Master's Thesis Guide MSM-MBA 2025-2026 pdf

Master's Thesis Guide MSM-MBA 2025-2026 pdf

The Master’s Thesis

The Master’s Thesis is an individual final project that allows students to apply and demonstrate their control over concepts, tools, and competencies acquired and developed throughout the MSM-MBA study programme.

Within the overall MSM-MBA study programme design, the Master’s Thesis forms a large and fundamental part of the methodological approach to learning. The development of the Master’s Thesis is the final point of the programme, which allows mobilising knowledge, attitudes and competencies within the framework of business management. It is the most important indicator of progress and achievement for our students.

Projects are supposed to meet a high level of ambition and complexity. Any chosen project must be of sufficient size and scope to be acceptable. In principle, there are no geographical limitations to any of the project types, just as long as this doesn’t impede the carrying out of the required thorough, relevant research to justify the project and the proposed approaches and solutions (desk research, market research, interviews, etc.). Feasibility is essential. If a student does not have access to the necessary resources to carry out the study, a different topic should be considered.

Learning goals

The general objective of the Master’s Thesis is to carry out a piece of original work. In particular, it aims at achieving the following learning goals:

Detect and exploit

• a real business opportunity, or
• an organisational challenge of an actual business situation, or
• an organisational or societal challenge by conducting academic research.

Integrate the knowledge acquired throughout the year in the MSM-MBA study programme in the different areas

Contribute to the further development of a set of specific competencies planned for the MSM-MBA study programme, such as:

• Developing knowledge and understanding of a specific business, industry, academic area or research
• Being able to apply different tools, techniques and theories to solving business and academic issues.
• Formulating strategic decisions, making recommendations and drawing conclusions on research findings
• Writing and presenting complex ideas clearly and effectively
• Being able to find and select relevant information for the needs of the project

Transition to updated Learning Goals

The MBA programme is currently moving to a new set of learning goals and thesis assessment criteria.

• Students who started before 1 September 2025 will continue to use the old thesis assessment criteria during the academic year 2025-2026.
• Students who started on or after 1 September 2025 will follow the new thesis assessment criteria.

From the next academic year (2026-2027) onwards, all students will work with the new thesis assessment criteria.

The specific learning goals and competencies per type of Master’s Thesis, as well as the applicable assessment criteria, can be found in Appendix I.

The MSM-MBA Master’s thesis (final project)

The starting point for the final project is that it should deal with a particular subject in the field of business and/or management, which is discussed from a theoretical or theoretical and practical point of view, at a graduate academic level.

Within the MSM-MBA study programme, three distinct types of projects are allowed for the Master’s Thesis, the first two more practical in nature, the third one of a more academic character:

• Business Plan  for an entrepreneurial start-up
• Business Consultancy Project  for an existing company
• Academic Research Paper  generically applicable to more than one company

Whereas the entrepreneurial business plan and the business consultancy project focus on one organisation (N=1) and a kind of formal ‘client organisation’, the academic research paper focuses on a management or business problem encountered by a larger number of organisations (N>1).

All three types of final projects have a strong research element. Students must identify and apply academic literature to identify the correct tools for the analysis. Students must also develop a clear research methodology for analysis. In this sense, all three project types are the same, but with a different focus.

In the following paragraphs, each type will be explained in more detail.

Business Plan: For an entrepreneurial start-up

The Business plan allows the student to research a market for a new product or service. The development of a Business Plan comprises the stages listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Stages of the Business Plan

In general, a student must:

• Describe the new business concept and the market in which it operates, as well as describe the target consumer, arguing why this product/service brings greater value than current products/services.
• recognise the relevant theoretical tools needed to carry out a market feasibility analysis as well as identify and describe the most appropriate investigation methods;
• describe the informational sources collected and motivate why the selected data sources are relevant;
• apply the tools of analysis necessary to estimate the market demand and calculate and determine the fixed and variable costs associated with the new business opportunity;
• Examine the competitive environment of the new business opportunity and estimate and evaluate the projected market sales.

The checklist in Appendix II.1 provides more detail on the steps and actions a student should take and complete when writing the Master’s Thesis.

Please also refer to the Master’s Thesis assessment criteria (Appendix I.1) for more information.

