Business Bachelor & Master's Topics

International Business (MBA) Bachelor Master Thesis Topics help

As a previous student in International Business & Business Administration (MBA), I remember the hardest part of the whole study program. That was to pick a topic for my masters’ degree.

And I can remember the lack of help I got from searching online using search terms such as:

  • International Business Master Topic Suggestions
  • Business Master topic help
  • ….and so on

So I decided to make this article in order to make it easier for students to pick a topic. It took me about two weeks before I could finally decide. And that was somehow “wasting” time that I could use for proper research or writing.

So now I’m here to help you. This is your lucky day. 🙂

Business Bachelor  & Master's Topics

Table of Contents

The previous article for Inspiration: Environmental Studies Topic Help

I have written an article like this before. And it turned out to become my most popular article of all time. The article is called “Environmental/Sustainability bachelor & master thesis topic help” and is being read by hundreds of students every month.

From what you can see in the comment section of that article, I’ve helped a lot of students pick their topic on their bachelor or master topic in environmental studies:

Students have been eager to ask for help for their thesis topic in the comment section below the article. And I’m responding to (almost) every one of them.

It actually became so popular that I had to stop answering some of them. It took waaay too much of my precious time.

However, I’m not done helping students. Let’s get back to the topic of this article. Let me give you some inspiration to what you can write about as a bachelor or masters’ student in business or international business. 🙂

What are the main categories in this article?

Just so you know, there are the master/bachelor thesis topics that I’m gonna discuss in this article:

1. InnovationHow does companies deal with innovation? Which elements can improve – and which can damage making innovative products and services?
2. Work cultureGlobalization has lead to people from different cultures working together. I found it extremely interesting to see what this means for most companies – and which challenges that occur in an international work environment.
3. Online marketingMost companies spend most of their marketing budget online. However, only a few of them have really any idea of what they’re doing. I’m super interested in e-commerce – and have come up with some brilliant topics within this category.
4. “Traditional” marketingShould companies still use billboards and newspaper ads? Is TV marketing dead? Will fashion companies one day admit that the 10,000$ bags they’re selling is purely a marketing stunt?
5. Topics about the environmentGlobal warming will have a huge impact on how we live our lives. To be honest, it already has. When people need to change their way of living, businesses need to change their way of making products and offer services.
6. GeneralIn addition to these categories, I came up with some random (but highly interesting) topics that you can write about. I could not fit them into one of the other five categories.

Within every topic, there will be several specific topic suggestions that will help you to pick something that you are interested in.

Please note that you are not limited to write about something within these categories. These are just “my own notes” that I found particularly interested when I was writing my master thesis. You’re also free to choose anything within statistics, accounting, logistics, etc.

I just found these topics quite boring. 🙂

Let’s begin.

Topic suggestions for International Business or Business Administration students

Let’s get straight to it. These are (some of) the good topics that I considered during the two weeks that I did extensive research every day.

1. Innovation in domestic or multinational companies


Topic: How does backshoring affect innovation?*

If you haven’t looked up “backshoring” yet, it’s about time. This is a way of doing business that is becoming more and more popular among European and American companies.

It’s a concept where companies have previously used cheap labor in Africa/South East Asia for their production. But due to various reasons, they have chosen to either build their own manufacturing or re-locate to a factory close to their own headquarter.

Backshoring might be more expensive. Yet, it can be helpful in regards to innovation, quality control, communication, and production speed.

*= I actually ended up writing about this topic. I interviewed a couple of Norwegian companies and asked them this question:  “Is it more difficult to develop your product and be innovative when your manufacturer is placed in China compared to having them in Scandinavia/Norway?”.

This is an interesting topic that should be researched even more. 🙂

Video: Back shoring companies in the UK

This short video features real life examples on companies that have backshored from India/China to the UK:


Topic: Are companies in Europe and the US more innovative compared to companies in other parts of the world?

Another topic that I find fascinating.

Researching this specific topic could be done by looking at the e-commerce landscape in the US versus in China.

A great example would be to see Alibaba versus Amazon. These are two major players in the e-commerce industry that require innovation to survive.

