Page 90 - [Uma_Sekaran]_Research_methods_for_business__a_sk(BookZZ.org)

74 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Accounting Gets Radical
The GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) do an unacceptable job of
accounting for the principle activities of the information age companies. Today,
investors are in the dark because the acounting is irrelevant. The basic purpose of
accounting is to provide useful information to help investors make rational invest-
ment, credit, and similar decisions, but today’s most important assets and activi-
ties—intellectual capital and work knowledge—are totally ignored.
Professor Robert A. Howell wants to reform the accounting system with the goal of
making clear the measurement of how companies produce cash and create value.

PRACTICE PROJECTS

I. Do the project assigned below, following the step-by-step process delineated therein:
i. Compile a bibliography on any one of the following topics, or any other topic of
interest to you, from a business perspective: (a) day care; (b) product develop-
ment; (c) open-market operations; (d) information systems; (e) manufacturing
technology; (f) assessment centers; (g) transfer pricing.
ii. From this bibliography, select 15 references that include books, periodicals, and
newspaper items.
iii. Based on these 15 articles, write a literature review using different forms of cita-
tions as described in the Appendix.
iv. Formulate a problem statement.
II. Visit the following web sites and answer the questions below.
a. Visit IBM http://www.ibm.com and
Ford http://www.ford.com
What similarities and differences do you notice?
b. Visit Intel http://www.intel.com Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com
and Apple http://www.apple.com
Write a paragraph on each of these companies.
III. Gain access to the online system in your library and (a) generate a list of the refer-
ences that relate to the performance of General Motors, and (b) obtain the abstracts
of these studies.
IV. Get access to the online system and obtain a list of references that deal with product
image.