- When: Start anytime (now - April). Applications are open for the selected topics
- How to apply: Send us an e-mail (at the end of this page) with your CV and a grade report
💡 Background
Entrepreneurship is TUM, and TUM is entrepreneurship. You are studying at the alma mater of many successful startup founders. Entrepreneurship is an exciting topic to spend your master thesis on. We’ve worked on multiple research projects in this field with very promising results. You can be part of it. Since a critical and systematic review of the existing theories is the basis for excellent research, you can combine both worlds. We offer you to work at the intersection of real-life entrepreneurial insights and combine this in your master thesis with the academic foundations. A combination, that cannot be found very often. The following topics are currently on top of our agenda where you can be part of it:
- Topic 1: Structured literature review in the field of task and relationship conflicts in startup teams
Lot of research covers the challenges of working effectively in teams, particularily in startup teams. There is a difference in task and relationship conflicts. You’ll become an expert about this dilemma in startup teams and outline the current research in this field.
- Topic 2: Structured literature review on whether friends are the better co-founders
Founding a startup with a close relative or a friend from university might be a good choice. Is it?! You’ll take a look on the influence of how familiar the founders are and when they met first. You’ll screen every finding published so far and outline a research gap. As a bonus, you can analyse existing data to back up your research gap hypothesis.
- Topic 3: Structured literature review on the impact of founding full-time vs. part-time
Almost all investors invest in you as a full-time founder only. Is there a scientifical evidence that full-time founders perform better? Screen the literature about the impact of your working mode on the venture success and become an expert on this topics. This might include also other ways of working e.g. working remotely. Your result: Being able to outline the current status quo in this field.
🦾Who We Are
The Chair for Strategy and Organization is focused on research with impact. This means we do not want to repeat old ideas and base our research solely on the research people did 10 years ago. Instead, we currently research topics that will shape the future. Topics such as Agile Organisations and Digital Disruption, Blockchain Technology, Creativity and Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, Diversity, Education: Education Technology and Performance Management, HRTech, Leadership, and Teams. We are always early in noticing trends, technologies, strategies, and organisations that shape the future, which has its ups and downs.
Besides all that we have a very strong footprint in entrepreneurship and venture capital. Our current initiative tackles the most predominant challenges in entrepreneurship and thus works closely with venture capital firms. We believe that you can also make an impact in this field.
🎯 Goals
The goal is that you become an expert in a field of your choice in entrepreneurship literature. All our topics have a real-life impact on entrepreneurial practitioners thus you take a deep dive into the world of entrepreneurship. The outcome of your master thesis is not only you being an expert, but also a written structured literature review.
🎓 Readings
You don’t know what a structured literature review is - take a look here:
Webster, J., & Watson, R. T. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS quarterly, xiii-xxiii.
Vom Brocke, J., Simons, A., Niehaves, B., Riemer, K., Plattfaut, R., & Cleven, A. (2009, June). Reconstructing the giant: on the importance of rigour in documenting the literature search process. In Ecis (Vol. 9, pp. 2206-2217).
Rowley, J., & Slack, F. (2004). Conducting a literature review. Management Research News, 27(6), 31–39.
Please also take a close look into our thesis seminar: https://www.tumcso.com/teaching/courses/courses/thesis-seminar
(2. Materials about the (empirical) research process → Academic papers & materials → Systematic literature review)
📝 How to Apply
If you are interested, please contact Felix Kuhn by submitting your CV and grade report. Please also briefly outline your motivation to join our team and why you’re interested in entrepreneurship. Be aware, that you need to become an expert in your respective field and it is a 6-month full-time job.
We're greatly looking forward to hearing more about you!
📬 Contact
Felix Kuhn (Chair for Strategy and Organisation)