Vietnam National University -HCMC

International University
School of Business Administration

Formulating the
research topic: a
case of BankChoice

Lê Hoàng Dũng, PhD

 Formulating your
research question
 A case of BankChoice
• One of the 3 largest banks of a
city of 50,000 population
• Profits stagnated in recent
years
• Erosion of the bank’s
profitability

Implication:
The bank faces task of developing
a strategy for increasing profits
 Question to be asked
• How can we increase
deposits?
• How can we reduce costs?
 Exploration stage
• No formal research done in the past
• Little information about the competitors
• Internal operations not analyzed

•What factors are contributing to the bank failures to

achieve a stronger growth rate in deposits?
•How well is the bank doing regarding work climate,
efficiency of operations compared to industry norms,
and financial condition compared to industry norms and
competitors?
 Erosion of the bank’s No formal research
profitability Little information about competitors…

How can we increase deposits? What factors are contributing to the bank failures
How can we reduce costs? to achieve a stronger growth rate in deposits?
How well is the bank doing regarding work climate,
efficiency of operations compared to industry norms,
and financial condition compared to industry norms
and competitors?

What should be done to

make the bank more Formulating your
competitive?
research question
 Investigative questions
• Are questions the RESEARCH
researcher must answer to QUESTION
satisfactorily arrive at a
conclusion about a
research question
• How to formulate: break
the general research
question into more specific SPECIFIC
questions about which to QUESTIONS
gather data -?
-?
Sample investigative questions
• What is the public’s position regarding financial
services and their use?
a. what specific financial services are used?
b. how attractive are various services?
c. What bank-specific and environmental factors influence
a person’s use of a particular service?
• What is the bank’s competitive position?
a. What are the geographic patterns of our customer and
of our competitors’ customers?
b. what demographic differences revealed among our
customers and those of our competitors?
c. how aware is the public of the bank’s promotional
efforts?
d. what opinion does the public hold of the bank and its
competitors?
 Measurement questions
• In the research tools (e.g. survey
questionnaires)
• 2 types:
– Predesigned
– Pretested and redesigned
Thank you