecting class struggles

developed and consolidated under colonialism in South

Africa, themselves generated racist ideologies and a

racially structured hierarchy of economic and political

power. The national oppression of black people in South

Africa is a product of, and was a necessary historical

condition for, the development of capitalism in that

country. They therefore conclude that fundamentally,

apartheid, like earlier similar policies, is a system of

economic and political relations designed to producecheap and controlled black labour, and so generate high

rates of profit (p. 2).

Here is another acceptable rendering of the same material. This time, the student has used

paraphrasing.

Many South African whites, particularly Afrikaners, are

very racially prejudiced. Marxist observers such as Davies,

OMeara, and Dlamini (1984, p. 2) explain this racism as

being rooted in a struggle between social classes in which

blacks were subjugated to a white power structure to

provide a ready supply of cheap labour. Apartheid was

thus a means of earning large profits and thereby

strengthening the development of capitalism in the

country, and not simply an outgrowth of racial prejudice.


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It is not acceptable simply to take sections (even sentence fragments) from an original text and

splice them together to write your paper. If you are using phrases from an original work, they must be

put in quotation marks and footnoted. Note that of the two alternatives given above, the paraphrased

version would generally be considered preferable because it is shorter, omits jargon (which many

readers may not understand), and shows that the writer has understood the gist of the original

source, and is not simply parroting the material.

Presentations3

Below are some helpful hints to ensure successful presentations:

1. Have an introduction to the presentation that tells the audience what will be discussed and inwhat order.

2. Process for the presentation: tell your audience what you are going to tell them, tell them,then tell them what you told them (i.e., provide an introduction, presentation, and summary).

3. Use an appropriate colour scheme (e.g., do not use a yellow background).4. Use bullets consistently.5. Check spelling and grammar.6. Prepare backups. Things happen (e.g., incompatible technology, etc.)!7. Dress conservatively. The focus should be on the presentation, not how you are dressed.8. Remove jewellery that could make noise or could get caught. Also, there is a tendency for

presenters to play with their jewellery; this is distracting.

9. Empty your pockets.10.Secure long hair11.Go to the washroom prior to the presentation - is an opportunity to check your appearance.12.Use presentation notes for reference only. Please do not read them - you must address your

audience.

13.Use index cards for notes, not bigger sheets of paper (they are noisy and will shake if yourenervous).

14.Dont hide your notes, if you are using them - they are, what they are!15.Look at an audience member who appears friendly and supportive if you are nervous during

the presentation.

16.Scan your audience to include everyone. Do not focus on one part of the room - look around.17.Do not read from the slides on the computer or the screen. You must address your audience to

show them respect and to retain their interest.


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18.Keep your hands out of your pockets and do not fold your arms. Other mannerisms to avoidinclude jingling your keys/coins, swaying back and forth, rubbing your nose, and so forth as

these can be very distracting.

19.Do not chew gum or anything else during your presentation. It interferes with your ability todeliver the presentation in a clear voice.

20.Be sure to keep to the time limit.21.Make sure that you and (if applicable) your group have rehearsed the presentation

rehearsing helps in meeting the time limit.

22.Have a backup plan prepared for your presentation, both in regard to the visuals (e.g., in casethe technology fails you) and the actual presenters (e.g., if a presenter does not show).

23.Do not walk in front of a presenter.24.Make sure that your audience can read the slides. The font size must be large enough for

everyone in the audience to read comfortably.25.Check the design template for your slides. Make sure that the slides enhance the presentation

and are not the presentation, or do not interfere with the message that you are trying to

project.

26.Be sure to project your voice - everyone in the audience needs to be informed.27.Use an open hand to gesture - do not point.28.Be yourself!

1.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed.

Washin ton DC: American Ps cholo ical Association, 1994 , . 194-222.

2.

R. Davies, D. OMeara, and S. Dlamini, Struggle for South Africa: A Guide to

Movements, Organisations and Institutions, 2 volumes (London, Zed Books, 1984), p.

2.

3.

Wilson, K., (2002). Presentation 291 Tips (University of Calgary: Haskayne School of Business), December

4, 2002.

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