Business consultancy project

Methodology

1. Research Methodology and Research approach.

The purpose of this consultancy project is the consideration and assessment of advantages and disadvantages of a new value proposition and revenue stream for Azercell through the implementation of MFS and analysis of the consequent impact on the profitability and market share of the Company, taking into account the worldwide experience and existing market conditions.
In this chapter, the research methodology and the methods of collection of quantitative and qualitative data were reviewed.
Research methodology defined as “the science and philosophy behind the research”, is the profound and wide concept distinguishing from the research methods, as the latter refers to the ways of conducting and implementing research. (Adams, Khan, Raeside, & White, 2007). Meanwhile, according to Saunders, M., & Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009) tools and techniques of collecting and analyzing data define the research methods.
The general plan of the way of addressing the Research questions stated in the thesis, including precise objectives, derived from RQ, data collection sources, limitations faced within the research process (lack of access to information, time etc.), containing ethical issues as well is defined as Research Design. (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009). Moreover, according to Blumberg, Cooper, and Schindler (2011) research questions always determine the research design which shapes the data collection techniques and process, including methods of answering the formulated research questions. Hence, the research process should be launched from the identification of the research approach.
This particular research refers to the case study research strategy, being the tactic of conducting research involving analysis of a specific phenomenon determined by experience in real life environment and observation (Robson, 2002). This research, being the case of Azercell, reveals the opportunity of launching of a new service and analysis of various research techniques, such as internal data evaluations, participant observations, semi-structured and in-depth interviews and questionnaires.
As a clear theoretical position has been developed before the obtaining of information, the Deductive research approach is being applied. Hence, the research is started from the hypothesis and intent of analysis of possible consequences of implementation of the new service based on the process of collecting and exploring the data.
Furthermore, for this BCP, the population consists of both individuals with a middle level income using mobile devices for online payments and corporate entities involved in various sectors of the economy, as online payments are ubiquitous. However, the main focus is on the most digitalized financial sphere.
Meanwhile, Sample is referred to as a subgroup or subset of the population. The conclusions are drawn as a result of the sample, and later will be transferred into the population of interest (Sekaran, RESEARCH METHODS FOR BUSINESS. A Skill-Building Approach., 2003)
Moreover, using sampling instead of obtaining data from the entire population has a vast majority of advantages. Such as, fostered data collection process, decreased expenses, availability of population elements supporting the idea of sampling throughout the research process. Based on the practice, more reliable results are obtained by using sample (Sekaran & Bougie, Research methods for Business, 2010).
According to Palinkas et al. (2015), purposeful sampling is an extremely crucial aspect of the qualitative research methodology. In a nutshell, the sampling strategy should be developed as a logical extension of the research objectives. In other words, the sampling method should correspond to the overall purpose of the research and enhance it. Accordingly, the choice of the most suitable sampling strategy will largely increase the chances of retrieving meaningful insights and results to be reliable and generalizable. In general, it could be concluded that the qualitative methodology is a highly relevant method that correlates with the purposes of this research.
Furthermore, as the main purpose of the project is the implementation of mobile financial services in Azercell Telecom for generating new revenue stream, the customers’ payment ability needs to be considered. Consequently, sample for this particular research is determined based on the various criteria:

• 
  Potential customers registered on online payment sites
  
• 
  Potential customers having plastic cards
  
• 
  Potential customers between 18-45 years, who are more prone to online payments and willing to pay by using mobile devices
  
• 
  Potential customers’ approximate monthly average income
  

Sample analysis will provide company with the clear view about the approximate quantity of number of customers using mobile financial services.

2.