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Research Topics & Ideas: Business

50+ Management Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Business/management/MBA research topics

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a business/management-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of  research ideas and topic thought-starters for management-related research degrees (MBAs/DBAs, etc.). These research topics span management strategy, HR, finance, operations, international business and leadership.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the management domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic. 

Overview: Business Research Topics

  • Business /management strategy
  • Human resources (HR) and industrial psychology
  • Finance and accounting
  • Operations management
  • International business
  • Actual business dissertations & theses

Strategy-Related Research Topics

  • An analysis of the impact of digital transformation on business strategy in consulting firms
  • The role of innovation in transportation practices for creating a competitive advantage within the agricultural sector
  • Exploring the effect of globalisation on strategic decision-making practices for multinational Fashion brands.
  • An evaluation of corporate social responsibility in shaping business strategy, a case study of power utilities in Nigeria
  • Analysing the relationship between corporate culture and business strategy in the new digital era, exploring the role of remote working.
  • Assessing the impact of sustainability practices on business strategy and performance in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry
  • An analysis of the effect of social media on strategic partnerships and alliances development in the insurance industry
  • Exploring the role of data-driven decision-making in business strategy developments following supply-chain disruptions in the agricultural sector
  • Developing a conceptual framework for assessing the influence of market orientation on business strategy and performance in the video game publishing industry
  • A review of strategic cost management best practices in the healthcare sector of Indonesia
  • Identification of key strategic considerations required for the effective implementation of Industry 4.0 to develop a circular economy
  • Reviewing how Globalisation has affected business model innovation strategies in the education sector
  • A comparison of merger and acquisition strategies’ effects on novel product development in the Pharmaceutical industry
  • An analysis of market strategy performance during recessions, a retrospective review of the luxury goods market in the US
  • Comparing the performance of digital stakeholder engagement strategies and their contribution towards meeting SDGs in the mining sector

Research topic idea mega list

Topics & Ideas: Human Resources (HR)

  • Exploring the impact of digital employee engagement practices on organizational performance in SMEs
  • The role of diversity and inclusion in the workplace
  • An evaluation of remote employee training and development programs efficacy in the e-commerce sector
  • Comparing the effect of flexible work arrangements on employee satisfaction and productivity across generational divides
  • Assessing the relationship between gender-focused employee empowerment programs and job satisfaction in the UAE
  • A review of the impact of technology and digitisation on human resource management practices in the construction industry
  • An analysis of the role of human resource management in talent acquisition and retention in response to globalisation and crisis, a case study of the South African power utility
  • The influence of leadership style on remote working employee motivation and performance in the education sector.
  • A comparison of performance appraisal systems for managing employee performance in the luxury retail fashion industry
  • An examination of the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction in blue-collar workplaces, A systematic review
  • Exploring HR personnel’s experiences managing digital workplace bullying in multinational corporations
  • Assessing the success of HR team integration following merger and acquisition on employee engagement and performance
  • Exploring HR green practices and their effects on retention of millennial talent in the fintech industry
  • Assessing the impact of human resources analytics in successfully navigating digital transformation within the healthcare sector
  • Exploring the role of HR staff in the development and maintenance of ethical business practices in fintech SMEs
  • An analysis of employee perceptions of current HRM practices in a fully remote IT workspace

Research topic evaluator

Topics & Ideas: Finance & Accounting

  • An analysis of the effect of employee financial literacy on decision-making in manufacturing start-ups in Ghana
  • Assessing the impact of corporate green innovation on financial performance in listed companies in Estonia
  • Assessing the effect of corporate governance on financial performance in the mining industry in Papua New Guinea
  • An evaluation of financial risk management practices in the construction industry of Saudi Arabia
  • Exploring the role of leadership financial literacy in the transition from start-up to scale-up in the retail e-commerce industry.
  • A review of influential macroeconomic factors on the adoption of cryptocurrencies as legal tender
  • An examination of the use of financial derivatives in risk management
  • Exploring the impact of the cryptocurrency disruption on stock trading practices in the EU
  • An analysis of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in academic publishing houses
  • A comparison of financial ratios performance in evaluating E-commerce startups in South Korea.
  • An evaluation of the role of government policies in facilitating manufacturing companies’ successful transitioning from start-up to scale-ups in Denmark
  • Assessing the financial value associated with industry 4.0 transitions in the Indian pharmaceutical industry
  • Exploring the role of effective e-leadership on financial performance in the Nigerian fintech industry
  • A review of digital disruptions in CRM practices and their associated financial impact on listed companies during the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Exploring the importance of Sharia-based business practices on SME financial performance in multicultural countries

Free Webinar: How To Find A Dissertation Research Topic

Ideas: Operations Management

  • An assessment of the impact of blockchain technology on operations management practices in the transport industry of Estonia
  • An evaluation of supply chain disruption management strategies and their impact on business performance in Lithuania
  • Exploring the role of lean manufacturing in the automotive industry of Malaysia and its effects on improving operational efficiency
  • A critical review of optimal operations management strategies in luxury goods manufacturing for ensuring supply chain resilience
  • Exploring the role of globalization on Supply chain diversification, a pre/post analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • An analysis of the relationship between quality management and customer satisfaction in subscription-based business models
  • Assessing the cost of sustainable sourcing practices on operations management and supply chain resilience in the Cocao industry.
  • An examination of the adoption of behavioural predictive analytics in operations management practices, a case study of the
  • Italian automotive industry
  • Exploring the effect of operational complexity on business performance following digital transformation
  • An evaluation of barriers to the implementation of agile methods in project management within governmental institutions
  • Assessing how the relationship between operational processes and business strategy change as companies transition from start-ups to scale-ups
  • Exploring the relationship between operational management and innovative business models, lessons from the fintech industry
  • A review of best practices for operations management facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the fast food industry
  • Exploring the viability of lean manufacturing practices in Vietnam’s plastics industry
  • Assessing engagement in cybersecurity considerations associated with operations management practices in industry 4.0 manufacturing

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

Topics & Ideas: International Business

  • The impact of cultural differences in communication on international business relationships
  • An evaluation of the role of government import and export policies in shaping international business practices
  • The effect of global shipping conditions on international business strategies
  • An analysis of the challenges of managing multinational corporations: branch management
  • The influence of social media marketing on international business operations
  • The role of international trade agreements on business activities in developing countries
  • An examination of the impact of currency fluctuations on international business and cost competitiveness
  • The relationship between international business and sustainable development: perspectives and benefits
  • An evaluation of the challenges and opportunities of doing business in emerging markets such as the renewable energy industry
  • An analysis of the role of internationalisation via strategic alliances in international business
  • The impact of cross-cultural management on international business performance
  • The effect of political instability on international business operations: A case study of Russia
  • An analysis of the role of intellectual property rights in an international technology company’s business strategies
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and international business strategy: a comparative study of different industries
  • The impact of technology on international business in the fashion industry

Topics & Ideas: Leadership

  • A comparative study of the impact of different leadership styles on organizational performance
  • An evaluation of transformational leadership in today’s non-profit organizations
  • The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership and productivity
  • An analysis of the relationship between leadership style and employee motivation
  • The influence of diversity and inclusion on leadership practices in South Africa
  • The impact of Artificial Intelligence technology on leadership in the digital age
  • An examination of the challenges of leadership in a rapidly changing business environment: examples from the finance industry
  • The relationship between leadership and corporate culture and job satisfaction
  • An evaluation of the role of transformational leadership in strategic decision-making
  • The use of leadership development programs in enhancing leadership effectiveness in multinational organisations
  • The impact of ethical leadership on organizational trust and reputation: an empirical study
  • An analysis of the relationship between various leadership styles and employee well-being in healthcare organizations
  • The role of leadership in promoting good work-life balance and job satisfaction in the age of remote work
  • The influence of leadership on knowledge sharing and innovation in the technology industry
  • An investigation of the impact of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in global organizations

Business/Management Dissertation & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a business-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various management-related degree programs (e.g., MBAs, DBAs, etc.) to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

  • Sustaining Microbreweries Beyond 5 Years (Yanez, 2022)
  • Perceived Stakeholder and Stockholder Views: A Comparison Among Accounting Students, Non-Accounting Business Students And Non-Business Students (Shajan, 2020)
  • Attitudes Toward Corporate Social Responsibility and the New Ecological Paradigm among Business Students in Southern California (Barullas, 2020)
  • Entrepreneurial opportunity alertness in small business: a narrative research study exploring established small business founders’ experience with opportunity alertness in an evolving economic landscape in the Southeastern United States (Hughes, 2019)
  • Work-Integrated Learning in Closing Skills Gap in Public Procurement: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study (Culver, 2021)
  • Analyzing the Drivers and Barriers to Green Business Practices for Small and Medium Enterprises in Ohio (Purwandani, 2020)
  • The Role of Executive Business Travel in a Virtual World (Gale, 2022)
  • Outsourcing Security and International Corporate Responsibility: A Critical Analysis of Private Military Companies (PMCs) and Human Rights Violations (Hawkins, 2022)
  • Lean-excellence business management for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in Kurdistan region of Iraq (Mohammad, 2021)
  • Science Data Sharing: Applying a Disruptive Technology Platform Business Model (Edwards, 2022)
  • Impact of Hurricanes on Small Construction Business and Their Recovery (Sahu, 2022)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Fast-Track Your Topic Ideation

If you’d like hands-on help to speed up your topic ideation process and ensure that you develop a rock-solid research topic, check our our Topic Kickstarter service below.

You Might Also Like:

Topic Kickstarter: Research topics in education

Great help. thanks

solomon

Hi, Your work is very educative, it has widened my knowledge. Thank you so much.

Benny

Thank you so much for helping me understand how to craft a research topic. I’m pursuing a PGDE. Thank you

SHADRACK OBENG YEBOAH

Effect of Leadership, computerized accounting systems, risk management and monitoring on the quality of financial Reports among listed banks

Denford Chimboza

May you assist on a possible PhD topic on analyzing economic behaviours within environmental, climate and energy domains, from a gender perspective. I seek to further investigate if/to which extent policies in these domains can be deemed economically unfair from a gender perspective, and whether the effectiveness of the policies can be increased while striving for inequalities not being perpetuated.

Negessa Abdisa

healthy work environment and employee diversity, technological innovations and their role in management practices, cultural difference affecting advertising, honesty as a company policy, an analysis of the relationships between quality management and customer satisfaction in subscription based business model,business corruption cases. That I was selected from the above topics.

Ngam Leke

Research topic accounting

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Research Method

Home » 500+ Business Research Topics

500+ Business Research Topics

Business Research Topics

Business research is an essential component of any successful organization, as it allows companies to make informed decisions based on data-driven insights. Whether it’s market research to identify new opportunities, or analyzing internal processes to improve efficiency, there are a vast array of business research topics that companies can explore. With the constantly evolving business landscape, it’s critical for organizations to stay up-to-date with the latest research trends and best practices to remain competitive. In this post, we’ll explore some of the most compelling business research topics that are currently being studied, providing insights and actionable recommendations for businesses of all sizes.

Business Research Topics

Business Research Topics are as follows:

