DBAX 9101 Week 6 Purpose Statement Paper Example

The Sentence Every Other Section Must Obey: A Purpose Statement for a Multiple Case Study of How Small Specialty Subcontractors in Central Ohio Manage Late Payment, Tested Against the Problem It Answers

Student Name

Walden University

DBAX 9101: Business Research Project Stage 1

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

The Sentence Every Other Section Must Obey: A Purpose Statement for a Multiple Case Study of How Small Specialty Subcontractors in Central Ohio Manage Late Payment, Tested Against the Problem It Answers

The Problem the Purpose Must Answer

The general business problem is that late payment from general contractors strains the cash flow of small specialty trade subcontractors, which can force them to cut investment or close. The specific business problem is that some owners of small specialty trade subcontracting firms lack strategies to manage late payment from general contractors. Every element of the purpose statement must trace back to these two sentences.

The Purpose Statement

This qualitative multiple case study's purpose is to explore the strategies owners of small specialty trade subcontracting firms employ to withstand late payment from general contractors. The targeted population consists of owners of four mechanical, plumbing or electrical subcontracting firms in central Ohio, each with fewer than 50 employees and at least five years in business, who have managed periods of late payment without closing or defaulting on obligations. The implications for positive social change include preserving skilled trade jobs in local communities by helping small firms survive payment delays.

Testing the Statement Against the Problem

Table 1

Alignment of Purpose With Problem

Each row was checked by reading the purpose element and the problem statement side by side.

Where the Problem Statement Gets Its Support

The two problem sentences are not my own invention. Peters et al. (2019) document how late payment travels down the construction contracting chain and lands on the firms with the least cash, which supports the general problem. Murfin and Njoroge (2015) show that when large buyers stretch their payments, the small suppliers carrying that credit end up investing less, which supports the claim that delay strains small firms rather than merely inconveniencing them. The specific problem, that some owners lack strategies, rests on the absence of research on owners' practices identified in Week 3.

Why a Multiple Case Study

Yin (2018) recommends case study research for how and why questions about current events a researcher cannot control, especially where the setting is part of what explains them. Strategies for managing late payment are embedded in each firm's relationships with its general contractors, its bank and its own workforce; separating them from that context would lose much of what explains them. Studying four firms rather than one allows comparison: strategies that appear in several firms are more likely to be transferable than those found in only one.

What the Statement Rules Out

The statement commits the study to a qualitative design, so it will not estimate how much any strategy reduces failure. It commits the study to owners, so the views of bookkeepers, project managers and general contractors will enter only through documents or as context. And it commits the study to successful firms, so it cannot compare them with firms that failed. Each of these limits follows from the purpose and will need to appear in the limitations section.

Revisions Made While Drafting

The first draft said "describe" rather than "explore," which suggested a study that catalogs practices without examining how owners chose them. The second draft named "small businesses," which drifted from the problem's specific population. A third draft named five firms; I reduced the number to four after considering what I could study in depth while working full time. Each revision brought the purpose closer to the problem.

Checking With Others

Before finalizing the statement, I will send it with the two problem sentences to my chair and ask one question: does anything in the purpose fail to trace back to the problem? Alignment errors are easier for a reader to see than for the author, who knows what each phrase was meant to say and reads that meaning into it.

References

Murfin, J., & Njoroge, K. (2015). The implicit costs of trade credit borrowing by large firms. Review of Financial Studies, 28(1), 112-145. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhu051

Peters, E., Subar, K., & Martin, H. (2019). Late payment and nonpayment within the construction industry: Causes, effects, and solutions. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction, 11(3), Article 04519013. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)LA.1943-4170.0000314

Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.