BE969-7-AU Research Methods In Management And Marketing Assignment Sample
1. Title: How the companies impact innovation and technology within the suppliers: A case of Apple.
2. Justification of the chosen topic & rationale for research
In the present changing dynamic business environment, potential businesses are highly preferring innovation and technology as an integral part of empowering their supply chain practices. Similar consequences can be noticed within Apple where distinctive technological usage has been supportive to recognise their supply chain as the most effective one (Ross, 2020). Strong supplier relationship has been maintained by Apple.
Figure 1: Apple revenue
(Source: Vailshery, 2021)
The usage of advanced demand forecast, research and development facilities and others are associated in this case that have benefited the company to emerge as a leading and renowned tech giant rock the global market. It has eventually provided a positive impact upon the organisational market standings financial feasibility.
3. Review of key literature
Significance of emerging technologies and innovation in supply chain management
Driven to cutting-edge innovation like AI technology, deep learning, including computer vision, operations have changed dramatically within the last decade. As suggested by Taboada and Shee (2021), for generations, having the capacity to lower costs was really the pinnacle of logistics management. This objective is now combined with excellent customer service, profitability, and long-term stability. In order to compete effectively in logistics management, companies must use cutting-edge technologies. Organisations utilise this data science and predictive analysis to gather insightful information and modernise supply chain management.
Figure 2: Supply chain innovation
(Source: Shibin et al. 2018)
For supply chain management, Machine learning and artificial intelligence produce completely or moderately practises and systems. By combining AI and machine intelligence to simulate human behaviour and expertise, efficiency enhances forecasts, budgeting, deployment, and support in logistics.
As per Liu et al. (2021), innovative technological changes have started to build efficiency among suppliers which are directly influencing logistics. Through the help of emerging innovation among technologies the collaboration among the suppliers has effectively improved along with resolving several of different issues and challenges.
Innovation among suppliers as driver for organisational profitable growth
Supplier innovation is the strategic use of the suppliers facility’s creativity power to improve organisation innovation capability. It is practically impossible to lessen development costs yet simultaneously enhance innovation capabilities. As per the analysis of Zach et al. (2021), it is also found that covering competencies previously had been the most prominent determinant for incorporating suppliers immediately in the process of innovation, following with significantly reducing hours and raising final product distinctiveness.
Figure 3: Supplier’s integration in organisation
(Source: Smeets, 2021)
Establishing a consistent platform or communication level on innovative subjects to simplify collaboration can make working alongside suppliers’ smoother. Closer buyer-supplier interactions can also provide considerable benefits and help distribution channels become much more flexible.
As demonstrated by MacLachlan et al. (2018), reasonable accommodation and engagement by top management are indeed vital to guarantee provision is made. Furthermore, innovation among suppliers will significantly bring better products with greater profits and accelerating market presence. However, lack of integration of innovative suppliers can lead to poor transparency, fewer specialists and even dissatisfied consumers (Bazoukis et al. 2022).
Theoretical underpinning
Diffusion of innovation theory
As per the research topic, regarding innovation and technology, diffusion of innovation theory is being considered to comprehend the following topic efficiently.
Figure 4: Diffusion of innovation theory
(Source: Min et al. 2019)
The theory reflects how innovation is circulating in society along with describing why and how it is being adopted. “Innovators”, “early adopters”, “early majority”, “late majority”, and “laggards” are the prominent ones in this approach. In most cases, this idea seeks to identify and persuade important early adopters to assist speed customer perception (Min et al. 2019). In this relation organisations are required to understand the importance of innovation in organisation which will present the brand effectively and flexibly in the marketplace.
Literature gap
The above literature has highlighted a limited area which has restrained the effectiveness of the research study along with these subscription challenges has created a huge gap in this literature which resulted in collecting limited data and information.
4. Research objectives and question
The present research aims to highlight the way innovation and technology impact the suppliers of Apple.
