Social Networking for Woolworths Name of the student ASHISH KUMAR SHAH HOLMES INSTITUTE EMV3473 BUSINESS RESEARCH   Executive summary The report consists of a research proposal for the purpose of understanding the advantages and the disadvantages of the use of social networks in the business. The report has gone through four chapters along with the introduction to the issues and factors of the research topic, the literature reviews about the present scenario of the issues and advantages of the social media networking for the business purposes, the research guidelines for a particular company Woolworths Limited. The research is going to be conducted on the secondary data bases available on the internet and the reports generated by the company during press releases. The researcher will work by focusing on some research question which will help to establish the fundamentals of the research topic that is advantages and the disadvantages regarding the social networking. The research will focus on the research theories introduced by various researchers and the research will be conducted with all ethical means. The author believes that, the research will help in establishing various attributes of the social media researches and find out some unique information regarding the same.   Table of Contents Topic: Advantages and disadvantages of use of Social Network in Business 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 4 1.1 Background of the study 4 1.2 Rationale of the study 5 1.3 Research Aim 6 1.4 Research questions 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review 7 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 8 3.1 Introduction 8 3.2 Type of Investigation 8 3.2.1 Exploratory 8 3.2.2 Descriptive 9 3.2.3 Hypothesis 9 3.3 Research Design and Approaches 9 3.3.1 Quantitative design 9 3.3.1.1 Survey Approaches 10 3.3.1.2 Experimental approach 10 3.3.2 Qualitative Design 10 3.3.2.1 Narrative design 10 3.3.2.2 Ethnography 10 3.3.2.3 Phenomenological design 11 3.3.2.4 Grounded Theory 11 3.3.3 Hybrid Theory 11 3.4 Data collection Method 12 3.4.1 Types of Data 12 3.4.2 Collection methods and sources for the required data 12 3.5 Data Analysis Techniques 13 Chapter 4: Time Horizon 14 References 15   Topic: Advantages and disadvantages of use of Social Network in Business Chapter 1: Introduction The social networking is a revolution in the business management fields. Through the social networking a company can earn more profits, they can generate more leads for the business along with the increase of the brand awareness among the target mass in a particular region or country(Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). Woolworths limited is a major company in Australian supermarkets and it is a global player by operating many businesses in various countries. The company has the market experience of more than 90 years in the retailing industry of Australia and its subcontinents. The revenue generated by the various businesses of Woolworths Limited make them the second largest company in Australia. The business communication through social networking is considered as the social media marketing and branding. For this research purpose, the Woolworths Limited, the biggest supermarket chains is considered and the research will be conducted for the purpose of understanding the social profile of the organization. 1.1 Background of the study According to a study the social media platforms use to have a huge amount of database of millions of people who regularly uses the networking sites to maintain relationship with their peers and the relatives (Chin, Evans and Choo 2015). The people who uses the social media can easily be targeted and communicated for the business purposes. In various researches it is found that, there are so many people around the world who use to give a notable time of their everyday life for the social media communications. A study states that, the present various social media sites use to have 95 to 100 million uploads of photos and videos from the users. The data represents that, the features of ‘Like’, ‘Tweet’, ‘Share’ and ‘Comments’ has given a boost to the user’s activity levels and hence it can be used to engage people with the activities by the company pages (Constantinides 2014). The potentiality and the image of a company can easily be measured by the engagement of their followers in the social media sites. The popularity of a company can also be generated and increased with the help of the social media(Roberts and Candi 2014). However, there are various cases found where the industrial rivals of a company has used the social media by implementing explicit images and thought about their rival company to ruin the image of the company among their customer base (Constantinides 2014). The effect of such incidents cannot be easily controlled by any company over the social media(Razmerita, Kirchner and Nabeth 2014). Now days, social media is too much powerful because of the freedom of speak anything about any object. This freedom is now ruining the freedom of the organizations in some ways. The consequences of the misuse of the social media networks can also effect on the profitability of the organization and privacy factors can also be affected by such incidents (King, Racherla and Bush 2014). 1.2 Rationale of the study The social media is useful for the business but in some cases it is found that, the social media ruins the reputation of the company, the competitors use the social media to misguide the customer base to a different direction(Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). The social media usage has various advantages and disadvantages and hence a research is required to be done to understand the realistic evaluation of the social media marketing for a company in Australia. 