But is the case that they’re just “stealing” products from each other? If so: who is the “criminal”? 🙂

You can almost go into every type of business that is being done by Chinese and American companies. It should be quite easy to spot a trend on where the innovation happens.


Topic: From some businesses that died out (Kodak, Blockbuster, etc.), what did they do wrong in terms of innovation? How could they have survived? Why did Netflix crush Blockbuster in the end?

You have to remember that a bachelor or master thesis doesn’t necessarily have to be about the future.

Looking back at historical cases “with new eyes” can be just as powerful. Or you can apply this mindset to existing business cases.

E.g., “What does Facebook/Instagram/Amazon/Nike/Adidas have to come up with in regards to innovative products in order to keep their market position?”

When I studied some innovation courses as a part of my masters’ degree, we looked back at some of these companies that had failed. Many of them had failed because they refused to follow the technological development in their niche.

Ultimately, we looked at specific questions like:

  • When was the time that they should have taken action in order to “update” their business practices?
  • Who (which leader in the organization) should have called the shots?
  • What other companies took their place and customers – and how did they do that?

You don’t even have to answer all of these questions. Your master thesis can easily be just answering one of these questions about one single company. Believe me: it’s an awful lot to research if you find the right case. 🙂

Relevant Youtube video about “the rise of Netflix and fall of Blockbuster”:

2. Work culture in international businesses

When I went to university in Denmark, I was enrolled in a course called “organizational behavior”. At first, I thought it was boring. Frankly, I was more interested in numbers, business, and finance.

But then I started to understand how important it is for a business that people are able to work together. And when I moved to Shanghai to work in a company that had 200 employees from ~30-40 different countries, I understood how vital it was that you are able to find common ground with people from different countries and cultures.

I’ve come up with some interesting ideas that you could explore more within this sub-topic:


Topic: People from which countries are seen as most difficult to work with – and why?

This might be a controversial topic. And the findings are not something that you should necessarily publish in something public magazine. People can get really defensive if you try to label a group as “hard-working” or “not-hard-working”.

Naturally so.

However, there are ways to conduct this research without stepping on anyone’s’ toes.

But if you get together a focus group of 5-6 people that have worked with the international business for 20+ years, I am sure they have some opinion of which nationalities might be more challenging to collaborate with. You should try to put together a focus group like that to get great results.

Or you could do this experiment:

Group of peopleResearch question
5 Asian businessmen that has worked internationally“What do you find most difficult by working with people from America/Europe?”
5 European/American businessmen that has worked internationally“What do you find most difficult by working with people from Asia?”

….now, believe me: THAT would be one h… of a master thesis! 🙂

Documentary recommendation: “American Factory” on Netflix

This is a brilliant documentary that features how American people find it hard to work with Chinese people. And how Chinese people struggle to work with American people.

It’s a brutually honest, yet quite well-made documentary that you have to check out if you’re interesting in such a topic. I also believe it will help you to come up with some sub-topics that you can write about on your thesis:


Topic: Which problems do European/American companies face when they try to conquer a market that they have no experience in operating in?

Every year, thousands of companies attempt to push their products into South East Asian countries.

A lot of them fail.

And a lot has to do with lack of culture competences and local understanding of the market.

Contact a company that has (tried to) taken their products to a foreign country and interview them about the difficult process.

Reasons why Western companies fail when entering the Asian market

I have a Swedish friend that works in a company in Shanghai. This company helps Scandinavian businesses to conquer the Chinese market.

I called him up and asked what most companies struggle with (which is a super nice topic for a bachelor/master thesis). He said the following ones are most likely to occur:

  • Lack of understanding of the needs of the Asian customer
  • Their logo not being “Asian friendly” (rebranding is needed!)
  • Lack of understand on how Asian people shop online and why they do it
  • Trademark issues
  • Unrealistic sales projections*

*= I often hear that “oh, yeah…it lives 2,5 billion people in South East Asia. If we only get 0,1 % market share, we will become rich!“. And that is probably the most stupid thing you can ever hear a business person say.


Topic: Is it harder or easier to work among similar companies in a “coworking space”?

If you don’t know what a “coworking space” is, I’ll try to explain it in a few words. It’s literally a building with a lot of small businesses. Many of them are start-ups, and many of them are running IT-driven business (e-commerce websites, app development, etc.).

