School of Management Studies

National Institute of Technology Calicut

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FORMAT FOR PREPARATION OF BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT

1. OBJECTIVE
A business research project is a documentation of systematic inquiry that helps to solve business
problem and contribute to management knowledge. Business research is used to establish or
confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems,
support theorems, or develop new theories. A research project may also be an expansion on past
work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may
replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole.

The objective of this document is to provide a set of guidelines that help a student to prepare the
report to satisfy the requirements of business research project.
Following is the sequence heading of business research project

 Title Page

 Certificates (Internal)

 Declaration by the Candidate

 Acknowledgement

 Abstract

 Contents

 List of Tables

 List of Figures

 List of Photographs

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  List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature

 Chapters (Each chapters should be with different headings/ titles)

 References

 Appendices

2. PAGE DIMENSION AND BINDING SPECIFICATIONS:

The dimension of the project report should be in A4 size. The project report should be bound
using hard cover of the thick light blue art paper.

3. PREPARATION AND FORMAT:

(Start each new chapter in right hand side page i.e the new chapter or documentation will
start with odd page numbers starting from 1, 3, 5 … or roman letters like i, iii, v… and so
on.)

A. Title Page – The title of the report should be selected in such a way that it should reflect
the work carried out by the student. Therefore, student should select most appropriate
title for the work carried out during business research project. Format of title page of the
report is given in Page 9.
B. Certificate – The Certificate shall be as per format given in Page 10. The content should
have one and half line spacing using Times New Roman Font Size 14. The certificate
shall have details such as name of the student, roll no, title of the project, duration etc.
The above details should be certified by the concern supervisor under whom the work
was carried out. Details such as name of the HOD & supervisor, designation, name of the
organization/ academic along with full address of the institution where the supervisor has
guided the student should be furnished. The certificate should be printed on the letter
head of the supervisor/organization.
C. Declaration- A student has to declare that the works done by him during the BRP is
authentic. A format for the same is given in Page 11.

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D. Acknowledgement- Student should acknowledge the supervisor, organization and others
who have helped for successful completion of the project (one page).
E. ABSRACT– Synopsis of the work carried out in the 3 or 4 months (200 to 300 words)
should be mentioned under abstract of the report.
Font Style should be Times New Roman and Font Size 12 with one and half line space.
Make the page settings of your word processor to A4 format; with the margins: bottom
1.5 cm (0.59 in) and top 2.5 cm (0.98 in), right/left margins must be 2 cm (0.78 in).

F. Table of Contents – The table of contents should list all material following it as well as
any material that precedes it. The Certificate will not find a place among the items listed
in the Table of Contents but the page numbers of which are in lower case Times New
Roman letters. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this
head. A specimen copy of the Table of Contents of the project report is given in Page 12.

G. List of Tables – The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear above the
tables in the text. One and half line spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under
this head.

H. List of Figures – The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear below the
figures in the text. One and half line spacing should be adopted for typing the matter
under this head.

I. List of Photographs- The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear below
the photographs in the text. One and half line spacing should be adopted for typing the
matter under this head.

J. List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature – One and half line spacing should
be adopted or typing the matter under this head. Standard symbols, abbreviations etc.
should be used. SI units should be followed for dimensional quantities. Page 13 provides
some information on SI Units.
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 K. CHAPTERS – The following chapters needs to be included in the report. Text should be
in Times New Roman 12-font size with one and half line spacing.

Part I

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>

Under this chapter, student should write, briefly, about the general introductory to the
phenomenon, concepts and premises of the research topic in 2 to 4 pages (maximum).

CHAPTER: 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>
Purpose
A literature review is collection of a critical, unbiased, and comprehensive evaluation of
published information in a chosen and specific area of study of interest. It gives a general
understanding of findings of the research work, conclusions, and recommendations and thereby
brings out their strengths and weaknesses. This helps in identifying gaps, scope for further work
and generalized concepts in the existing body of knowledge. A number of sources of information
on literature can be obtained from textbooks, journals, conference proceedings, project theses,
manuals, encyclopedias, bibliographies, government publications, publications by industrial
organizations, e-databases, worldwide web (www) etc.
Under literature review chapter, student should write about the theory related to the phenomenon
on which research was undertaken. Working principle, advantageous and limitations of the
system, applications of the system, Other types of systems available (advanced) and their merits
and demerits..etc . Technical papers/books/conference proceeding/ worldwide web should be
referred in order to write and explain about “Other types of system available and their merits
and demerits”.

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At the end of the chapter, summary on the review of literature should be provided.
There should be separate sub-heading for each topic of the literature can be adapted.

NOTE: students are advised to access peer-reviewed articles for literature review. Minimum

number of articles that should be reviewed is 20.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>

Various procedure/ methods available to solve the problem undertaken should be mentioned
from the review of literature under this chapter. For this, a few technical papers and web sources
should be referred and the same should be cited in the text at appropriate place. After this,
methodology adopted to solve the task to be explained followed by procedures, flow charts,
calculations..etc to be reported.

