Research Reflection Report (Assignment Format) Guidelines for the Report

These notes are designed to help you deliver and conduct a successful Research Reflection Report.
The Research Reflection Report is a major piece of work and is designed to support your own self-critical
consideration of your research and related business skills and demonstrate that you can:

Reflect and comment critically on what you have learnt during the programme and during the

carrying out of your research activities

Carefully consider the research which you have carried out and critically comment on this
Discuss the relationship of your research, research sources and evidence, and researching

activities to the production of your Major Project

Critically comment on the key areas, examples, sources of your research
Consider the relationship of your research, and researching, to both your Major Project and
possible future employment opportunities

Your Research Reflection Report is not only an academic exercise but also a piece of work which you may
wish to use in future employment contexts to demonstrate your ability to consider the importance of
research and researching to:

business planning,
business success,
organisational contexts
your own academic and business skills and the contribution which you can make to an
organisation as a result of developing these skills

The Research Reflection Report therefore aims to support the students ability to be self critical about their
research. It also develops the students understanding and application of the core concepts of business and
academic skills while developing their ability to perform more effectively within organisations in a real
world context. The Report therefore encourages reflection on:1) Research Processes
2) The research methodologies which you have considered and applied
3) Research and researching as a problem solving process used by you as a student,
4) The identification and discussion of your key learning points which could be applied to other
situations.
5) The relationship of research and your major project to your professional development
opportunities and career development intensions
Completion of the Report

The contents of the report are given in a template format (see pages 3&4)

You may treat this report as a self critical evaluation of your researching experience or Learning
Diary or as a final summing up of your experiences while carrying out the Research and the
Major Project in which you have been involved. It is advisable not to leave the completion of the
Report until the last minute.
Above all this Report should not be simply descriptive it should be a self critical summary of
your learning experiences. You should adopt a critical viewpoint what seems to work, what
is less successful and why? Discuss the examples of best /good/interesting research practice
which you have come across. Consider how research examples/models can be usefully used in
business situations and be adapted to suit your future workplace/ academic environment.
You should attempt to respond to all template sections
You should keep to the overall word limit of 4000 words maximum for the whole Report.

Things to think about when completing your Research Reflective Report:The nature of your research and your Major Project
Why is it being done; why are you working on this subject and how significant is it to you and to future
employers?
Plan of your schedules
Have you managed effectively your research and Major Project schedules and are they logical?
Resources
What resources (i.e. people, evidence, references, and ideas) have you used and how are you using these?
Why are they important?
Methodologies
Are the methods which you have used specified clearly, and are they sufficiently rigorous? Are
data/evidence/literature sources specified and available? Are you conducting the research and the Major
Project in a professional manner? What analytical frameworks will be used to make sense of the work?
Are these appropriate?
Support and Barrier Issues
Have these been thought through by you? How any barriers to be/being overcome?
Anticipated Benefits to you and to a future employment organisation
What are they? Knowledge? : Ideas? : Learning Experience? : Efficiency? : Effectiveness? Financial?:
Organisational?: Skills?
How will the project satisfy you?
How will the work contribute to your personal development? How wide a range of skills and knowledge
does it use from your programme? Will it demonstrate that you have an understanding of your programme
subject areas?
Major Project Conclusions: The conclusions which you are forming for your Major Project are they
based on rigorous reasoning and argument?
Report Writing Skills
Write your reflections and critical views clearly and simply.

Student name: TRAN THI THUY..

Student ID number: B0436DHDH112

RESEARCH
REFLECTION REPORT
(should contain the details given
below)

Please type your responses in the spaces below:

Marks
available

Research Methods & Processes

How and why have you
chosen/decided on the research
methods and processes which you
are using/have used for the
development of your Major
Project?
How would you describe these to:
1) a reader of your Major Project
and/or
2) a future employer
(max. 550 words)

The business development proposal of Zen

Caf can be considered as an action plan
of fulfiling my dream to be an
entrepreneur. Zen Cafe is a new concept of
business for a coffee shop with the serene
and quiet atmosphere to help customers
to be relaxed after a busy working day. In
order to have a clear understanding in the
aspect of the market for starting the
business, the business owners have to do
the research on both primary and
secondary data.
For the primary data research, it supported
me in gaining the knowledge of customers'
behaviours and requirements toward the
industry of food and beverage - especially
the coffee and tea shops. The survey
method is used in order to collect the
information about customers such as
behaviours, interest, and habits. Sampling
method was considered with simple
random and from this method, I
acknowledged that it could help me to get
away with factors concerning to the bias in
choosing the participants. As a result, this
method helps me to have the most ideal
source of data for the research regarding
to customers' feedback and
search helped me to acknowledge the
customers' demanding as well as the
potential opportunity of the market.
Moreover, it also helped me to gain
awareness toward particular customers'
behaviours. In the aspect of a future
employer, the primary research helped me
finding ideal solution to get the feedback
from customers. I chose the survey
method to get information about
customers' demographic, behaviours and
favourites. The sampling method was
simple random which means it could help
me to avoid the biased factors as well as
every case has the equal chance to be
included in the survey. The population is