Business Consultancy Project: For an existing company

The business consultancy project involves advising a real-life organisation on how to solve a specific issue the organisation is confronted with. Within the context of an existing company, there are, in general terms, two types of issues that can be addressed:

Issues that have to do with the exploitation of newly detected opportunities in the market. Examples are:

• The launching of a new product
• The launching of a new line of products
• The entry into new geographical markets through exports, partners and/or subsidiaries to be set up
• The dynamics/acceleration of the company’s growth
• The internationalization of processes of the existing company
• The creation of a spin-off for an existing company

Issues that have to do with actual problems or challenges that the company is facing

• Problems in terms of stagnating or declining profitability
• Problems in terms of productivity and operational performance
• Problems in terms of business model, organisational model and/or structure, partnerships
• Problems in terms of company infrastructure and footprint

The development of a Business Consultancy project comprises the stages listed in Table 2.

Table 2: Stages of the Business Consultancy Project

In general, a student must:

• identify and describe the core problems facing the organisation and provide a detailed description of the business environment of the organisation.
• identify the relevant theoretical tools needed to analyse the organisational issues at hand.
• identify why the chosen investigation method is the most appropriate one for the consulting project, as well as the correct methodological literature (e.g., use of methods textbooks, reference is made to other articles).
• examine and produce a realistic cost-benefit analysis.
• recommend a clear strategic action plan including timing, roles and responsibilities as well as assess the organisational, financial and other functional consequences of the proposed solution.

Students wanting to pursue a business consultancy project are expected to find a client organisation by themselves.

The checklist in Appendix II.2 provides more detail on the steps and actions a student should take and complete when writing the Master’s Thesis.

Please also refer to the Master’s Thesis assessment criteria (Appendix I.2) for more information.

Academic Research Paper: Generically applicable to more than one company

The academic research project involves researching practical problems or opportunities organizations are confronted with, resulting in recommendations at a more general level. Typically, this type of project originates from issues that have emerged in the academic literature. Students are expected to formulate their own theoretical frameworks that will be tested in a scientific manner, either using qualitative or quantitative research methods.

The development of an Academic Research Paper comprises the stages listed in Table 3.

Table 3: Stages of the Academic Research Paper

In general, a student must:

• identify and describe the research problem as well as the major and minor research questions.
• identify and discuss the relevant literature related to the problem statement.
• design an appropriate conceptual framework from the literature to investigate the research problem.
• identify why the chosen investigation method is the most appropriate one for the research problem and describe the informational sources collected, and motivates why the selected informational sources are relevant.
• indicate the correct methodological literature (e.g., use of methods textbooks, reference to other articles).
• apply the theoretical tools correctly to the informational sources used (quantitative or qualitative)
• apply the appropriate remote search methods to analyse the informational sources (quantitative or qualitative).
• correctly interpret and examine the results of the analysis.
• Examine the limitations of the research and provide recommendations for future research.

The checklist in Appendix II.3 provides more detail on the steps and actions a student should take and complete when writing the Master’s Thesis.

Please also refer to the Master’s Thesis assessment criteria (Appendix I.3) for more information.

Steps in the process

The Master’s Thesis project involves different steps and milestones as summarised in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Overview of the Master's Thesis process and milestones

Step 1: Research Methods Course

In order to support students in developing their Master’s Thesis, the course Research Methods is part of the core courses of the MSM-MBA study programme. Students are required to attend this course before starting to write their Master’s Thesis.

The course will allow students to develop their initial ideas on their thesis project, culminating in a final project proposal. Students will also be familiarised with the main research techniques in thesis research (i.e. semi-structured interviews and textual analysis in qualitative research and survey design).

Please refer to the syllabus of the Research Methods course for the specific content, requirements and examinations of the course.

Step 2: Supervisor allocation

After the Research Methods course, for each student, an MSM supervisor is appointed. MSM aims to find a perfect match between a student and supervisor in terms of business, theoretical, methodological, and empirical interests and expertise.

Step 3: Writing phase

During the writing phase, there are three milestones: the kick-off meeting, the progress report meeting, and the final draft meeting. Before each meeting, the student should upload the required documents to Moodle/Canvas, and after the meeting, write a summary of the meeting, including the feedback the student received and an (adjusted) timeline and upload it to Moodle/Canvas.

Kick-off meeting

Right after the supervisor allocation, the kick-off meeting will take place, during which the supervisor will give feedback on the thesis topic/research proposal, and the proposed timeline will be discussed.