  • The impact of social media on consumer behavior
  • Strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction in the service industry
  • The effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns
  • Exploring the factors influencing employee turnover
  • The role of leadership in organizational culture
  • Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance
  • Assessing the impact of employee engagement on organizational performance
  • The challenges and opportunities of global supply chain management
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of e-commerce platforms
  • Investigating the impact of organizational culture on employee motivation
  • The role of corporate governance in ensuring ethical business practices
  • Examining the impact of digital marketing on brand equity
  • Strategies for managing diversity and inclusion in the workplace
  • Exploring the effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
  • The role of innovation in business growth
  • Analyzing the impact of mergers and acquisitions on company performance
  • Investigating the impact of workplace design on employee productivity
  • The challenges and opportunities of international business expansion
  • Strategies for managing talent in the knowledge economy
  • The role of artificial intelligence in transforming business operations
  • Examining the impact of customer loyalty programs on retention and revenue
  • Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand reputation
  • The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership
  • The impact of digital transformation on small and medium-sized enterprises
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of green marketing strategies
  • The role of entrepreneurship in economic development
  • Investigating the impact of employee training and development on organizational performance
  • The challenges and opportunities of omnichannel retailing
  • Examining the impact of organizational change on employee morale and productivity
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in attracting and retaining millennial talent
  • Analyzing the impact of employee motivation on organizational culture
  • Investigating the impact of workplace diversity on team performance
  • The challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology in business operations
  • Strategies for managing cross-functional teams
  • The role of big data analytics in business decision-making
  • Examining the impact of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty
  • Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee engagement
  • The impact of social media marketing on customer engagement and brand loyalty.
  • The effectiveness of AI in improving customer service and satisfaction.
  • The role of entrepreneurship in economic development and job creation.
  • The impact of the gig economy on the labor market.
  • The effects of corporate social responsibility on company profitability.
  • The role of data analytics in predicting consumer behavior and market trends.
  • The effects of globalization on the competitiveness of small businesses.
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar retail.
  • The role of emotional intelligence in leadership and team management.
  • The effects of workplace diversity on employee productivity and satisfaction.
  • The role of corporate culture in employee retention and satisfaction.
  • The impact of employee training and development on company performance.
  • The effectiveness of performance-based pay structures on employee motivation.
  • The impact of sustainability practices on company reputation and profitability.
  • The effects of artificial intelligence on job displacement and the future of work.
  • The role of innovation in the growth and success of small businesses.
  • The impact of government regulations on business operations and profitability.
  • The effects of organizational structure on company performance and efficiency.
  • The role of emotional labor in service industries.
  • The impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction and retention.
  • The effects of workplace flexibility on employee productivity and well-being.
  • The role of emotional intelligence in negotiation and conflict resolution.
  • The impact of branding on consumer behavior and purchase decisions.
  • The effects of customer experience on brand loyalty and advocacy.
  • The role of storytelling in marketing and advertising.
  • The impact of consumer psychology on pricing strategies and sales.
  • The effects of influencer marketing on consumer behavior and brand loyalty.
  • The role of trust in online transactions and e-commerce.
  • The impact of product design on consumer perception and purchasing decisions.
  • The effects of customer satisfaction on company profitability and growth.
  • The role of social entrepreneurship in addressing societal problems and creating value.
  • The impact of corporate governance on company performance and stakeholder relations.
  • The effects of workplace harassment on employee well-being and company culture.
  • The role of strategic planning in the success of small businesses.
  • The impact of technology on supply chain management and logistics.
  • The effects of customer segmentation on marketing strategies and sales.
  • The role of corporate philanthropy in building brand reputation and loyalty.
  • The impact of intellectual property protection on innovation and creativity.
  • The effects of trade policies on international business operations and profitability.
  • The role of strategic partnerships in business growth and expansion.
  • The impact of digital transformation on organizational structure and operations.
  • The effects of leadership styles on employee motivation and performance.
  • The role of corporate social activism in shaping public opinion and brand reputation.
  • The impact of mergers and acquisitions on company performance and stakeholder value.
  • The effects of workplace automation on job displacement and re-skilling.
  • The role of cross-cultural communication in international business operations.
  • The impact of workplace stress on employee health and productivity.
  • The effects of customer reviews and ratings on online sales and reputation.
  • The role of competitive intelligence in market research and strategy development.
  • The impact of brand identity on consumer trust and loyalty.
  • The impact of organizational structure on innovation and creativity
  • Analyzing the effectiveness of virtual teams in global organizations
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in crisis management
  • The challenges and opportunities of online marketplaces
  • Strategies for managing cultural diversity in multinational corporations
  • The impact of employer branding on employee retention
  • Investigating the impact of corporate social responsibility on investor behavior
  • The role of technology in enhancing customer experience
  • Analyzing the impact of social responsibility initiatives on customer satisfaction
  • Investigating the impact of supply chain disruptions on business performance
  • The role of business ethics in organizational decision-making
  • The challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in customer service
  • Strategies for managing employee burnout and stress in the workplace.
  • Impact of social media on consumer behavior and its implications for businesses.
  • The impact of corporate social responsibility on company performance.
  • An analysis of the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty.
  • The effect of advertising on consumer behavior.
  • A study on the effectiveness of social media marketing in building brand image.
  • The impact of technological innovations on business strategy and operations.
  • The relationship between leadership style and employee motivation.
  • A study of the effects of corporate culture on employee engagement.
  • An analysis of the factors influencing consumer buying behavior.
  • The effectiveness of training and development programs in enhancing employee performance.
  • The impact of global economic factors on business decision-making.
  • The role of organizational communication in achieving business goals.
  • The relationship between customer satisfaction and business success.
  • A study of the challenges and opportunities in international business.
  • The effectiveness of supply chain management in improving business performance.
  • An analysis of the factors influencing customer loyalty in the hospitality industry.
  • The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance.
  • A study of the impact of corporate governance on company performance.
  • The role of innovation in business growth and success.
  • An analysis of the relationship between marketing and sales performance.
  • The effect of organizational structure on employee behavior.
  • A study of the impact of cultural differences on business negotiations.
  • The effectiveness of pricing strategies in increasing sales revenue.
  • The impact of customer service on customer loyalty.
  • A study of the role of human resource management in business success.
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.
  • An analysis of the relationship between employee empowerment and job satisfaction.
  • The effectiveness of customer relationship management in building brand loyalty.
  • The role of business ethics in corporate decision-making.
  • A study of the impact of digital marketing on consumer behavior.
  • The effect of organizational culture on employee turnover.
  • An analysis of the factors influencing employee engagement in the workplace.
  • The impact of social media on business communication and marketing.
  • A study of the relationship between customer service and customer loyalty in the airline industry.
  • The role of diversity and inclusion in business success.
  • The effectiveness of performance management systems in improving employee performance.
  • The impact of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement.
  • A study of the factors influencing business expansion into new markets.
  • The role of brand identity in customer loyalty and retention.
  • The effectiveness of change management strategies in organizational change.
  • The impact of organizational structure on organizational performance.
  • A study of the impact of technology on the future of work.
  • The relationship between innovation and competitive advantage in the marketplace.
  • The effect of employee training on organizational performance.
  • An analysis of the impact of online reviews on consumer behavior.
  • The role of leadership in shaping organizational culture.
  • The effectiveness of talent management strategies in retaining top talent.
  • The impact of globalization on small and medium-sized enterprises.
  • A study of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand reputation.
  • The effectiveness of employee retention strategies in reducing turnover rates.
  • The role of emotional intelligence in leadership and employee engagement.
  • The impact of digital marketing on customer behavior
  • The role of organizational culture in employee engagement and retention
  • The effects of employee training and development on organizational performance
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance
  • The impact of globalization on business strategy
  • The importance of supply chain management in achieving competitive advantage
  • The role of innovation in business growth and sustainability
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional retail businesses
  • The role of leadership in managing change in organizations
  • The effects of workplace diversity on organizational performance
  • The impact of social media on brand image and reputation
  • The relationship between employee motivation and productivity
  • The role of organizational structure in promoting innovation
  • The effects of customer service on customer loyalty
  • The impact of globalization on small businesses
  • The role of corporate governance in preventing unethical behavior
  • The effects of technology on job design and work organization
  • The relationship between employee satisfaction and turnover
  • The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational culture
  • The effects of employee benefits on job satisfaction
  • The impact of cultural differences on international business negotiations
  • The role of strategic planning in organizational success
  • The effects of organizational change on employee stress and burnout
  • The impact of business ethics on customer trust and loyalty
  • The role of human resource management in achieving competitive advantage
  • The effects of outsourcing on organizational performance
  • The impact of diversity and inclusion on team performance
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in brand differentiation
  • The effects of leadership style on organizational culture
  • The Impact of Digital Marketing on Brand Equity: A Study of E-commerce Businesses
  • Investigating the Relationship between Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance
  • Analyzing the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Loyalty and Firm Performance
  • An Empirical Study of the Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Success in the Technology Sector
  • The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction: A Case Study of a Service Industry
  • Investigating the Impact of Organizational Change on Employee Resistance: A Comparative Study of Two Organizations
  • An Exploration of the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Supply Chain Management
  • Examining the Relationship between Leadership Styles and Employee Creativity in Innovative Organizations
  • Investigating the Effectiveness of Performance Appraisal Systems in Improving Employee Performance
  • Analyzing the Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Effectiveness: A Study of Senior Managers
  • The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction in the Healthcare Sector
  • Evaluating the Effectiveness of Talent Management Strategies in Enhancing Organizational Performance
  • A Study of the Effects of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Retention and Loyalty
  • Investigating the Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance: Evidence from Emerging Markets
  • The Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Firm Performance: A Case Study of Technology Firms
  • Analyzing the Effectiveness of Diversity Management in Improving Organizational Performance
  • The Impact of Internationalization on the Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: A Comparative Study of Developed and Developing Countries
  • Examining the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: A Study of Listed Firms
  • Investigating the Influence of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Firm Performance in Emerging Markets
  • Analyzing the Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Retail Business Models: A Study of Brick-and-Mortar Stores
  • The Effect of Corporate Reputation on Customer Loyalty and Firm Performance: A Study of the Banking Sector
  • Investigating the Factors Affecting Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payment Systems
  • The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Attracting and Retaining Millennial Employees
  • Analyzing the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Awareness and Consumer Purchase Intentions
  • A Study of the Effects of Employee Training and Development on Job Performance
  • Investigating the Relationship between Corporate Culture and Employee Turnover: A Study of Multinational Companies
  • The Impact of Business Process Reengineering on Organizational Performance: A Study of Service Industries
  • An Empirical Study of the Factors Affecting Internationalization Strategies of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
  • The Effect of Strategic Human Resource Management on Firm Performance: A Study of Manufacturing Firms
  • Investigating the Influence of Leadership on Organizational Culture: A Comparative Study of Two Organizations
  • The Impact of Technology Adoption on Organizational Productivity: A Study of the Healthcare Sector
  • Analyzing the Effects of Brand Personality on Consumer Purchase Intentions: A Study of Luxury Brands
  • The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Perceptions of Product Quality: A Study of the Food and Beverage Industry
  • Investigating the Effectiveness of Performance Management Systems in Improving Employee Performance: A Study of a Public Sector Organization
  • The Impact of Business Ethics on Firm Performance: A Study of the Banking Industry
  • Examining the Relationship between Employee Engagement and Customer Satisfaction in the Service Industry
  • Investigating the Influence of Entrepreneurial Networking on Firm Performance: A Study of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
  • The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Retention: A Study of High-tech Firms
  • The impact of workplace communication on employee engagement
  • The role of customer feedback in improving service quality
  • The effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
  • The impact of innovation on customer satisfaction
  • The role of knowledge management in organizational learning
  • The effects of product innovation on market share
  • The impact of business location on customer behavior
  • The role of financial management in business success
  • The effects of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement
  • The impact of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural communication
  • The role of social media in crisis management
  • The effects of corporate branding on customer loyalty
  • The impact of globalization on consumer behavior
  • The role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness
  • The effects of employee involvement in decision-making on job satisfaction
  • The impact of business strategy on market share
  • The role of corporate culture in promoting ethical behavior
  • The effects of corporate social responsibility on investor behavior
  • The impact of sustainability on brand image and reputation
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in reducing carbon emissions.
  • The effectiveness of loyalty programs on customer retention
  • The benefits of remote work for employee productivity
  • The impact of environmental sustainability on consumer purchasing decisions
  • The role of brand identity in consumer loyalty
  • The relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar stores
  • The effectiveness of online advertising on consumer behavior
  • The impact of leadership styles on employee motivation
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in brand perception
  • The impact of workplace diversity on organizational performance
  • The effectiveness of gamification in employee training programs
  • The impact of pricing strategies on consumer behavior
  • The effectiveness of mobile marketing on consumer engagement
  • The impact of emotional intelligence on leadership effectiveness
  • The role of customer service in consumer loyalty
  • The impact of technology on supply chain management
  • The effectiveness of employee training programs on job performance
  • The impact of culture on consumer behavior
  • The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems on employee motivation
  • The impact of social responsibility on organizational performance
  • The role of innovation in business success
  • The impact of ethical leadership on organizational culture
  • The effectiveness of cross-functional teams in project management
  • The impact of government regulations on business operations
  • The role of strategic planning in business growth
  • The impact of emotional intelligence on team dynamics
  • The effectiveness of supply chain management on customer satisfaction
  • The impact of workplace culture on employee satisfaction
  • The role of employee engagement in organizational success
  • The impact of globalization on organizational culture
  • The effectiveness of virtual teams in project management
  • The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in talent acquisition
  • The impact of technology on employee training and development
  • The effectiveness of knowledge management on organizational learning
  • The impact of organizational structure on employee motivation
  • The role of innovation in organizational change
  • The impact of cultural intelligence on global business operations
  • The effectiveness of marketing strategies on brand perception
  • The impact of change management on organizational culture
  • The role of leadership in organizational transformation
  • The impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
  • The effectiveness of project management methodologies on project success
  • The impact of workplace communication on team performance
  • The role of emotional intelligence in conflict resolution
  • The impact of employee motivation on job performance
  • The effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives on organizational performance.
  • The impact of social media on consumer behavior and buying decisions
  • The role of diversity and inclusion in corporate culture and its effects on employee retention and productivity
  • The effectiveness of remote work policies on job satisfaction and work-life balance
  • The impact of customer experience on brand loyalty and revenue growth
  • The effects of environmental sustainability practices on corporate reputation and financial performance
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in consumer purchasing decisions
  • The effectiveness of leadership styles on team performance and productivity
  • The effects of employee motivation on job performance and turnover
  • The impact of technology on supply chain management and logistics efficiency
  • The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership and team dynamics
  • The impact of artificial intelligence and automation on job displacement and workforce trends
  • The effects of brand image on consumer perception and purchasing decisions
  • The role of corporate culture in promoting innovation and creativity
  • The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar retail businesses
  • The effects of corporate governance on financial reporting and transparency
  • The effectiveness of performance-based compensation on employee motivation and productivity
  • The impact of online reviews and ratings on consumer trust and brand reputation
  • The effects of workplace diversity on innovation and creativity
  • The impact of mobile technology on marketing strategies and consumer behavior
  • The role of emotional intelligence in customer service and satisfaction
  • The effects of corporate reputation on financial performance and stakeholder trust
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on customer service and support
  • The role of organizational culture in promoting ethical behavior and decision-making
  • The effects of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement and satisfaction
  • The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance and profitability
  • The role of customer satisfaction in promoting brand loyalty and advocacy
  • The effects of workplace flexibility on employee morale and productivity
  • The impact of employee wellness programs on absenteeism and healthcare costs
  • The role of data analytics in business decision-making and strategy formulation
  • The effects of brand personality on consumer behavior and perception
  • The impact of social media marketing on brand awareness and customer engagement
  • The role of organizational justice in promoting employee satisfaction and retention
  • The effects of corporate branding on employee motivation and loyalty
  • The impact of online advertising on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions
  • The role of corporate entrepreneurship in promoting innovation and growth
  • The effects of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural communication and business success
  • The impact of workplace diversity on customer satisfaction and loyalty
  • The role of ethical leadership in promoting employee trust and commitment
  • The effects of job stress on employee health and well-being
  • The impact of supply chain disruptions on business operations and financial performance
  • The role of organizational learning in promoting continuous improvement and innovation
  • The effects of employee engagement on customer satisfaction and loyalty
  • The impact of brand extensions on brand equity and consumer behavior
  • The role of strategic alliances in promoting business growth and competitiveness
  • The effects of corporate transparency on stakeholder trust and loyalty
  • The impact of digital transformation on business models and competitiveness
  • The role of business ethics in promoting corporate social responsibility and sustainability
  • The effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction and organizational performance.
  • The role of corporate governance in mitigating unethical behavior in multinational corporations.
  • The effects of cultural diversity on team performance in multinational corporations.
  • The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer loyalty and brand reputation.
  • The relationship between organizational culture and employee engagement in service industries.
  • The impact of globalization on the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
  • The effectiveness of performance-based pay systems on employee motivation and productivity.
  • The relationship between innovation and corporate performance in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • The impact of digital marketing on the traditional marketing mix.
  • The role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness in cross-cultural teams.
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in the banking sector.
  • The impact of diversity management on employee satisfaction and retention in multinational corporations.
  • The relationship between leadership style and organizational culture in family-owned businesses.
  • The impact of e-commerce on supply chain management.
  • The effectiveness of training and development programs on employee performance in the retail sector.
  • The impact of global economic trends on strategic decision-making in multinational corporations.
  • The relationship between ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction in the healthcare industry.
  • The impact of employee empowerment on organizational performance in the manufacturing sector.
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee well-being in the hospitality industry.
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on customer service in the banking industry.
  • The relationship between emotional intelligence and employee creativity in the technology industry.
  • The impact of big data analytics on customer relationship management in the telecommunications industry.
  • The relationship between organizational culture and innovation in the automotive industry.
  • The impact of internationalization on the performance of SMEs in emerging markets.
  • The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems on employee motivation and retention in the public sector.
  • The relationship between diversity management and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • The impact of social entrepreneurship on economic development in developing countries.
  • The relationship between transformational leadership and organizational change in the energy sector.
  • The impact of online customer reviews on brand reputation in the hospitality industry.
  • The effectiveness of leadership development programs on employee engagement in the finance industry.
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee turnover in the retail sector.
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on the recruitment and selection process in the technology industry.
  • The relationship between organizational culture and employee creativity in the fashion industry.
  • The impact of digital transformation on business models in the insurance industry.
  • The relationship between employee engagement and customer satisfaction in the service industry.
  • The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational culture and employee morale.
  • The effectiveness of knowledge management systems on organizational performance in the consulting industry.
  • The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty in the food and beverage industry.
  • The relationship between emotional intelligence and customer satisfaction in the airline industry.
  • The impact of blockchain technology on supply chain management in the logistics industry.
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee engagement in the technology industry.
  • The impact of digitalization on talent management practices in the hospitality industry.
  • The effectiveness of reward and recognition programs on employee motivation in the manufacturing industry.
  • The impact of industry 4.0 on organizational structure and culture in the aerospace industry.
  • The relationship between leadership style and team performance in the construction industry.
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on financial forecasting and decision-making in the banking sector.
  • The relationship between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty in the automotive industry.
  • The impact of virtual teams on employee communication and collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • The impact of remote work on employee productivity and job satisfaction
  • The effects of social media marketing on customer engagement and brand loyalty
  • The role of artificial intelligence in streamlining supply chain management
  • The effectiveness of employee training and development programs on organizational performance
  • The impact of diversity and inclusion initiatives on organizational culture and employee satisfaction
  • The role of corporate social responsibility in enhancing brand reputation and customer loyalty
  • The effects of e-commerce on small businesses and local economies
  • The impact of big data analytics on marketing strategies and customer insights
  • The effects of employee empowerment on organizational innovation and performance
  • The impact of globalization on the hospitality industry
  • The effects of corporate governance on organizational performance and financial outcomes
  • The role of customer satisfaction in driving business growth and profitability
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on financial forecasting and risk management
  • The effects of corporate culture on employee engagement and retention
  • The role of green marketing in promoting environmental sustainability and brand reputation
  • The impact of digital transformation on the retail industry
  • The effects of employee motivation on job performance and organizational productivity
  • The role of customer experience in enhancing brand loyalty and advocacy
  • The impact of international trade agreements on global business practices
  • The effects of artificial intelligence on customer service and support
  • The role of organizational communication in facilitating teamwork and collaboration
  • The impact of corporate social responsibility on employee motivation and retention
  • The effects of global economic instability on business decision-making
  • The role of leadership styles in organizational change management
  • The impact of social media influencers on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions
  • The effects of employee well-being on organizational productivity and profitability
  • The role of innovation in driving business growth and competitive advantage
  • The impact of digital marketing on consumer behavior and brand perception
  • The role of strategic planning in organizational success and sustainability
  • The impact of e-commerce on consumer privacy and data security
  • The effects of corporate reputation on customer acquisition and retention
  • The role of diversity and inclusion in organizational creativity and innovation
  • The impact of artificial intelligence on customer relationship management
  • The effects of customer feedback on product development and innovation
  • The role of employee job satisfaction in reducing turnover and absenteeism
  • The impact of global competition on business strategy and innovation
  • The effects of corporate branding on customer loyalty and advocacy
  • The role of digital transformation in enhancing organizational agility and responsiveness
  • The effects of employee empowerment on customer satisfaction and loyalty
  • The role of entrepreneurial leadership in driving business innovation and growth
  • The impact of digital disruption on traditional business models
  • The effects of organizational culture on innovation and creativity
  • The role of marketing research in developing effective marketing strategies
  • The impact of social media on customer relationship management
  • The effects of employee engagement on organizational innovation and competitiveness
  • The role of strategic partnerships in promoting business growth and expansion
  • The impact of global trends on business innovation and entrepreneurship

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Business Research Topics For Students

business research topics

When pursuing business programs in colleges and universities, students are required to write papers or do my thesis on business research topics. The major challenge for most students is choosing topics for their papers. A vast majority of them are stuck in this step because they fear choosing a topic that is not interesting or too broad and end up with poor grades.

Nevertheless, many inspirations in the contemporary can guide you when choosing business topics for a research paper. Whether you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree or preparing for your Ph.D. defense, there are many topics that you can write about. You just need to choose a topic that you will be interested in researching and writing a paper about.