The research objectives include-
- To signify existing technological advancement and innovation in Apple supply chain
- To highlight the influential factors driving Apple to empower technological advancement in supply chain
- To evaluate the impact of innovation and technology within the suppliers of Apple
The research questions include-
- How innovation and technology has been impacting the supply chain of Apple?
- What is the importance of technology and innovation for Apple suppliers?
- What is the implication of technologies and innovation in supply chain upon Apple’s growth?
5. Sampling and access to research site
The consequences of the purposive sampling technique will be followed by the researcher in this case. This technique specifier is the consideration of researcher’s judgement to select the research participants (Sharma, 2017). In this current context, the researcher has decided to choose 3 managers from Apple including the supply chain manager, operation manager and finance manager for conducting a direct interview session.
Valuable access will be obtained from the internet sources in order to gather relevant information for this research purpose. The researcher will have the access to the research site up to the completion of this research after which the university will be provided with the access to research site.
6. Research design
The research design indicates the strategies that the research adopts in order to successfully achieve the objectives of the study by carefully considering the kind of data that can be relevant for addressing the research questions. The topic of study involves research regarding the supply chain of Apple; therefore, a mixed method of data collection would be adopted that would include primary qualitative data and secondary qualitative data (Spry and Pich, 2021).
The primary qualitative data would be collected in the form of interviews which would involve a handful of managers who are involved in the supply chain operations of Apple thereby helping to provide information linked to its internal operations of Apple that cannot be found on secondary sources. Similarly, secondary qualitative data would involve the study of various secondary sources such as news articles, business case studies, academic journals and other peer-reviewed sources that have already conducted similar research on Apple and its supply chain operations. Secondary qualitative data would help in gathering observational data linked with the company’s operations thereby eliminating the requirement for any kind of other complicated statistical analysis.
This would allow the researcher to conduct a thematic analysis (Belotto, 2018). Adopting a mixed method of data collection and analysis reduces the complexities of the research and simplifies the data analysis process while also not compromising the quality of data and information that are being collected. Moreover, the descriptive research design has also been identified to be a cost-effective research design compared to the other research designs which increase the convenience of data collection and analysis (Bloomfield and Fisher, 2019).
In terms of the research philosophy, the positivism research philosophy shall be adopted which requires a researcher to utilise scientific data and conclusions that affect waste and are also supported by evidence (Marsonet, 2019). The positivism research philosophy would also play a major role in increasing the relevance of the findings and conclusion considering the fact that it helps the researcher to underpin their findings based on numeric data that can be collected from the different sources that have been identified above (Verhaegh, 2020).
A deductive research approach would also be adapted for this research that would allow the researcher to develop theories and test them in order to address research questions (Woiceshyn and Daellenbach, 2018). A deductive research approach is also quite essential when it comes to analysing mixed methods of data collection and analysis therefore this would suit the requirements of the study.
Moreover, from the perspective of the internal stakeholders who would be interviewed, the aspects linked with innovation and the use of technology can be more effectively reduced with the help of a deductive research approach (Azungah, 2018).
This would allow the researcher to compare and contrast the innovative operations of supply chain management adopted by Apple and link them with theories of innovation that widely determine how innovations bring transformation to a particular industry. Apart from that, an inductive research approach is also complimentary visit the descriptive research design and positivism in research philosophy thereby allowing the researcher to design the ontology and epistemology aspects linked with the data collection and analysis process.
7. Expected contribution/ value of research
The value of this current research can be signified upon the consideration of efficiently understanding the impact of technology and innovation in the supply chain management of renowned tech giants like Apple. In this regard, potential implications of technological advancement and innovation can be measured with the empowerment of supply chain management and thereby observing the financial achievement and growth opportunities of the organisation.
Moreover, this research is also expected to contribute with a profound understanding and evaluation to explore the business growth of Apple through innovation and technological advancement in their supply chain management practices.
8. Ethical considerations
Distinctive ethical considerations will be maintained by the researcher in this case as an integral part of ensuring the research transparency. In this context, valid information will be collected from relevant data sources as a subsequent pathway of ensuring research accountability and validation (Arifin, 2018).
