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Start this IA in the Business frame →MARKETING & THE CUSTOMER
Decisions about retention, channels, pricing and brand give you a clear customer concept to analyse with marketing tools and survey evidence.
1 · Should a regional coffee-shop chain introduce a paid subscription loyalty scheme to improve customer retention?
Analysis comes from feeding the break-even with cost and price figures and the SWOT with market context; evaluation comes from weighing the survey's small sample and the margin lost on discounted drinks against the retention case.
2 · To what extent should a craft brewery move from wholesale into direct-to-consumer online sales?
Analysis comes from comparing channel margins and applying Ansoff to a new market; evaluation weighs the higher per-order contribution against fulfilment cost and cannibalised wholesale relationships.
3 · Should a local cinema launch a mobile app to win back younger audiences?
Analysis links a clear segment to a measurable payback; evaluation weighs whether self-selected survey respondents represent the lapsed younger segment the decision actually targets.
4 · Should a fashion retailer raise prices to fund a shift to sustainable materials?
Analysis turns on elasticity and contribution per unit; evaluation (framed through Sustainability or Ethics) weighs survey-stated willingness-to-pay against the risk that real customers trade down on price.
5 · To what extent should a boutique hotel rely on a third-party booking platform versus direct bookings?
Analysis quantifies the commission drag against the cost of driving direct demand; evaluation weighs the reach the platform supplies against the margin and customer-data it takes.
FINANCE & ACCOUNTS
Investment, pricing and financing decisions give you hard figures — ratios, break-even, payback and decision trees turn supporting documents into quantitative analysis.
6 · Should a family restaurant invest in a self-service ordering system to cut costs?
Analysis comes from a payback calculation on real quoted costs and saved staff hours; evaluation weighs the labour saving against service quality and a quote that may understate maintenance and training.
7 · Should a logistics firm lease or buy electric delivery vans for its fleet?
Analysis pits lease against buy on cash flow and total cost; evaluation (framed through Sustainability) weighs the cash-flow protection of leasing against ownership value and uncertain residual values.
8 · Should a small manufacturer raise finance through a bank loan or by issuing new shares to fund expansion?
Analysis reads gearing and interest cover from the accounts; evaluation weighs the control retained with debt against the cash-flow strain of repayments in a rising-rate forecast.
9 · Should a subscription software company change its pricing from monthly to annual billing?
Analysis links the cash-flow benefit of upfront annual revenue to churn data; evaluation weighs improved cash flow and lower churn against the discount usually needed to move customers to annual plans.
10 · Should a bakery open a second branch or expand its existing premises?
Analysis compares two investments on payback and break-even volume; evaluation weighs the higher reach of a second site against the lower risk and cost of expanding a proven location.
11 · To what extent should a seasonal tourism business diversify its services to smooth cash flow?
Analysis reads the seasonal cash-flow gap and tests whether a new service fills it; evaluation weighs smoother cash flow against the cost and management stretch of running a second offer off-season.
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Open the Business IA frame →HUMAN RESOURCES & OPERATIONS
Staffing, motivation and process decisions let you apply HR theory and operations tools to internal data, surveys and productivity figures.
12 · To what extent should a gym chain introduce a four-day working week to reduce staff turnover?
Analysis links turnover cost to a motivation framework and a cost–benefit on the change; evaluation weighs reduced turnover against coverage gaps and a staff survey likely to overstate enthusiasm.
13 · Should a call centre move to a permanent hybrid-working model?
Analysis weighs measured productivity and saved office cost; evaluation (framed through Change) judges whether self-reported productivity is reliable and how culture and supervision are affected.
14 · Should a growing start-up move from a flat structure to a more hierarchical one?
Analysis links growing coordination problems to span of control and structure; evaluation weighs faster decisions against the loss of agility and motivation a flatter firm gave.
15 · Should a manufacturer adopt lean (just-in-time) production to cut waste?
Analysis quantifies holding-cost and waste savings against the change cost; evaluation (framed through Sustainability) weighs leaner stock against the supply-chain fragility JIT introduces.
16 · Should a retailer outsource its warehousing and fulfilment to a third-party logistics provider?
Analysis compares in-house and outsourced cost per order; evaluation weighs scalability and lower fixed cost against the loss of control over service and customer experience.
