A master's thesis in business administration or management sits between two audiences. It has to meet academic standards, and it is expected to say something useful about how organizations work. European business schools describe the same core: a clear research question, theory that fits it, a method you can defend, an analysis that answers the question, and implications for practice that follow from what you found. This guide walks through each part and what assessors look for.
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The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) describes the master's thesis across its programs: “The thesis should pose a theoretical, methodological and/or empirical challenge, illustrating the student's ability to think systematically and critically while also showing an ability to collect, interpret and discuss data and literature.” For its program in Business & Management, renamed Business Innovation for students enrolled from fall 2026, it adds that students “attempt to offer a theoretical and managerial contribution on a topic related to business creation and development.”
The Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) states the aim briefly: “The purpose of the thesis is to go in depth within one or several research question.” Depth is the word to keep in mind. A business thesis that surveys a whole industry in fifty pages usually says less than one that studies a single decision carefully.
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) describes the aim of the thesis in its MSc in Economics and Business Administration (General Management and Analytics) as completing and communicating problem-oriented academic research, and using that ability in a future professional context. The two audiences are built into the definition.
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Get a free previewBusiness theses start from one of two places. Some start from a practical problem: a company's discount policy, a merger that failed, a hiring process that loses candidates. Others start from a gap or a disagreement in the literature. Both work, as long as the question is narrow enough to answer. CBS's MSc in General Management and Analytics lists as its first learning objective that the student can “Articulate a delineated problem within the program’s field of study that can facilitate and structure the student’s work on the thesis and its contents.” The assessment criteria of NHH's master's program in Economics and Business Administration ask students to identify a problem or research question that seeks to enhance the current state of knowledge, and to describe it clearly and concisely.
A question from practice still needs theory. Aalto's Business Analytics program, at Aalto University School of Business in Finland, tells students who take on work commissioned by a company to “discuss with your supervisor the topic prior accepting commissioned work to make sure that there is a suitable theoretical approach that can be employed in the thesis.” If no theory speaks to the problem, the work is likely a consulting project and not yet a thesis. See doing your master's thesis in a company for the other questions a company thesis raises.
| Starting point | Typical question | What it needs in the thesis |
|---|---|---|
| A practical problem | Why does company X lose customers after the first contract year? | A theory or concept that explains churn, so the answer reaches beyond company X |
| A gap in the literature | Does the link between board diversity and firm performance hold for unlisted firms? | A clear account of what earlier studies found and why unlisted firms might differ |
| A disagreement in the literature | Do remote-work policies raise or lower innovation output? | A design that can tell the competing explanations apart |
| A new phenomenon | How do small retailers decide what to charge on resale platforms? | Careful description first, and modest claims about causes |
Most business theses use one of a few designs. Each has its own weak spot.
| Design | Used for | Where it is usually questioned |
|---|---|---|
| Single or multiple case study | Understanding how and why something happened in one or a few organizations | Why these cases, what the unit of analysis is, and how far the findings generalize |
| Survey | Measuring attitudes, behaviors, or practices across many respondents | Sampling, response rate, validated scales, and claims about cause from data collected at one point in time |
| Semi-structured interviews | Exploring how managers or employees make sense of a situation | How informants were chosen, how themes were derived, and whether quotes support the themes |
| Secondary or financial data | Testing a relationship across firms or over time | Variable definitions, endogeneity, and robustness of the results |
| Mixed methods | Combining breadth and depth | Whether the two parts answer the same question and how they are integrated |
Whatever the design, the methods chapter should let a reader see what you did and judge whether it fits the question. NHH's criteria for that program ask students to describe the research method or design clearly and objectively, including data where applicable. If interviews are your data, put the interview guide in an appendix. If you used a survey, report the scales and where they come from.
Business schools expect a business thesis to say something to practice. The learning objectives of CBS's MSc in General Management and Analytics include to “Extract the implications in relation to business practice within the program’s field of study.” Aalto's guidelines for its Business Analytics program expect students to “critically evaluate complex research problems and apply prior scientific research to address research questions, while reflecting on practical, ethical and policy implications.”
The common problem is distance between findings and advice. Implications should be no stronger than the evidence: a single case can support "managers in similar settings may consider", while "companies should" asks for much broader evidence. The same NHH criteria ask students to draw appropriate conclusions and to identify key findings, contributions, and implications. A useful test: for each implication, point to the result it rests on. If you cannot, it belongs in suggestions for further research, or nowhere.
The criteria of these schools overlap. CBS's MSc in General Management and Analytics asks for logical coherence between problem statement, analysis, and conclusion, and for students who argue for the significance of their choices. On language, it is explicit: “The student’s spelling and writing skills are taken into consideration in the overall assessment of the examination performance, but the academic content is given the highest weight.” SGH Warsaw School of Economics in Poland puts content first among its requirements for the thesis: “The most important part of the thesis is the content.” It also asks for a clear, coherent text in correct academic language. SGH also expects the thesis to show the ability “to address advanced theoretical and practical problems”.
In NHH's Economics and Business Administration program, the thesis is assessed as a whole, together with how independently you worked under supervision. Independence there does not mean avoiding your supervisor; NHH says supervision is mandatory and highly encouraged, and looks at how you develop your own project and use the supervision you receive. In Aalto's Business Analytics master's program, each thesis is read by two reviewers: the one who supervised it and another reviewer. At Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics in Portugal, supervision often runs through a group: “Most of our students develop their industry or academic research in a dissertation seminar supervised by an expert in a specific area.”
This example is made up. A student in an international management program studies why a mid-sized software firm's expansion into a neighboring country stalled. He interviews twelve managers and builds a clear story around three themes: unclear decision rights, a fee model copied from the home market, and slow local hiring.
His supervisor finds the case interesting and the thesis thin. The literature review covers internationalization models but never returns in the discussion, so the reader cannot see what the case adds to them. The methods chapter does not say why these twelve managers were chosen. The final chapter gives seven recommendations for "companies expanding abroad", although the evidence comes from one firm. A revision could tie the three themes to the models in the review, explain the selection of informants, and recast the recommendations as propositions for firms in a similar position.
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Most follow introduction, literature review, method, findings or analysis, discussion, and conclusion with managerial implications. Aalto's Business Analytics program, for example, also allows an article-type thesis. Check what your program asks for.
Yes, a single case study is common. The thesis then has to explain why that case was chosen, what the unit of analysis is, and how far the findings can be generalized.
CBS's MSc in General Management and Analytics names them among its learning objectives. They should follow from your findings and be no stronger than your evidence allows.
Yes, but less than the content. In the CBS MSc in General Management and Analytics, spelling and writing skills are taken into account, and the academic content is given the highest weight.
Read on November 7, 2026.
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