How to Find Business Research Topics

Best business research paper topics, examples of business-related research topics, business management research topics, business law topics for research paper, international business research paper, business administration topics, argumentative business topics, business communication topics for presentation, business persuasive and informative speech topics, business debate topics, qualitative research titles about business for your dissertation, mba research paper topics, entrepreneurial research topics, business intelligence topics, the most asked business research paper questions, where to get help with business research topics.

There are many factors to consider when choosing a topic for a research paper about business. They include the following:

  • Whether your professor provides the topic scope and if you are permitted to change it.
  • Whether you have been given a thematic area within which to choose a topic.
  • Whether you have specialized in a specific subject.
  • If you have the total freedom to choose your topic

If you have complete freedom to choose your topic, start with a little research. For instance, you can read news websites, analyze successful companies and corporations, or track problems that other people write about. If you still don’t find a topic after doing this, consider the examples of business research topics provided here.

Your choice of the best topic for your business paper should depend on the field you are interested in. Additionally, your topic should be engaging and related to your study program. It should also enable you to conduct extensive research and come up with facts to back up your argument. What’s more, the best business topics for research papers grab the readers’ attention.

This explains why many students get nervous or struggle when required to choose topics for their business papers. Nevertheless, students cover many topics and subjects during their studies. What you learn in class can, therefore, be your inspiration when choosing topics for business research papers. But, if you find it hard to come up with a topic for your research paper, the internet has many samples that you can consider.

Though there are many sample topics to consider when writing a business research paper, your choice should depend on your study level, the field of interest, and assignment requirements. Here are different categories of business research topics for college students and their examples.

Business Ethics Research Paper Topics

Business ethics is a study field that gives students the freedom to choose from different topics. For instance, a student can choose a topic in this field around duties, morality, integrity, and business behavior. The increasing business ethics issues widen the range of the topics students can choose from in this category. What’s more, business ethics cover ethical conflicts between individuals and groups of employers, employees, customers, and the surrounding. Here are examples of topics for research papers in this category.

  • Effects of Moral Principles on Business Decisions
  • Causes of Unethical Conducts in Workplaces
  • Should Businesses Be Honest with their Customers All the Time?
  • The Psychology and History of Business Ethics
  • Examples of Moral Judgment that Doesn’t Work in Business
  • How Ethical Mistakes can Lead to Business Bankruptcy
  • Are Business Ethics the Same for the Manager and the Personnel?
  • How to Avoid Sexual Harassment at the Workplace
  • Why is an Ethical Code Important for Companies?
  • Taking Responsibility for the Corporate Ethics of a Company

The fact that people engage in different businesses creates a chance to research common topics like workplace honesty and general topics like environmental protection.

When writing a business management research paper, it’s important to come up with a researchable and interesting question. This can be a challenging task because there are many facets and resources in the business management field. Nevertheless, it’s still possible to find a focused, narrow question that forms the topic of a research paper. Here are examples of topics for business management research papers.

  • Conflict Management in a Work Team
  • The Role of Women in Business Management
  • Issues that Affect Management of Business Startups
  • Consequences of Excessive Work in Business
  • Why You Should Start a New Business After One Fails
  • Importance of Inter-organizational Leadership and Networks
  • How to Manage Organizational Crisis in Business
  • Product and Service Development in a Strategic Alliance
  • Innovation and Network Markets as a Business Strategy
  • Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

Business management research paper topics should not be too narrow or too broad. Nevertheless, there are many topics on enterprise, trade, commerce, and other subjects that you can explore because they all require extensive research.

A business law topic is not easy to find. That’s because your topic should attract the attention of your reader and relate to the broad field of business law. As such, you should narrow down your topic to something more focused. Here are examples of topics for business law papers.

  • How Do You Define Authority Before You Start Business Negotiations?
  • Insider Trading- What Does it Mean in the Contemporary World?
  • Are Alcohol Consumption and Sale Laws Beneficial to the Public’s Wellbeing?
  • Should Some Corporate Crimes Warrant Death Penalty?
  • Can State Officials Succeed when Dismissed for their Implication in Corruption Cases?
  • How Marijuana-Based Businesses Interact with the Federal and State Law
  • What Should a Business Do to Ensure that Its Former Employees Do Not Join Its Rival Firm?
  • Should Author Protection for Written Work Be Done with Nom de Plumes or Legal Names?
  • How can Non-Disclosure Agreements save a Company from Disgruntled former Employees?
  • How is Copyright Law Favorable to an Artist or a Singer when the Recording Company represents it?

Though there are many business law research topics , it’s important to choose a topic that you are personally interested in to make writing your paper an interesting task.

International topics allow students to explore global business subjects. These topics can be more complex though lucrative. It’s not surprising that this category comprises mostly of business research topics for MBA students. Here are examples of international topics for research papers.

  • Is Social Media Presence Important for Companies Around the World?
  • How Does War between Countries Affect Businesses?
  • Examples of Companies that Have Failed in the International Markets and Why How Do You Spot a Small Business that is Likely to Become a Successful Multi-National?
  • What Languages are Likely to Be International Business Languages in the Future?
  • Should international companies be forced to supply healthcare services to full-time employees?
  • Should maternity leave in international business be increased?
  • Should recruiters be allowed to ask questions about an applicant’s personal life?
  • Should we attempt for an equal representation of male and feminine leaders within the workplace?
  • Should social media sites be blocked at work?
  • Casual dress codes and the corporate world.
  • International businesses and their influence on national businesses.

International topics for research papers should be current. They can’t be too general or too narrow. If your topic is too general or too narrow, you will be writing a paper that won’t delve deep or say much. This won’t earn you the grade you desire.

Topics on business administration give students a chance to explore something innovative. However, choosing a topic in this category can frustrating because there are many options available. Here are examples of business administration topics.

  • How Advertisement Affects Consumer Behavior
  • How Wages Affect Employees’ Productivity
  • How Staff Motivation Affects Productivity
  • How to Measure Employee Retention Rate
  • Customer follow-up techniques as after-sales methods.
  • Why business will harden you
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Equal opportunities for both sexes
  • Good governance ethics and social responsibility.
  • The way to cope with a breach of contract.
  • The various external factors affecting employee retention.

When writing a business administration research paper, it’s important to choose an effective topic that you can research and present properly. It’s also important to consider the field you are interested in and the goal of writing your paper. An ideal business administration topic is one that you are interested to learn more about.

Argumentative business papers use the existing, published materials and literature. So, when choosing business research proposal topics in this category, students should explore the existing information first. This will enable them to use the existing data when presenting their understanding of the topics argumentatively. The major challenge is to choose a topic that relates to your field of business study. Here are examples of argumentative business topics.

  • Acquisition vs. merger- Which one is better?
  • Businesses that Focus on Market Vs. Businesses that Focus on Products
  • Is Offering Better Value to New Employees a Wise Move?
  • Can Business Develop Leadership through Practice and Learning?
  • Is it Wise for a Company to Exploit Labor in Maximizing Profits?
  • Investing in Digital Marketing and Social Media Campaigns- Does it Capture the Audience Attention?
  • Monetary Incentives Versus Personal Acknowledgement and Fringe Benefits
  • Is having a crypto investment risk for businesses?
  • Is there a bias against the workplace?
  • Is it possible to work while stressed?
  • Why are there corporate loans and special grants for females’ start-ups?

Before you decide to write a paper on an argumentative business topic, it’s important to establish your position. Make sure that you have evidence or you can find facts to support your position. Your idea should be put on a pedestal when making your argument.

Business communication is solely the act of sharing and distributing information between people within and outdoors a corporation and how the staff and management communicate to assist out organizational problems. The best researchable business communication topics for presentation include:

  • Social media usage
  • Non-verbal communication
  • Giving proper feedback
  • Communicating decisions during an issue or crisis
  • Business and email etiquettes and manners
  • Usage of company blogs
  • Role of influencers for building a brand
  • Impact of social media for workers
  • Differences between qualitative and quantitative data analysis
  • Secrets of advertising and marketing

You would have to note that these are two different things; informative speeches support educating and training. In persuasive speeches, you’re imploring that they participate in something or buy something. Some business persuasive and informative speech topics include:

  • Ergonomics in the workspace
  • Standards in creative and financial accounting
  • Understanding business copyright protection
  • What are the categories of insurance?
  • How to develop healthy work skills
  • How safety programs and dealing conditions relate to productivity
  • Conflict Management Strategies
  • How to create a comprehensive and viable business plan
  • Opportunities of internet advertising.
  • Internal control of resources.
  • What is a career break?
  • What impact do oil price fluctuations have on businesses?
  • Ways to draw in customer attention.
  • Time management
  • New fathers’ paternity leave.

Debate may be a valuable way of communicating and also persuading people. Interesting business debate topics for you include:

  • Can companies be trusted?
  • Are our casual dress codes beneficial for the company?
  • Employee drug test: yes, or no?
  • Should dating within the workplace be allowed?
  • Should companies spy on employees on social media?
  • Companies should be forced to produce health care for full-time employees.
  • Are employees that employment from home productive?
  • Does job satisfaction help in productivity?
  • Men should stay longer off for paternity leave.
  • Non-financial incentives and financial incentives – which is better?
  • How to put in place strict work policies.

Qualitative business research has to do with the creative and investigative analysis of intangible and inexact data. Here are some qualitative research titles about business for your dissertation.

  • Handling backlash during a project program
  • Ways to relieve pressure for strict work deadlines
  • Time management essence in goal setting
  • Managers should be flexible in their decisions.
  • How to manage an organizational crisis in business and work
  • What is a product development and how to do it the right way?
  • Major types of business insurance
  • Ways to enhance short and long run career plans
  • Networking for a successful manager
  • Harassment within the workplace.
  • Telemarketing ideas for tiny companies.

MBA is a prestigious postgraduate qualification outlining key business practices and is valued by top employers. Great MBA research paper topics include:

  • Gender representation in advertising
  • Impact of workplace diversity on company culture
  • Result of emotional branding on customer loyalty
  • Steps to run a successful retail business.
  • Molestation should be taken more seriously within the workplace.
  • Should business strikers be fired?
  • Strong unions are necessary for the economic process.
  • How do team-building events foster unity in the workplace?
  • To be a business owner, you need to learn to be organized.
  • Top ten strategic e-marketing issues.
  • Business and politics: should they be mixed?

This develops methods and tools for founders, which are given to start-up companies. To go in-depth, here are some entrepreneurial research topics:

  • Entrepreneurship skills acquisition and product innovation
  • Determining the impact of technological advancement on entrepreneurship in a company
  • Determinants of entrepreneurial innovation in an organization
  • Role of entrepreneurship in solving unemployment
  • To be a good business owner, you must learn to be well-organized
  • A way to promote the business without a marketing budget?
  • The right technique to write effective business letters
  • Important business ethics for running a startup
  • Negotiation techniques every manager must-have.
  • Recruitment and staffing decisions are crucial to the success of any business.
  • How performance-related pay can enhance motivation in the workplace.

Business intelligence ensures business owners and employees are at the top of their game at all times. Business intelligence topics worthy of consideration include:

  • Role of human resources in company development
  • Impact of organizational culture on employee performance
  • Evaluating the impact of strategy and leadership for organizational development
  • Factors influencing employee motivation.
  • SMEs and their risk management approach.
  • Ageism within the workplace
  • Impact of advertisement strategy on consumer behavior.
  • Data analysis implementation for business intelligence
  • Knowledge management for organizational knowledge generation
  • Research on knowledge extraction using data processing for business operations
  • How poor leadership can bankrupt a business.

A great business research paper requires a relevant subject and one that may distinguish it from other papers. Frequently asked business research paper questions include:

  • Repackaging a product: is it possible to avoid copyright infringement?
  • Is it possible for a father to require paternity leave at work?
  • What are the best methods of identifying bankruptcy and fraud?
  • Can discrimination affect the work environment?
  •  Should companies provide penalties for smoking employers?
  •  How does piracy influence the gaming business?
  • Is there anything like the law of molestation at the workplace?
  • What causes favoritism in the workplace?
  •  15 Ways to start an e-business successfully
  • How is the worldwide pandemic changing international business strategies concerning different sectors?
  • What are the best training and development tactics in the office?

Topics for business papers fall into different categories. The choice of your topic should reflect your subject area or study field. But, above all, your topic should capture the readers’ attention from the moment they come across it. It should also be straightforward, original, and specific. That means you should understand your study field well to select a good topic. Therefore, conduct some research before you choose a topic for your business thesis or research paper. Besides, providing good topics for you, we can also help you with your business research paper topics.

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Business Research Topics | Best Ideas For Your Papers

business research topics

What is a business research? Business research is the method of obtaining factual information in all areas of business and the use of such information to maximize sales and profit. You can do business-related research for almost anything. It is, however, vital that you aim the research at helping people or organizations make wise and informed decisions.

This article focuses on the various aspects of business research, such as business law, business ethics, business proposal, international business, business management, business speech, business debate, and controversial business topics.

Why This List of Business Research Topics?

Writing a successful business research paper starts with getting the basics right. While many think they are ready for a business research project, they somehow always get stuck at the very first step: choosing business topics. Even after trying the conventional techniques of preliminary research and brainstorming, many are still unable to come up with great business research topics. This article aims to help you find exciting business topics. The exciting thing is that we don’t just give you a small range of business-related topics to choose from – we have 100!

Here is a list of some hot business essay topics to set the ball rolling. Our list of interesting business topics makes this not just a typical list, but one to give you an outstanding business research paper. This list contains 100 examples of business research topics and will be of great help!

So if you need some business topics for a research paper or presentation, be assured that you’re in the right place!

Controversial Business Topics

  • Free Market Capitalism
  • Lower minimum wage and job creation.
  • Would a minimum wage trap people in poverty?
  • Is outsourcing an Ethical Practice?
  • Outsourcing: Theories versus findings.

International Business Topics

Students offering business courses should endeavour to do some international business research that addresses critical issues affecting international trade. Here are some international business research topics which will come in handy.

  • Surviving International Competition: A Critical Analysis of the Strategic Measures Employed by Local Companies.
  • International Investment: The Importance of Educating the Public on the benefits of international investment.
  • Business at Sea: The Importance of Instituting and Implementing Environmentally-friendly Approaches.
  • Transforming Small Local Businesses into widely Recognized International Brands.
  • Human Resources: Effective Strategies for Maintaining Largely Diversified Organizations.
  • Branding: Effective Strategies to Provide a Competitive Advantage for International Businesses.

Business Proposal Topics

The business culture is taking over the world today, and with it comes quite a lot of issues and concerns in how we go about our daily activity. Whether you are a business tycoon or a customer at a grocery shop, everyone is involved in some form of business. Below are some business proposal topics to help you pitch that business idea.

  • Economic Problems: Possible initiatives to protect small businesses.
  • American Business Sector: Possible solutions to the decline of trust.
  • Local Businesses: Providing necessary support to avoid suffocation by huge chains.
  • Global Unemployment: Strategies and solutions to the problem of unemployment.
  • Stakeholders: Their impact on the success of a business.
  • Employee motivation and its effect on employee performance.

Business Speech Topics

Do you have a business speech to deliver and still not sure of the topic to focus on? Here is are some general business speech topics for you!

  • How to think and plan strategically.
  • Interpersonal and Family Relations.
  • How to make a sales pitch.
  • How to Move Your Business A Generation Ahead.
  • Reducing and resolving conflicts in family businesses.
  • Leadership Development and its importance.

Business Law Topics

Business law is a thriving area of business which grabs the interest of many people. Business law helps to govern the dealings in the commercial world. We thought you might need some business law paper topics ; hence this list of current juicy research topics on business law.

  • Bankruptcy Fraud: Legal identification methods.
  • Sexual Harassment Lawsuits: Its Avoidance within the company.
  • Trade secrets: When does it become “too secretive”?
  • UK Business Laws: A Review of the Legal Standing and Protection of Creditors.
  • Foreign Entity Registration: A comparative review of legal guidelines and implications for foreign businesses in the UK and Europe.
  • Trademark infringement: Possible defences to this offence.
  • E-commerce Practices: US legal implications on the workforce.
  • Data Privacy Laws: Their impact on business operations.

Business Ethics Topics

Another exciting area of business research is business ethics. With some excellent business ethics research paper topics, you’re well on your way to writing a unique paper. Here are some juicy business ethics paper topics/business research topic examples to get the ball rolling!

  • Gender Discrimination: A close investigation of its impact on employee performance in an organization.
  • Organizational Environmental Pollution: A critical look at its effects on consumer trust levels.
  • Labourer Abuse: Analyzing its repercussions in the construction sector.
  • Profit Seeking: A critical evaluation of its impact on product quality.
  • Advertisements: An Expository Study of the effects of misleading advertisements on consumer trust.
  • Gift-giving by Pharmaceutical Representatives: Any strings attached?
  • Business ethics: A Philosophical approach.
  • Ethical issues in governing a corporation.
  • Ethical conflicts: Avoiding religious, political, and cultural arguments at work.