17 · Should a hospital café introduce performance-related pay for its staff?
Analysis tests whether output justifies the pay change against motivation theory; evaluation (framed through Ethics) weighs productivity gains against fairness, teamwork and gaming of the targets.
STRATEGY, GROWTH & CHANGE
Market-entry, growth and transformation decisions are made for tools like Ansoff, PESTLE, decision trees and SWOT — rich territory for evaluation.
18 · Should a software start-up enter the German market through a partner or a wholly owned office?
Analysis runs a decision tree over the two entry modes' expected payoffs; evaluation weighs the speed and lower risk of a partner against the control and margin of a wholly owned office.
19 · Should a manufacturer reshore production from overseas back to its home country?
Analysis compares landed cost and lead time of each location; evaluation (framed through Sustainability or Change) weighs resilience and shorter supply chains against higher domestic wages.
20 · Should a high-street optician acquire a smaller local rival or grow organically?
Analysis reads each firm's ratios and tests the acquisition's payback; evaluation weighs the faster market share of acquisition against integration risk and the lower cost of organic growth.
21 · To what extent should a charity launch a paid-for service to reduce reliance on donations?
Analysis tests whether a trading arm can break even and diversify income; evaluation (framed through Ethics) weighs financial resilience against mission drift and stakeholder reaction.
22 · Should a traditional bookstore add a café and events space to drive footfall?
Analysis links projected footfall and spend-per-visit to a break-even on the fit-out; evaluation weighs the new revenue stream against the floor space and management focus it takes from books.
23 · Should a fast-food franchise add a plant-based range to its menu?
Analysis tests the new range's contribution and break-even volume; evaluation (framed through Sustainability) weighs the trend-driven opportunity against cannibalisation and added kitchen complexity.
24 · Should a regional newspaper move fully to a digital subscription model?
Analysis compares declining print contribution with digital subscription economics; evaluation (framed through Change) weighs a sustainable digital future against the print readers and ad revenue lost in transition.
From a research question to a top-band IA
A good question is the easy part — the marks are in how you build it. The Business Management research project is scored out of 25 across seven criteria (A–G), each worth 5: the chosen key concept, the supporting documents, the use of tools, theories & techniques, analysis & evaluation, the conclusion, structure and presentation. Whichever question you pick, the same moves win: frame it through one key concept, choose 3–5 varied supporting documents (published within 3 years), apply each tool to the evidence in a document rather than describing it, analyse what it shows, rank the limitations by their impact on your recommendation, and conclude with a substantiated recommendation — all inside the 1,800-word limit.
Build your chosen question into a full IA
The examiner-written Business IA writing frame takes you through every criterion with the rubric, worked good-and-bad examples and the traps that cost marks. The planning sections are free — unlock the findings, analysis & evaluation, ranked limitations and conclusion to finish the whole report and export it to Word or PDF.
Open the Business IA frame →Business IA ideas — FAQ
What makes a good IB Business Management IA research question?
A forward-looking, decision-shaped question — a focused "Should…?" or "To what extent…?" about a real decision an actual organisation faces now, framed through one key concept (Change, Creativity, Ethics or Sustainability), narrow enough to answer with 3–5 supporting documents and two or three business tools, and built on a concept a tool can actually analyse. A backward-looking "How successful has the company been?" invites description and caps the marks before you start.
How do I choose a real organisation and the supporting documents?
Pick a real organisation facing a genuine current decision you can find evidence on — and check before committing that you can assemble 3–5 supporting documents published within the last three years. Aim for a varied, primary-and-secondary set (accounts, a survey you run, a market article, competitor data, an internal email), and match each document to a tool: a break-even needs cost and price figures, a SWOT needs internal data plus market context.
Can I just copy one of these research questions?
Use them as a launchpad, but make the project your own: choose your own real organisation, narrow the decision to one it genuinely faces now, and assemble your own supporting documents. That ownership — a real firm, real evidence, a real decision — is exactly what the supporting-documents and analysis criteria reward.
How do I turn the question into a top-band IA?
Build it section by section in the free Business IA writing frame — research question and key concept, tools and 3–5 documents, report plan, findings that apply each tool to evidence, balanced analysis and evaluation, ranked limitations with further research, and a substantiated conclusion within 1,800 words.
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