15

appropriate with the total amount of 100

responses. The survey was conducted on
the basis of voluntary, no personal
information is saved or recorded;
therefore, the respondents can feel free to
answer all the questions. This helped me
to have an exact and obvious overview
about the market and customers'
requirement. It was very important for me
to build up an appropriate business model
based on the collected and analysed data.
All of the survey's responses then were
coded and categorised through Microsoft
Excel so that I could make the analysis
easily. The primary data would be the
basis to help me build up the competitive
advantages for the business and tailor the
services as well as products to adapt with
the customers' demand.
The secondary data research helped me to
gain the overall knowledge of the industry
and from that, I can identify the external
factors that can have tremendous impact
toward the business. During the research
process, it is very important for me to
narrow down the range of information
needing to be studied. Moreover, in the
role of a business owner, I realised that it
was also essential to connect a lot of
separate information into a combined and
condensed set of data for further risks and
opportunities analysis. As a result,
appropriate strategies can be selected for
the business. Additionally, the secondary
research helped me to have a view toward
difference scenarios that can be occurred
in the future; hence, different solutions
were able to be planned in advance.
During the overall research process, it was
also necessary to know how to give out
suitable questions and hypothesis in order
to connect the primary data and
secondary data together. The questions
and hypothesis I made helped me in
identifying the details that have the
interdependent factors. Hence, it was
helpful for me to operate the business in
the future since I caught up with the
customers' favourites tastes, behaviours,
interests and so on. It also helped me in
finding the common points among

different customers' segmentations and

therefore, I can adjust the potential
services to attract more customers.
Literature & sources
1) What are the most important
theories/literature sources
/evidence sources which you are
using to justify your research and
your Major Project?
2) Why are these sources important
and fundamental to your work?
(max. 550 words)

There are various theories that showed

their importance within the business
world. However, in my point of view, three
theories that have a tremendous impact
toward my project would be: Porter's Five
Forces, Porter's Value Chain and
Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas.
Firstly, the Porter's Five Forces helped me
analyse the intensity of industry's
competition. Porter's Five Forces include of
"Rivalry among competing firms", "Threat
of new entrants", "Threat of substitute
products", "Suppliers' Bargaining Power"
and "Consumers' Bargaining Power". The
analysis of these forces helped me to gain
the overall micro-environment knowledge
in order to have a general idea in building
and developing business strategy. With
this framework, I can know that although
there exists the fierce competition from
the first competitors; however, the
bargaining power from suppliers is not so
high and customers are very receptive
with the new business ventures especially in the industry of Food and
Beverage. However, it also means that
new entrants are easy to penetrate in especially when they can recognise the
weaknesses of the existing competitors.
Hence, they can provide better services
and products and gain the potential
market share. As a result, while doing this
business development proposal, I had
chance to catch up with the
macroeconomics and other environmental
factors related to the tea industry in
Vietnam and Porter's Five Forces really
helped me to have the overall view toward
the opportunities as well as potential
threats that can happen once I enter the
business environment.
The Porter's Value Chain, in another way,
helped me to build up the internal
competitive advantages through the
assessment of the business operation. For
example, when analysing the inbound and
outbound logistics in primary activities, I

15

identified a requirement to implement a

good logistic method in order to manage
efficiently inventory and avoid waste. The
reason for this requirement is tea and
pastry are easy corrupted items. A close
relationship with suppliers for the
bargaining price is not enough. It also
needs a close coordination between the
company's management and suppliers to
enhance inventory management. As a
result, the cost can be reduced and
operation's efficiency can be utilised.
Another important aspect within the
Porter's Value Chain is the Human
Resource Management. The recruitment,
selection and training for potential
employees are very essential because
they can help directors in creating the
value and culture of the firm. The human
resource is also the main factor to make
good use of the firm's infrastructure.
Last but not least, Osterwalder's Business
Model Canvas is another important theory
that directors need to consider. With this
theory, I was able to plan the detailed
business model in the most condensed
way to communicate with the partners.
The business model canvas helped me in
involving important stakeholders as well as
taking care to core values and factors that
can affect to the business operation. For
example, the canvas gave me the idea in
building the relationship marketing
concept with the customers to ensure and
enhance the customers' loyalty. It also
helped me to outline the key resources
that can become the competitive
advantages of the business.
Your Knowledge
What key areas of knowledge have
you gained from undertaking your
research and the Major Project?
Indicate why these are so important
to you?
(max. 400 words)

