Suggested Format for Sharda MBA Dissertation

PRELIMINARY PAGES 1. Title Page Title short (length is 10-12 words); reflective of the content, problem, and the main variables to be studied; free of value judgment; should be written in inverted pyramid boldface, and capital letters Statement:

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

Authors Name Name of the supervisor Name of the Institution Month and Year of Completion

2. Approval Sheet 3. Declaration 4. Acknowledgment 5. Executive Summary

In research, as in business and life in general, we are all lured into further engagement by shop windows that interest or appeal to us. Your summary is the shop window of your dissertation. Its purpose is to say to somebody breezing by: hey, this is interesting, you should look into this further. And, because were all busy you must do it quickly. Thus, your summary should be no more than one page. It should briefly: 1. say what you have investigated, 2. say why it is important, 3. summarise your main findings. Tip: Summarise your main findings in 3-5 bullet points.

1|Page

Tip: The Summary should be the last thing you write before submitting. It will give the reader (and marker) an overview of what the dissertation is about and all other sections will fit into this.

6. 7. 8. 9.

Table of Contents List of Tables List of Exhibits List of Appendices

10. CHAPTERS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION gives the background of the project and the rationale for conducting the study

Background of the Study A statement of how the project was initiated What area youd investigate and why Which company youd focus on

Company Background Brief information on company mission, main strategic goals and current status in terms of market share, branches or SBUs and management structure if available

Aim and Objectives Aim The main reason as to why the project is being undertaken

Objectives or milestones of the study 2|Page states the specific objectives

should be consistent with the aim should be clearly stated and logically presented

Significance of the Study points out the vital contribution of the study and who will benefit from it.

Scope of the Study sets the delimitations and establishes the boundaries of the study (delimits the study in terms of size and area of coverage) states what the study will not cover or will not do

Potential barriers and strategies to overcome them identifies the constraints which may affect the results of the study proposes ways to resolve such constraints

Summary of Research Methodology brief description of methods used for sampling, data collection and analysis

Report structure brief description of what each chapter involves

Report plan brief description of activities with duration and costs of each activity draw a Gantt Chart or an Activity on Node diagram identify the key communication persons

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE referencing must follow the style recommended by the Business School. See the suggested style in the file on referencing

3|Page

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY describes how the study was conducted

Research Design specifies whether descriptive, causal/explanatory, correlational, comparative, exploratory, evaluative or combination of two or more designs

Sources of Data specifies the sources of primary and/or secondary data

Method of Data Collection/Data Collection Procedure indicates the sampling procedures (if primary data) and the data collection methods such as survey, questionnaire, and others

Analytical Procedures/Methods of Analysis indicates the most appropriate statistical tools used in analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION summarises the data collected and the statistical results in sufficient detail to justify conclusions uses tables and graphs to supplement the text all figures must be numbered consecutively with their labels written below the figures all figures must be placed immediately after the page where a particular figure number is mentioned. All figures must be well explained in the text and all figure numbers must be mentioned properly in the text a thorough discussion must be offered with regards to the management implications of the results

4|Page

CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations on how the firm may optimize its decisions drawing on the implications identified and discussed in chapter four.

BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES A blank questionnaire Additional tables CV Others should be alphabetically arranged all the references cited in the text must be included in this section

5|Page