How to write a thesis

Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You’ll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they

How to write and publish a scientific paper

A scientific paper is a written report describing original research results whose format has been defined by centuries of developing tradition, editorial practice, scientific ethics and the interplay with printing and publishing services. The result of this process is that virtually every scientific paper has a title, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion. It should, however, be

Create your professional WordPress website without code

A WordPress website is any website that uses WordPress as its content management system (CMS). WordPress powers both the backend of the website (the interface where a user logs in to make changes or add new content) and the frontend (the visible part of the website that your visitors see on the web). Here are just a few examples of the

Research Methodology

Research methodology simply refers to the practical “how” of any given piece of research. More specifically, it’s about how a researcher systematically designs a study to ensure valid and reliable results that address the research aims and objectives.  For example, how did the researcher go about deciding: What data to collect (and what data to ignore) Who to collect it

Qualitative Research (interview, case study, observation, action research …)

What is qualitative research? Qualitative research is defined as a market research method that focuses on obtaining data through open-ended and conversational communication. This method is not only about “what” people think but also “why” they think so. For example, consider a convenience store looking to improve its patronage. A systematic observation concludes that the number of

Quantitative research and Statistical software practices (SPSS, Stata, Amos, …)

What is quantitative research? Quantitative research is defined as a systematic investigation of phenomena by gathering quantifiable data and performing statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. Quantitative research collects information from existing and potential customers using sampling methods and sending out online surveys, online polls, questionnaires, etc., the results of which can be depicted in the

The Invisible hand of Adam Smith

The invisible hand describes the unintended social benefits of an individual’s self-interested actions, a concept that was first introduced by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, written in 1759, invoking it in reference to income distribution. By the time he wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Smith had studied the economic models of the French Physiocrats for many years, and in this

Property Rights Theory

The property rights approach to the theory of the firm based on the incomplete contracting paradigm that argue that in the real world, contracts are incomplete and hence it is impossible to contractually specify what decisions will have to be taken in any conceivable state of the world. There will be renegotiations in the future,

Resource dependence theory

Resource dependence theory (RDT) is the study of how the external resources of organizations affect the behavior of the organization. The procurement of external resources is an important tenet of both the strategic and tactical management of any company. The basic argument of resource dependence theory can be summarized as follows: Organizations depend on resources. These

Institutional Theory

In sociology and organizational studies, institutional theory is a theory on the deeper and more resilient aspects of social structure. It considers the processes by which structures, including schemes, rules, norms, and routines, become established as authoritative guidelines for social behavior.[1] Different components of institutional theory explain how these elements are created, diffused, adopted, and adapted over space and time; and how they

Contingency Theory

A contingency theory is a theory of the firm that claims that there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company, or to make decisions. Instead, the optimal course of action is contingent (dependent) upon the internal and external situation. Contingent leaders are flexible in choosing and adapting to succinct strategies to

Behavioral theory of the firm

The behavioral theory of the firm first appeared in the 1963 book A Behavioral Theory of the Firm by Richard M. Cyert and James G. March. The work on the behavioral theory started in 1952 when March, a political scientist, joined Carnegie Mellon University, where Cyert was an economist. A behavioral model of rational choice by Herbert A. Simon paved the

Organizational Ecology Theory

Organizational ecology theory examines how organizational populations change and develop over time through stages of founding, growth, transformation, decline, and death (Hannan & Freeman, 1977, 1989). The theory addresses the forces of social, political, and economic systems that (1) increase organizational diversity, for example, creating new organizational forms, and (2) decrease organizational diversity, for example,

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Evolutionary Theory of the Firm

Nelson and Winter argue that an evolutionary theory of organization is a superior description of firm behavior than orthodox views around optimization and that routines act as the genes of the firms in their model. The evolutionary theory defines the firm as a set of essential skills, gained from its learning ability. The theoretical assumption

Theory of Competitive Advantage

Michael Porter proposed the theory of competitive advantage in 1985. The competitive advantage theory suggests that states and businesses should pursue policies that create high-quality goods to sell at high prices in the market. Porter emphasizes productivity growth as the focus of national strategies. This theory rests on the notion that cheap labor is ubiquitous,

Theory of the Visible Hand

The theory of the visible hand of Alfred D. Chandler determined that it was not the invisible hand of the market that determined corporate effectiveness but the visible hand of management. His book, “The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business,” which won both the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes in 1978, rewrote the course

Agency Theory

Agency theory is a principle that is used to explain and resolve issues in the relationship between business principals and their agents. Most commonly, that relationship is the one between shareholders, as principals, and company executives, as agents. An agency, in broad terms, is any relationship between two parties in which one, the agent, represents the

Decision Theory

Decision theory (or the theory of choice not to be confused with choice theory) is the study of an agent’s choices. Decision theory can be broken into two branches: normative one, which analyzes the outcomes of decisions or determines the optimal decisions given constraints and assumptions, and descriptive one, which analyzes how agents actually make the decisions they do. Normative decision theory is

Theory of Organizational Power

Max Weber (1947) in his classical organization theory exemplified power in an organization through the process of control. Weber related authority to legitimacy, implying that managers enjoy it by virtue of their position in the organizational hierarchy. Although legitimate authority itself is a power, an individual member of an organization without authority can also enjoy

Theory of Organizational structure

An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. According to the Theory of Organizational structure, organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest. It determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to