Analysing the economic impact on the automobile industry of Australia after Ford stopped its manufacturing in Australia.
Table of Contents
The purpose for this research: 2
Research tool and technique: 3
Data sampling tools and technologies: 5
Data analysis tools and technologies: 5
Project management approach: 6
Research objectives:
The key goals for this project are:
- To determine the impact of the closure of Ford on the automobile sector of Australia
- To analyze the effect of the closure of Ford on the employment of people in the country
- To assess the current labour market of the automobile industry of the country
The purpose of this research:
The primary objective of this research study is to identify the reasons behind the closure of Ford in Australia and to assess the impact of this closure on the economy and employment in the automobile industry of the country. These findings will also help in understanding the current conditions of the employment market in Australia. Due to the face that Ford has been one of the most successful companies in the automobile sector of Australia, therefore; it has been highly active in employing many people of the country. Therefore; closure of such a large company bound to impact the economy and employment of the country (Stanwick, Circelli & Lu, 2015). In this aspect, some key findings will be developed from the research on the issue. With the use of some critical methodologies, the overall study will be conducted.
Research methodology:
This section will be based on using some critical methods for conducting this research. Proper explanations will be provided regarding the tools and techniques that will be used for this particular research. The methodologies that will be used will be useful for answering the main research questions and objectives that have been prepared earlier. Gaps in the automobile industry of the country will also be analyzed through the methodologies that will be used for this report.
Research design:
A descriptive approach will be followed for this research. This will be based on a detailed description of the key issues that have been identified so far (Kaur, 2017). Therefore; exploratory design will be undertaken in which the problems will be explained, and the current conditions will also be identified in details (Almaki, 2016). The data from the primary resources that will be used will be in more information and descriptive ones. These data will be beneficial for finding critical answers to the research questions that have been identified. In this regard, some important tools will also be used.
Research method:
For this particular research, qualitative methods will be used. The qualitative methods in this regard will be based on detailed answers to some of the questions that will be prepared. However; both primary and secondary resources will be used, and this will help in finding the answers with a significant effect. Qualitative data help in finding some accurate perception of the participants regarding the research questions (McCusker & Gunaydin, 2015). This will help in justifying the use of exploratory design for this research. Qualitative data will also help in understanding the core issues in details which is not possible with the use of quantitative data. Therefore; the use of qualitative data for this research will be significant and will justify the research with success.
The qualitative data will include both the data from the primary and the secondary sources. This means that in case of the primary sources, the qualitative data will be collected from the participants and in case of secondary sources; the qualitative data will be collected from the recent articles and journals (Nassaji, 2015). Therefore; both primary and secondary resources will be equally significant for this research study. The secondary data will be assessed in details in the literature review part. The data will be based on the research questions that have identified earlier. On the other hand, the primary data will be based on some of the participants from the automobile industry of Australia. For this research, 7 participants will be selected. The 7 participants will include two economic specialists and five managers of different automobile retailing companies in the country. The data from their perceptions will be beneficial for analyzing the current situation of the automobile industry of Australia.
Research tool and technique:
For this particular research, the interview will be used as a technique. The meeting will be taken on the participants that would be approached. The questions will be open-ended, and the answers expected to be in broad (Castillo-Montoyo, 2016). Questionnaires will be designed based on the research questions. NVivo will be used as a tool for collecting the data. This tool is extremely efficient in collecting and analyzing qualitative data (Zamawe, 2015). Therefore; for this research, this tool is going to be extremely important and useful. A structured interview will be taken, and the questions will be prepared well before conducting the interview (McIntosh & Morse, 2015). This will be helpful in determining the primary intention of the meeting. The interview questions will be sequenced as per the requirements of this research. Questions will be asked to one participant at a time. This will help in maintaining clarity in the interview, and the proper volume of data can also be collected with success. The meetings will be taken face to face, and the participants will be approached by conducting market research.
The questions that will be asked to the different sets of participants are as follows:
For economic experts:
- What has been the impact on the automobile industry of Australia after Ford decided closing manufacturing of the vehicles?
- According to your perceptions, what could be the main reasons for the decision taken by Ford?
- How has the decision resulted in employment in the automobile industry of Australia?
- What is the role played by the Government to counter the impact?
The questions that will be asked to the mangers are:
- How the closure of the manufacturing units of Ford impacted your business?
- How has been the impact of the closure on the employment decisions of your business?
- According to your perceptions, what could be the main reasons for the closure of the manufacturing units of Ford?
- What strategies have you incorporated to mitigate the impact of the decision on your business?
These questions have been prepared based on the research questions that have been developed earlier. It is expected that these questions are going to be useful for understanding and analyzing the critical issues with success.
Some of the critical answers that will be generated and collected from the secondary resources would be based on the topics that will be selected in accordance with the research questions. The topics of the research that will be considered for the secondary data are:
- The main reasons for the closure of the manufacturing units of Ford
- Impact of the closure of manufacturing units of Ford on the labour market of Australia
- The current conditions of the labour market in the automobile industry of Australia
- The role of the Government on countering the significant challenges that have arrived
- The process by which the economy of Australia has reshaped after the closure of the manufacturing units of Ford
Therefore; all these topics are going to be extremely important and will help in understanding the key factors behind the issues that have been identified. All these data from the two resources will be further analyzed with the help of some essential techniques.