The concept is meant to help businesses to connect with other businesses working on similar projects.

Wework is the type of company that gathers a lot of small, ambitious companies in one place. Many people tend to say that it’s healthy to be working “around people that you’re similar to”. Other people suggest it’s just a hassle and might even be confusing/annoying.

You should find some companies that have gone from a traditional office to a coworking space. What did they gain? And more importantly: what did they lose? Are their employees more or less focused compared to before?

My own experience: Wework in Shanghai

I was on such a journey. Our company struggled a bit financially and needed to reduce cost.

The solution was to move out of our (beautiful and large) office and move into WeWork.

And I loved it.

But I will also say it had the effect that I spent more time talking to people from other companies. That can be good and bad – it depends what you’re talking about. In addition to that, I also started to drink more beer (free flow beer in WeWork Shanghai!). 😉

You could look into things like:

  • Are employees more or less happy working in their own office versus a coworking space?
  • Should companies be afraid that their employees get “hijacked” by other companies in the same coworking space?
  • Overall productivity in the different office types

And if you want to know how Wework, one of the largest coworking companies in the world, make money – feel free to watch this video:


Topic: How do companies working in different time zones deal with working on the same projects?

When I was working in Shanghai, we had an office in Turin. It was a hassle. They had to come in at 08:00 to join our meeting at 14:00. And from there, you only had a couple of hours to work together before our day.

As you can see, it’s quite some distance between Turin and Shanghai:

Screenshot: Google Maps.

It sucked out so much efficiency from various projects. I am certain that we lost a lot by having such a structure.

But how much? And what did we really lose? Efficiency? Friendship? Was it easier to see conflicts across the offices (oh yes, it was!)?

I would love to see someone writing a master’s or bachelor thesis on that.

This is a type of topic where you have to contact a multinational company and ask to interview them out. It would also be very interesting to see if different people in the organization would struggle with different issues in regards to the time zone different.


3. Online marketing/e-commerce

I’m an online marketing guy. I’ve been making and selling websites for the last 10 years. Therefore, I strongly considered writing one of these topics:


Topic: Will physical stores eventually die out?

It’s a real thing. People shop more online.

This trend has even gotten a quite interesting name: “retail apocalypse” (Wikipedia link).

Researching this topic would be super cool if you could find the right angle.

You can easily contact one retail store that struggles a lot – and then find their “online competitor” and compare what the different businesses think of the future.

That would be a super nice idea for a master or bachelor thesis in business.

Another interesting angle would to look into business that originally was 100 % physical stores, but have gradually turned digital. For example:

  • Grocery shopping
  • Photography shops (those where you went to get your photos printed out)

According to Spendmenot.com, about 10 % of US consumers happen to “now and then” purchase groceries online. About 20 years ago, that number was 0 %.

Believe me: such a change is quite dramatic for the overall grocery store market. Businesses need to change their mentality in order to survive – even those who sell milk and bread. 🙂

NBC News: Shopping Malls struggle due to Online Shopping

Topic: Is “floating office space” the future for e-commerce businesses?

As I do all my work online, it doesn’t really matter if I work in Copenhagen, Jakarta, or Washington.

I mean; apart from the time difference. But is “floating office space” really a thing – or will it decrease the efficiency of workers?

Deloitte has published an interesting article about “mobile employees”. It might be worth looking into if you’re interested in this topic. 🙂

Sub-topic: Home offices during the pandemic

Some evil virus spread around to the world. Business had to think of how they could be efficient while government lockdowns were getting serious.

If I was to write something on this topic, I would contact one of these companies and ask them:

  • Was it hard/easy to have your employees working from home?
  • What was the hardest part?
  • Do you feel like the team members were able to collaborate in the same way as they did before?
  • Do you feel that people are more relaxed and “chill” (not efficient) when they are working from home?

In order to get the most accurate results, I would suggest that you contact someone in a high-ranked position. 🙂


Topic: The big American companies control all your online advertisement money. How bizarre and dangerous is that?

I have been working with online marketing for ten years. This might be common knowledge, but I am breaking it to you anyway: the “online marketing game” is dominated by a few companies.

