Business research process is unique in that it may be tailored to individual types of organizations and their needs. For example, business research for a large, multinational pharmaceutical company would have slightly different needs than that a local fast-food franchise group. However, there are six basic steps that most every business research project should cover:

Appraisal -- Before any research can be done, it is important to do an honest assessment of the organization. The business needs to know where it is in terms of fiscal strength or weakness, what kinds of human and other resources are available, and what its goals are.

Competitive Analysis -- Identifying the competitive landscape is important and can be done through secondary research; market share, market sales, number of employees, and key strengths. This can usually be done through the Internet, using secondary or, in large organizations, their own annual reports.

Customer Analysis- It...
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