Most important knowledge aspects that I

gained from undertaking the Major Project
can be categorised in three fields:
statistics, human resources and strategic
management.
When I received all the answers for
surveys, I was really confused and did not
know what was the exact way to analyse
all the results, especially the categorical
answers that contain multivariable. I was
really confused when I wanted to make the
comparison to find the interdependent

10

factors among potential customers but the

descriptive bars and charts were not
enough. The statistical knowledge,
however, had faded when I did not use it
for a long time. Therefore, I spent time in
order to train myself again concerning to
statistics. As a result, the statistics gave
me a lot of tools in order to analyse the
information effectively. I knew how to code
and categorise the data so that the further
analysis can be taken. I used the
numerical figures to code the categorical
answers and therefore, the data later can
be put in comparison easily. I focused in
Chi-square tests for multivariable, the
ANOVA table, and the linear regression. As
a results, the later analysis process was
much easier for me to conduct. For
example, I can make clear the relationship
between the respondents' age groups with
their favourite drinks flavours or the
interdependence between the
respondents' occupation status with their
spending ability. Hence, I was able to
create the adjusted menu based on their
requirement.
Another important knowledge aspect was
human resource management. A lot of
start-up firms in Vietnam were failed
seriously since the founders just only
focused in increasing as much profit as
possible. Just few of them knew how to
build up the appropriate culture and
service standards within the internal
employees firstly in the organisation. With
me, I put the priority of building the
culture and high service standard to bring
the utmost satisfaction to customers. Tea
Di Lusso was a new entrant when
comparing with other competitors;
therefore, bringing to customers high
service standard with competitive price is
the only way to gain the market share. The
strategic management aspect, in another
way, helped me to connect a lot of factors
both internally and externally as well as
the macroeconomic matters to help me
build up the right direction for the
business.

Your Learning
What are the most important
aspects/examples of learning
and/or skills which you have
gained from:
(1) undertaking the MBA
programme,
(2) following through your
research, and
(3) applying your knowledge and
what you have learnt in your Major
Project
(max. 400 words)

1) After undertaking the MBA programme,

my business knowledge was completely
enhanced to a new aspect - to the role of a
true business owner. I was sharpened
regarding to the field of Strategic
Management and could apply effectively
various strategic models from Porter's Five
Forces to Yip's Drivers. I knew what the
Red Ocean strategy or BCG Matrix is.
However, the most important knowledge
that I gained was the competitive strategy.
In order to gain the competitive
advantages that bring the benefits to the
business, identifying the business strategic
capabilities plays important roles. In the
strategic capabilities, the business owners
must clarify their unique resources as well
as the the core competences - the basis
that other competitors cannot duplicate or
obtain. In order to achieve such strategic
capabilities, the business owners should
be fluent in using various frameworks of
strategy formulation. For example, the
SWOT (strengths - weaknesses opportunities - threats) analysis would be
appropriate for both internal and external
factors analysis while the PESTEL (political
- economic - social - technological environmental - legal) framework can help
the business owners gain more details
about external environmental factors that
have tremendous impact toward business
operation.
2) In the research aspect, self-researching
and scheduling skills would be the most
effective skills I can gain. As stated before,
I did not remember much about the
statistics knowledge; therefore, I had to
schedule and plan for the self-studying
carefully if I wanted to finish the major
project on time. Therefore, I researched
and applied the Kaizen method of
Japanese. In this method, I cut the required
tasks into as detailed pieces as possible.
These pieces would need the simple steps
to complete. Then, I practised my micro
management by continuously improving
small pieces of the whole tasks. For
example, I splitted the research methods
and process parts into pieces such as:
"collecting surveys' answers", "coding
question 1, 2, 3, etc.", "doing descriptive
statistic for question 1", and so on. By this

10

Critical Thinking and your ideas

In carrying out your research, your

There were many knowledge as well as

learnings that I gained from MBA courses

analysis, your evaluation of

and through the project. However, above

evidence, and in identifying or

all of them, leadership skill would be my

proposing conclusions, what has

most critical discovery.

been the most important discovery,

or piece of evidence, or theory, or

I found that the leadership was not only

viewpoint, or critical idea, or

how well the directors can manage the

critical addition to your knowledge,

organisations or not. It was more than

or other item of importance and

usual management. Firstly, it was the

why?