And you rely on these companies 100 % in order to succeed if you want to sell something online.

Right now I am working in a company in Norway as a digital marketing manager.

If European companies want to sell something online (even in their own country), they would be forced to use services from these companies:

Google AdsTo get traffic from search engines.
Facebook AdsTo get social traffic from Facebook and Instagram.
Amazon PPCTo boost your sales on Amazon.

What do all these companies have in common?

  • They are American.
  • They are GROWING.
  • EU countries are not happy with how they pay (or don’t pay…) tax.
Video: “Is Amazon Too Big?”

This short (14 minutes long) Youtube video is taking up a very important issue. Have the American tech companies grown so big that it’s bad for the employees, the users (me and you) and for innovation from other companies?

Maybe. You better have a look if this interests you.


Other quick e-commerce business bachelor/master thesis topics

In addition to those three topics, which I find super interesting, you can also look at things within e-commerce like:

  • The power of Amazon/Alibaba (monopoly?)
  • How has online shopping changed peoples’ consumer behavior?
  • Are people more or less likely to return a product if it’s bought online? And how does that influence the economy of a business?
  • Is traditional TV advertising “dead” because of digital channels?
  • Some companies have tried to sell groceries like cheese, bread and meat online. Is that a sustainable business model? If yes; why?

…I also hope you might be interested in some of the topics if you want to look into online marketing/e-commerce. 🙂


4. Marketing (“traditional marketing”)

About 50 % of my international business class wrote their thesis about something related to marketing.

So I got a lot of input from my friends. But I was also able to come up with some ideas on my own.

Some of these topics is also something that I’ve come up with after I started to work profesionally.


Topic: Can you find some examples of how a company calculates the ROI of a billboard poster on a bus?

By using different tools, it’s very easy to calculate ROI (return on investment) of online marketing. In traditional marketing, it’s almost impossible.

So why do companies keep spending money on billboards on Times Square New York as they have no idea on knowing what to gain from that?


Topic: Red Bull!!! The most interesting company in the world from a marketing perspective.

Red Bull is a lot more than a smi-decent energy drink. It’s also one of the most interesting marketing cases in the world.

Medium.com has published an article on why Red Bull succeed with traditional marketing. They say “no” to online marketing and “yes” to stuff like:

  • Buying football clubs and rebranding their shirts into “Red Bull posters”
  • Sponsoring every single ski athlete that can be found out there
  • Creating mega events in extreme sport, like this one:

I am not sure how easy it is to go into the Red Bull office and ask some of their employees to collaborate with you.

However, there’s tremendous data to be found online without contacting them. You can easily write your master or bachelor thesis about their marketing model without being personally in touch with that company.


Topic: In the women fashion world: how much is branding and how much is quality differences?

A Gucci bag can cost about 1000-10,000 USD. Some random bags from H&M cost a fraction of that.

How much of that price difference can be put in correlation with a quality difference? And why do women tend to always go back to the “big players” in the industry to buy luxury clothing and bags?

This topic could be investigated in several ways. You could either ask the audience (women shoppers). Or you could get in touch with companies that either spend A LOT or those who spend NOTHING on branding campaigns. And ask them why they take different approaches to succeed in the women fashion market.


5. Environmental topics (sustainability/global warming & business)

Writing about environmental topics in business is not only “hot” these days. It’s also super interesting.

Instead of writing topic suggestions, I’ll post some questions that will hopefully make you think:

  • What happens to the business of a farmer in Texas when global warming destroys all his crops every second year?
  • ..and who is going to take the bill to keep that farmer alive? The US Government?
  • Is there an increasing market for eco-friendly products?
  • Does it really matter whether or not most people use eco-friendly toothbrushes, or is this just a marketing trick to sell people the idea that they are helping the world? (=Greenwashing)
  • To stop producing oil would be a fabulous achievement for the overall CO2 emissions. But it would be a disaster for oil-dependent export countries like Norway. What would it mean for the Norwegian economy if they stopped producing and exporting oil?

Just like Covid-19 hit all businesses globally, global warming and climate change will do the same. It just takes more time. But you can already now start to predict what will happen in the future.

Businesses that will particularly struggle on a warmer globe

At some point, we will all need to adapt. But these are some of the businesses that will see significant increased cost or even die out:

Wine

Less grapes give less wine. Once global warming really hits, farmers will struggle to make grapes.

International trade

Governments will make the flight tickets more expensive. It will also become gradually more expensive to take one product from one place to another.

Cars

People will (hopefully) use more public transportation. Car companies need to develop eco-friendly cars…or go bankrupt.

Businesses selling red meat

People don’t want to eat red meat anymore!

A study from the UK showed that 50% of all young Brits have tried to go vegan. Bizarre numbers!

Companies selling ski trips

Where did all that snow go? (This article in the Washington Post is frightening. It tells us that we have lost about 15 winter days if we compare 1960-1990 to 1990-2020. Obviously, that is bad news for the companies that promote ski and snowboard trips to Aspen.)

Pro-tip for your thesis: You could either investigate how these businesses have already seen a decline in revenue – or how they plan to cope with global warming in the future.

On the flip side, you have businesses that might grow as a result of global warming!

  • Businesses selling eco-friendly products
  • Any business connected with renewable energy sources
  • Electric cars
  • Bike companies

6. General business/international business topics

There are some topics that I considered and that I struggle to categorize. They might not be 100 % within my interest areas, which is probably why I didn’t look more into them.


Topic: Is our current education system wrong? Do we educate master students that end up doing something completely irrelevant for many years of their lives?

I have seen people go out with master degrees in marketing – only to work in a nursing home for the next three years. We might have come to the point where government-funded education isn’t the way to go. Back in the days, almost no one took education.

These days, a master’s degree in business is something that’s almost required to even be considered as a trainee in a global company.

Bizarre.

Video: Is our generation overeducated and unemployed?

Topic: Statistical analysis: Will the housing prices in large European cities ever go down?

The prices have increased since the 1960’s. And there’s been a high number of people who have said: “oh yeah, they will go down eventually!”.

But as more and more people want to live in the city center, when will this development stop?

In order to write such a topic, you would need to use some heavy statistical tool like SPSS. If you aren’t comfortable with that; skip this type of “financial projecting” thesis. 


Topic: What happens to the customer satisfaction rate and prices when a private company overtakes a government-owned service?

Let’s take private hospitals in Scandinavia as an example. In the old days, they were all owned by the government. These days, some private-owned companies have built hospitals and “health check services” in the large cities.

You can now get a health check the same day without having to wait. But it will cost you a lot of money.

  • How did that affect the overall customer satisfaction rate?
  • Is it “fair” that rich people can go and visit a private hospital while poor people have to wait in line?
  • Have the prices gone up? Or down?

Topic: Will there be a time where we go back to “cheap” smartphones? In which direction are the phone companies (Huawei/Apple/Samsung) taking us?

According to Statista.com, the average smartphone price has increased for many many years.

And it doesn’t seem to stop.

Is it a market for cheap smartphones? Or does the market only want expensive phones with better cameras, better storage space and nicer design?


Also read: Travel & Tourism Bachelor Master Thesis Topics

Do you have other ideas on topics to write about? Or questions?

If so, please let me know in the comment section below. The comment section of the other article is mainly used by students to ask for help. And frankly, I’m not sure if I do have the time to answer (at least all) of the requests that come in.

However, I would love to hear from previous International Business or Business students about which topic they ended up writing about – and WHY they ended up writing about that topic.

PS! This whole article took me about 8 hours to write, format and publish. So I am super happy if you could share it with your friends (if you found it useful) or post it on any forum/blog so that people can see it. 🙂

This is one of the blog posts that I really never wanted to end writing. It brings back all the memories of being a business administration/international business student. Such a nostalgic feeling. So to all students out there: have fun! When you start to work, you start to understand the meaning of the word “busy”. 😉

Do you suffer from writer’s block? Here are my 11 best tips.

39 thoughts on “International Business (MBA) Bachelor Master Thesis Topics help”

  1. Avatar

    Hi Amund,

    I just found your blog and as I am currently trying to find a master thesis topic for my degree in international business and management I really appreciated you writing this article! I am currently doing my internship in a french e-commerce company and therefore, I would love to do a topic within the e-commerce area. However, I am struggeling a bit in narrowing the topic. In the beginning I was looking at “how to stay competitive as a marketplace post covid 19 boom” However, now I am thinking to go more on overall impact of covid on the e-commerce industry with my company as a case study. Looking at interaction dynamics between the platform, retailers and consumers and how supply chain capabilities, seasonal/occasional promotions and overall consumer experience influences the overall performance of the website. What do you think about it?

    I know the article is already 2 years old so not sure you still look at the comment but I would really appreciate your help!

    Thank you!

    1. Avatar
      Marcel Schreyer

      Hi Lara, unfortunately, Amund isn’t longer part of the website team. I’d love to help you, however, I am not an expert for this topic.

  2. Avatar

    Hi Amund,
    Thank you for the blog, some really helpful advice.
    Since I am doing this the first time, I really struggle to come up with a proper topic for my MBA Dissertation. Since my field of work is in the hospitality/tourism sector, I thought to choose a topic about this but I really do not know where to start. Do you have a suitable idea for me to start? I was thinking towards digitalization or loyalty (MBA International Business).

  3. Avatar

    Hi Amund!

    I am currently a 3rd year university student studying international business in Scotland.
    This blog has helped me a lot whilst deciding what to do for my 4th year dissertation. I am really interested in choosing an issue relating to CSR and its influence on an organisation but I feel it is hard to chose a topic and an area where it influences within a business without it being too broad as I only have 10k words. Do you have any topics/areas that you feel would be dissertation worthy currently?

    Thanks,
    Megan.

    1. Avatar

      Hi Megan, very interesting.

      If you were to only write 10,000 words, I would dig deeper into one specific company.

      For instance, what happened with Coca-Cola when they improved their logistics chain in order to become more eco-friendly?
      Ford Motor spent 11 billion USD (!!!) to start making hybrid and electric cars instead of fossil fuel cars – how did that impact the companys’ profile and revenue flow?

      Instead of writing in general about one specific topic, I would dig deep into one specific company that tried to change their business practice because of CSR.

      And obviously, it would be a major advantage to pick a company like Ford or Coca-Cola where a lot of the information can be found online for free. 🙂 Another solution could be to contact a company and ask to interview them.

      Wish you all the best!

      Kind regards,

  4. Avatar

    Hi Amund,

    Thank you very much for the article, it helped me to start with my thesis idea. I’m wanting to write something related to sustainability and corporations, how to change them into eco-friendly companies. I’m going to graduate in a university in China as well!

    1. Avatar

      Hi Taynara, I’m always happy to hear that students used my information to help them proceed with their thesis.

      Good luck with your thesis! 加油!;)

  5. Avatar

    Hi Amund,
    Your blog is really helpful.
    However, I have some difficulties to come up with a topic in the financial field. What i have in my mind was how the esg factors can affect the financial performance. But I think it still needs to narrow down. And have some international aspect to it.

    What do you think?

    1. Avatar

      Hi TJ. Thanks for your comment.

      To be completely frank, I don’t have much eperience with the ESG factors.

      However, it could be interesting to analyze some business that has taken a shift towards a more sustainable business model. See how that affected their profit in a negative way. For example some car company that previously made a lot of money making “normal cars”, but have been forced to make electric cars.

      I mean: it’s potentially a bad example. But that’s the closest thing I can get to a proper proposal. 🙂

  6. Avatar

    Hello! Thank you for your service, it is a great help.
    Could you share your thesis?

    I am still struggling which topic i should choose, i have 8. My professor says I should focus generally and then narrow it down later, although he requires a RQ – and I also need to address a way to answer it and where the data can be found.

    Kind regards..!

    1. Avatar

      Hi SV. I tried to find my thesis on my computer, but I couldn’t get a hold of it.

      Quick recap:

      – I contacted 5-6 companies that had taken their manufacturing back from Asia to Scandinavia.
      – Asked them a lot of questions about how that reshoring process helped (or damaged) their innovation.
      – And then I found an awful lot of theory on R&D and international business that I filled the thesis with. 😉

      It came out quite successful (if I may say so…). But unfortunately, I do not have the thesis to share with anyone right now.

  7. Avatar

    Hi Amund,
    I am having difficulty in determining if my topic is is aptly covering the international business field.
    I was looking into the salmon industry in the Faroe Islands (I am studying in DK), both in terms of export and global warming.
    I am also interested in the phasing out of the Danish mink industry.
    Even greenwashing has caught my interest, but my difficulty lies in it being a matter of international business.

    Do you by chance, have an idea of examining greenwashing in an international business capacity?

    1. Avatar

      Hei, og takk for din kommentar! 😉

      I guess I’ll answer in English. That helps other people to find some inspiration in your question as well.

      Neither of your two examples is bad. I would strongly recommend writing about something that you can relate to – and that hasn’t been written an awful lot about. Therefore, I would suggest writing about the mink industry in Denmark. That’s an extremely interesting case.

      Greenwashing is very common in the car industry. However, you would NEVER get any of the car companies to talk about any of their marketing failures (believe me: you won’t). So it would be a thesis where you find objective information. Doing research on these companies is hard. No one wants to cooperate with a student that they would feel is stepping on their toes.

    2. Avatar

      I presented my ideas to my supervisor, who only showed interest in greenwashing and disclosure.
      He suggested looking into greenwashing as a core subject – I have found studies with artificial companies and stakeholder perception.
      Would I be able to conduct a study in this way, and still maintain my international business area of study purely on the basis of it being an international phenomenon?

    3. Avatar

      Yes, I think you would be able to get that overall international perspective on it.

      You could even have a research quesiton related to different areas in the world:

      E.g.
      Which countries have the end-consumers that are most likely to buy greenwashed products?
      Are there any government regulations on greenwashing anywhere in the world?
      etc.

      I’m not sure which studies you have found. But I am sure you would be able to use those to write a great thesis. 🙂 Finding real-life examples might be hard in this case. And having companies work together with you might be even harder.

  8. Avatar

    Hi Amund, thanks a lot for your article.

    I am enrolled at a bachelor related to international business in Leipzig.

    Do you think that EU economy would be a great thing to write a bachelor thesis about?

    I have heard that bachelor thesis doesn’t need to be related to any research you do yourself. But for master’s , you need to conduct some research on your own.

    PS, sorry for bad english

    1. Avatar

      Hi Rafael.

      Yes, I believe that might be a good topic. You would need to narrow it down significantly and come up with a good research question.

      The good thing about writing a thesis about the economy in the EU is the fact that so much information is available for free online.

  9. Avatar
    Tom Hjolm Johnson

    the one about mobile phones is quite interesting.

    not sure why Apple/Huawei keep make them bigger and more expensive. From the latest news, I also heard that Apple will stop adding the charger in the phone case, which is bizzare. According to them (and this also fits very well to write about on your website), they do it to “save the planet”. hahaha

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    WOW, what a guide The fact that you actually spent your free time writing this is nothing but amazing.

    Thank you!

    I’m a student in economics in Stockholm and will definitely use one of your topics for my masters’ degree 🙂

    Just wanted to say: thank you! Or as you say in Scandinavia: tackar! 😉

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    Hi Amund,

    Thank you for your article!!! I want to write something related to e-commerce, and your suggestions really helped me to find something. If you have any more information on how has online shopping changed peoples’ consumer behavior? I would be very grateful !!!

    Best regards from Colombia

    1. Avatar

      Hi Nicolas!

      Happy to hear that you found the article interesting. I spent quite some time writing and structuring it. 😉

      Well, I believe that maybe picking one large country and look at consumer behaviour there would be ideal. Maybe also dig into one specific market.

      For instance, how has e-commerce changed the way people buy groceries in the US? It’s just an example.

      Or you could look at how Chinas’ economy has grown largely because people in Europe and the US have decided to buy a lot of “cheap stuff online”. Alibaba and other Chinese companies have been profitable from this for decades already.

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    If I was deciding to write about organization and work culture, do you think I need to collaborate with a business?

    Or is it possible to write such a master thesis only based on theory? I’m confused and I am in a super hard spot as I don’t know what to write or where to do my researhc. Need to submit a proposal to my professor by the end of the week, which stresses me out.