Business Communication Topics

To be successful in business, one must be able to communicate effectively in areas such as selling ideas, persuading potential customers, communicating with employees, etc. In business, communication may as well be everything! Here are ten fantastic topics for your business communication research paper!

  • The effect of internal business communication on the external image of a business.
  • The Impact of Interactive online communication on public relations outcomes.
  • Interpersonal Communication: The Influence of Culture on interpersonal dialogue.
  • The impact of Computer-mediated Interaction.
  • Business Communication: Exploring different mediums and channels for effective communication in business.
  • The effect of intercultural information exchange on closing business deals.
  • Business Negotiation: A language-centred activity.
  • Symmetrical Dialogue: A critical look at the processes involved.
  • Business Negotiation: Styles in intercultural dialogue.
  • Exploring the differences between business communication and general communication.

Business Research Topics for MBA Students

Are you an MBA student in need of business research paper topics? Here are some hot ones just for you!

  • Organizational Culture and its influence on innovation management.
  • Environmental issues and their effect on business management in the world today.
  • Leadership Skills and its impact on organizational control.
  • An analytical overview of investment strategies.
  • The influence of online marketing on start-ups.
  • Direct Marketing versus Creative Marketing.
  • The power of advertising on consumer behaviour.
  • The impact of employee turnover on Organizational profit.
  • Globalization and its impact on small scale industries.
  • The e-commerce industry and its effect on the world today.

Business Management Research Topics

With the many facets of business management, finding a hot topic could be very challenging. Here are ten great ideas for research topics in business management.

  • Employee benefits and its effect on employee productivity.
  • The intricacies of managing conflict in the work team.
  • Start-ups: A look into the issues that occur during business start-ups.
  • Excessive work: Business consequences.
  • The evolving nature of work teams in meeting the requirements of the future.
  • Leadership strategies and Inter-organizational networks.
  • Product and service improvement in a strategic partnership.
  • How to manage crises in an organization.
  • Impact of total quality management practices on customer retention and satisfaction.
  • Effective time management as a tool for organizational survival.

Business Informative Speech Topics

Are you in particular need of business informative speech topics? Then you’re in the right place! Here are ten business topics which are full of juice!

  • Ergonomics in the workspace: How desks, chairs, and tables affect physical poses for sedentary workers.
  • Why there are corporate loans and special grants for women start-ups.
  • Standards in Creative and Financial Accounting: What is right or wrong?
  • Copyright protection: The what, the why and the when.
  • Outsourcing to third parties: When, why and how.
  • Why you have to back up trade secrets with a signed confidentiality agreement.
  • What are the types of insurance?
  • The 24-hour economy: How to manage risk under pressure.
  • Benefits of human resources and how to develop social skills.
  • How safety programs and working conditions relate to productivity.

Business Persuasive Speech Topics

A persuasive speech is a speech delivered with the intent of bringing about a change in the ideas or viewpoints of others. Here are ten business compelling speech topics to wow your audience.

  • Your business will fail if you lack social intelligence.
  • Why you need both short and long-term goals in business.
  • Why Introverts could make better entrepreneurs.
  • Why you must have a business plan.
  • Business Mentors: why every business person needs one.
  • The secret in sending past clients thoughtful gifts.
  • Social Media: Why you should take full advantage of it for your business.
  • Placing higher values on experience than qualifications.
  • Parenting: why new fathers should also get paid time off to help with the baby.
  • Why gut instinct is still essential in hiring.

Business Debate Topics

It is usually challenging to choose business debate topics because you must select a business debate topic which you find interesting. We have prepared some hot business debate topics to help you in your essay.

  • Multinationals: Doing more harm than good?
  • Corporate jobs: A new form of slavery.
  • Stock market: is it related to gambling?
  • An MBA will not make you a good business leader.
  • An MBA is worth the cost.
  • Business and Politics: Should they be mixed?
  • Should the world run on a cashless economy?
  • Cryptocurrencies: Are they reliable in business?
  • Advertisements: Profitable to business?
  • Women: Better business managers than men?

So here we are! One hundred business topics which cover different areas in business. Are you ready to take your writing to a whole new level? These topics will set you on the right path faster. Don’t forget to proofread and edit your paper thoroughly before turning it in. Good luck!

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The Top 10 Most Interesting Business Research Topics

Interesting and relevant business research topics are vital for students pursuing an MBA or an undergraduate degree in business . Aside from helping you get excellent grades in school, they can help you understand business problems and come up with solutions to vital business research questions.

Choosing a single business research paper topic can be daunting. There are tons of exciting topics to choose from. This article provides several examples of business research paper topics that can inspire your next paper or research project.

Find your bootcamp match

What makes a strong business research topic.

A strong business research paper topic is clear, concise, well-phrased, and easy to understand. It is devoid of unnecessary jargon and may contain relevant business terms and widely known abbreviations. It also lays the foundation for the entire paper, summarizing the scope and aim of the business research project.

Tips for Choosing a Business Research Topic

  • Brainstorm: When choosing a research topic, begin by brainstorming topics that strike your interest or that you have substantial knowledge about. Make a list of ideas as you go.
  • Consider keywords and hot topics: Think about trends and hot topics in your field and academic network. Skimming the table of contents in a recently published business journal can be very helpful in this regard.
  • Research: Next, read up on your keywords to help you form possible topics for your research paper. Conduct a literature review to see what other researchers have discovered and how your research can add to the existing body of knowledge.
  • Sort your ideas: After your preliminary research, take your ideas and sort them into categories. For instance, keep topics on business law separate from international business topics.
  • Narrow down: Finally, narrow down your options. At this stage, consider the cost of running the project, your level of expertise, your interest, and the availability of research materials. Eventually, you’ll arrive at a single ideal research topic.

What’s the Difference Between a Research Topic and a Research Question?

A research topic is a subject that forms the foundation of your research paper—for example, the impact of gender discrimination. Your topic scope here may be fairly broad.

By contrast, a research question articulates a specific problem that your research aims to solve. Answering research questions should be the objective of your study or thesis. One example of a strong research question is “How do cultural contexts affect the impact of gender discrimination in privately owned companies?”

How to Create Strong Business Research Questions

Creating strong business research questions follows the same rules as choosing strong business research topics. However, this time you have to ask the following questions: how, why, and who? Research questions should relate to your topic of study. They should be clear, straightforward, and answerable.

Top 10 Business Research Paper Topics

1. frameworks for better customer privacy protection, information security, and data utilization.

Privacy is a common issue for customers and businesses in this data-driven age. The World Bank’s Data Protection and Privacy Policy laws ensure that companies comply with business ethics and best practices when handling customer data. What are some strategies that businesses employ to ensure proper data handling?

2. Modern Methods of Increasing Employee Productivity

Monetary incentives, healthy work environments, and excellent work-life balance keep workers motivated and improve productivity. This research can explore the pros and cons of each method and its potential implications on employee motivation and morale. You can use data analytics methods to assess the effectiveness of these strategies.

3. Brand Influencing and Social Media Marketing Strategies

The International Chamber of Commerce formulated the international code of conduct on direct selling to guide local and international business marketing operations to ensure fairness in highly competitive business environments. Such online marketing operations include social media marketing and brand influencing.

4. Analyzing the Role of Copyrights and Trademarks in Business Transactions

Copyright, patent, and trademark policy are essential legal doctrines that prevent business people from unfairly profiting from others’ creations. When two businesses enter into a transaction, several potential issues could arise. One such issue is the protection of intellectual property. The purpose of this research is to explore the role copyrights and trademarks play in maintaining fair business transactions.

5. Analyzing the Structure of Transactions and the Role of a Director’s Guarantee in Business Law

Transactions, specifically in business law, play a significant role in the stability of companies. This paper on business law aims to analyze business laws and the structure of transactions. It will also recognize the role of a director’s guarantee in ensuring these aspects function to maintain the stability of companies in the American business sector.

6. Challenges to Transforming Small Local Businesses into Global Business Brands

Scaling a start-up or a small family business into a global brand involves several factors, including financing and financial management , technology, management, and the business environment. By studying international brands like Walmart and Spanx, you can identify core challenges that impede scaling and suggest solutions ranging from innovation management and technological innovation to a possible change in government policies.

7. Ethical Issues in Modern Business Management

Business ethics is a core aspect of business management . It defines the right and wrong ways of conducting business and guides business managers in the day-to-day running of their enterprises. With this research topic, you can explore ethical issues a business leader faces in the modern era, such as business corruption, harassment, and discrimination.

8. The Economic Development of Developing Economies in the Emerging Digital Economy

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s 2021 report revealed a fast-rising global data-driven digital economy. It also sparked several questions regarding the divide between developing economies and their developed counterparts. Some areas of focus were poor internet connection and lack of technological infrastructure.

9. The Role of Business Negotiation in Driving Sales Performance

With this topic, you can focus on the role of different negotiation tactics in achieving desired outcomes for both the organization and the customer. Managers can use these findings to help their team members negotiate more effectively and achieve better results.

10. The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Societal Transformation

Social entrepreneurs are business start-ups formed with the primary aim of solving a societal problem and upholding moral principles, turning profit-making into a lower priority than it might be otherwise. You can study the business plans and business models of these kinds of ventures and highlight their roles in bringing about sustainable development and other forms of positive social change.

Other Examples of Business Research Topics & Questions

Business research topics.

  • Harnessing organizational structure as an antidote to corporate crime and a strategy for business survival
  • Social intelligence and its roles in driving growth among women-owned start-ups
  • Exploring links between employee diversity and corporate culture
  • Legal risks for remote employees of marijuana-based businesses
  • Environmental issues and their implications for business management

Business Research Questions

  • Do employee diversity and internal business communication play an essential role in productivity?
  • How can small companies impact global change?
  • What are effective strategies for maintaining vastly diversified organizations?
  • What role does human resource management play in ensuring proper crisis management in small businesses?
  • What is the role of start-ups in global business?

Choosing the Right Business Research Topic

Choosing the right business topic can be challenging, but it is essential to writing a compelling paper. Make sure to pick a topic that interests you. Also, ensure that your topic meets your professor’s requirements for the assignment.

Having a good research topic is the first step to writing an excellent research paper because it lays the foundation for the entire piece. Conduct in-depth research and take advantage of any resources available to you to facilitate the process.

Business Research Topics FAQ

The difference between quantitative research and qualitative research is that quantitative research uses numerical data to analyze problems, and it relies on statistical sampling and mathematical models to arrive at conclusions. On the other hand, qualitative business research collects data through interviews, focus groups, and observations.

You can find strong business communication research paper topics on research websites like Google Scholar and ResearchGate. You can also check many other online resources for suggestions on dissertation topics in business communication.

When starting a business, you should research your industry, target market, and competitors. It is also necessary to study business law, organizational behavior, and financial management.

Some examples of business research questions on racial and gender discrimination in the workplace include:

  • How does implicit bias impact employees and businesses?
  • What can companies do to prevent or mitigate discrimination in the workplace? 
  • How can we create a more inclusive workplace for all employees? 
  • What are the best practices for handling discrimination complaints?

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The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021—and beyond

Businesses have spent much of the past nine months scrambling to adapt to extraordinary circumstances. While the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet won, with a vaccine in sight, there is at least a faint light at the end of the tunnel—along with the hope that another train isn’t heading our way.

2021 will be the year of transition. Barring any unexpected catastrophes, individuals, businesses, and society can start to look forward to shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present. The next normal is going to be different. It will not mean going back to the conditions that prevailed in 2019. Indeed, just as the terms “prewar” and “postwar” are commonly used to describe the 20th century, generations to come will likely discuss the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras.

2021 will be the year of transition. Barring any unexpected catastrophes, individuals, businesses, and society can start to look forward to shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present.

In this article, we identify some of the trends that will shape the next normal. Then we discuss how they will affect the direction of the global economy, how business will adjust, and how society could be changed forever as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

How the COVID-19 crisis and the recovery are shaping the global economy

The return of confidence unleashes a consumer rebound.

There are lines outside stores, but they are often due to physical-distancing requirements. Theaters are dark. Fashions are in closets rather than on display. If the Musée du Louvre were open, the lack of tourists might even create the opportunity for an unobstructed view of the Mona Lisa. In these and other ways, consumers have pulled back.

As consumer confidence returns, so will spending, with “revenge shopping” sweeping through sectors as pent-up demand is unleashed. That has been the experience of all previous economic downturns. One difference, however, is that services have been particularly hard hit this time. The bounce back will therefore likely emphasize those businesses, particularly the ones that have a communal element, such as restaurants and entertainment venues.

That isn’t to say that consumers will act uniformly. McKinsey’s most recent consumer survey, published in late October, found that countries with older demographics, such as France, Italy, and Japan, are less optimistic than are those with younger populations, such as India and Indonesia. China was an exception—it has an older population but is conspicuously optimistic.

But China’s profile proves a larger point. The first country to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was also the first to emerge from it. China’s consumers are relieved—and spending accordingly. On Singles Day, November 11, the country’s two largest online retailers racked up record sales. That wasn’t just a holiday phenomenon. While manufacturing in China came back first, by September, so had consumer spending. Except for international air travel, Chinese consumers have begun to act and spend largely as they did in precrisis times. Australia also offers hope. With the pandemic largely contained in that country, household spending fueled a faster-than-expected 3.3 percent growth rate in the third quarter of 2020, and spending on goods and services rose 7.9 percent. 1 Jamie Smyth, “Australia’s economy powers out of COVID-19 recession,” Financial Times, December 1, 2020, ft.com.

How fast and deep confidence will recover is an open question. In late September, for example, the US consumers surveyed were more optimistic than before but still cautious, reporting that they planned to buy holiday gifts for fewer people and keep an eye on discretionary spending. 2 “ Survey: US consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis ,” December 2020. Only around a third had resumed out-of-home activities, compared with 81 percent of consumers in China, 49 percent in France—and just 18 percent in Mexico. New lockdowns and, critically, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines have and will affect those numbers. The point is that spending will only recover as fast as the rate at which people feel confident about becoming mobile again—and those attitudes differ markedly by country.

Leisure travel bounces back but business travel lags

People who travel for pleasure will want to get back to doing so. That has been the pattern in China. The CEO of one major travel company told us that, beginning in the third quarter of 2020, business was “pretty much back to normal” when referring to growth. But it was a different normal: domestic travel was surging, but international travel was still depressed given pandemic-related border restrictions and concerns about health and safety. In China as a whole, hotel occupancy and the number of travelers on domestic flights were more than 90 percent of their 2019 levels at the end of August, and over the October Golden Week holiday, more than 600 million Chinese hit the road, around 80 percent of last year’s figure. 3 Anniek Bao, “Travel rebounds over China’s national day holiday,” Caixin Global, October 9, 2020, caixinglobal.com; Monica Buchanan Pitrelli, “More than 600 million people traveled in China during ‘Golden Week’,” CNBC, October 9, 2020, cnbc.com; Guang Chen, Will Enger, Steve Saxon, and Jackey Yu, “ What can other countries learn from China’s travel recovery path? ,” October 2020. Because of confidence in the country’s health and safety measures, domestic travel is almost back to the level seen prior to the pandemic, and high-end domestic travel is actually ahead of it.

By definition, leisure travel is discretionary. Business travel is less so. In 2018, business-travel spending reached $1.4 trillion, which was more than 20 percent of the total spending in the hospitality and travel sector. 4 World Travel & Tourism Council, wttc.org. It also brings in a disproportionate share of profits—70 percent of revenues globally for high-end hotels, for example. During and after the pandemic, though, there is a question about business travel: Exactly when is it necessary? The answer is almost certain to be not as much as before. Video calls and collaboration tools that enable remote working, for example, could replace some onsite meetings and conferences.

The larger context is also informative. History shows that, after a recession, business travel takes longer than leisure travel to bounce back. After the 2008–09 financial crisis, for example, international business travel took five years to recover, compared with two years for international leisure travel.

Regional and domestic business travel will likely rebound first; some companies and sectors will want to resume in-person sales and customer meetings as soon as they safely can. Peer pressure may also play a part: once one company gets back to face-to-face meetings, their competitors may not want to hold back. All told, however, a survey of business-travel managers found that they expect business-travel spending in 2021 will only be half that of 2019. 5 Seth Borko, Wouter Geerts, and Haixia Wang, The travel industry turned upside down: Insights, analysis, and actions for travel executives , September 2020. While business travel will return at scale, and global economic growth will generate new demand, executives in the field think that it may never recover to the 2019 level.

