Master's thesis

The purpose of a Master's thesis in the Area Marketing & Sales is the science-based examination of a marketing-related subject and thereby the enhancement of marketing-related knowledge. The supervision of the Master's thesis is organized individually by each chair.

Prerequisites

The prerequisite for writing a Master's thesis in the Area of Marketing & Sales is the successful completion of a seminar MKT 7X0 at one of the marketing chairs (LS Homburg MKT 710, LS Stahl MKT 720, LS Kuester MKT 730, or LS Kraus MKT 740). The prerequisites for attending the seminars are listed according to student cohorts on the respective information pages of the seminars.

We also recommend writing the Master's thesis at the chair where the seminar paper was written in order to be involved in the respective chair's research and project work at an early stage.

At our chair, you also can propose a personal topic for your Master’s thesis at any time. To do so, please contact the respective supervisor whose research area aligns closest with your proposed topic. Information about the research areas of our team members and their contact details can be found on the profile sites. For your individual topic proposal, some questions should be clarified independently in advance. Therefore, we ask you to submit the topic suggestion together with a thesis proposal (max. 1 DIN A4 page) to an eligible supervisor. This proposal should discuss the following topics:

• Relevance of the topic: Is the proposed topic relevant? Why is it relevant? For example, you could cite research calls from articles in recent VHB-A+/A/(B) journals, articles in relevant journals that report on the novelty and relevance of your topic, or recent news articles from credible sources (e.g., Handelsblatt, Harvard Business Review, etc.).
• Related literature: What literature streams do you want to build your topic on? What scholarly literature exists on the topic of your proposed work?
• Planned research objective and research questions:What do you want to research? What are the specific research questions you want to address based on your overall research objective?
• Intended research methodology: How will you address your research questions in your paper? What empirical method (e.g., surveys, online experiment, secondary data analysis, expert interviews, etc.) will you use in your work?
• Expected outcomes and contribution to research and practice: What outcomes do you expect? How will your research contribute to knowledge in the research area of your work? How will your findings improve the work of managers and what should they consider in practice based on your research findings?