Bachelor and Master Theses

Next information event (see below): April 2025

We are commited to provide a high quality supervision for all candidates. For that reason please note that each of us can only supervise a limited number of students per semester.

1. Timing: You can apply for a thesis at any time. The deadlines for application are April 30th (to start in autumn) or October 31st (to start in spring). You will be notified if you are accepted one week after the deadline has passed.
2. Prerequisites: You have passed an exam or taken a seminar at the Chair of Organization and Management; in addition, you have participated at the information event on the bachelor’s and master’s thesis (every semester).
3. Topic: Please see the list of topics that are available below; choose your topic carefully (i.e., formulate preliminary ideas on why you are interested in a particular topic and what you already know about it). In special cases you can come up with your own topics.
4. Application: Send your application (CV, grades, topic and motivation) to kalliopi.vagias@uzh.ch. Please consider the application deadlines (see timing).
5. Contact with supervisor: Once you have been accepted, you will discuss and concretize your topic area with your supervisor. During the following weeks candidates must hand in a 3 to 4 page exposé of an exemplary topic which includes
   • Title
   • A research question / problem statement
   • A summary of what you intend to do in this research
   • Literature review
6. Official registration: All relevant information about the official registration process can be found here.
7. Receiving your topic: You will "pick up" your topic on OLAT. As soon as you have done so, the time limit of six months begins. 
8. Correction of submitted thesis: The correction process of bachelor and master theses consists of three steps. First, an assistant who was not involved in the supervision writes a preliminary report. Secondly, the assistant who supervised the thesis approves or amends the report. Finally, Professor David Seidl will approve both the report and the grade. Please take into consideration that this correction process takes up to 8 weeks.
9. Feedback: All candidates will be invited to discuss their grade and personal thesis experiences.

Please find here the slides of the last information event

Infoveranstaltung Slides (PDF, 781 KB)

Please click on the respective link to find the topics and related literature.

Artificial Intelligence and Strategy (PDF, 95 KB)

Coordination (PDF, 84 KB)

Digital Strategy Making (PDF, 35 KB)

Open Strategy (PDF, 88 KB)

Organizational Spaces (PDF, 64 KB)

Participation in Strategy (PDF, 114 KB)

Philosophy and Sociology of Science (PDF, 117 KB)

Strategy Development (PDF, 37 KB)

Sustainability in Strategy Making (PDF, 115 KB)

Theorizing and Reviewing (PDF, 102 KB)

In order to get an idea of what Bachelor and Master theses at our Chair look like, you can download here some exemplary theses. Please note that the theses serve orientation purposes only (i.e. they serve as orientation for the structure of a thesis but might contain flaws regarding the content)

Exemplary thesis (PDF, 2 MB)

This exemplary thesis is a particularly good in terms of demonstrating a detailed understanding of the relevant literature, providing a rigorous qualitative study with five extensive interviews (including a pretest), and  a systematica analysis of the data according to various pre-defined steps. In addition, the thesis provides a coherent summary and reflects on the methodological approach used to answer the research question. However, in this thesis, the results of the empirical analysis could be better related back to the theoretical findings and the literature. Also, the thesis could have discussed the literature and the interviews more critically.

Exemplary thesis II (PDF, 879 KB)

This exemplary thesis is particularly good in terms of the literature review, personal contribution and reflection of the limits of the thesis. Despite these main strengths of the thesis, the theory could be applied more substantively and the limits of the application could be assessed more critically.

Exemplary exposé (PDF, 283 KB)

Exemplary thesis III (PDF, 3 MB)

This exemplary thesis is particularly good in terms of a very thorough and extensive engagement with the literature and a detailed and reflective description of the methodological approach. Based on the results of the ten exceptionally long interviews, the author independently develops a model that effectively summarizes the study’s interesting and meaningful insights. Yet, the thesis could have focused more systematically on the relevant aspects directly related to the research question.

Junior Management Science is the academic journal to publish outstanding theses in business and management. Further exemplary theses can be found on the their website JUMS - get inspired!

Please find here the guidelines for writing a semester or final thesis, the general criteria for evaluation as well as the expected learning outcomes.

Guidelines for semester and final thesis (PDF, 90 KB)

Guidelines for the usage of Artificial Intelligence (PDF, 250 KB)

General criteria for evaluation (PDF, 55 KB)

Learning Outcomes BA and MA (PDF, 14 KB)