In short, leisure travel is driven by the very human desire to explore and to enjoy, and that has not changed. Indeed, one of the first things people do as they grow more prosperous is to travel—first close to home and then further afield. There is no reason to believe that the rise in global prosperity will reverse itself or that human curiosity will diminish. But the effective use of technology during the pandemic—and the economic constraints that many companies will face for years after it—could augur the beginning of a long-term structural change in business travel.

The crisis sparks a wave of innovation and launches a generation of entrepreneurs

Plato was right: necessity is indeed the mother of invention. During the COVID-19 crisis, one area that has seen tremendous growth is digitization, meaning everything from online customer service to remote working to supply-chain reinvention to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve operations. Healthcare, too, has changed substantially, with telehealth and biopharma coming into their own.

Disruption creates space for entrepreneurs—and that’s what is happening in the United States, in particular, but also in other major economies. We admit that we didn’t see this coming. After all, during the 2008–09 financial crisis, small-business formation declined, and it rose only slightly during the recessions of 2001 and 1990–91. This time, though, there is a veritable flood of new small businesses. In the third quarter of 2020 alone, there were more than 1.5 million new-business applications in the United States—almost double the figure for the same period in 2019. 6 “Business and industry: Time series/trend charts,” US Census Bureau, December 15, 2020, census.gov.

Yes, many of those businesses are single-person establishments that could well stay that way—think of the restaurant chef turned caterer or the recent college graduate with a cool new app. So it’s intriguing that the volume of “high-propensity-business applications” (those that are likeliest to turn into businesses with payrolls) has also risen strongly—more than 50 percent compared with 2019. Venture-capital activity dipped only slightly in the first half of 2020.

The European Union has not seen anything like this response, perhaps because its recovery strategy tended to emphasize protecting jobs (not income, as in the United States). That said, France saw 84,000 new business formations in October, the highest ever recorded, 7 Valentina Romei, “Pandemic triggers surge in business start-ups across major countries,” Financial Times, December 30, 2020, ft.com. and 20 percent more than in the same month in 2019. Germany has also seen an increase in new businesses compared with 2019; ditto for Japan. Britain is somewhere in between. A survey published in November 2020 of 1,500 self-employed people found that 20 percent say they are likely to leave self-employment when they can. 8 “Hours and incomes of self-employed workers stayed low over summer,” LSE, November 10, 2020, lse.ac.uk. At the same time, however, the number of new businesses registered in the United Kingdom in the third quarter of 2020 rose 30 percent compared with 2019, showing the largest increase seen since 2012. 9 Andy Bounds and Chris Tighe, “Starting a business in the midst of a pandemic,” Financial Times, November 26, 2020, ft.com.

On the whole, the COVID-19 crisis has been devastating small business. In the United States, for example, there were 25.3 percent fewer of them open in December 2020 than at the beginning of the year (the bottom was in mid-April, when the figure was almost half). 10 Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, November 30, 2020, tracktherecovery.org. US small-business revenue fell more than 30 percent between January and December 2020. 11 Gwynn Guilford and Charity L. Scott, “Is it insane to start a business during coronavirus? Millions of Americans don’t think so,” Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2020, wsj.com. But we’ll take good news where we can get it, and the positive trend in entrepreneurship could bode well for job growth and economic activity once recovery takes hold.

Digitally enabled productivity gains accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution

There’s no going back. The great acceleration in the use of technology, digitization, and new forms of working is going to be sustained. Many executives reported that they moved 20 to 25 times faster than they thought possible on things like building supply-chain redundancies, improving data security, and increasing the use of advanced technologies in operations. 12 “ How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever: McKinsey Global Survey results ,” October 2020.

How all that feeds into long-term productivity will not be known until the data for several more quarters are evaluated. But it’s worth noting that US productivity in the third quarter of 2020 rose 4.6 percent, following a 10.6 percent increase in the second quarter, which is the largest six-month improvement since 1965. 13 “Productivity and costs: Third quarter 2020, revised,” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 8, 2020, bls.gov. Productivity is only one number, albeit an important one; the startling figure for the United States in the second quarter was based in large part on the biggest declines in output and hours seen since 1947. That isn’t an enviable precedent.

More positively, in the past, it has taken a decade or longer for game-changing technologies to evolve from cool new things to productivity drivers. The COVID-19 crisis has sped up that transition in areas such as AI and digitization by several years, and even faster in Asia. A McKinsey survey published in October 2020 found that companies are three times likelier than they were before the crisis to conduct at least 80 percent of their customer interactions digitally. 14 Laura LaBerge, Clayton O’Toole, Jeremy Schneider, and Kate Smaje “ How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever ,” October 2020.

The COVID-19 crisis has created an imperative for companies to reconfigure their operations—and an opportunity to transform them. To the extent that they do so, greater productivity will follow.

That evolution has not always been a seamless or elegant process: businesses had to scramble to install or adapt new technologies under intense pressure. The result has been that some systems are clunky. The near-term challenge, then, is to move from reacting to the crisis to building and institutionalizing what has been done well so far. For consumer industries, and particularly for retail, that could mean improving digital and omnichannel business models. For healthcare, it’s about establishing virtual options as a norm. For insurance, it’s about personalizing the customer experience. And for semiconductors, it’s about identifying and investing in next-generation products. For everyone, there will be new opportunities in M&A and an urgent need to invest in capability building.

How businesses are adjusting to the changes prompted by the COVID-19 crisis

Pandemic-induced changes in shopping behavior forever alter consumer businesses.

In nine of 13 major countries surveyed by McKinsey, at least two-thirds of consumers say they have tried new kinds of shopping. 15 Surveyed countries were Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. The countries where fewer than two-thirds of respondents had tried new shopping behaviors were the United Kingdom (63 percent), France (56 percent), Germany (50 percent), and Japan (30 percent). And in all 13, 65 percent or more say they intend to continue to do so. The implication is that brands that haven’t figured out how to reach consumers in new ways had better catch up, or they will be left behind. We expect that, in developing markets—Brazil and India, for example—the pandemic will accelerate digital shopping, albeit from a low base. Consumers in continental Europe have bought more online but aren’t as enthusiastic as those in Britain and the United States to continue doing so.

Specifically, the shift to online retail is real, and much of it will stick. In the United States, the penetration of e-commerce was forecast in 2019 to reach 24 percent by 2024; by July 2020, it had hit 33 percent of total retail sales. 16 Eric Lamarre and Kate Smaje, “ Accelerating digital capabilities to recover from the COVID-19 crisis ,” July 21, 2020. To put it another way, the first half of 2020 saw an increase in e-commerce equivalent to that of the previous ten years. 17 Arun Arora, Hamza Khan, Sajal Kohli, and Caroline Tufft, “ DTC e-commerce: How consumer brands can get it right ,” November 2020. In Latin America, where the payments and delivery infrastructure isn’t as strong, e-commerce use doubled from 5 to 10 percent. In Europe, overall digital adoption is almost universal (95 percent), compared with 81 percent at the start of the pandemic. In normal times, getting to that level would have taken two to three years. Strikingly, the biggest increases came in countries that had previously been relatively cautious about shopping online. Germany, Romania, and Switzerland, for example, had the three lowest online-penetration rates prior to the COVID-19 crisis; since then, usage increased 28, 25, and 18 percentage points, respectively—more than in any other markets.

Dig a little deeper, though, and there are some cautionary notes, such as the conspicuous lack of brand loyalty among online buyers. Perhaps most telling, in a recent McKinsey survey, only 60 percent of consumer-goods companies say they are even moderately prepared to capture e-commerce-growth opportunities. 18 Arun Arora, Hamza Khan, Sajal Kohli, and Caroline Tufft, “ DTC e-commerce: How consumer brands can get it right ,” November 2020. As one executive told us, “when it comes to selling directly to consumers, we don’t really know where to start.” That concern is certainly valid. Direct-to-consumer selling requires the development of new skills, capabilities, and business and pricing models. But the trend is clear: many consumers are moving online. To reach them, companies have to go there, too.

Supply chains rebalance and shift

Think of it as “just in time plus.” The “plus” stands for “just in case,” meaning more sophisticated risk management. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in the long, complicated supply chains of many companies. When a single country or even a single factory went dark, the lack of critical components shut down production. Never again, executives vowed. So the great rebalancing began. As much as a quarter of global goods exports, or $4.5 trillion, could shift by 2025.

Once businesses began to study how their supply chains worked, they realized three things. First, disruptions aren’t unusual. Any given company can expect a shutdown lasting a month or so every 3.7 years. Such shocks, then, are far from shocking: they are predictable features of doing business that need to be managed like any other.

Second, cost differences among developed and many developing countries are narrowing. In manufacturing, companies that adopt Industry 4.0 principles (meaning the application of data, analytics, human–machine interaction, advanced robotics, and 3-D printing) can offset half of the labor-cost differential between China and the United States. The gap narrows further when the cost of rigidity is factored in: end-to-end optimization is more important than the sum of individual transaction costs. That’s one reason why agencies such as the US Department of Defense are diversifying their networks of suppliers for essentials, such as in healthcare manufacturing and microelectronics.

And third, most businesses do not have a good idea of what is going on lower down in their supply chains, where subtiers and sub-subtiers may play small but critical roles. That is also where most disruptions originate, but two-thirds of companies say they can’t confirm the business-continuity arrangements with their non-tier-one suppliers. With the development of AI and data analytics, companies can learn more about, audit, and connect with their entire value chains.

None of those things means that multinationals are going to ship all or most of their production back to their home markets. There are good reasons to take advantage of regional expertise and to be in place to serve fast-growing consumer markets. But questions on security and resiliency mean that those companies are likely to be more thoughtful about the business cases for such decisions.

The future of work arrives ahead of schedule

Before the COVID-19 crisis, the idea of remote working was in the air but not proceeding very far or fast. But the pandemic changed that, with tens of millions of people transitioning to working from home, essentially overnight, in a wide range of industries. For example, according to Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, there were 2,000 telehealth visits recorded at the organization in all of 2019—and 5,000 a week in July 2020. 19 “ Making a daily ‘to be’ list: How a hospital system CEO is navigating the coronavirus crisis ,” McKinsey Quarterly , July 23, 2020. Fisher thinks telehealth could account for 30 percent of all healthcare visits in the future. In Japan, fewer than 1,000 institutions offered remote care in 2018; by July 2020, more than 16,000 did.

The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimates that more than 20 percent of the global workforce (most of them in high-skilled jobs in sectors such as finance, insurance, and IT) could work the majority of its time away from the office—and be just as effective. Not everyone who can, will; even so, that is a once-in-several-generations change. It’s happening not just because of the COVID-19 crisis but also because advances in automation and digitization made it possible; the use of those technologies has accelerated during the pandemic. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted in April 2020 that “we’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” 20 Jared Spataro, “2 years of digital transformation in 2 months,” Microsoft, April 30, 2020, microsoft.com.

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that more than 20 percent of the global workforce could work the majority of its time away from the office—and be just as effective.

There are two important challenges related to the transition to working away from the office. One is to decide the role of the office itself, which is the traditional center for creating culture and a sense of belonging. Companies will have to make decisions on everything from real estate (Do we need this building, office, or floor?) to workplace design (How much space between desks? Are pantries safe?) to training and professional development (Is there such a thing as remote mentorship?). Returning to the office shouldn’t be a matter of simply opening the door. Instead, it needs to be part of a systematic reconsideration of what exactly the office brings to the organization.

The other challenge has to do with adapting the workforce to the requirements of automation, digitization, and other technologies. This isn’t just the case for sectors such as banking and telecom; instead it’s a challenge across the board, even in sectors not associated with remote work. For example, major retailers are increasingly automating checkout. If salesclerks want to keep their jobs, they will need to learn new skills. In 2018, the World Economic Forum estimated that more than half of employees would need significant reskilling or upskilling by 2022.

Evidence shows that the benefits of reskilling current staff, rather than letting them go and then finding new people, typically costs less and brings benefits that outweigh the costs. Investing in employees can also foster loyalty, customer satisfaction, and positive brand perception.

Workforce development was a priority even before the pandemic. In a McKinsey survey conducted in May 2019, almost 90 percent of the executives and managers surveyed said their companies faced skill gaps or expected to in the next five years. 21 “ Beyond hiring: How companies are reskilling to address talent gaps ,” February 12, 2020. But only a third said they were prepared to deal with the issue. Successful reskilling starts with knowing what skills are needed, both right now and in the near future; offering tailored learning opportunities to meet them; and evaluating what does and doesn’t work. Perhaps most important, it requires commitment from the top that inculcates a culture of lifelong learning.

The biopharma revolution takes hold

The announcement of several promising COVID-19 vaccines has been a much-needed shot of good news. There will be challenges to rolling out these vaccines on the scale needed, but that does not lessen the accomplishment.

Unlike previous vaccines, many of which use an inactivated or attenuated form of a virus to create resistance to it, the vaccines created by Moderna and the BioNTech–Pfizer partnership use mRNA. This platform has been under development for years, but these are the first vaccines that have secured regulatory approval. The “m” is for “messenger” because the molecules carry genetic instructions to the cells to create a protein that prompts an immune response. The body breaks down mRNA and its lipid carrier within a matter of hours. (WHO lists 60 candidate COVID-19 vaccines that have advanced to clinical trials; many don’t use mRNA.)

Just as businesses have sped up their operations in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic could be the launching point for a massive acceleration in the pace of medical innovation, with biology meeting technology in new ways. Not only was the COVID-19 genome sequenced in a matter of weeks, rather than months, but the vaccine rolled out in less than a year—an astonishing accomplishment given that normal vaccine development has often taken a decade. Urgency has created momentum, but the larger story is how a wide and diverse range of capabilities—among them, bioengineering, genetic sequencing, computing, data analytics, automation, machine learning, and AI—have come together.

Regulators have also reacted with speed and creativity, establishing clear guidelines and encouraging thoughtful collaboration. Without relaxing safety and efficacy requirements, they have shown just how quickly they can collect and evaluate data. If those lessons are applied to other diseases, they could play a significant role in setting the foundation for the faster development of treatments.

The development of COVID-19 vaccines is just the most compelling example of the potential of what MGI calls the “Bio Revolution”—biomolecules, biosystems, biomachines, and biocomputing. In a report published in May 2020, MGI estimated that “45 percent of the global disease burden could be addressed with capabilities that are scientifically conceivable today.” 22 “ The Bio Revolution: Innovations transforming economies, societies, and our lives ,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 13, 2020. For example, gene-editing technologies could curb malaria, which kills more than 250,000 people a year. Cellular therapies could repair or even replace damaged cells and tissues. New kinds of vaccines could be applied to noncommunicable diseases, including cancer and heart disease.

The potential of the Bio Revolution goes well beyond health; as much as 60 percent of the physical inputs to the global economy, according to MGI, could theoretically be produced biologically. Examples include agriculture (genetic modification to create heat- or drought-resistant crops or to address conditions such as vitamin-A deficiency), energy (genetically engineered microbes to create biofuels), and materials (artificial spider silk and self-repairing fabrics). Those and other applications feasible through current technology could create trillions of dollars in economic impact over the next decade.

Portfolio restructuring accelerates

The COVID-19 crisis provoked divergent, even dramatic, reactions, with some industries taking off and others suffering badly; the effect was to shake up historic norms. When the economy settles into its next normal, such sectoral differences can be expected to narrow, with industries returning to somewhere around their previous relative positions. What is less obvious is how the dynamics within sectors are likely to change. In previous downturns, the strong came out stronger, and the weak got weaker, went under, or were bought. The defining difference was resilience—the ability not only to absorb shocks but to use them to build competitive advantage. Over the course of a decade, companies can expect losses of 42 percent of a year’s profits from disruptions. 23 “ Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains ,” McKinsey Global Institute, August 6, 2020.

In October 2020, McKinsey evaluated 1,500 companies by “Z-Score,” which measures the probability of corporate bankruptcy. The higher the score, the stronger the company’s financial position. The research found that the top 20 percent of companies (the “emerging resilients”) that had improved their Z-Scores during the current recession had increased their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by 5 percent; the others had lost 19 percent. 24 Cindy Levy, Mihir Mysore, Kevin Sneader, and Bob Sternfels, “ The emerging resilients: Achieving ‘escape velocity’ ,” October 6, 2020. The emerging resilients, the evidence shows, are pulling away from the pack.

The implication is that there is a resiliency premium on recovery. Top performers won’t sit on their strengths; instead, as in previous downturns, they will seek out ways to build them—for example, through M&A. That’s why we expect to see substantial portfolio adjustment as companies with healthy balance sheets seek opportunities in a context of discounted assets and lower valuations. In fact, that may already be happening: deal making began to pick up midyear.

