Master's Thesis (2225.YR.006537.1)

General information

Type:	TFP	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	12 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 1	Rita Rueff Negrao Mendonça Lopes	Dirección de Personas y Organización	ENG

Global business is an increasingly dynamic and complex domain. The objective of the thesis assignment is to develop students' abilities to identify questions of significance in this domain, and to structure effective and rigorous approaches to answering such questions.

The Master Project is a key component of the MSc Programmes in Management and is the last academic requirement that the participants in the different MSc Programmes in Management in Esade have to fulfill before they are conferred their degree.

More specifically, the learning objectives of this assignment are:

- To identify significant global business questions and their implications
- To develop appropriate research strategies for answering such questions
- To collect and analyze relevant data in a rigorous and persuasive manner
- To use research findings to develop recommendations for managers and scholars
- To effectively communicate research in both written (thesis paper) and oral (defense) form
- To develop the discipline to work both independently and collaboratively with international colleagues

The thesis project is a year-long endeavor that is completed in assigned teams of 3 or 4 students.

1. Modalities of Master Thesis The MSc thesis can have three different modalities: ¿ Theoretical: based on an extended literature review and an original synthesis or a new perspective on a topic ¿ Empirical: based on original fieldwork conducted by participants using qualitative/quantitative methodologies ¿ Research Case Study: based on studying in depth a certain theme or issue in a single organization (or small number of organizations)

2. Possible Components of your thesis The structure of your global business thesis will be determined by your research approach in consultation with your advisor/tutor and any other faculty readers. The outline below is for your information and is not meant necessarily to be used. This is simply one example for a possible structure for your thesis. Title page (separate page) Abstract (separate page) Table of Contents or Index (separate page) Table of Figures and Tables (separate page) Introduction Background of the Research and discussion of your global business topic Discussion of the areas of the world and their role in addressing your global business topic Discussion of the research approach, design, or methodology Presentation of results of the research Discussion of the results Contribution to knowledge and to global business Conclusion Endnotes (separate section) References Cited (separate section) Tables (separate section) Appendix (separate section) The structure above may not be appropriate for all theses. Should you elect to use this structure, the section titles should be altered to best reflect you¿re the content of your thesis. You should also consider sub-sections within the main sections shown above.

Writing a Master Thesis Materials

A set of materials has been prepared to provide you with tools and resources to successfully plan and write your MSc Thesis. In particular it will help you to:
- Choose a right research question
- Structuring a Research Based Case or a Teaching case
- Providing useful tips to improve academic writing with special emphasis in conceptual MSc thesis
- Helping you to perform a successful literature search using academic databases
- Knowing the main research methodologies (either quantitative or qualitative) that you may use to answer your research question.

Your tutor

It is the responsibility of each thesis team to recruit a faculty tutor, and to stay in contact with that tutor throughout the year to report your progress and receive feedback. At the beginning of the fall semester (in Virginia), you will be provided with a list of potential tutors. You should select someone from this list who has topical or methodological expertise relevant to your thesis.


The tutor's role is to read your work, to engage with it critically, to provide you with helpful responses and readings, to suggest ways of developing your analyses, to point you in the direction of interesting new sources and generally to make sure that you are progressing through the stages of a research degree as you should be, i.e. maintaining a high standard, and assuring the work that you eventually submit for examination as a thesis meets the requirements.

Further details about the methodology and the process can be consulted in the Global Business Thesis Guidelines that can be requested from the Esade M.Thesis coordinator Rita Rueff.

- Driscoll, D.L. (2011). Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews. In Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol 2 (p.153-174) ISBN 978-1-603235-184-4
- Boyle, R.A. & Ingham J. (2007). Suggestions on How to Conduct Empirical Research. Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing. Vol. 15, Nº3, p.176-179
- Baxter, M. & Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report, Vol 13, Nº4, 544-559

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 1	Rita Rueff Negrao Mendonça Lopes	Dirección de Personas y Organización