How to write an academic report in Business administration

Nina Löfberg

Webinar March 13

#msi151

• You have written good reports!

• However, this course is on advanced level –expectations are high!

• Writing can always be improved!

Read the instructions

and follow them!

Stick to the assignment – to modify it a littleto suit your area of interest is ok.

Don’t exceed the page limit

Structure of an academic report

• Introduction

• Theory

• Method

• Findings

• Analysis (Discussion)

• Conclusions

• References

Introduction

• Background – What is it all about?

• Problem discussion – Why is this relevant and intreresting?

• Purpose - Depending on the level of ambition: Identify, Describe, Explain, Understand

• Introduce key concepts

Make your topic interesting!

Frame your study!

Introduction – example from problem discussion

The emerging field of dynamic capabilities provides a relatively new perspective from which to approach service innovation and strategic renewal. The focus on change inherent in the concept is a difference in comparison to previous literature and a reason for whydynamic capabilities contributes to our understandingof service innovation in this research.

Examples source: Kindström, Daniel, Christian Kowalkowski, and Erik Sandberg. "Enablingservice innovation: A dynamic capabilities approach." Journal of Business Research 66.8 (2013): 1063-1073.

Introduction – Example of purpose

The purpose of the research study reported hereis to identify the key microfoundations thatpermit product-centric firms to build the dynamic capabilities that can facilitate service innovation.

Theory

• Theory – Systematized knowledge that explains a certain phenomenon

• Focus on relevant theories

• Concept veracity

• The chapter preferrably ends with e.g. your ownconcept or your own model showing the focus ofthe report and which is the starting point for the analysis.

Use the theory!

Theory - Example

2. The nature of service innovation

Service innovation is a broad concept thatencompasses a considerable number of distinctdimensions, discussed in the literature by Bessant and Davies (2007), de Jong and Vermeulen (2003), Edvardsson and Olsson (1996), and Tidd, Bessant, and Pavitt (2001).

Theory - Example

3. The nature of dynamic capabilities

The so-called resource-based view of strategyhas been criticized for not considering how todevelop and maintain a firm’s resources over time (Teece et al., 1997). The concept ofdynamic capabilities, which takes the resource-based view as one of its starting points, aims toaddress that problem.

Method

• Describe how you did your study and why

• Method should be based on purpose

• Focus on what you actually did

• What is the pros and cons with the methodchosen?

• Use relevant concepts

Findings

• Experiences or investigations of reality

• Should be presented in a logical and understandable way

• Could be presented in different ways: • Text

• Tables

• Quotes

Findings – Example

IndustrialPumpsCo, for example, has required an understanding of the activities and strategies ofmajor consultancy firms and local contractors. The firm has seen the participation and commitment of these other actors as a prerequisite for success, whether they aredeveloping new service initiatives or launchingadvanced versions of existing offerings.

Analysis

• Based on theory – what can you tell about your findings?

• Combine theory (presented in the theory chapter) and findings(presented in the findings chapter)

• Analysis should help answer the purpose

• By comparing the findings with previous research (theory) the following are exemples of questions that could be answered: – Are results from previous research confirmed?

– Are results from previous research contradicted?

– Does the study come to any knowledge completely new?

Analysis - Example

Tension between product and service interests was evident in all case firms, as previous studies have noted: for example, Gebauerand Friedl (2005).

Seizing on a service innovation completely requires a firm to be able to extract revenue from the innovation. Most of the casefirms struggled with this aspect of the operation. To varyingextents, they devised innovative mechanisms to increase theirservice revenue, based on fixed or dynamic pricing, profit sharing, and the availability agreements based on productivity. This finding is consistent with those of Lay, Schroeter, and Biege(2009), and Ng, Maull and Yip (2009).

Conclusions

• Answer the purpose

• Summarize the main conclusions

• Reflect upon the trustworthiness of the study

Conclusions - Example

The list of microfoundations identified is consistent withthe work of Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) (…)

Although the discussed microfoundations are identifiablein all firms, the extent to which they are implementedand activated varies (see Table 5). They should thereforebe regarded more as propositions than as necessarypreconditions. The findings show that there is no singlebest way to become service oriented, and also hint at the path- dependent characteristics of dynamic capabilities. Thus, firms may in practice differ in terms of the sequence in which they develop microfoundations.

References

• Show who’s research you build on

• Chose a reference style and stick to it

– Harvard Kau

How to use references in text

• Where to put the reference

How to use references in text

• What do different researches say about the same thing? Example:

Though product-centric firms may today acknowledge the transitiontoward services, many struggle to envision how they would best manage the process in practice. That uncertainty is understandable, given that an increased service orientation often involves a major shiftto a new strategic direction, a new organizational structure, and new skills (Gebauer, Gustafsson, and Witell, 2011; Jacob and Ulaga, 2008; Kowalkowski, Kindstrom, Brashear, Brege and Biggeman, 2012; Raddats and Easingwood, 2010).

How to use references in text -Example

To be able to develop new services continuouslyand comprehend the underlying business logicof service provision, firms must developdynamic capabilities (Teece, Pisano and Shuen, 1997) that can enable service innovation (Den Hertog, van der Aa and de Jong, 2010; Fischer, Gebauer, Gregory, Ren and Fleisch, 2010; Martin and Horne, 1992).

How to use references in text

• Always use the original source when possible

You don’t need to follow the structure but the content needs to be there!

Thank you!

Questions or comments?