technology links (pvt) ltd report by mansoor ali seelro

2015

Mansoor Ali Seelro (18419)

Faheem Ahmed (18396)

MBA (RE) 2Y

AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE HHYYPPOOTTHHEETTIICCOO--DDEEDDUUCCTTIIVVEE MMEETTHHOODD TTOO TTHHEE SSAALLEESS PPRROOBBLLEEMM OOFF MMEEDDIICCAALL DDIIVVIISSIIOONN

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

TTEECCHHNNOOLLOOGGYY LLIINNKKSS ((PPVVTT)) LLTTDD

By: Mansoor & Faheem (MBA – IoBM)

PPRREEFFAACCEE

The purpose of this report is quite simple. We are supposed to apply practically the following

process of Hypothetico-deductive Method. We are finally to present and submit the report to

our instructor of the course ‘Methods in Business Research’. For better understanding of the

readers of this report, the steps of the process have been reproduced here from our book

‘RESEARCH METHODS FOR BUSINESS’ by Uma Sekaran and Roger Bougie.

i


CCOONNTTEENNTTSS ((PPaaggee nnuummbbeerrss llaabbeelleedd aass ppeerr ppddff ccoouunntt))

[

PPrreeffaaccee i

IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN TTOO TTHHEE CCOOMMPPAANNYY……………………………………………………......……..……………………………… 4

TTHHEE PPRROOBBLLEEMM WWIITTHH SSAALLEESS VVOOLLUUMMEE OOFF TTHHEE MMEEDDIICCAALL DDIIVVIISSIIOONN ………….... 4

TThhee PPrroobblleemm …………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE HHYYPPOOTTHHEETTIICCOO--DDEEDDUUCCTTIIVVEE MMEETTHHOODD ………………………….. 5

TThhee BBrrooaadd PPrroobblleemm AArreeaa ((ssttaatteemmeenntt)) ………………………………............................……………………………………………… 5

TThhee PPrroobblleemm SSttaatteemmeenntt ………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...... 5

HHyyppootthheessiizziinngg ………………………………………………....……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

TThhee TThheeoorreettiiccaall FFrraammeewwoorrkk ……………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………...... 6

VVaarriiaabblleess DDeessccrriippttiioonn ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...... 7

TThhee RReesseeaarrcchh DDeessiiggnn …………………………………………....…………………………………………………………………………………….... 7

TTyyppee ooff IInnvveessttiiggaattiioonn …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7

OOppeerraattiioonnaalliizzaattiioonn:: MMeeaassuurreemmeenntt ooff VVaarriiaabblleess ………………………………………………………………………….... 7

DDaattaa CCoolllleeccttiioonn ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8

DDaattaa AAnnaallyyssiiss aanndd IInntteerrpprreettaattiioonn ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8


IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN TTOO TTHHEE CCOOMMPPAANNYY

Technology Links is a private limited company incorporated in Pakistan in 1989. Its head

office is located in Karachi and it has branches in all major cities in the country. With staff

strength of over a hundred, and a management composed of highly qualified and

experienced professionals, the company caters primarily to requirements in the health,

research, Scientific and engineering education sectors. Thus, Technology Links is perhaps

the only company in Pakistan, which provides meaningful links, under one roof, to the

educationist, doctor, scientist, Industrialist and engineer alike. As well as this, the company

also supplies equipment and machinery related to industry and infrastructure development.

The company is the exclusive distributor within Pakistan for a number of international

suppliers and manufacturers. It also handles projects, funded on a bilateral basis

through outright grants or state credits from donor countries, by representing

multinational trading companies and suppliers.

The company’s range of activities include the following

Sales promotion of specialized items

Installation and engineering services

Provision of on-site training

Consulting services related to project formation

After sales service

Engineering services related to implementation of projects.

The company philosophy is to maintain the highest possible standards while responding to

customers’ needs. The company therefore, demands of itself and its employees, the highest

levels of integrity, performance and quality, and continuously seeks to improve its position as

one of the best companies of its kind in Pakistan. It is perhaps for these self assigned

goals and objectives, that the Company was registered as ISO Certified Company.

TTHHEE PPRROOBBLLEEMM WWIITTHH SSAALLEESS VVOOLLUUMMEE OOFF TTHHEE MMEEDDIICCAALL

DDIIVVIISSIIOONN

The company has four divisions viz. Scientific, Education, Medical, Analytical. The focus

here is on the sales volume of the Medical Division. The Medical Division of the company is

the sole distributor of Shimadzu [JAPAN] (Radiology equipment which includes X-rays, C-


arm, Fluoroscopy, Angiography), SAMSUNG [KOREA] (Ultrasound) and Enraf-Nonius

[HOLLAND] (which includes physiotherapy equipment complete range).

