GBCA Outline Example: Introduction
Seriously relevant graduate school research requires a question for which no ready answer is available. The research is conducted, to answer specific questions regarding a topic, problem, or issue for which the answers are not yet known. Let’s focus on the concept of a topic. What do you want to know about a topic? Asking a topic as a question (or series of related questions) has several advantages:
Questions require answers. A topic is hard to cover completely because it typically encompasses too many related issues; but a question has an answer, even if it is ambiguous or controversial.
Questions give you a way of evaluating the evidence. A clearly stated question helps you decide which information will be useful. A broad topic may tempt you to stash away information that may be helpful, but you’re not sure how. A question also makes it easier to know when you have enough information to stop your research and draft an answer.
A clear open-ended question calls for real research and thinking. Asking a question with no direct answer makes research and writing more meaningful to both you and your audience. Assuming that your research may solve significant problems or expand the knowledge base of a discipline involves you in more meaningful activity of community and scholarship.
In this course, the required research questions are open-ended and require a variety of accumulated data to develop answers. Your topic is a Global Cultural Business Analysis of the nation you selected. You have been provided four specific research questions to guide you in the study of this topic which, if done well, will demonstrate you have attained an advanced measure of expertise in the topic. The research questions provide the framework of your analysis.
- Question 1 requires you to discuss the general elements of culture (described in Chapter 2 of your textbook) as they apply to your chosen nation.
- Question 2 is a natural extension of Question 1 in that you will demonstrate how these elements of culture are used in business dealings by the people of your nation.
- Question 3 is a natural extension of Question 2 in that you will compare and contrast these specific findings with business cultural elements found in the USA. Here is where you use the models for understanding cultures (Hofstede, etc).
- Question 4 is where you briefly summarize your research findings and is the place where you draw substantive conclusions and report the implications of your research for doing business in that nation. Questions 1 through 3 “set the stage” for Question 4.
Question 4 is the most significant for two reasons, for two audiences: the reader and your professor. A substantive and comprehensive coverage demonstrates to the reader why the research is important and how it can be used in business dealings for US managers. It also demonstrates to your professor the extent to which you have mastered the necessary advanced analysis and critical thinking skills required of a graduate-level student.
The example begins on the following page. Be sure to use the exact wordings in this outline for your APA level-headings.
EXAMPLE OUTLINE
Research Question 1: What are the major elements and dimensions of culture in this region?
Communication
Religion
Ethics
Values and Attitudes
Manners
Customs
Social Structures and Organizations
Education
Research Question 2: How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in the nation?
Communication
Religion
Ethics
Values and Attitudes
Manners
Customs
Social Structures and Organizations
Education
Research Question 3: How do both of the above items compare with United States culture and business?
Compare/Contrast Greenland with USA, based on answers to Research Questions 1 and 2
Hofstede analysis
Research Question 4: What are the implications for United States businesses that wish to conduct business in that region?
Analysis of facts from prior three questions
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
FDI Analysis
As you begin to research your GBCA, think of it as writing four highly inter-related papers.
Remember, what you are really doing here is breaking the research assignment into smaller, more manageable components.
The first “paper” deals with the specific 8 dimensions of culture listed at the beginning of Chapter 2 of your book. This first “paper” describes the general societal deployment of the 8 dimensions.
The second “paper” deals with how these specific 8 dimensions of culture are deployed in the daily business dealings in the nation.
The third “paper” compares and contrasts your nation with the USA; here is where you deploy the Hofstede analysis.
The final “paper” is a detailed graduate-level analysis of the facts researched in the previous three questions.
Graduate-level work requires several substantive implications, based on the results of your research-based SWOT Analysis. In the event the concept is new to you, please see SWOT Analysis Explanation for a discussion regarding how to conduct such an analysis or SWOT Analysis Video for a short video lecture. In the event these hyperlinks are not active, simply contact the LUO Librarian for assistance in locating appropriate substitution links.
One of the several substantive implications should cover foreign investment decisions, as that is the bottom-line for all businesses seeking to do business overseas.