1.3 Research Aim The research is needed to be conducted to understand the profitability in using the social media for various business purposes along with the consequences of the use of the social media in business. 1.4 Research questions Q1. How the company Woolworths is operating their social networking division? Q2. Which social media platforms are considered by the company and for which purposes? Q3. What is the effect of social network on the profitability of the company? Q4. What are the consequences the company have faced with the social media in past?   Chapter 2: Literature Review The social media research by Tao, Moon and Ngai conducted in the year 2015 states that, there are various companies who use the social media and networking to promote their business among a particular segment of mass along with making a new unique identity too (Ngai, Tao and Moon2015). A research by Siamagka and the fellows has concluded through various articles state that, the social media is beneficial for the companies who use to do B2B business to maintain their reputation and relation with their clients (Siamagka et al. 2015). Along with that, the researchers has found various determinants of the use of social media which can actually help the organizations. Another study by Trainor states that, the Customer relationship management also a part of the purpose of using social media networks to get success in satisfying the customer base along with resolving the problems (Trainor et al. 2014). Apart from that, the people working in the organization can also contribute in achieving the objectives set by the organization with the help of the social media. However, there are various consequences in misuse of social networking due to industrial rivalry. The organizations who want to maintain their profile over the social networking need to keep a person dedicated to observe every single factors. Along with that, the person has to act according to the reactions of the target customers’ base who will be engaged with the company profile and posts(Kaur 2016).   Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction Research is the procedure of discovering few information camouflaged due to any reason. The process of concluding such unknown information is dispersed in various analytical observes. A research methodology incorporates anorganized process with definite methods of work for such research enactment (Panneerselvam 2014). The research will focus on finding the analytical data about the company Woolworths Limited in Australia and its performances over the social media sites. The previous discussion on the background of the study and the literatures reviewed by the researcher states that there are various reasons to conduct this research. The company Woolworths Limited use to be a very big retail chain business in the urban areas of Australia. The company has many years of experience in the supermarkets business and the company has faced various up and down during its journey till today. The research methodology is guided by the theoretical concepts of research studies and the methodology is designed as per the research of the mentioned purpose. 3.2 Type of Investigation There are mainly three types of research investigations as mentioned by the theories of empirical researches. The study states that, the investigation types are – 3.2.1 Exploratory The exploratory research investigation is accepted when the investigator does not have any pure idea of the theme of the inquiry. This research can be directed with the help of methodical point of view. 3.2.2 Descriptive The descriptive research study is accompanied with the help of establishedrelated theory and notion. The investigation study with the help of pertinent theory and notions a descriptive study can be directed. 3.2.3 Hypothesis The research hypothesis for this research will be – H0: The use of social media has no effect on the profitability of Woolworths Limited. H1: The use of social media has effect on the profitability of Woolworths Limited. 3.3 Research Design and Approaches The research designs are considered as the inquiry types which consists of various method designs to correlate with a particular topic(Lincoin & Denzin 2011). The theory of research design defines that, the quantitative, qualitative and mixed or hybrid are three suggested methodologies need to consider for various research purposes. The mentioned designs are also called as the Strategies of inquiry by the researchers Lincoin and Denzin. 3.3.1 Quantitative design The quantitative research design consists of mainly two research methodologies such as Survey Approaches and Experimental approaches(Creswell 2013). The quantitative research approaches lies in conducting various surveys data collection and analysis of the information along with various experiments with scientific guidelines to get the scientific information and analytical base of an object in a research. 3.3.1.1 Survey Approaches The survey research approaches are considered as the cheap and effective approaches in various human research along with realistic samples and the analysis of the information collection. The approach consists of various numerical information relating with the attitudes and various attributes of the chosen sample. 3.3.1.2 Experimental approach The experimental approaches mainly focuses on the schedule constricting of the various process steps according to the expected area of knowledge generation by the researcher. 