TThhee PPrroobblleemm

The gap between the desired (ideal) state and the actual state is the problem. At Technology

Links, the gap between desired sales and actual sales is applicable. That is, for 2015:

Target sales: 830 million

Actual sales: 240 million

Gap: 590 million (that’s the problem)

AAPPPPLLIICCAATTIIOONN OOFF TTHHEE HHYYPPOOTTHHEETTIICCOO--DDEEDDUUCCTTIIVVEE MMEETTHHOODD

TThhee BBrrooaadd PPrroobblleemm AArreeaa ((ssttaatteemmeenntt))

Given the problem, the broad problem area for Technology Links is identified and said as:

“The sales volume of the Medical Division is not picking up”

TThhee PPrroobblleemm SSttaatteemmeenntt

After thorough inquiry and data collection from the company, the following possible

(tentative) reasons were revealed for the low sales volume of the Medical Division.

1. Incomplete Product Range

2. Brand Comparison (Japanese vs. Korean)

3. Lack of Specialized Training of Sales Staff

Having known above reasons, the problem statement is defined as:

“To what extent do incomplete product range, brand comparison and lack of staff

training affect the sales volume?”

HHyyppootthheessiizziinngg

From the problem statement, following (tentative) hypotheses are developed:

Null:

H0 : Product range, brand and training have no impact on / association with the sales


Alternative:

HA : Complete Product Range would boost sales

HA : Japanese Brand would boost sales

HA : Specialized Training of Sales staff would boost sales

Alternative hypothesis # 3, however, is further affected and influenced by top management

willingness and support for the proper training initiative. Hence, the final model will include

a moderating variable as well.

TThhee TThheeoorreettiiccaall FFrraammeewwoorrkk

After hypothesizing we are ready to show how the theoretical framework would look like;

what influences what! (The arrows show the influence of one variable on the other).


VVaarriiaabblleess DDeessccrriippttiioonn

Dependent:

Sales Volume refers to the sales of medical equipment mentioned earlier in the previous

section(s) of the report.

Independent:

1. Product Range companies like Toshiba and Siemens being the major competitors (of

Technology Links) provide complete range which includes MRI, Gamma Camera and CT

scanner, whereas Technology Links does not have MRI and CT scan in their product

range.

2. Brand Japanese brand outweighs the Korean one in the market; Technology Links suffers

low sales by offering Korean brand.

3. Staff Training poorly trained sales staff also influences the sales volume.

Moderating:

Top Management willingness and support staff training programs can’t be launched

without top management support and willingness.

TThhee RReesseeaarrcchh DDeessiiggnn

The design suitable here is ‘hypothesis testing’ – explaining relation among the variables. All

the hypotheses developed can be tested on quantitative data. The design is not ‘exploratory’

because we know much about the given variables. It is not ‘descriptive’ because we are not

interested in describing (the characteristics of) the variables.

TTyyppee ooff IInnvveessttiiggaattiioonn

The investigation is ‘correlational’ – how variables are associated with the problem. In case

of Technology Links, it follows that how the product range, brand and training variables are

associated with the sales volume.

OOppeerraattiioonnaalliizzaattiioonn:: MMeeaassuurreemmeenntt ooff VVaarriiaabblleess

Operationalization is a technique to break down the abstract concepts/characteristics (or

attributes) into the observable behaviors (or characteristics) in order to measure the variables.


In our model developed for the sales problem there aren’t any abstract concepts. Hence, it is

not difficult to measure the variables defined. Here is how:

Sales are measured in amount of rupees received against the total turnover.

Product Range is measured in the number of components, parts or accessories that

accompany the main product or equipment.

Brand Comparison is measured physically. That is, it requires differentiating between the

Japanese and the Korean brand.

Training of Sales Staff is measured in terms of cost incurred by the company on a particular

training program and whether or not the program paid off. It is also measured in terms of how

much and how long a sales rep has been exposed to the training – formal, informal, on-the-

job, off-the-job, etc. How many training programs has the sales rep attended?

DDaattaa CCoolllleeccttiioonn

Data on sales, product range, brand (Japanese vs. Korean) and training would be collected

internally from the company.

DDaattaa AAnnaallyyssiiss aanndd IInntteerrpprreettaattiioonn

The tool available for analysis and interpretation is SPSS. This last step is necessary to know

whether the hypotheses developed earlier are supported or not. For instance, if all the

hypotheses are supported, we deduce that complete product range, Japanese brand and

training of sales staff do have significant impact on the sales volume. The company then must

have to focus on these variables if they want to boost sales. On the other hand, if the

hypotheses are not supported, we then need to revise our theory i.e. the variables identified

and selected previously (product range, brand, training) have no association with the sales,

and that we need to explore the problem even deeper in order to discern what are the other

variables that are associated with low sales volume.