A second factor that tilts the odds in favor of portfolio restructuring is the availability of private capital. Special-purpose acquisition companies, which merge with a company to take it public, are “having a moment” in 2020, as McKinsey recently noted. 25 Kurt Chauviere, Alastair Green, and Tao Tan, “ Earning the premium: A recipe for long-term SPAC success ,” September 23, 2020. Through August 2020, they had accounted for 81 out of 111 US IPOs.

Much more important is private equity (PE). Globally, PE firms are sitting on almost $1.5 trillion of “dry powder”—unallocated capital that’s ready to be invested. The COVID-19 crisis has hurt in some ways, with global deal value down 12 percent compared with the first three quarters of 2019 and deal counts down 30 percent. 26 Alex Lynn, “Asia’s dealmakers spend big during pandemic, get little back,” PEI Media, November 23, 2020, privateequityinternational.com.

On the other hand, global fundraising has stayed strong—$348.5 billion through September 2020, on par with the previous five years—and deal making in Asia has more than doubled. 27 Alex Lynn, “Covid-19 adds fuel to India’s private equity explosion,” PEI Media, November 30, 2020, privateequityinternational.com; Carmela Mendoza, “Flight to familiarity intensifies with fewer funds,” PEI Media, October 19, 2020, privateequityinternational.com. The PE industry has a reputation of zigging when others are zagging, making deals in difficult times. And it has history on its side: returns on PE investments made during global downturns tend to be higher than in the good times. Put it all together, and we don’t think the PE industry is going to keep its powder dry for much longer; there are simply going to be too many new investment opportunities.

Green, with a touch of brown, is the color of recovery

All over the world, the costs of pollution—and the benefits of environmental sustainability—are increasingly recognized. China, some of the Gulf States, and India are investing in green energy on a scale that would have been considered improbable even a decade ago. Europe, including the United Kingdom, is united on addressing climate change. The United States is transitioning away from coal and is innovating in a wide array of green technologies, such as batteries, carbon-capture methods, and electric vehicles.

To cope with the 2008–09 financial crisis, there were substantial government stimulus programs, but few of them incorporated climate or environmental action. This time is different. Many (though by no means all) countries are using their recovery plans to push through existing environmental policy priorities:

  • The European Union plans to dedicate around 30 percent of its $880 billion plan for COVID-19-crisis plan to climate-change-related measures, including the issuance of at least $240 billion in “green bonds.”
  • In September 2020, China pledged to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2060.
  • Japan has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050.
  • South Korea’s Green New Deal, part of its economic-recovery plan, invests in greener infrastructure and technology, with the stated goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
  • While campaigning, US president-elect Joe Biden pledged to invest $2 trillion in clean energy related to transportation, power, and building.
  • Canada is linking recovery to climate goals.
  • Nigeria plans to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies and to install solar-power systems for an estimated 25 million people.
  • Colombia is planting 180 million trees.

The imperative for businesses is clear along two fronts. First, businesses need to respond to the sustainability concerns of investors. It’s possible, albeit speculative, that the COVID-19 crisis foreshadows what a climate crisis could look like: systemic, fast moving, wide ranging, and global. There is a case, then, for businesses to take action to limit their climate risks—for example, by making their capital investments more climate resilient or by diversifying their supply chains.

More significantly, the growth opportunities that a green economy portends could be substantial. BlackRock, a global investment company with around $7 trillion in assets under management, noted in its 2021 Global Outlook that, “contrary to past consensus,” it expects that the shift to sustainability will “help enhance returns” and that “the tectonic shift towards sustainable investing is accelerating.” 28 Philipp Hildebrand et al., 2021 Global Outlook , BlackRock, 2020, blackrock.com. Green growth opportunities abound across massive sectors such as energy, mobility, and agriculture. Just as digital-economy companies have powered stock-market returns in the past couple of decades, so green-technology companies could play that role in the coming decades.

How the COVID-19 crisis could change society

Healthcare systems take stock—and make changes.

Healthcare system reform is difficult. While caution is necessary when lives are involved, one consequence is that modernization is often slower than it needs to be. Learning from the experiences associated with COVID-19 can show the way to build stronger postpandemic healthcare systems.

Consider the case of South Korea. When the MERS virus struck in 2015, resulting in the deaths of 38 Koreans, the government was stung by widespread public criticism that it had not responded well. As a result, it took action to improve its pandemic preparedness—and it was ready when COVID-19 hit in January 2020. Large-scale testing, as well as tracing and quarantine measures, began almost immediately. And it worked. While the country began seeing a significant increase in new cases in December, fewer than 1,000 South Koreans died from COVID-19 in all of 2020.

No doubt, governments all over the world will set up task forces, inquiries, and commissions to examine their actions related to the COVID-19 crisis. The key is to go beyond the temptation simply to assign blame (or credit). Instead, the efforts need to be forward thinking, with an emphasis on turning the painful lessons of COVID-19 into effective action.

Being better prepared for the next pandemic, on both national and international levels, has to be a high priority. Too often, investments in prevention and public-health capabilities are undervalued; the experience of COVID-19 demonstrates how costly, in both lives and livelihoods, such thinking can be. An upgrade of public-health infrastructure and the modernization of healthcare systems, including the wider use of telemedicine and virtual health, are two areas to address.

Business will also have a role. Employers should take the opportunity to learn from the pandemic how to redesign workplaces, build healthier work environments, and invest effectively in employee health.

The hangovers begin as governments tackle rising debt

The scale of the fiscal response to the COVID-19 crisis was unprecedented—and three times bigger than seen for the 2008–09 financial crisis. In the G-20 alone, fiscal packages are estimated at more than $10 trillion. Few question the humanitarian and economic cases for strong action. But even in an era of low interest rates, the reckoning could be painful.

In February 2020, Janet Yellen, who is Joe Biden’s choice to become Secretary of the Treasury, said that “the US debt path is completely unsustainable under current tax and spending plans.” 29 “Debt, inequality and the coronavirus: A conversation with former Fed Chair Janet Yellen and the World Bank’s David Malpass,” Marketplace, February 4, 2020, marketplace.org. Since then, the US federal government has allocated trillions in COVID-19-crisis relief. That has put the country into new fiscal territory, with the US public debt projected to be bigger than the economy in fiscal year 2021—the first time that has been the case since shortly after World War II.

Canada is projecting a deficit of 343 billion Canadian dollars—an increase of more than 1,000 percent over the deficit in 2019—pushing national debt above 1 trillion Canadian dollars for the first time. In China, the $500 billion fiscal stimulus will raise the country’s fiscal deficit to a record 3.6 percent of GDP. In the United Kingdom, debt rose to more than £2 trillion, a record and more than 100 percent of GDP. In the eurozone, the combined budget deficits in October were 11.6 percent of GDP, compared with 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2020; total debt hit a record 95 percent of GDP. That looks comparatively trivial compared with Japan, which has the world’s highest debt-to-GDP ratio, at more than 200 percent. And while debt repayments from 73 poor countries have been frozen, the obligations still exist.

As the pandemic recedes, governments will have to figure out how to address their fiscal difficulties. Although interest rates are generally low, that could mean raising taxes or cutting spending—or both. Doing so could risk slowing the recovery and stimulating political backlash. But high levels of public debt carry their own costs, crowding out private debt and limiting the resources available to governments as they service their debt.

As the pandemic recedes, governments will have to figure out how to address their fiscal difficulties. Although interest rates are generally low, that could mean raising taxes or cutting spending— or both.

While interim measures, such as improving government operations, monetizing assets, and reducing fiscal leakages, can be helpful, the long-term answer is growth and productivity. That’s largely how the United States managed to reduce its national debt from 118 percent of GDP in 1946 to a low of 31 percent in 1981. 30 Kimberly Amadeo, “US national debt by year compared to GDP and major events,” Balance, October 9, 2020, thebalance.com. Promoting growth will require supportive regulation, well-trained workforces, and the continued diffusion of technologies. Most of all, it will require individuals, businesses, and governments to be willing to embrace change.

Paying down debt isn’t exciting to do. But for economic stability—and in fairness to future generations—it needs to be taken seriously, not kicked down the road.

Stakeholder capitalism comes of age

The idea that businesses should seek to serve the interests of consumers, suppliers, workers, and society, as well as shareholders, isn’t new. The American chocolate maker Milton S. Hershey put it this way more than a century ago, “business is a matter of human service.” In 1759, capitalism’s philosopher king Adam Smith noted in The Theory of Moral Sentiments that the individual is “sensible too that his own interest is connected with the prosperity of society, and that the happiness, perhaps the preservation of his existence, depends on its preservation.” 31 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, London, United Kingdom: A. Millar, 1759. Moreover, the free market itself has been a positive social force, fueling the economic growth that has brought dramatic advances in health, longevity, and general prosperity around the world.

Even so, there is widespread distrust for business as usual, as a number of surveys and elections have shown. That’s where stakeholder capitalism comes in—as a bridge between businesses and the communities of which they are a part. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the interconnectedness of business and society. “It will be a true inflection point,” says Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the State Bank of India. 32 “ How the State Bank of India is learning from crisis ,” McKinsey Quarterly , July 24, 2020. “And whatever we learn through this process—it must not go to waste.”

The increasing prominence of the idea of stakeholder capitalism is more than just talk (although there is admittedly still a good deal of talk). For example, companies that become certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the interests of all stakeholders in their decision making, including by changing their governance structures to that effect. The first B Corporations were certified in 2007; now, there are more than 3,500 of them.

None of that means that companies should eschew the pursuit of profit. As some of our colleagues recently noted, “There is a term for an enlightened company with the most perfect intentions that does not make money: defunct.” 33 Vivian Hunt, Bruce Simpson, and Yuito Yamada, “ The case for stakeholder capitalism ,” November 12, 2020. Instead, it’s an argument to infuse profit, a readily measured metric, with a sense of purpose—something that humans naturally seek.

We do not believe there is a conflict between the two. In a study that looked at 615 large- and midcap US publicly listed companies from 2001 to 2015, MGI found that those with a long-term view—something that’s a core of stakeholder capitalism—outperformed the rest in earnings, revenue, investment, and job growth. And a McKinsey Global Survey in February 2020 found that a majority of the executives and investment professionals surveyed said they believed that environmental, social, and governance programs already create short- and long-term value and will do so even more five years from now.

Stakeholder capitalism isn’t about being the most woke or about fending off pesky activists. It’s about building the trust—call it the “social capital”—that businesses need to keep doing business. And it’s about recognizing that creating long-term shareholder value requires more than just focusing on shareholders.

In March 2020, some of our McKinsey colleagues argued that the COVID-19 crisis could be the “imperative of our time.” 34 Sven Smit, Martin Hirt, Kevin Buehler, Susan Lund, Ezra Greenberg, and Arvind Govindarajan, “ Safeguarding our lives and livelihoods: The imperative of our time ,” March 23, 2020. A month later, we noted that it could bring a “dramatic restructuring of the economic and social order.” 35 Kevin Sneader and Shubham Singhal, “ Beyond coronavirus: The path to the next normal ,” March 23, 2020; Kevin Sneader and Shubham Singhal, “ The future is not what it used to be: Thoughts on the shape of the next normal ,” April 14, 2020. We stand by those assertions. The COVID-19 pandemic has been an economic and human catastrophe, and it’s far from over. But with vaccines beginning to roll out, it’s possible to be cautiously optimistic that the next normal will emerge this year or next.

And we believe that, in some ways, that normal could be better. With good leadership, from both business and governments, the changes we described—in productivity, green growth, medical innovation, and resiliency—could provide an enduring foundation for the long term.

Shubham Singhal

This article was edited by Cait Murphy, a senior editor in the New York office.

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Top 100+ Business Topics for Research Paper 2021

What is the research paper.

The research paper is a unique scientific work written by students of a senior school, college or university. This is a large document that aims to investigate a specific problem, describe it and propose new ways to solve it, which in the future can also be considered as a fragment of a deep study of the problem. This work, regardless of the subject, must be relevant today and address important and necessary questions.

BUSINESS RESEARCH PAPERS

To understand the business world it is sometimes a need to spend a lot of effort, and it is desirable to have good work experience. The research papers discuss what problems exist for a business. But it is evident that high school students cannot fully engage in assessing the development of the business market and industry. In spite of this, they must write research papers in the field of business from university time, and in this, there is a sense – a research paper examines your ability to analyze and prove their opinions. Therefore it is essential to have an idea of what subjects you can write about to have enough time to choose the most suitable one and the one that will interest you. After all, you also have a lot of time to research the topic itself. And do not forget to read the characteristics of this industry research paper – it is obligatory to understand the structure and outline.

HOW TO FIND TOPICS TO WRITE ABOUT

There are a number of factors that affect the choice of topics for scientific business work:

  • your topic is provided by your professor, and you do not have the opportunity to change it;
  • you were given a thematic area and told to choose something there;
  • you have a specific subject specialization;
  • complete freedom of choice.

If your option is the last, then, to begin with, do a little research work:

  • read the news sites;
  • analyze successful corporations and companies;
  • track which problems other people write about, especially in comments on Facebook and other social networks.

If after that you still did not find a topic for the research paper on business questions you would like to work on, we have prepared a list of the most exciting topics for you.

10 BEST BUSINESS TOPICS FOR RESEARCH PAPER

  • Do you need to adopt the strategies of the most successful business leaders when creating your own?
  • Is it possible to start a business without money?
  • What problems are involved in the family companies?
  • What are the dirty companies’ tactics?
  • Business ethics and morality are in the context of everyday working conflicts.
  • What are the advantages of expanding the company in a new country?
  • Advice on how to build a successful start-up.
  • Why does the international business have a more significant impact on the domestic market of the country?
  • Does climate change affect international business strategies?
  • How to start a corporation with a small project?

THE MOST ACTUAL FOR TODAY TOPICS IN BUSINESS

A. taking care about workers.

Creating a successful company is not only the right marketing and productivity of production but there are also people who work in comfortable conditions. Because of that you can use an example of an issue in this topic.

  • The process of creating a social support program within the company.
  • What ideologies can be used to maintain a good mood for employees?
  • Why is it necessary to create a healthy corporate culture?
  • How do unhealthy habits of workers affect the productivity of labor?
  • What are the psychological components of a healthy organization?
  • The gender issue of childcare – should a father or mother take care of a child?
  • How does childcare help workers achieve a balance between work and home?
  • If it needed to create special rooms, where people could relax during the workday?

B. Management techniques

One of the critical factors in the development and growth of the company is active management .  Management research paper discusses questions about how entrepreneurs build an organization and what strategies and methodologies are used. It is also about how new management ideas are created. The term paper examines the problems in this area and here are some topics to consider.

  • Psychological tests as a way to find out the identity of a potential manager – is this effective for the company?
  • What qualities should a manager have for the successful management of the company?
  • How is the emotional stability of the team formed during the crisis periods?
  • Is there any influence of the management on the establishment of good relations between employees?
  • What should managers do to help their employees fill career goals and ambitions?
  • Reinvestment of the community.
  • How does the organization of events within the company help the productivity and cohesion of the team?
  • Why should managers pay more attention to critical thinking?
  • How should staff motivation be improved?
  • How are the gender management strategies of the company different?
  • Do you need to do effective time planning for the entire company if you are the manager?
  • How to resolve the conflict between employees and management?
  • What are the benefits of volunteers for management?
  • How the manager should improve teamwork?
  • Is there a need to create special courses for teamwork improvement?

C. Leadership

For the organization to maximize its productivity and achieve the desired business model, it needs to have a strong leader who can support the entire team and develop its movement forward. And although leadership is not a panacea for all business problems, a research paper looks at a sample of a such topic.

  • What is effective leadership?
  • How does terrible leadership influence the company?
  • Ethical values that a leader must make to the company
  • Is it possible to create a leadership program that will teach the managers how to be truly lea?
  • How does a person’s personal development affect his business leadership abilities?

D. Workplace diversity

Workplace diversity is one of the most negotiable topics in recent years. It is a strategy for the company when employees of different ages, ethnic and religious groups, sexes and races are employed. Often, next to this concept, there is another: tolerance in the business environment. The term paper delves into the topic greatly and here is a small list:

  • What attracts huge corporations to hire youth and how does this affect the overall development of the company?
  • Is there a gender difference in the management of large and small teams?
  • How does the age of the employees affect the cross-functional cooperation of the departments?
  • Is it possible to say that the difference in ethnic cultures raises problems in the process of forming a team?
  • Why and how does working diversity function in the 21st century?
  • Is there a practical approach to hiring more women or men in the company? What empirical evidence is there in this matter?

E. Small businesses

Large companies have many sources to improve the quality of products and their advertising. But in particular niches (flower shops, coffee shops, bakeries, stationery stores) they are also ahead of small businesses. That’s why there are some issues associated with small businesses which are very popular. Here are some of them.