• At least one week before the meeting, the student uploads the thesis topic/research proposal and a timeline to Moodle/Canvas.
• Meeting takes place with oral feedback from the MSM supervisor.
• Student writes summary of meeting, including (adjusted) timeline for the writing phase, and uploads to Moodle/Canvas.

Progress report meeting

Halfway through the writing phase (approximately three months before the submission deadline), the progress report meeting will take place, where the student presents a short progress report (PowerPoint presentation) to the MSM supervisor. The student should present the current status of the thesis, elements of the thesis that still need to be completed, and areas where the student is facing problems. The progress report is not graded, but a presentation is mandatory. The presentation should last 15 minutes, followed by a Q&A session of 15 minutes with the MSM supervisor.

• At least one week before the meeting, the student uploads the draft thesis and progress report presentation to Moodle/Canvas.
• The meeting takes place with oral feedback from the MSM supervisor.
• Students write a summary of the meeting, including the adjusted timeline, and uploads to Moodle/Canvas.

Final draft meeting

For the full-time variant of the MSM-MBA programme, the final draft meeting will take place approximately two weeks before the submission deadline. For the part-time variants, this meeting will take place approximately four weeks before the deadline.

• At least one week before the meeting, the student uploads the final draft of the thesis to Moodle/Canvas.
• The meeting takes place with oral feedback from the MSM supervisor.
• Based on the feedback, the student will finalise the Master’s thesis.

Complaints during the writing phase

Should any difficulties emerge between the supervisor and the student during the writing phase, the supervisor and/or student will inform the MSM education office as soon as this occurs.

The MSM education officer will consider the matter and propose and implement a solution after consulting with the supervisor and/or student, and if applicable, the Academic Coordinator of the MSM-MBA study programme. This process has been set up in order to detect and resolve any difficulties during the writing process at an early stage.

Step 4: Submission of Master’s Thesis

Please carefully read Chapter 5, which describes the specific requirements of the Master’s Thesis.

The submission deadline for the final version of the Master’s Thesis is communicated by the MSM education office. The student is required to upload the Master’s Thesis to Moodle/Canvas before the submission deadline.

In case a student is not able to submit the Master’s Thesis before the deadline due to personal circumstances, the student can request an extension. Please refer to chapter 10.8 of the MSM-MBA and MSM-MM Education and Examination Regulations 2025-2026.

Students who miss the submission deadline are not allowed to defend and will receive a “No Grade” for the Master’s Thesis. Regarding resit opportunities, please refer to chapter 10.2 of the MSM-MBA and MSM-MM Education and Examination Regulations 2025-2026.

Upon submitting the Master’s Thesis, a student is required to confirm that the Master’s Thesis is original work by the student and is free of any kind of irregularities.

• Students who upload the Master’s Thesis in Moodle have to complete and sign a declaration and upload it together with the Master’s Thesis to Moodle (see Appendix III).
• Students who submit their Master’s Thesis in Canvas do not need to sign and upload this declaration, but will confirm the submission process in Canvas.

Step 5: Master’s Thesis defence

This is the last stage in the final project process and involves presenting, defending and assessing the Master’s Thesis. Defence sessions are organised at the end of each MSM-MBA study programme.

Dates for defence sessions for students who have been granted extension and/or who have not passed the first sit will be communicated by the MSM education office.

The evaluation panel consists of two evaluators (the MSM supervisor and an additional evaluator). 

The defence is a public ceremony except for the assessment discussion by the evaluators.

The defence of the Master’s Thesis will take approximately 40 minutes in total and consists of:

1. Oral presentation of the Master’s Thesis by the student, 15 minutes
2. Q&A session where the evaluators will ask questions (the actual defence of the Master’s Thesis)    15-20 minutes
3. Assessment discussion in which the evaluators will determine the student’s final grade, 5 minutes
4. Debriefing of the student by the evaluators on a “pass” or “fail” outcome, 5 minutes

Assessment of the Master’s Thesis

The Master’s Thesis shall be assessed through the completion of the Master’s Thesis evaluation form by two evaluators, as included in Appendix I. Both evaluators need to complete each criterion of the Master’s Thesis evaluation form with a specific grade.

If the average grade of both evaluators for one or more competencies (programme objectives) is below 5.5, the Master’s Thesis is failed, and the student needs to take a resit.

