CREATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS ASSIGNMENT

Question

Based upon the research conducted for Project: Creating Problem Statements Assignment, create research questions for the problem identified. Context will need to be included (i.e. how the questions relate to the problem statements), along with the actual problem statements and corresponding context. There should be at least two research questions for a quantitative study, along with the corresponding null hypotheses (H10 & H20), and at least three qualitative research questions. There must two additional peer reviewed journal articles included with the resources from paper below into this project. The overall length will be dependent on the context provided, but the average length is two paragraphs of content which are one section for the quantitative research questions and one section for the qualitative research questions.

The research questions will be based on the below paper:
Applied Research Problem Statement: Cost Control in Supply Chain Management
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the rising cost of goods as one of the major problems in supply chain management. The qualitative study is concerned with establishing answers on how and why the phenomenon is in question (Korstjens and Moser, 2017). The research is subjective rather than objective. The study will rely on in-depth interviews, a qualitative research design that entails conducting individual interviews with several respondents to explore their perspectives on the idea of the rising cost of goods.
The research will rely on an in-depth interview with supply chain managers to offer a good understanding of how the rising cost of goods occurs and how it impacts the supply chain. The in-depth interview will allow the participants to talk freely about the rising cost of goods. In-depth or unstructured interviews aim at discussing limited topics with subsequent questioning depending on the previous participants' responses (Barrett and Twycross, 2018). Considerably, the quality of data varies depending on the interview design. For instance, a poorly structured interview may have leading questions that the participants poorly understand. Therefore, relying on in-depth interviews allows comprehensive collection of data from participants, enabling the researcher to probe aspects of what a participant is saying in ways that a structured interview will not completely understand the issue.
One of the benefits of using qualitative study, especially unstructured interviews, is that the study will explore experiences from various participants who may be chosen from a range of experiences. This will allow people to speak for themselves, thus increasing the validity of the data. The interviews will be conducted with individuals to gain valuable information about the meaning of the rising cost of goods in supply chain management.
Significance of the Study
The rising cost of goods affects the availability of goods in the marketing and impacts all the factors of the supply chain. Therefore, the significance of this study is to explore the causes and impacts of rising costs of goods and its relevance to ineffective supply chain management. The study will demonstrate the drivers of the rising cost of goods and the impact on the supply chain. Considerably, understanding the factors that create the cost of a product and the root cause of the rising cost of goods allows companies to focus on cost-cutting initiatives to meet consumer needs. For instance, a high cost of goods typically lowers the demand since the consumers tend to react to price changes (Lambert and Enz, 2017). This is because the cost of a product tends to affect its demand.
The study will offer information that companies need to an understanding before planning the production of goods. Pricing a product must be in line with the cost of production, which includes the raw material and operations involved in production (Alicke, Rexhausen, and Seyfert, 2017). The success of a company or a product in marketing highly depends on the management of the supply chain. Understanding the causes of the rising cost of goods can enable companies to lower their prices and increase demand through cost-cutting initiatives in their supply chain.
Examining the impact of the rising cost of goods on the supply chain will enable processors and manufacturers to understand the market prices and how the high cost of goods has led to inflationary pressures. Strong supply chain management requires understanding the causes of the rising cost of goods and the impacts of the rising cost of goods. The study adds knowledge on supply chain management which demands effective handling of production and flow of goods and services from the raw materials up to delivery of the end product. Effective management of the supply chain reduces the cost of goods. Therefore, understanding the concept of the rising cost of goods helps reduce and control the supply chain costs through a cross-functional approach.
















References
Alicke, K., Rexhausen, D., & Seyfert, A. (2017). Supply Chain 4.0 in consumer goods. Mckinsey & Company, 1-11.
Barrett, D., & Twycross, A. (2018). Data collection in qualitative research.
Korstjens, I., & Moser, A. (2017). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 2: Context, research questions, and designs. European Journal of General Practice, 23(1), 274-279.
Lambert, D. M., & Enz, M. G. (2017). Issues in supply chain management: Progress and potential. Industrial Marketing Management, 62, 1-16.