    1. Avatar

      Hi Ole. I would definitely recommend you to collaborate with a business if you write a master thesis. Try to ask someone you know.

      Going to a completely stranger and asking them about work culture can be difficult to say yes to.

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    I see you write a lot about China and the Chinese economy. Do you recommend taking your MBA Business Degree in China? Or is that too far-fetched?

    1. Avatar

      Hi Paul.

      I took my masters’ degree in economics in China. Not too far-fetched at all.

      You better target the good and well-known schools though. Not the poor ones. Try to stick to either Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou.

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    hi Amund, thanks for your list. Just a question: do you think writing about the Chinese economy will be a good thing?

    I mean the fact that it’s not going well at all, but they try to hide it by building a lot of “fake cities” and pretend to their people that everything is good. Not sure about how we would find good sources for it though.

    I am a student in Ireland by the way, but originally from Venezuela.

    1. Avatar

      Hi Jamal.

      well. It might be good if you can get reliable sources. I wouldn’t trust the Chinese government sources on such a topic, but there are loads of other sources to be found online.

      As long as the Chinese economy is a bit of a “blur” due to unreliable sources, it might be hard to choose for a master thesis.

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    The one with the housing prices is actually a good topic. Not because it’s super relevant nor interesting.

    But because no one really understands the housing market prices. You see 50 % of the “experts” claim that the pricing will go down. Then the other 50 % claim that the housing prices will go up. In the end, 50 % of them will claim victory – and the other half will stay silent.

    It’s ludacruis.

    1. Avatar

      Hehe, I know what you mean.

      There are loads of people out there who pretend to be “mr./mrs. know-it-all” when it comes to such topics. Another interesting one is the “ones who predicted the big financial crisis in 2008”. What the story didn’t say anything about, was the fact that they had predicted it like 5 times earlier. And it never went through – until in 2008.

      It’s easy to be fooled.

      I would probably stay away from such topics, but I don’t mind anyone picking them for their thesis. 😛

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    there isn’t really any websites out there that help out with stuff like this. so this article is, as you describe it: “super useful” 😀

    I’m going to write about logistics within the new “Amazon and e-commerce era”. one of the few subjects I got an A in was logistics, and I want to use what I learned in that course to get a good grade in my bachelors’ degree as well.

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    I’m gonna write my thesis about e-commerce. I’m studyign Business Administration in Amsterdam (vrije universitet).

    And my professor owns some type of e-commerce company. Therefore he realy wanted me to write about e-commerce in Netherlands, and I would just say thanks for this article. You pushed me in a direction where I’ve probably come up with a nice topic…gonna ask my professor tomorrow 😉

    1. Avatar

      Hey Kurt, happy to hear you found your thesis! 🙂

      E-commerce is something that’s super good to write about. The poor thing would get to come into the examination room and meet a 70-year-old professor that barely remembers Windows 95. But for most cases, I think it should be fine!

    2. Avatar

      Hi Kurt,
      How has your thesis developed since August?
      I would love to read it if it is published anywhere.

  18. Avatar
    No global warming for me??

    As global warming isn’t real, why would anyone care to write about it? 🙂

    Global warming will NOT affect businesses in the same way that Covid-19 did. Not a chance. So if you want to write about fantasy, be my guest. However, if I was your professor I would have given you an F. ;)))

    1. Avatar

      Hahaha, well. I dare you to write a master thesis on a proper university about “global warming not being real”. Would be fun to see what grade you would get.

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    i guess these articles should always be written by previous students. I found your article by searching on Google. And almost all the other websites are clearly written by someone who has never been involved with international business or any university at all

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    If I owned a website, I would probably not use it to help students. but thanks a lot. I am not going to ask you for topic help as you’ve already helped me a lot. But I have decided to write about garbage/waste in the US. A lot of dangerous waste needs to be disposed by private companies, which is a huge cost for them. So I have partnered up with an electronic company to analyze if they can do anything “better”/”cheaper” when it comes to electronic waste disposal 🙂

    1. Avatar

      Hi Jamal, that’s a great topic to write about. I wrote my bachelor thesis about garbage/waste in the EU 28. And that was super interesting.

      Cooperating with one single company to see how government waste regulations make an impact on their bottom line is a superb idea.

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