  • What are the strategies for the effective promotion of small businesses?
  • What will happen to the market if small companies cease to exist?
  • What do consumers buy more often from small enterprises instead of large organizations?
  • In what areas is it impossible to open a small business?
  • What is the impact of digital management on small organizations?
  • What are the advantages of organizing a small business with a friend?
  • A small company. This is a case study on how to make dreams come true.
  • How the business plan could affect the growth of a small company?

F. Franchises

It is common that a franchise is bought at times when a businessman does not want to spend a lot of time creating a brand concept or marketing strategy. Research paper delves into a

Studying this problem, you can pay attention to such questions:

  • With what challenges does a person who buys a franchise face, and does not create a new business?
  • The description of franchise models for different spheres of small business.
  • The process of growth of a fitness franchise.
  • The Future of FranchisesWhat should you look for when signing a franchise document as not to be left without money at the end?
  • Who is responsible for promoting the brand – the owner of a franchise or a man who has bought it?

G. Globalization

Huge changes are coming in the company’s development due to globalization. It influences market trends and approaches to consumers, as well as dictates new marketing methodologies. That is why one of the areas of your business research can be one of these topics:

  • The problems and factors that need to be considered when expanding the company in different countries.
  • Which world markets receive the most benefits from globalization?
  • At what level is globalization now? Is it decreasing or still rising?
  • The impact of business clusters on the process of globalization.
  • Changes in consumer behavior with the increase of globalization impact on the world.

H. Digital Age in Business

Although digital transformation is not such an interesting topic as five years ago, modern technology development still affects the business sphere and adds new possibilities to the improvement process. Here are the issues that you can study:

  • Does productivity depend on the number of hours spent with gadgets on time?
  • The influence of the mobile phone on the usual routine of the employee.
  • Social media is a quick way to develop your project.
  • Are social media the main distraction at work?
  • Should organizations restrict the use of gadgets during their working hours?
  • How do digital technologies affect the process of creating business models?
  • Computer applications in the company industries.
  • In what way can I implement business applications in old companies?
  • How can professionals use Facebook and other networks to increase the productivity of their team?

I. Marketing

It is not difficult to assess how it is valuable for a company to have a marketing strategy – the process of attracting potential customers to the company’s products. Here are a few topics that you can consider in your writing:

  • Why do you need to use strategic marketing?
  • What are the product lifecycle issues?
  • Product positioning is the basis of its sales.
  • Innovative methods of promoting the product with the use of social media.
  • Why should companies pay more attention to brand management?

MORE TOPICS

  • Should the state control business?
  • Why do millennials change jobs?
  • Does non-purpose management bring more benefit or destruction?
  • Does the charity attract the popularity and prestige of the company?
  • Should the state note the minimum wage? How will this affect the overall economic state of the country?
  • What changes in the development of advertising in connection with the expansion of the functionality of social networks?
  • What will happen to the gun manufacturers if personal guns are banned?
  • Why do companies producing tobacco have to pay more taxes?
  • 9. What are the disadvantages of outsourcing?
  • How should we change the definition of trade due to its large migration to the Internet?
  • Why should exhibitions in museums become more profitable?
  • How should business ethics be present when making important decisions?
  • Analysis of hard corporate rituals and their effect on the employees.
  • How effective is brainstorming in the creation of business models?
  • What influenced the success of the telephone industry in recent years?
  • What problems can be encountered in the employment of international human resources?
  • What is the role of morality in doing business?
  • Why is the picture so powerful in sales?
  • What is the impact of feminism on job placement and product performance?
  • Analysis of psychological tricks that allow you to sell goods faster.
  • Is there a culture of consumption? Or is it something made by companies for their benefit?
  • The process of creating a healthy working class.
  • How to invest money in the company’s shares?
  • Why do people agree to pay more for branded things than for the same thing only without a famous designer’s tag?
  • How can the global crisis and war affect business?
  • How can one explain the trend of changing the suburbs of the city in connection with the expansion of organizations?
  • How to deal with companies that are engaged in counterfeiting and do not give the original producers easy to enter the market? Should the government take any action?
  • How can you explain the forecasts of large retailers on the problems with raw materials?
  • What kind of business can you do at home to get a high profit?
  • Why not need to support the arms business?
  • How will life in countries change if everyone consumes only those products that they produce?
  • Errors at the beginning of the startup, which prevent it from developing.
  • Will artificial intelligence replace human intellectual work?
  • Will an experienced manager help to create a start-up and a program for its development?
  • Why did the tendency to develop flat logos appear?
  • Analysis of the market of large companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy.
  • What brands are popular among teenagers and how to make money on it?
  • How profitable is the processing of waste in the long term?
  • Why should companies not advertise their products in schools?
  • How do social networks change marketing strategies? Why do we need to use Facebook and Instagram to promote our projects?
  • How important is the psychologist in the company and how does it affect the employee’s struggle with the stress?
  • Do I need to create creative evenings to maintain a working and friendly atmosphere in the company?
  • Why is startup such a favorite topic and how did they appear this phenomenon?
  • How to implement an environmentally friendly policy for each company?
  • Analysis of successful companies in the last five years.
  • How do company strategies change after changing the leading management and why is it useful?
  • The most effective advertising campaigns for the last year.
  • How do strikes affect the development of the company?
  • Why is China a leader in mobile technology and how does it affect the world market?
  • How to stop the construction of nuclear power plants and switch to alternative ways of obtaining electricity?

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The 10 Most Popular Articles in 2021 (So Far)

Leading through change, hybrid work environments, and developing strategy for the post-pandemic era are among the most popular topics for readers in recent months..

business research topics 2021

  • Workplace, Teams, & Culture
  • Leading Change
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Remote Work

business research topics 2021

Following one of the most disruptive years in recent memory, 2021 has offered up many challenges and questions for managers: How can they keep teams safe and engaged in their work when they return to offices? How can they develop new skills and strategies at a time when things aren’t quite back to normal?

In the first half of the year, the most popular topics among readers have dived into answering these types of questions, with a focus on returning to physical offices, implementing hybrid work models, and redesigning organizational culture and strategy for the post-pandemic era. Other core issues for readers include understanding employee productivity and resilience, overcoming leadership failure, and developing strategies that can stand up against uncertainty and change.

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The following are the 10 most popular articles of the year so far. We hope they are inspiring and instructive for you and your teams in the months ahead.

#1 The Future of Team Leadership Is Multimodal

Robert hooijberg and michael watkins.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a transformation in the ways we work by accelerating a shift to hybrid virtual and in-person models and requiring a fundamental change in the skills team leaders need to succeed. Leaders will need to play four roles as they adapt to managing a hybrid workforce.

#2 Redesigning the Post-Pandemic Workplace

Gerald c. kane, rich nanda, anh phillips, and jonathan copulsky.

As organizations plan for ways to bring remote employees back to the workplace, they should take advantage of the opportunity to rethink how and where work is best done, and how to combine the best aspects of remote and colocated work.

#3 The Future of Work Is Through Workforce Ecosystems

Elizabeth j. altman, david kiron, jeff schwartz, and robin jones.

Today’s leaders need best practices for dealing strategically and operationally with a distributed, diverse workforce that crosses internal and external boundaries. The authors contend that the best way to address the shift to managing all types of workers is through the lens of a workforce ecosystem — a structure that consists of interdependent actors, from within the organization and beyond, working to pursue both individual and collective goals.

About the Author

Ally MacDonald ( @allymacdonald ) is senior editor at MIT Sloan Management Review .

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  • All Headlines

Hertz CEO Kathryn Marinello with CFO Jamere Jackson and other members of the executive team in 2017

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

  • Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
  • Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
  • The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
  • Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
  • A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
  • Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
  • The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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business research topics 2021

  • 13 May 2024
  • Research & Ideas

Picture This: Why Online Image Searches Drive Purchases

Smaller sellers' products often get lost on large online marketplaces. However, harnessing images in search can help consumers find these products faster, increasing sales and customer satisfaction, finds research by Chiara Farronato and colleagues.

business research topics 2021

  • 01 Apr 2024
  • In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

Price increases might be tempering after historic surges, but companies continue to wrestle with pinched consumers. Alexander MacKay, Chiara Farronato, and Emily Williams make sense of the economic whiplash of inflation and offer insights for business leaders trying to find equilibrium.

business research topics 2021

  • 17 Jan 2024

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

Inflation has slowed from the epic rates of 2021 and 2022, but many consumers still feel pinched. What will it take to encourage them to spend? Thoughtful pricing strategies that empower customers as they make purchasing decisions, says research by Elie Ofek.

business research topics 2021

  • 05 Dec 2023
  • Cold Call Podcast

Tommy Hilfiger’s Adaptive Clothing Line: Making Fashion Inclusive

In 2017, Tommy Hilfiger launched its adaptive fashion line to provide fashion apparel that aims to make dressing easier. By 2020, it was still a relatively unknown line in the U.S. and the Tommy Hilfiger team was continuing to learn more about how to serve these new customers. Should the team make adaptive clothing available beyond the U.S., or is a global expansion premature? Assistant Professor Elizabeth Keenan discusses the opportunities and challenges that accompanied the introduction of a new product line that effectively serves an entirely new customer while simultaneously starting a movement to provide fashion for all in the case, “Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive: Fashion for All.”

business research topics 2021

  • 05 Jul 2023

How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

Launched in 2016, Unilever’s Future of Work initiative aimed to accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization and prepare its workforce for a digitalized and highly automated era. But despite its success over the last three years, the program still faces significant challenges in its implementation. How should Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, best prepare and upscale its workforce for the future? How should Unilever adapt and accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization? Is it even possible to lead a systematic, agile workforce transformation across several geographies while accounting for local context? Harvard Business School professor and faculty co-chair of the Managing the Future of Work Project William Kerr and Patrick Hull, Unilever’s vice president of global learning and future of work, discuss how rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are changing the nature of work in the case, “Unilever's Response to the Future of Work.”

business research topics 2021

  • 25 Apr 2023

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

The platforms SHEIN and Temu match consumer demand and factory output, bringing Chinese production to the rest of the world. The companies have remade fast fashion, but their pioneering approach has the potential to go far beyond retail, says John Deighton.

business research topics 2021

  • 11 Apr 2023

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

More companies are bringing seemingly unrelated businesses together in new ways, challenging traditional stock categories. MarcAntonio Awada and Suraj Srinivasan discuss how applying machine learning to regulatory data could reveal new opportunities for investors.

business research topics 2021

  • 04 Apr 2023

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

Executives going back to George Cadbury and J. N. Tata have been trying to improve life for their workers and communities, according to the book Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership by Geoffrey Jones. He highlights three practices that deeply responsible companies share.

business research topics 2021

  • 03 Mar 2023

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

Women managers might think they need to roll up their sleeves and work alongside their teams to show their mettle. But research by Alexandra Feldberg shows how this strategy can work against them. How can employers provide more support?

business research topics 2021

  • 27 Feb 2023

How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

Employees who clock in a few minutes late—or not at all—often dampen sales and productivity, says a study of 100,000 workers by Ananth Raman and Caleb Kwon. What can managers do to address chronic tardiness and absenteeism?

business research topics 2021

  • 06 Dec 2022

Latest Isn’t Always Greatest: Why Product Updates Capture Consumers

Consumers can't pass up a product update—even if there's no improvement. Research by Leslie John, Michael Norton, and Ximena Garcia-Rada illustrates the powerful allure of change. Are we really that naïve?

business research topics 2021

  • 29 Nov 2022

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Economic worries will make pricing strategy even more critical this holiday season. Research by Chiara Farronato reveals the value that hip consumers see in hard-to-find products. Are companies simply making too many goods?

business research topics 2021

  • 21 Nov 2022

Buy Now, Pay Later: How Retail's Hot Feature Hurts Low-Income Shoppers

More consumers may opt to "buy now, pay later" this holiday season, but what happens if they can't make that last payment? Research by Marco Di Maggio and Emily Williams highlights the risks of these financing services, especially for lower-income shoppers.

business research topics 2021

  • 18 Oct 2022

Chewy.com’s Make-or-Break Logistics Dilemma

In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and then-CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, was facing a decision that could determine his company’s future. Should he stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of Chewy.com’s e-commerce fulfillment or take that function in house? Cohen was convinced that achieving scale would be essential to making the business work and he worried that the company’s current 3PL may not be able to scale with Chewy.com’s projected growth or maintain the company’s performance standards for service quality and fulfillment. But neither he nor his cofounders had any experience managing logistics, and the company’s board members were pressuring him to leave order fulfillment to the 3PL. They worried that any changes could destabilize the existing 3PL relationship and endanger the viability of the fast-growing business. What should Cohen do? Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Rayport discusses the options in his case, “Chewy.com (A).”

business research topics 2021

  • 06 Sep 2022

Reinventing an Iconic Independent Bookstore

In 2020, Kwame Spearman (MBA 2011) made the career-shifting decision to leave a New York City-based consulting job to return to his hometown of Denver, Colorado, and take over an iconic independent bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Spearman saw an opportunity to reinvent the local business to build a sense of community after the pandemic. But he also had to find a way to meet the big challenges facing independent booksellers amid technological change and shifting business models. Professor Ryan Raffaelli and Spearman discuss Spearman’s vision for reinventing The Tattered Cover, as well as larger insights around how local businesses can successfully compete with online and big box retailers in the case, “Kwame Spearman at Tattered Cover: Reinventing Brick-and-Mortar Retail.”

business research topics 2021

  • 26 Jul 2022

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews

Negative Yelp reviews hold more sway with consumers than restaurateurs might think. A machine learning study by Chiara Farronato reveals how online platforms amplify the customer voice, and why business owners should listen.

business research topics 2021

  • 22 Mar 2022

How Etsy Found Its Purpose and Crafted a Turnaround

Etsy, the online seller of handmade goods, was founded in 2005 as an alternative to companies that sold mass-manufactured products. The company grew substantially, but remained unprofitable under the leadership of two early CEOs. Ten years later, Etsy went public and was forced into a new arena, where it was beholden to stakeholders who demanded financial success and accountability. Unable to contain costs, the company was almost bought out by private equity firms in 2017—until CEO Josh Silverman arrived with a mission to save the company financially and, in the process, save its soul. Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati discusses the purpose-driven turnaround Silverman and his team led at Etsy—to make the company profitable and improve its social and environmental impact—in the case, “Etsy: Crafting a Turnaround to Save the Business and Its Soul.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

business research topics 2021

  • 05 Nov 2021

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

Legendary financier Eiichi Shibusawa advocated for business prosperity that would also benefit society. One hundred years after his death, his message is resonating with a new generation of leaders, say Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

  • 19 Oct 2021

Fed Up Workers and Supply Woes: What's Next for Dollar Stores?

Willy Shih discusses how higher costs, shipping delays, and worker shortages are putting the dollar store business model to the test ahead of the critical holiday shopping season. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

business research topics 2021

  • 13 Jul 2021

Strategies for Underdogs: How Alibaba’s Taobao Beat eBay in China

In 2007, Alibaba’s Taobao became China’s leading consumer e-commerce marketplace, displacing the once dominant eBay. How did underdog Taobao do it? And will it be able to find a way to monetize its marketplace and ensure future success? Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee discusses his case, “Alibaba’s Taobao,” and related strategy lessons from his new book, Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Frontiers | Science News

  • Science News

Research Topics

Top 10 research topics from 2021.

business research topics 2021

Find the answers to your biggest research questions from 2021. With collective views of over 3.7 million, researchers explored topics spanning from nutritional immunology and political misinformation to sustainable agriculture and the human-dog bond .

Research Topics:

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1. Infectious disease

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2. Nutritional immunology

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3. Music therapy

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4. Political misinformation

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5. Plant science

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  • 15 articles

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6. Sustainable agriculture

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7. Mental health

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8. Aging brains

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  • 18 articles

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Benefits of human-dog interactions

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business research topics 2021

10. Mood disorders

  • 102,000 views
  • 12 articles

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Ethical Research in Business Ethics

  • Editorial Essay
  • Published: 29 November 2022
  • Volume 182 , pages 1–5, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

business research topics 2021

  • Gazi Islam 1 &
  • Michelle Greenwood 2  

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In this editorial essay, we argue that business ethics research should be aware of the ethical implications of its own methodological choices, and that these implications include, but go beyond, mere compliance with standardized ethical norms. Methodological choices should be made specifically with reference to their effects on the world, both within and outside the academy. Awareness of these effects takes researchers beyond assuring ethics in their methods to more fully consider the ethics of their methods as knowledge practices that have broader institutional consequences. Drawing from examples in published research, we examine five ways in which authors can formulate their methodological approaches with purpose, care and reflexivity.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Business ethicists are accustomed to confronting the “hard cases” of ethical choices in organizational life. We believe that business ethics scholarship must be equally sensitive to ethical nuances in the design and implementation of research methods in our own activities. In the complexities of research practice, ethical considerations around method and design exceed the standardized templates of methods textbooks. Where research designs begin and end and whom they implicate as protagonists, who receives voice, protection and authority, and what is rendered visible and invisible within the field of study. These are thorny questions that are not amenable to check-list style compliance guidelines, even where such guidelines also have an important role (cf., Greenwood, 2016 ).