A prolific focus will also be kept by the researcher upon the prevention of unethical practices like data breach and data misuse. In order to ensure data security, the researcher will abide by the Data Protection Act 2018 along with General Data Protection Regulations. The interview participants will also be provided with informed consent forms for the sake of research ethics.
9. Time plan
| Activities | January | February | March | April and May | June | July | August |
| Research title determination and approval | |||||||
| Research aim, objectives and research questions identification | |||||||
| Development of concepts and measurable facts | |||||||
| Literature review | |||||||
| Methodology | |||||||
| Data collection planning | |||||||
| Data analysis | |||||||
| Generation of findings | |||||||
| Final formatting and submission |
Table 1: Time plan
10. References
Arifin, S.R.M., 2018. Ethical considerations in qualitative study. International Journal of Care Scholars, 1(2), pp.30-33.
Azungah, T., 2018. Qualitative research: deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis. Qualitative Research Journal.
Bazoukis, G., Hall, J., Loscalzo, J., Antman, E.M., Fuster, V. and Armoundas, A.A., 2022. The inclusion of augmented intelligence in medicine: A framework for successful implementation. Cell Reports Medicine, 3(1), p.100485.
Belotto, M.J., 2018. Data analysis methods for qualitative research: Managing the challenges of coding, interrater reliability, and thematic analysis. Qualitative Report, 23(11).
Bloomfield, J. and Fisher, M.J., 2019. Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), pp.27-30.
Liu, W., Zhang, J., Wei, S. and Wang, D., 2021. Factors influencing organisational efficiency in a smart-logistics ecological chain under e-commerce platform leadership. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 24(4), pp.364-391.
MacLachlan, M., Banes, D., Bell, D., Borg, J., Donnelly, B., Fembek, M., Ghosh, R., Gowran, R.J., Hannay, E., Hiscock, D. and Hoogerwerf, E.J., 2018. Assistive technology policy: a position paper from the first global research, innovation, and education on assistive technology (GREAT) summit. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 13(5), pp.454-466.
Min, S., So, K.K.F. and Jeong, M., 2019. Consumer adoption of the Uber mobile application: Insights from diffusion of innovation theory and technology acceptance model. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(7), pp.770-783.
Ross, L., 2020. How the Apple Supply Chain Stays Top Ranked in the World [Online]. Available at: <https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/apple-supply-chain/> [Accessed 24 January 2022]
Sharma, G., 2017. Pros and cons of different sampling techniques. International journal of applied research, 3(7), pp.749-752.
Shibin, K.T., Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A., Luo, Z., Papadopoulos, T. and Roubaud, D., 2018. Frugal innovation for supply chain sustainability in SMEs: multi-method research design. Production Planning & Control, 29(11), pp.908-927.
Smeets, K., 2021. SUPPLIER INNOVATION AS DRIVER FOR PROFITABLE GROWTH. [Online] Available at: <https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2019/nov/perspectives-on-manufacturing-industries-vol-14/new-sources-of-value/supplier-innovation-as-driver-for-profitable-growth.html> [Accessed on 24 January 2022]
Spry, L. and Pich, C., 2021. Enhancing data collection methods with qualitative projective techniques in the exploration of a university’s brand identity and brand image. International Journal of Market Research, 63(2), pp.177-200.
Taboada, I. and Shee, H., 2021. Understanding 5G technology for future supply chain management. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 24(4), pp.392-406.
Vailshery, S. L., 2021. Annual revenue of Apple worldwide from fiscal year 2004 to 2020. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/265125/total-net-sales-of-apple-since-2004/> [Accessed 24 January 2022]
Woiceshyn, J. and Daellenbach, U., 2018. Evaluating inductive vs deductive research in management studies: Implications for authors, editors, and reviewers. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal.
Zach, F.J., Schnitzer, M. and Falk, M., 2021. Product diversification and isomorphism: The case of ski resorts and “me-too” innovation. Annals of Tourism Research, 90, p.103267.
Know more about UniqueSubmission’s other writing services:
