Selected Thesis Topics for BScBA students

Bachelors Thesis 2015-2016

Please use this list of the fields of International Business for thesis work and potential thesis topics when choosing and informing us the field of
your thesis + the thesis topic in the form Indication of Interest Area for Thesis 2015-2016.

General Business Area

International Business/
Management

Selected Thesis Topics in the field

The motivations of buying local or/and organic food

The future of food wild cards and weak signals of changing food consumption
Does locality offer a competitive advantage in global food business (case or area)
Testing business strategy with scenario planning/foresight tools
Alternative business concepts of local food supply (case or general)
The differences in Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the food industry
Investigating relationship partnering in a companys supply chain
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
Leadership in virtual teams
Work satisfaction
Culture shock
Managing people from different cultures
Ethical decision making in travel, tourism and hospitality industries
Evolving health care access dilemmas in emerging as well as developed economies
Bottom of the Pyramid markets and consumers: Role of MNCs as well as local firms
What is China's or India's future position in global corporate activities?
How is China's investment profile changing?
How and with what purpose do firms enforce their market presence in Japan?

International Business/
Marketing

Positioning of brands in different sectors

B-to-B branding
Social media and brand perception
Co-creation and crowdsourcing in brand management
Green marketing
Comparing the entrepreneurial marketing approach and customer orientation in a big and small IT-company and/or in
two countries.
Design thinking in new product/services development
Sustainable brand management
Digital marketing strategies in the tourism industry
Creating and marketing apps
Marketing 3.0
The strategic viability of conscious capitalism
Role of envy in consumption
Role of emotions in luxury consumption
Ostentatious behavior among young and old consumers
Drivers of commitment to luxury brands
Migrant consumers and their consumption signalling behavior
Views of local majority on consumption signalling carried out by immigrants
Finnish value perceptions towards luxury brands
How social media drives conspicuous consumption
Consumer confusion in technology industry
Are all Scandinavian consumers the same? Measuring differing value perceptions among Scandinavian consumers.
Transferability of brand image across product categories
Celebrity Endorsements in Branding
Sales Management: Challenges in recruiting and retaining talent
Role of B2B and B2C Branding in building customer retention
Use of Social Media in generating awareness, brand equity, and trials of new and existing products
Developing a Branding Campaign in a cross-cultural setting
Sales Force Automation in maintaining an international sales force
Understanding the role of competitive intelligence strategies in achieving market success
Consumer behavior in emerging market contexts.
How do firms sequencing market entry and product diversification?

International Business/
Business Culture and
Communication

International Business/
Human Resource
Management

International Business/
Economics

Marketing to different cultures within a country (e.g., Russian speakers in Finland)

Knowledge challenges faced by first-time CEOs
Subcultures within different parts of an organization
Relationship management and potential employees
Design management: corporate image/product image of an international company
Communication of environmental issues
What is the impact of language both in terms as facilitator and as an impediment to effective communication flow
in internationally operating firms?
How can internationally operating firms manage language diversity?
Cross-cultural entrepreneurs how social fabrics can nurture future innovative functioning.
Business as economic and social exchange
How to 'not' underestimate the impact of culture on cross-cultural business activities?
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of coaching
Mentoring for learning
Evaluating the methods and effectiveness of learning in the workplace
Cultural comparisons in leadership preferences and/or effectiveness
Cross cultural / national contrasts in specific areas of HRM
Ageing workforce implications
Multi-generational workforce challenges
Trust breakdown and building
Work-life balance
Evaluation of employee engagement strategies
Approaches to employee participation and involvement
An examination of the size and composition of government spending on poverty rates: A cross country analysis
An analysis of changing international trade patterns between EU and China
The impact of climate change on economic growth
Fiscal Integration in the Eurozone
Nuclear energy as a viable alternative energy source in electricity production
Labor Productivity: US v EU
What future for the Eurozone?
The impact of international trade liberalization on global food prices
The impact of multinationals on host countries
Access to higher education in Finland: An international comparison

International Business/
Logistics and
Operations
Management

International Business/
Environmental Issues

Disruption of logistics by fast production methods (e.g., 3D printing)