In our exchanges with authors and within the editorial team, we have confronted a plethora of hard cases that highlight the challenges of research ethics beyond rule compliance. To what extent should the mode of data collection (such as crowdsourced data or social media platforms) answer to ethical quandaries around digital labour and online surveillance? When should organizations or individuals engaging in ethically problematic practices be named, and when must they be anonymized? To what extent should the relationships between researchers and participants be problematized within methods sections, including financial and power relationships between funders, researchers and participants? What are the respective roles of institutional ethics boards and journal editorial teams (along with other actors in the research ecosystem) in validating the ethical permissibility of a design? When should hard ethical questions lead a study to be rejected at the review stage, rather than passed along to the research community to make its own judgment? Such questions (and many, many more) have filled our days with deep reflection, and the current editorial aims to share some of these reflections with the Journal of Business Ethics community, albeit in necessarily schematic form. Specifically, we aim to both expand thinking about research ethics to include elements that are often considered outside of methods, and situate conventional methodological ethics in relation to this broader vision. The result will be a plea for a research ethics based on purpose, care and reflexivity.

Between Prescriptive and Evaluative Research Ethics

In a previous editorial essay (Islam & Greenwood, 2021 ), we borrowed a distinction by Williams ( 1985 ) between prescriptive and evaluative ethics; the former refers to what one should do, while the latter to what the world should look like. Mapped onto methods, this analytical distinction differentiates between specific methodological practices (e.g., one should design measures that fit the core constructs, one should gather informed consent) and the broader social and practical implications of research (e.g., the goals of science to innovate, educate or emancipate). We emphasize that this is an “analytical” distinction because, in practice, these aspects of ethics are deeply intertwined, and we distinguish them primarily to show how they spill into each other. Actions should be prescribed, at least in part, for the worlds they contribute to making, although in the fog of situated practice, we are often unaware of, or unable to, clearly link our actions to those future worlds.

From this distinction, it is easy to differentiate heuristically between ethics in research methods, that is, the ethical norms and practices internal to research design and execution, and the ethics of research methods, that is, whether those methods should be used in the broader evaluative sense. In many cases, these ethical levels align, with ethical practices working toward an evaluatively desirable world. Gathering informed consent is important because it is desirable to promote a world of autonomous choice (e.g., Hansson, 2006 ). Hypothesizing after the results are known is problematic because promoting false positive statistical results reduces replicability and thus scientific certainty about the world (Kerr, 1998 ). To take the previous example, however, some have argued that “HARK”ing is less ethically problematic when research is transparently exploratory (Hollenbeck & Wright, 2017 ); in this case, what is ethically problematic is not the practice per se, but the lack of transparency between a given practice and its exploratory (rather than confirmatory) intent. As for informed consent, in cases where a signed form substitutes for, rather than expresses, true participant autonomy (cf., Dubois et al, 2012 ), it can obscure rather than clarify the ethics of a research project. To begin with, the presentation of a priori formulated protocols for consent presumes that the identified participant is the only stakeholder in the research who is affected by the research in a manner that would require their consent. Moreover, this protocol may preclude collaborative models in which participants actively construct research protocols with researchers (Hansson, 2006 ). In both of these examples, a practice is justified on the basis of a deeper evaluative motive, but the mapping between the two is imperfect and situation-dependent.

Tensions may appear between prescriptive and evaluative dimensions of research methods, giving rise to ethical polemics or dilemmas. To give one example, we have had recent debates around the ethics of online data crowdsourcing from platforms such as Amazon MTurk (e.g., Newman et al., 2021 ). Much discussion has been given to best practice in terms of construct validity and similar “internal” considerations of research design as well as issues such as “bots” or fraudulent respondent activity that affect validity. However, broader considerations in terms of labour exploitation on online platforms (e.g., Shank, 2016 ) bridge internal and external research ethics, given internal norms for participant autonomy and external considerations of the public good. Less discussed are the systematic effects of widespread use of online data collection for disembodying researchers from participant communities, entrenching economies of digital labour and surveillance, and reifying a context-free individual as the object of social scientific study. These, we would argue, are methodological outcomes that may contribute to undesirable worlds, and thus are materially relevant for ethical consideration.

Other examples illustrate the opposite tension between prescriptive and evaluative research ethics. In a provocative article, Roulet et al. ( 2017 ) describe the potentials of “covert” research, where normally unacceptable practices of researcher concealment are weighed against laudable goals such as revealing workplace abuse or unethical organizational practices. In such cases, practices that are prescriptively problematic (e.g., collecting data without consent, concealing researcher identity) are defended on the grounds that the ethical goods, in terms of creating a better world, legitimate such practices. While the example of online platforms seems more defensible at the level of practice but questionable at the level of broad systemic implications, that of covert research seems more problematic at the level of practices while (possibly) defensible in terms of its ethical purposes.

More than simply a conflict between means and ends, however, such tensions reveal discrepancies between ends that are “localized” as specific practices (e.g., the goal of conducting a valid study according to current norms) and the more broad-based ends of research (e.g., creating a better world through socially reflexive knowledge production). Our challenge at the Journal of Business Ethics as editors, and our counsel to authors, reviewers and editors is to reflexively seek equilibrium between the practical ethics of research design and execution and the broader promotion of the public good that is the ultimate end of science.

Guiding Ethical Research in Business Ethics

Situating research ethics within the relationship between concrete ethical practices and evaluative goals of social improvement adds complexity to ethical decisions, forcing researchers, reviewers and editors to confront real ethical dilemmas that cannot be dissolved in mere compliance practices. We think the recognition of this complexity is salutary. It emphasizes that the review process is one moment in the broader network of evaluative practices that includes—but is not limited to—institutional ethics approval processes prior to submission, ethical and legal considerations of publishing houses and scholarly societies that administer academic production, and reception of research after publication. Each of these moments bring into light different ethical stakes, and we see our editorial role as an important but not exhaustive evaluative moment. From our perspective, our role is not to present a hurdle over which only the most flawless research can pass, but to curate a conversation with the greatest potential for scholarly generativity and progress. This makes our goal a collective one, and we judge research for its ability to promote the field, by being rigorous, by being interesting, by being reflexive, or by some combination of these epistemic virtues. From the research ethics we have outlined we derive certain guiding principles for evaluation.

Showing Links Between Methodological Design and the Broader Purpose of the Study

Business ethics scholarship should clarify its purpose through clearly articulated research questions and hypotheses, while explaining in its methods why specific research practices are important for a broader purpose, and why that purpose is itself ethically relevant. Specifically, the methods discussion should reflect how the ethics-related purpose of the study is consistent with the methodological approach adopted, both in terms of the broad design and specific practices. In short, integration of methods with the wider purpose of the study, and alignment between the two, is a mark of ethically sensitive research.

In their recent study of child labour in Indian cottonseed oil farms, D’Cruz et al. ( 2022 ) demonstrate an exemplary integration of methods and purpose to explore a topic that is notoriously difficult to study methodologically. Drawing on analyses of children’s drawings, together with detailed conversational extracts, the authors paint a powerful picture of the experience of violence in a population of working children. Rather than staying only at the level of lived experiences, however, the authors use those experiences to understand how processes of embedding and disembedding labour within society are manifested at the micro level. Thus, their visual and discursive methods become powerful tools to link everyday suffering with macro processes of economy and society.

Acknowledging the Web of Relationships Within Which Research Methods are Embedded

Each aspect of the research process, from protocol design to data collection to peer review, involves multiple actors who collectively construct the meaning of scholarship (Greenwood, 2016 ). While it may not be possible to make this network entirely visible, the ability to do so increases the transparency and value of a scholarly inquiry.

In his study of external funding on research freedom, Goduscheit ( 2022 ) uses qualitative interviews, program materials and observations to understand how funding bodies shape research outcomes. He shows how expectations from funding bodies can shape the types of topics studied, the ways in which research questions are answered and the forms of research output that are produced. Rather than simply deeming such influences to be unethical, he analyses the positive and negative features of the evolving relationships between researchers and funding bodies and their implications for developing scholarship.

Similarly acknowledging relationships but on a very different topic, Allen et al. ( 2019 ) describe the role of reflexivity in sustainability research, where ecological responsibility can result from acknowledging the multiple relationships between humans and the environment. Promoting an “ecocentric radical-reflexivity”, they point to how methods such as participatory action research and arts-based methods can help identify organizational actors as embedded in ecological relationships. In this example, as in the previous one, research is recognized as more than simply the execution of accepted standards. Rather, ethical research depends on developing sensibilities towards the complex economic and ecological relationships in which scholarship is situated.

Complementing Compliance with Purpose

Ethics should be explicitly discussed as an aspect of methodology, but this is best done when a focus on compliance with standards is complemented by a consideration of core ethical issues and a transparent discussion of how decisions were made in response to those issues. Doing so reveals those decisions as tailor-made for the case at hand and not imposed upon the case without regard for its specificities (Greenwood, 2016 ). In other words, compliance is not a sufficient criterion for ethical research methods, and a methodological approach focused exclusively on ethical compliance criteria may miss the “bigger picture” of the role of the methods in the broader scientific and social goals of the study.

Nielsen’s ( 2016 ) paper on ethical praxis and action research elaborates on how research involves ethical decision making and situated, pragmatic choices that go beyond simply ticking the correct ethical boxes. Describing these from an Aristotelian perspective, he elaborates how researcher-participant interactions give rise to emergent research concerns that are both knowledge-related problems and problems for practice. The ethics of action research in this context is about facing unique problems that cut across the researcher-practitioner divide and can draw upon but are not limited to pre-existing ethics templates.

Adopting an Explanatory Versus a Justificatory Orientation

Methodological descriptions of ethics often have the tone of justification claims legitimizing authorial choices in terms of sample, data collection or analysis. Such justifications are warranted, and are good practice, but we believe that value is added when authors are more forthright about their ethical difficulties and dilemmas. Specifically, we value their attempts to work out those dilemmas transparently for a scholarly audience, that is thereby given access into the workings of scientific decision-making process and not simply presented with a black box labeled “method”. There is more value in showing the path taken to an ethical judgement than simply defending that the end decision was a good one. This also implies that wrong turns, changes of track, and similar ethical revisions should be described and contribute to the value of a paper.

Litz’s and Turner’s ( 2013 ) study of unethical practices in inherited family firms provides an interesting case of how researchers can productively describe the dilemmas they face methodologically. Given the difficulty of gathering data about the unethical practices of family members, they candidly ask “how does one approach a question so laced with shame and stigma?”(p.303). Rather than presenting their method in terms of templates used to justify their choices, they recruit the readers directly into their dilemma and walk them through their choices, which involved confronting participants with dramatic scenarios that allowed them to disclose intimately held views more safely. Ultimately building this technique into a validation exercise and a quantitative analysis, the latter are given credibility by their grounding in the initial researcher dilemma that led to the methodological approach.

Transparency and Reflexivity in Writing and Link Between Methods and Results Sections

Because transparent and reflexive description of methods integrates theoretical considerations within the methods itself, such description allows the method to operate more organically within the broader argument of the paper. Doing so allows authors to establish links between the methods and discussion sections, to describe what went right or wrong, what the limitations and possibilities of the method were, and how future research could remedy possible shortcomings or harms of the given method.

For example, Bontempi et al. ( 2021 ) study of CSR reporting inspired by the case of the Ethiopian Gibe III dam is exemplary of how methods can be used to reflexively and transparently link methods and results. Engaging in a “counter reporting”, the study draws upon conceptual literature, archival and theoretical research, and activist on-the-ground engagement to build an alternative view of reported social engagement around hydroelectric dams. Alternating between inductive and deductive approaches, these authors were particularly reflexive and deeply transparent in their methodological description, including detailed and publicly available information from their codebook in the article’s supplementary materials. The result went beyond the standard critique of CSR discourses to actively create a counter-discourse that was both scholarly and activist in orientation. The resulting discursive struggle continued onto the blogosphere, with methodological debate between the authors and the company itself over methods. Footnote 1 We see such interaction and engagement as key to the social relevance of research.

Purpose, Care and Reflexivity

Research ethics have conventionally been concerned with the procedural aspects of scholarship, in particular the methods. Gold standard in this regard has been to not merely treat ethical standards as hurdles but as aspirations. In this sense an ethical researcher is one who does not only comply but who also cares. We suggest that care requires researcher to actively reflect on and take responsibility for their ethical practices and their research goals, and to situate their practices reflexively within a broader collective process of scholarly inquiry. Thus, we extend the notion of care to embrace the reflexivity of the researcher with regard to their own positionality (and privilege) and with regard to the purpose of research, treating ethics as central to the entire research endeavor. Complementing ethical theorizing that draws data from orthodox empirical methods, we encourage scholars to take up new forms of ethical empirical research in which connections between the conduct of the research and the motivation of the research are deeply and actively formed. The guiding principles we outline in this editorial are aimed at integrating organic, particularized and reflective narratives about the ethical conduct and goals of research in the methods section and throughout the manuscript. Editors, reviewers and authors can all contribute to treating research ethics more centrally in business ethics research.

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Islam, G., Greenwood, M. Ethical Research in Business Ethics. J Bus Ethics 182 , 1–5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05301-z

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    by Kasandra Brabaw. One in 10 people in America lack health insurance, resulting in $40 billion of care that goes unpaid each year. Amitabh Chandra and colleagues say ensuring basic coverage for all residents, as other wealthy nations do, could address the most acute needs and unlock efficiency. 23 Mar 2023.

  15. The 10 Most Popular Articles in 2021 (So Far)

    Leading through change, hybrid work environments, and developing strategy for the post-pandemic era are among the most popular topics for readers in recent months. Ally MacDonald July 27, 2021 Reading Time: 3 min. Subscribe Share. Following one of the most disruptive years in recent memory, 2021 has offered up many challenges and questions for ...

  16. Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

    Center for Business and the Environment Accelerating the transition to a just and thriving world; Chief Executive Leadership Institute The world's first school for CEOs; ... (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases. Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through ...

  17. Retail Industry Research from Harvard Business School

    Retail. New research on the retail industry from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including online and brick-and-mortar strategies, consumer behavior, and use of technology. Page 1 of 188 Results →. 13 May 2024.

  18. Top 10 Research Topics from 2021

    Find the answers to your biggest research questions from 2021. With collective views of over 3.7 million, researchers explored topics spanning from nutritional

  19. All Topics

    Adaptive Leadership. Advertising. Age and Generational Issues. Agile Project Management. AI and Machine Learning. Algorithms. Analytics and Data Science. Angel Financing. Antitrust Laws.

  20. Full article: What do we know about business and economics research

    2.1. Data selection strategy. For selecting the data, we relied on the Scopus database. It is the largest multidisciplinary database in social sciences, economics, finance and business studies and is widely used for conducting bibliometric studies (Baker et al., Citation 2021; Donthu et al., Citation 2020).Scopus is considered a middle choice in terms of the rigorousness of vetting research ...

  21. Ethical Research in Business Ethics

    In this editorial essay, we argue that business ethics research should be aware of the ethical implications of its own methodological choices, and that these implications include, but go beyond, mere compliance with standardized ethical norms. Methodological choices should be made specifically with reference to their effects on the world, both within and outside the academy. Awareness of these ...

  22. PDF Annual Report of the Office of Economic Research, FY 2021

    This report summarizes OER's research publications in FY 2021, as well as presentations made at its Small Business Economic Research Forum, a speaker series to discuss small business research. This report also provides an updated overview of the main publicly available economic data sets on small businesses from federal sources.

  23. Big Data: Latest Articles, News & Trends

    Apache Spark and Hadoop, Microsoft Power BI, Jupyter Notebook and Alteryx are among the top data science tools for finding business insights. Compare their features, pros and cons. Europe's AI ...

  24. How To Start A Business In 11 Steps (2024 Guide)

    Business tools can help make your life easier and make your business run more smoothly. The right tools can help you save time, automate tasks and make better decisions. Consider the following ...

  25. Sustainability & Consumer Behaviour 2023

    Companies from every industry are facing increasing calls from their consumers, investors and employees to play a greater role in accelerating the transition to more sustainable business practices. As they do so, they need to manage the risks and seize the opportunities created, from enhanced reputation and new revenue streams, to better risk ...

  26. Social Media Marketing Advice From Experts

    How a Social Media Makeover Helped a Small Business Drive a 108% Increase in Sales. Read case study . See it in action with a free 30-day trial. Sign up now . Pricing; Resources. Learn. ... Research and insights that will help guide you to success on social. Connect. Webinars. Interactive sessions with the brightest minds in social.