3.3.2 Qualitative Design The qualitative research methods are constructed on the basis of various subjects like Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology(Creswell 2013). Apart from that, the research methods consists of Ethnography, Grounded theory, Narrative designs along with various phenomenological research designs. 3.3.2.1 Narrative design The narrative approaches consists of chronology regarding various human factors along with the various attributes which implies the knowledge of the researcher and influences the skills to derive the expected outcomes from a particular research (Marshall and Rossman 2014).. 3.3.2.2 Ethnography This design is based on the studies of sociology and anthropology which also measures the language differences, behavioral aspects and the cultural diversification. The factors of ethnography is implied to construct such research design of qualitative data generation (Creswell 2013). 3.3.2.3 Phenomenological design The phenomenological design is regarded with the studies of philosophy and the psychology elements which generally describes the experience, emotional statements and the frequent actions on a particular incident (Thines 2015). The theories of psychology in more useful in most of the cases of research since it helps more to understand the thought process of a person along with the characteristics of the person. 3.3.2.4 Grounded Theory The theory is founded on the abstract studies of sociology and it also revolves around the viewpoints and its differences among the interviewees (Smith 2015). 3.3.3 Hybrid Theory The mixed or Hybrid theory is a combinations of various research structure of the qualitative and the quantitative designs. The hybrid theory is used in those research cases where the required data can not only lie in the category of the qualitative or may be the quantitative. The hybrid theory states that, the use of the combination can give more realistic information regarding an object rather a single one (Marshall and Rossman 2014). There are few designs mentioned in the mixed theory such as – o Explanatory sequential mixed methods; o Exploratory sequential mixed methods; o Embedded mixed methods o Transformative mixed methods o Convergent parallel mixed methods o Multiphase mixed methods For this research the required research design is the Hybrid Research design where few data will be qualitatively analysis and the other will be with quantitative (Marshall and Rossman 2014). The hybrid design can only be helpful to collect the data as required with the previously mentioned research questions. 3.4 Data collection Method 3.4.1 Types of Data There are two types of data generally required for various research works. The two types are primary and the secondary data. The consecutive measures of data gathering communally depends on several methods of selected data types, but, some of the research projects need moderately lesser impediment due to secondary data (Hair and Lukas 2014). The primary data are the raw data which are collected through the process of interviews, surveys, polling and some of other processes. The primary data use to be the data solely collected by the researcher along with various methods. The secondary data are those data which can be assessed by the government websites, private organizations, journals written for the other researcher purposes, articles and news printed and published which are related to the research object and article reviews. For this research purpose, the secondary data need to be collected about the company Woolworths and its social presence. 3.4.2 Collection methods and sources for the required data The primary data use to be collected through various interviews and surveys personally by the researcher. The secondary data need to be collected from the other research data, journals, articles, press releases. For the research, the researcher will collect the data from the company websites, the social networking sites, the media plans published in the press releases by the company, the news articles published for the social presence of the company along with the news reports conveying the social networking issues faced by the Woolworths Limited in past years. 3.5 Data Analysis Techniques There are two types of data analysis techniques namely Quantitative and Qualitative. For this particular research, both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques will be required. The qualitative data analysis can be done in two levels such as the basic level and the higher level. The content investigation involves coding and sorting of data. For the quantitative analysis there are various software which can be useful in the research purpose. The softwares are Computer Aided Textual Markup and Analysis, Gate and QDA Miner Lite.   Chapter 4: Time Horizon For the success of a research the time horizon is very important and it will also defines the structural aspects of the research. Gantt chart Activity Months Jan Feb Mar April May June July Finalizing the research topic Collecting data from the secondary sources Designing layout of the research Literature review study Research plan formation Selection of research methodologies Data collection from the secondary resources Analysis of data Interpretation of the collected data Concluding the research Study Designing a draft Submitting the Final Research Work (Source: Created by the author)   References Chin, C.P.Y., Evans, N. and Choo, K.K.R., 2015. Exploring factors influencing the use of enterprise social networks in multinational professional service firms. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 25(3), pp.289-315. Constantinides, E., 2014. 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