DELHI SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

MBA
2017-2019
BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
ASSIGNMENT - 2

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. SONAL THUKRAL KUSHAGRA SINGHAL (39)
1. Business problem:
Company’s recruitment costs are increasing rapidly which is pressuring
their bottom line, also the driver turnover has increased considerably.
2. How does James arrive at the business problem?
James had a comprehensive interview with David Deland and the
conversation was as follows:
James: “David, it is clear that your recruitment costs have been increasing
since the start of the year. What other changes have occurred inside of
your business within the past year? “
David: “Just a few things. We have had pressures on our bottom line, so
we held back on raising the cents per mile that we give our drivers. Also,
we have had to extend our long-haul trucking needs, so our drivers are on
the road for a much longer period of time for each trip. “
James (probing): “Tell me, what led to this decision to extend the driver’s
time on the road?”
David: “It just worked out that way. Our contract just changed to allow us
to do this, and our operations manager felt we could make more money
per load this way.”
James: “Have you noticed changes in your customers?”
David: “We do see that they are a little irritated due to some of the problems
of getting their freight delivered successfully.”
James: “Has there been a change in personnel? “
David: “Yes, we’ve had more than the usual share of turnover. I’ve turned
over most personnel decisions to our new human resources manager.
We’ve had trouble maintaining a person in that role.”
Also he went through the hiring statistics of the company, as well as the
driver census of the previous year.
3. What symptoms James could identify?
High recruitment costs
High employee turnover
Unsatisfied customers
Low driver retention

4. What is the decision statement? How does he arrive at the

decision statement?
In what ways can Deland Trucking build driver loyalty so that retention
increases and subsequent recruitment costs decrease?
James studied the hiring statistics and the driver census and arrived at the
conclusion that employee turnover is high.

5. Enlist the research objectives.

Determine what key variables relate to driver loyalty within the company,
meaning (1) how does the lower level of pay impact driver retention and
(2) what does the increase in long-haul trucking do to Deland Trucking’s
ability to increase retention?
Assess the impact of different intervention strategies on driver satisfaction.
These research objectives are the deliverables of the research project. A
research study will be conducted that (1) shows how much each of several
key variables relates to loyalty and retention and (2) provides a description
of likelihood of different intervention strategies on driver satisfaction.
Also to find out ways to reduce employee turnover while keeping the profits
of the company intact.
6. What is the unit of analysis?
No. of drivers joining and leaving Deland Trucking
No. of customer complaints received by the company.

7. Determine key variables in the study?

Hiring Statistics
Driver Census
No. of customer complaints
Individual (Drivers)
 Business Problem
CAP airlines has 4 outdated airlines which a very defect prone and throw
problems every now which in turn delays the flight schedule making the
customers unhappy. Cap have ordered new aircrafts but they will get delivered
only by 2020, so until then they have to make do with the outdated aircrafts. To
retain their customer base the company is trying to research upon mood theory
and how to effectively manage people wait time so that the customers don’t
irritated while for the aircraft to get fixed.

Problem Indication and Problem Statement

This project will focus on managing the perceptions of the wait experience:
because CAP cannot control the actual amount of delays and wait duration
(recall that they work with a number of outdated planes), the company must
focus on controlling the customer's perception of the waiting experience. To do
this successfully it is important to know the variables that influence the
perception of this waiting experience and the possible impact of waiting on
customer satisfaction and service evaluations. More specifically, this project
focuses on the following problem statement:
How do delays affect consumers’ service evaluations?
 Research Proposal

1. Research Title: Managing customer perceptions effectively

2. The problem statement: How do delays affect consumers’ service
evaluations?
3. Research questions: To deal with the preceding problem statement, the
following research questions are answered:
1. How does a delay affect service evaluations?
2. What are the affective consequences of delays and how does
affect mediate the relationship between waiting and service
evaluations?
3. How do situational variables (such as filled time) influence
customer reactions to the delay?
4. Scope of the study: The study will research upon ways to manage the wait
time and customer’s perceptions effectively and not focus on how to
reduce the wait time.
5. Relevance of the study: Regarding the practical usefulness of the research
project; this project gives CAP an indication of their level of performance
during delays and shows what the effects of this performance are. The
results of this project allow CAP to improve its service, to keep people
even during delays 'smiling'.
6. Time frame of the study: The time frame necessary for this project is
approximately six months. During these six months, periodic reports will
be provided on the progress being made.