If the average grade of both evaluators for all competencies (programme objectives) is at least a 5.5 and the difference of the final grades of both evaluators does not exceed 1.5, the total final grade of the Master’s thesis is the average of the final grades of both evaluators and rounded to a whole or half grade, except for grades between 5.25 and 5.49 that are rounded to 5.0.

In case the difference of the final grades of both evaluators exceeds 1.5, the Academic Coordinator of the MSM-MBA study programme will appoint a third evaluator. The third evaluator will assess the Master’s Thesis based on the Master’s Thesis evaluation form and will provide partial grades for each criterion except the criteria that are related to the defence. The total final grade of the Master’s thesis in this case is calculated by the average grades of all three evaluators, except the criteria that are related to the defence, for which the average of the first two evaluators is taken. The total final grade is rounded to a whole or half grade, except for grades between 5.25 and 5.49 that are rounded to 5.0.

Please refer to Appendix 1 of this MSM-MBA Master’s Thesis Guide for more details on grading and grade determination.

After the defence, the evaluators will submit the completed Master’s Thesis evaluation form to the MSM education office. The final grades will only be released by the MSM education office.
 
Specific procedural rules regarding the defence

Once the Master’s Thesis is submitted on time, a student is obliged to defend the Master’s Thesis at the scheduled defence session date of the applicable study programme or within three (3) months, counting from the day the Master’s Thesis was submitted. The same applies for re-submission of the Master’s Thesis.

A student obliged to defend, who does not show up at the defence without compelling reason and informing the MSM education office before the defence, or who is not willing to defend the Master’s Thesis, will receive a “No Grade” for the Master’s Thesis.

It is not allowed to re-submit a Master’s Thesis when the student has already obtained a passing final grade for the Master’s Thesis.

Resit of the Master’s Thesis

If the evaluation of the Master’s thesis or the defence thereof results in an insufficient grade or a “No Grade”, a student gets a resit opportunity. Please refer to chapter 10.2 of the MSM-MBA and MSM- MM Education and Examination Regulations 2025-2026.

Requirements Master’s Thesis

Format

• The written document should include an Executive Summary of a maximum of two pages (no more than 1000 words).
• For the MSM-MBA Master’s Thesis, a paper of approximately 20.000 words (approx. 40 pages) is expected. This excludes appendices and the bibliography.
• For the Master’s Thesis (including drafts) MSM requires students to use the writing and referencing style prescribed by the American Psychological Association (APA), including the bibliographic reference system of APA, except for the line spacing, which should be single (1.0).

Irregularities

MSM has a zero-tolerance policy on irregularities such as fraud, plagiarism, forgery and academic outsourcing. All final submissions of the Master’s Thesis are checked for plagiarism. In case any irregularity is detected, it will be reported to the Board of Examiners, who may take appropriate measures/impose sanctions on the student. Please also refer to chapter 8 of the MSM-MBA and MSM-MM Education and Examination Regulations 2025-2026.

Confidentiality

If a student promises confidentiality to (survey) respondents – usually a good idea for most kinds of research questions – their identities or personal details should not be revealed in the Master’s Thesis (including drafts). However, students must keep this information in their file of research notes, and maintain this file in a safe place in case MSM officials may need to question a student about the specific procedures that led to a student’s research claims.

Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

In the case of a confidential Master’s Thesis, a company or student may request that an agreement be signed between the student and MSM to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed to a third party. A standard NDA can be requested from the MSM education office. MSM will not sign any other agreements besides the standard NDA provided. In case an NDA is required, a student should organise this as early as possible in the process. This NDA needs to be included as an appendix to the Master’s Thesis.

Appendix I: Master’s Thesis assessment criteria

The following tables show the Master’s Thesis evaluation forms, including the programme objectives, their corresponding learning goals (competencies), and the specific assessment criteria for each type of MSM- MBA Master’s Thesis.

The required competencies are clustered into programme objectives and are associated with one or more learning goals. Each learning goal is supported by one or more assessment criteria.

Each criterion receives a grade and is assessed according to the following schema:

The grade of each program objective is calculated by the average of the assessment criteria of the respective objective.

The final grade of each evaluator is calculated by the average of all program objectives.

1. Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Business Plan

2. Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Business Consultancy Project

3. Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Academic Research Paper

1. Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Business Plan (new learning goals)

2. Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Business Consultancy Project (new learning goals)

3.    Master’s Thesis assessment criteria – Academic Research Paper (new learning goals)