Chapter 2 Business Research Process The business research process involves a series of steps that systematically investigate a problem or an opportunity facing the organization. The sequence of steps involved in the business research process are as follows: problem/opportunity identification and formulation, planning a research design, selecting a research method, selecting the sampling procedure, data collection, evaluating the data and preparing the research report for presentation. The above steps provide a broad outline applicable to any business research project. However, the number and sequence of activities can vary as per the demand of an individual research project. The process of business research can be primarily divided into three phases— planning, execution and report preparation. The planning phase begins from problem/opportunity identification and leads to selection of the sampling proce- dure. Data collection and evaluation can be described as the execution phase of the business research process, while report preparation can be considered as the last phase. In this chapter, we will discuss each of these phases in detail. 2.1 Steps in the Research Process The steps in the research process, namely identification and definition of the problem or opportunity, planning the research design, selecting a research method, selecting a sampling procedure, data collection, evaluating the data and finally preparing and presenting the research report have been shown in the Fig. 2.1. Each of these steps in the research process is discussed below. 2.1.1 Identifying and Defining the Problem/Opportunity The initial step in the research process is the identification of the problem or opportunity. As businesses today operate in a highly volatile environment gov- erned by various macro environmental factors, they need to constantly assess their S. Sreejesh et al., Business Research Methods, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00539-3_2, Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 13