Data sampling tools and techniques:
For this research, sampling of the data is going to be extremely. The information that will be collected from the primary resources will be further sampled so that proper analysis can be conducted. In this aspect, simple random sampling will be used as the technique, and this technique is helpful in using the data from all the participants who will be involved in the interview (Mania, Guy & Recht, 2018). The sampling errors can be calculated with efficiency. Along with this, the bias in the data collection will also be eliminated.
Data analysis tools and techniques:
The data that will be collected from the two resources will be further analyzed. The analysis will be made with the help of a valuable tool. In this aspect, NVivo is the tool that will be used, and it will help in analyzing the qualitative data in an efficient way (Phillips & Lu, 2018). Content analysis will be conducted for analyzing the descriptive data which would be collected (Dumay & Cai, 2015). Therefore; these tools and techniques are going to be extremely useful and will also help in understanding the requirements with ease. Therefore; some fundamental theories will be derived with the help of proper analysis of the data.
Limitations:
The limitations of this research are regarding the lack of a sufficient amount of resources which would be necessary for this research to continue with success. This is due to the limited time and the limited budget which are required for analysis. Along with this, due to a limited number of researchers, it was not possible to involve in broader research.
Project management approach:
For this particular project, four methods of project management will be considered, and the criteria will be based on the resources, timeline, feasibility, and risks. The schedule of the project will also be included in this.
Resources:
The researchers for this project will be using the tools and techniques that have been identified. Resources will also be based on the articles, journals and participants. The technical resources will include the devices, computers, and database and internet connection. Non-technical resources will consist of documents and forms.
Timeline:
This research will take approximately five weeks to complete, and the schedule will be highlighted as well. The timeframe for this project is given below:
| Week | Activities |
| Week 1 | Research planning and initiation: · Research design · Scope identification · Feasibility identification · Techniques identification |
| Week 2 | Collection of secondary data Analysis of secondary data |
| Week 3 | Collection of primary data |
| Week 4 | Sampling of secondary data Analysis of the secondary data |
| Week 5 | Submission of final document after the generation of the findings |
Feasibility:
Technical: The technical feasibility will be not given importance for this research (Jebrin, 2017). However; some technologies such as the tools will be used.
Operational: The operational activities of this research study will be based on the use of the research data and the resources.
Economic: The budget of the project is not high, and the focus will be on reducing the costs of the projects as much as possible.
Project risks:
There would be a possibility of some risks in this project, and therefore; those risks will be identified along with understanding their mitigation strategies. Ratings will also be provided for those risks.
| Risks | Strategy of mitigation | Ratings |
| The data could be not sufficient enough to meet with the research requirements | It will be ensured that quality data would be collected within a limited volume. The questionnaires will be prepared on the basis of exact requirements (Brace, 2018). | Medium |
| The participants may not provide valid data | Alternatives will be arranged based on the information that would be analysed. However; this process could increase the project schedule | Medium |
| The data may not be able to meet with the requirements of analyzing the research questions | The focus will be given on collecting more secondary data as the alternatives | High |
| Project budget can get increased | It will be ensured that minimum expenses will be made during each activity of the project. The costs of each of the events will be assessed after its completion | High |
| The project schedule can increase which would indirectly impact on the budget | The focus will be on completing the tasks in advance. However; the quality of the research will also be given equal importance in this process | High |
Therefore; all these risks can be significant and can result in the ineffectiveness of the research as well. In this regard, it will be essential to eliminate the risks at the planning stage of the study. This would help in controlling the risks during the progress of the research. Proper communication would be essential between the researchers to manage and mitigate these risks with success.
References:
Almalki, S. (2016). Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data in Mixed Methods Research–Challenges and Benefits. Journal of Education and Learning, 5(3), 288-296.
Brace, I. (2018). Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research. Kogan Page Publishers.
Castillo-Montoya, M. (2016). Preparing for interview research: The interview protocol refinement framework. The Qualitative Report, 21(5), 811-831.
Dumay, J., & Cai, L. (2015). Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating intellectual capital disclosure: a critique. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 16(1), 121-155.
Jebrin, A. H. (2017). The Theoretical Strategic Approach in the Feasibility Study. Journal of Economics, Management and Trade, 1-14.
Kaur, S. (2017). Sample size determination (for Key words: Sample size determination, Descriptive studies.
Mania, H., Guy, A., & Recht, B. (2018). Simple random search provides a competitive approach to reinforcement learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.07055.
McCusker, K., & Gunaydin, S. (2015). Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion, 30(7), 537-542.
McIntosh, M. J., & Morse, J. M. (2015). Situating and constructing diversity in semi-structured interviews. Global qualitative nursing research, 2, 2333393615597674.
Nassaji, H. (2015). Qualitative and descriptive research: Data type versus data analysis.
Phillips, M., & Lu, J. (2018). A quick look at NVivo. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 30(2), 104-106.
Stanwick, J., Circelli, M., & Lu, T. (2015). The End of Car Manufacturing in Australia: What Is the Role of Training?. National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd. PO Box 8288, Stational Arcade, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.
Zamawe, F. C. (2015). The implication of using NVivo software in qualitative data analysis: Evidence-based reflections. Malawi Medical Journal, 27(1), 13-15.