ownership, taking high responsibility and

(max. 400 words)

being proactive in every task within the

daily work routine. When I lead the groups
in two sections of Marketing Management
and Strategic Management, I found out
that the leader played an important role in
proactively allocating the tasks
appropriate regarding to members' ability.
I realised that I applied the Forcing Style in
leading the group and it was quite
effective when there were a lot of passive
members in your team. Passive members
would create a huge barrier for the team
to develop from norming stage to
performing stage regarding to Tuckman's
stages of team development because I
realised that passive members would
never proactively learn or study by
themselves. The worst thing was they just
only waited another person - mostly the
team's leader - could explain everything to
them and hence, they can do their tasks
without any difficulty. However, I could not
stand by them everytime in the week.
Therefore, I had to push the team
members for brainstorming and

10

researching everyday. I exploited all the

modern technology - including using the
Google Drive in order to keep track with
their process, I later can help my members
with their assigned tasks easily. Through
the teamwork in the MBA courses, I
recognised that in an organisation, the role
of a proactive and pushing leader would be
very important in supporting the members
to achieve the required objectives.
Therefore, during the process of doing
business development proposal, I always
put the thought that the firm founders
must transfer the inspiration as well as the
firm's vision to the other employees so
they can have the direction and motivation
to put their effort for business efficiency.
The weak leadership directors cannot ask
for building a good culture in internal
employees and bring good value to
customers since they do not know how to
inspire the employees appropriately. The
MBA courses, therefore, gained me the
obvious understanding toward leadership
role.
Barriers met
What were the main difficulties and
barriers which you were faced with
in:
(1) undertaking your research, and
(2) completing your Major project
(max. 400 words)

1) The barriers I met during undertaking

the research would be lack of skills in
using the appropriate software in
analysing the primary research data.
Therefore, I spent a lot of time in learning
how to use the SPSS (Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences) program for doing
referential statistics effectively.
Fortunately, the program user's interface
was quite friendly and easy to exploit.
Therefore, I can make the data analysis for
referential statistics later without any
difficulty. However, another barrier that I
met was the access to the population
since I was in the United Kingdom but the

10

necessary population was in Vietnam.

Therefore, if I could have removed the
barrier for the population access, I could
own a larger population and thus, the
accuracy in respondents' answers would
be better. Secondly, most of the surveys
were conducted online; hence, I could not
reach the potential customers from 50
years old and above since they do not
have the habit to go online like young
people. These customers in this age range
are very potential since they have money
and leisure time for hanging out at a tea
house or coffee shop. Moreover, because
of the health's issue, they would prefer tea
to coffee.
2) For completing the Major Project, the
main barrier that I encountered was that
the official website of Vietnam Tea
Association expired. Therefore, in order to
get the exact information about the tea
requirement or plantation situation in
Vietnam, I had to rely on a lot of other
secondary data such as FAO or Business
International Monitor. It took me a lot of
time to synthesize and summarise all data
from multiple sources together. Another
difficulty I had to face in the business
development proposal was the
communication with the partners involving
in the project. Since there was difference
between the time in UK and Vietnam;
therefore, most of our information
exchange was carried out on email. Hence,
there would be some delays occurring
during the project's process. .

Your Professional Development

What are the most important
business and/or management
skill(s) or academic idea(s) or
lesson(s) which you have learnt
from undertaking your research and
your Major Project and why?
(400 words)

The most important business lesson that I

learnt from undertaking the research and
business development proposal is that an
organisation's culture is very important
and it must be built first by the leader.
Since the leader is the inspired factor of
the organisation; hence, it would be very
important for the leader to be a pioneer in
creating the culture within the
organisation. If the leader can show that
he is willing to take care the customers in
the highest service quality, he then can
create a formula or a standard for the
employees to follow. Once the employees
can get the vision of what the leaders do,
they would know how to deliver the
service to customers in the best way.
Before taking the MBA course, I just know
that maximizing the profit would be the
only objective of the organisation.
However, after undertaking the business
development proposal, I now know that
human resource would be the decisive
factor that can affect to the business's
success. Most of the hand-working tasks at
the moment can be done by machine and
other technologies, the intellectual parts
will be completed through the human's
mind. The business intellectual parts here
can include of the business values to the
customers, charming attitudes, high
service standards that customers can feel
of the business. Those are the essential
factors to help creating the customers'
loyalty of the business. Once the
customers love my products, services and
being loyal to the company, it means I
have a firm brand name.
However, in order to own good leadership,
the start-up team must be chosen very
carefully. A lot of companies in Vietnam
later stucked in creating a good culture
within the organisation since they had not
focused in building up a good start-up
team with necessary skills and capabilities.
They usually formed the team with their
friends or their family members who did
not have appropriate knowledge or
administration skills to manage the
business. Therefore, certain failures came.