How will 3D printing (additive manufacturing) transform the spares and after-market for manufactured products?
Local production for local needs? The impact of new technologies and new imperatives on international production.
A survey of e-commerce in the IP sector
How will the Internet of Things (IoT) change the supply chain?
How should a retailer prepare for omni-channel distribution?
What infrastructure will be required to enable drones and robots to be used for distribution?
How is software for Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) being used in ERP systems and what advantages does
it bring?
Trends in modern operations management: a review of the most significant changes in the last 10 years and
predictions for the next 10
Moving from manufacturing to servitization
How is high value manufacturing developing in Europe? Is it going to save Europes manufacturing sector?
What is the impact of e-business applications on supply chain collaboration and performance
How are aerospace supply chains being modernized?
Emerging business concepts of renewable energy production (general or case)
Value creation in a renewable energy production chain/network
Cooperatives as a business model to produce renewable energy (case or general)
Impact of climate change on biomass resources (area and biomass type can be selected)
The utilization of locality as a competitive advantage in energy business (case or area)
Alternative business concepts of local energy wood supply (case or general)
Value creation in the local energy wood business chain
Investigating relationship partnering in a companys fuel supply chain
Alternative business models to bring renewable energy to market (case or general)
Alternative business model concepts for energy saving (case or general)
Risk management with renewable energy investments
Renewable energy marketing strategy
Pricing models for the renewable energy
Marketing and branding strategy in energy companies (case or general)
Economic and ecological valuation of bioenergy/biofuel
Effectiveness of different instruments to promote renewable energy generation
Role of nimby in renewable energy production choices

International Business/
Accounting and
Finance

International Business/
Innovation,
Entrepreneurship and
SMEs

Methods used to determine pricing of a product

Corporate tax payments of foreign-owned vs. domestic companies
Volatility of bitcoin versus major currencies and transition from investment to currency.
Regulatory differences between country regulations for housing bitcoin exchanges.
Functions of currency, medium of exchange and/or economic controls.
Currency crisis patterns causes, fixes across countries.
Chinese currency evolution from government control to market based, can it work?
European Union and many governments. Can it work?
Tax rate differential across countries and changing corporate behavior
The effect of interest rates on future equity returns
Factors that affect equity prices
How to manage a sound fixed income portfolio
The growth in international Mergers and Acquisitions
The benefits of diversification and portfolio management
Stock Trac. (Participate in a simulated global trading platform for equities, fixed income and derivatives and
complete with a report on selection methods, portfolio construction and performance of the portfolio. Students
receive $500,000 in a virtual brokerage account. They use this virtual cash to manage a portfolio. This portfolio
includes stocks, options, futures, bonds, mutual funds, currencies and other securities from 50 global exchanges.)
The drivers and inhibitors of (any technology e.g., smartphone or spreadsheets) usage/adoption
Adapting the balanced scorecard for a non-profit organization.
Adapting the balanced scorecard for a football (soccer) team.
What makes a technology useful? Uncovering the specific ways in which a technology can be perceived as useful.
The characteristics of a successful budgeting process.
Exploring the communication gap between IT and financial auditors.
Internationalization among Finnish new technology based firm new technology based firms
How do small enterprises grow
Market orientation in SMEs
Entrepreneurial marketing approach and communication strategy
Business models in small entrepreneurial firms
Small firm growth
Business acceleration / incubation
High-growth entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship policy
Social entrepreneurship
Small firm finance

Risk-acceptance attitudes in small entrepreneurial firms

Attitudes towards growth in small entrepreneurial firms
Innovation in small entrepreneurial firms
Measuring and managing return on innovation investment (ROII)
Open innovation business models
Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding strategies for nonprofits
Fostering entrepreneurial activity through regional economic development initiatives
Building strong entrepreneurial communities: a global perspective
Economic empowerment through entrepreneurship in developing nations
Innovations in sports and sports equipment: a historical perspective
The role of networks and external factors in new product development
Contemporary trends in entrepreneurship and innovation education
Crowdfunding: what factors contribute to success or failure
S. Newman Darby's Sailboard: Patent processes and conflicts around the globe
Tactile learning: a strategy for greater training efficiency?
Contemporary learning trends for the entrepreneurial mindset
Entrepreneurial Selling: Pushing the Lean Startup Paradigm