The development and exploitation of new scientific and technological knowhow is a prime engine of economic growth. Different innovation systems have developed different approaches to this problem and have built upon varying combinations of public and private support for Research and Development (R&D) over time. In this context, inclusive approach to research and new technology intermediaries play an important brokering and entrepreneurial role. This chapter aims to understand the inclusive approach to business research, review new technologies, and their applicability to business research. The study responds to the need to gain a better understanding of possible ways to strengthen the capacity of business research to generate value and thereby bridge the gap between theory and practice. The discussion presented in this chapter offers a number of useful lessons for the development of new inclusive policy instruments to benefit the field of research in general and business research in particular.
TopIntroduction
Business research is deemed to be of more value when it rightly augments the economic development processes. Research in business area and any other social sciences cannot be merely theoretical – there is greater need for the researcher to understand and include the practical aspects. This is commonly referred to as applied research or applied sciences research. Whatever be the aim of the researcher, the 21st century has presented the professional researcher with a myriad of challenges and opportunities. In particular, there are a number of new and exciting digital technologies, which offer researchers considerable advantages in terms of speed, access connectivity and economy. Researchers all over the world are using these new, innovative methods to design and develop and conduct research. However, this brings greater responsibility on researcher and there in comes the need for understanding the changing dynamics in the field of business and social sciences research.
While qualitative research methodologies have grown in importance the approach to understand the differences between research testing and theory, has become blurred. The international business arena, has accepted a qualitative stance to develop research approaches with dynamic management techniques, incorporating the cyclical openness to move in and out of a system thinking approach that s provides cause and effect parameters for a global business enterprise approach. This means that qualitative techniques used in business planning research, focusing on a dynamic cyclical recall method, can be linked with global management thinking which is moving towards inclusive strategies. The management targets interlinked with the literature and the hypothesis can provide the basis of identifying the means of staging a direction to this new theory. The overall mission of this valuable study would be to aid researchers in recognizing the gains of adapting inclusive approach for using the latest technologies, the advantages offered and also to safeguard against the pitfalls therein so that the world of academia continues to excel in its role of knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and knowledge dissemination. The chapter has the following objectives:
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Review approaches to business research with focus on current thinking
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Discussion of new technologies as enablers of business research.
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Discuss inclusive approach for business research.