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>

From the work carried out, the results obtained should be provided in the form of tables and
figures under this chapter and each of these should have caption. Proper reasons and justification
for the trends observed in the results should be provided under discussion on the results.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE STUDY

< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>

From the work carried out and results obtained, specific conclusions should be drawn. Similarly
scope for the further work to be identified and placed under this heading.

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 REFERENCES
< Times new roman 14 font, BOLD and CAPITAL>

The listing of references should be typed 4 spaces below the heading “REFERENCES” in
alphabetical order in single spacing left – justified. The reference material should be listed in the
alphabetical order of the first author. Harvard citation style is to be followed for citing and
referencing materials used in the preparation of the manuscript.

Click on to the link below for a typical illustrative list to the citation example quoted above.

https://guides.library.uwa.edu.au/harvard/examples

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 APPENDICES

Appendices are provided to give supplementary information, which is included in the main text
may serve as a distraction and cloud the central theme.

 Appendices should be numbered using Arabic numerals, e.g. Appendix 1, Appendix II,
etc.
 Appendices, Tables and References appearing in appendices should be numbered and
referred to at appropriate places just as in the case of chapters.
 Appendices shall carry the title of the work reported and the same title shall be made in the
contents page also.

Example
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C

A typical Specimen of Cover Page & Title Page is given in

the next page followed by format of certificate.

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 <Font Style Times New Roman – Bold>
TITLE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT
<Font Size 18><1.0 line spacing>

A BUSINESS RESEARCH REPORT

<Font Size 14>

Submitted by
<Font Size 14><Italic>

NAME OF THE CANDIDATE

<Font Size 16>

Registration No
<Font Size 14>

in partial fulfillment of Business Research Project for the award of the degree
of
<Font Size 14><1.5 line spacing><Italic>

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

<Font Size 16><Choose your prograame accordingly >

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CALICUT
KOZHIKODE, 673601
<Font Size 14><1.0 line spacing>
MONTH YEAR
<Font Size 14><1.5 line spacing>

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 CERTIFICATE

<Font Style Times New Roman – size -16>

<Font Style Times New Roman – size -14 for below>

Certified that the business research project report “Title Of The

Project……………..” is the bonafide work of “Name of The Candidate, Roll No.
…………” MBA in SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CALUCUT carried out under my supervision
during… to…………

Place <<Signature of the Institute Supervisor>>

Date <<Name>>

SUPERVISOR
<<Academic Designation>>

<<Signature of Head of the Department>>

<<Name>>
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

(Office seal)

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 DECLARATION

I certify that

a. The work contained in this business research project is original and has been done by

myself under the general supervision of my internal supervisor(s).

b. The work has not been submitted to any other Institute for any degree or diploma.

c. I have followed the guidelines provided by the Institute in writing the report.

d. I have conformed to the norms and guidelines given in the Ethical Code of Conduct of the

Institute.

e. Whenever I have used materials (data, theoretical analysis and text) from other sources,

I have given due credit to them by citing them in the text of the thesis and giving their

details in the references.

f. Whenever I have quoted written materials from other sources, I have put them under

quotation marks and given due credit to the sources by citing them and giving required

details in the references.

Name of the Student

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 Contents
CERTIFICATE...............................................................................................................i
Acknowledgement........................................................................................................iii
DECLARATION...........................................................................................................v
Abstract........................................................................................................................vii
List of Symbols/ Abbreviations....................................................................................ix
Symbols and Notations.................................................................................................xi
List of Tables..............................................................................................................xiii
List of Figures..............................................................................................................xv
CHAPTER 1.................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1
1.1 MOTIVATION....................................................................................................1
1.2 PROCUREMENT DECISION MODELS...........................................................3
1.2.1 Modelling Price Fluctuations........................................................................4
1.2.2 Multi-Period Inventory Modelling................................................................6
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE WORK..........................................................................6
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY...................................................................................7
1.5 ORGANIZATION OF REPORT.........................................................................7
CHAPTER 2.................................................................................................................9
LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................9
2.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................9
2.2 PROCUREMENT MODELS UNDER PRICE UNCERTAINTY......................9
Bibliography.............................................................................................................109
Bio-Data....................................................................................................................121

NOTE: The above table of contents is a SAMPLE SPECIMEN only. Students are advised to
incorporate all the chapters of their study accordingly. The MS word has its own facility to construct the
“Table of Contents” automatically. Please follow the instructions at:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Format-a-table-of-contents-9d85eb9c-0b55-4795-8abb-
a49885b3a58d

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 List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature

: Inventory position at time period

: quantity to be procured from source at time period for the upcoming period

div net : dividend net

CPI : Consumer Price Index
GARCH : Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity
rad : radian in m·m−1
Pa : Pascal in kg·m−1·s−2 or N/m2

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