Diploma Thesis Exchange

Subject areas:

• (Nascent) Entrepreneurship
• Start-up process
• Methodological aspects of entrepreneurship research
• Further information on the Field of Expertise “Business Creation and Development”

Methods:
Quantitative and qualitative methods; no single case studies or practice projects.

Thesis topic postings:
Heiko Bergmann primarily supervises topics that are advertised on the corresponding platform (Diploma Thesis Exchange). Direct inquiries with own topic proposals are possible, but the available capacities are very limited.

Contact
heiko.bergmann@unisg.ch

Subject areas:

• SME Leadership Competence
• Service Excellence
• Aesthetic development
• Co-entrepreneurship through the social context of an organization
• Further information on the Field of Expertise “SME Management”

Methods:
Qualitative

Thesis topic postings:
None at the moment, thesis topic can be selected freely but should be located in one of the subject areas listed above

Contactg:
urs.fueglistaller@unisg.ch

Subject areas:

• (Corporate) Entrepreneurship, individual/psychological characteristics of entrepreneurs for entrepreneurial performance and well-being
• Further information on the Field of Expertise «Entrepreneurial Health, Wellbeing and Behavior»

Contact:

For thesis supervision requests please get in touch with Torben Antretter.
 

Subject areas:

• Family firms and owner-managed firms with a focus on corporate governance (e.g. board of directors, owner control) and firm strategy.
• Management and ownership successions in family and owner-managed firms: Pathways, processes and implications.
• Founder-led firms: The role of founders in established firms and their exit pathways.
• Careers of CEOs in family firms and of founders: Pathways and its implications for firm strategy and performance.
• Family firms in Southeast Asia: Ownerships structures, corporate governance, and succession.

Methods:

• Quantitative and qualitative methods. No single case studies             

Contact:
christine.scheef@unisg.ch

Subject areas:

• Family business: Governance, strategy, succession, control, growth
• Entrepreneurship: Management of and under uncertainty, idea development, validation of business ideas, handling feedback in the validation of business ideas
• Strategy and growth of owner-managed firms
• Theory of ownership
• Further information on the Field of Expertise “Family Business and Succession”

Contact:

For thesis supervision requests please get in touch with Tobias Palm or Marie Klein.

Subjects areas:

• Regulation of cognition and motivation in contexts of uncertainty (self-regulated learning of entrepreneurs): How can entrepreneurs regulate their motivation? How can entrepreneurs enhance their decision-making processes under uncertainty?
• Regulation of cognitive biases of entrepreneurs (e.g. overconfidence or overoptimism)
• Information search process of entrepreneurs to recognize business ideas
• SMEs and digitalization
• Agility in entrepreneurial organizations
• Further information on the Field of Expertise “Entrepreneurial Development”

Methods:
Quantitative and qualitative research methods depending on the research question.

Thesis topic postings:
-

Contact:
alexander.fust@unisg.ch

Subject areas:

• Entrepreneurial leadership
• Co-entrepreneurship
• Experimental entrepreneurship research

Methods:
Quantitative and qualitative research methods depending on the research question.

Thesis topic postings:
None. Priority will be given to thesis supervision requests by participants of Prof. Gasda’s courses.
Note: Currently no additional thesis supervisions are accepted. Waiting list possible.

Contact:
joerg-michael.gasda@unisg.ch

Tobic areas:

• Funding of entrepreneurial ventures: What behaviors and characteristics of entrepreneurs are associated with higher financing success?
• Decision processes of early-stage investors: What factors determine the decisions of business angels and venture capitalists?
• Heuristics and biases in entrepreneurial finance: Which cognitive biases influence the decision-making behavior of early-stage investors?
• Artificial intelligence in entrepreneurship research: Application of novel methods (e.g., machine learning) in entrepreneurship research.

Methods:
Primarily quantitative studies; qualitative work in the form of literature reviews possible; no case studies and no practical projects.

Thesis topic postings:
Primarily quantitative studies; qualitative work in the form of literature reviews possible; no case studies and no practical projects. 

Contact:
torben.antretter@unisg.ch
Assistant to Prof. Dr. Isabella Hatak
Main supervisor: Prof. Dr. Isabella Hatak

Subject areas:

• Family business, business succession (succession processes, procedures and implications), conflicts in family businesses
• Control in owner-managed companies
• Business succession exchanges as an option for family businesses without intra-family succession solutions (for example: advantages and disadvantages of succession exchanges; governmental vs. non-governmental regulated; Process of simultaneous entrepreneurial entry and exit)

Methods:
Qualitative theses; no single case studies and no practice-oriented projects.

Thesis topic postings:
No specific topics; thesis topic can be selected freely but should be located in one of the subject areas listed above.

Contact:
marie.klein@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger

Subject areas:

• Aesthetic business management
• SME Leadership Competence
• Service Excellence
• Organisational identification

Methods:
qualitative

Thesis topic postings:
-

Contact:
pascal.schlegel@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller

Subject areas:

• Control in owner-managed firms (How do owners exercise control in their firm?)
• Corporate governance mechanisms and their influence on firm performance in owner-managed firms
• Strategic goals under different types of owners (e.g., family firms, owner-managers (e.g., founders), venture capitalists, or private equity)

Methods:
Quantitative theses; no single case studies and no practice projects.

Thesis topic postings:
Owner Types and CSR Performance.

Contact:
sebastian.sigg@unisg.ch
Assistant to Prof. Dr. Christine Scheef
Main supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christine Scheef