10

Objectives
Based on your research and the
work which you have done in the
MBA Programme and its use in
your Major Project, what were and
how far have the objectives of your
major project been achieved?
(max. 450 words)

The business development proposal aims

to open a tea house in Vietnam in English
afternoon tea style. For the start-up team,
all members were identified. They were
invited to join the project by the CEO and
tested the management prowess through
both official and unofficial interview
sessions. Each member of the
management team came from different
industry, most of them were from bank
and investment industry. However, they all
had the basic background of business
management. Regarding to my own skills
and knowledge, through the MBA
programme, I had the chance to enhance
myself in three perspectives: firstly, I knew
how to apply the appropriate strategic
models in particular cases in order to bring
the best benefits for the organisation.
Secondly, I knew how to analyse the
strengths as well as weaknesses of various
factors relating to the business such as
suppliers, customers' bargaining power,
environmental issues and so on. Therefore,
I was confident to have my skill of
agreement negotiation to bring the best
deal for the company. Last but not least,
my skills in financial management especially in managing efficiently the cash
flows - were also augmented.
Regarding to the plan, through the careful
external and internal factors analysis and
information exchange, the opportunities
were revealed, and the competitive
advantages were identified; the business
founders decided to carry out the
establishing of the business venture in
January 2015. For the financial resource,
The budgeted initial investment were
calculated at US$ 50,000. Half of the
capital is being called at the moment. The
other partners just wait me to come back
from UK then the project can be started.
The potential suppliers for tea and pastry
were also indicated through the
professional networks of the business
founders. The place for both store and
office of Tea Di Lusso was also chosen - a
building in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. The
most concern of the founders at the
moment are the supplier for POS order
system and the computer systems for the

10

company. Beside, we also prepared the job

specification and analysis regarding to the
employees in the tea house. The training
programs and standard operation
procedures were also created in order to
help the new employees get well with their
tasks in the very beginning. The business
founders really wanted to create the
culture of "be charming" with customers
right away in the starting days of
employees.
Findings & outcomes
How useful and/or feasible are the
findings, recommendations,
conclusions, or outcomes of your
Major Project to you and/or to a
future Employer?
You must justify your answer with
specific examples.
(max. 450 words)

The business development proposal

helped me to put a serious attitude
regarding to my own business and gave
me a long-term vision of how my company
would be.
Before, when I graduated from the
Bachelor of Commerce Degree, I just only
knew how to apply into a multinational
corporation, being a hard-working
employee, doing all of the tasks assigned
by managers and got promoted, I felt that
was totally all I need. However, when I
took the MBA programme, the ambition of
being a business owner, proactively
planning the strategy and coordinating
other team members with my own vision
raised again. The business development
proposal brought me a lot of outcomes:
Firstly, no more passive attitude of being
assigned with the tasks by managers, I - in
the role of a director - must plan the tasks
proactively to assign for the employees or
founding team members. Moreover, before
I did not care which types of risks could
happen to the company as long as the
directors still paid me enough salary each
month. However, in the role of a director, I
must know how to analyse a lot of factors
that can cause tremendous impact and
harms toward my business. Moreover, I
sharpened my ability in realising the
potential opportunities that can bring
much benefit to the company. This would
have never happened if I still worked as a
salary-man.
Secondly, by doing the business
development proposal, I had the very first
step in establishing my own business.

10

Before, I thought a lot about opening my

own business. However, the busy working
routine took me around and I always
finished my days without any new ideas
appeared. By taking the MBA course and
business development proposal, I had
chance to look over again the
environmental and macroeconomic factors
in Vietnam to search for potential
opportunities occurred. I found that
Vietnam government now did not invest
much in public sectors anymore, they now
have developed a lot of start-up packages
for new private ventures. The bureaucratic
policies have been simplified and the
process for opening a start-up
entrepreneur was not as difficult as before.
Last but not least, business development
proposal widened my knowledge of
important factors that play decisive roles
within the organisation. For example, my
mind would still stuck in the thinking of
"maximizing the profit"; however, by
taking the project, I knew that building up
the culture and well-trained human
resource was much more important than
any profit. Hence, my motto once I come
back to Vietnam for starting the business
would be: "Human resource management
is my priority".
TOTAL
100