Teaching and research at the University of St.Gallen emphasises practical relevance. The KMU-HSG is also part of this tradition: Along our «Schwungrad», questions from the areas of executive education and consulting are addressed as part of research projects. At the same time, results and proposed solutions from SME research flow back into teaching and work with practice partners.
In this way, we also see ourselves as mediators between students and companies in dealing with business management issues in SMEs. Here you can see an overview of the current topics on offer:
Bachelor and Master thesis
Registration
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Topic
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Type of thesis |
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(none availble, unfortnunately) |
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In addition, please find below an overview of supervisors at our institute. In case of requests for thesis supervision, please contact directly the respective person and thereby take into consideration the instructions and requirements described in the overview.
Prof. Dr. Heiko Bergmann
contact
heiko.bergmann@unisg.ch |
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.
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Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller
contact
urs.fueglistaller@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
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Pascal Schlegel
contact
pascal.schlegel@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Urs Fueglistaller
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Subject areas:
- SME Leadership Competence
- Service Excellence
- Organisational identification
Methods:
qualitative
Thesis topic postings:
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Dr. Alexander Fust
contact
alexander.fust@unisg.ch |
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:
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Prof. Dr. Jörg-Michael Gasda
contact
joerg-michael.gasda@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.
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Prof. Dr. Isabella Hatak
For thesis supervision requests please get in touch with Mateja Andric.
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Subject areas:
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Mateja Andric
contact
mateja.andric@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Isabella Hatak
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Isabella Hatak
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Subject areas:
- Family embeddedness, entrepreneurial life courses, and work-family interface in entrepreneurship: The embeddedness of firms in entrepreneurs’ and/or CEOs’ family systems, the impact of life courses and life events of entrepreneurs on their firms, and the interrelationship between entrepreneurs’ private life and work
- Power dynamics in entrepreneurship: The role of power inequality/concentration in the context of entrepreneurship such as power inequality in entrepreneurial teams or between founders and investors
- Gender and Entrepreneurship: The role of gender-stereotypes in entrepreneurship und family businesses
- Corporate Entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship in established firms (with focus on SMEs)
Methods:
Quantitative and 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.
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Prof. Dr. Josh Hsueh
contact
josh.hsueh@unisg.ch
Only theses written in English are supervised.
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Subject areas:
- Entrepreneurial well-being and stress coping during the entrepreneurial process.
- Family businesses and corporate social responsibility, such as sustainability reporting and assurance, employee relationships, and reputation management
Methods:
Quantitative and qualitative methods, in particularly experimental method and survey research
Thesis topic postings:
Thesis topics are open for discussion but the topic should fit with one of the aforementioned topics
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Prof. Dr. Christine Scheef
contact
christine.scheef@unisg.ch |
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
Thesis topic postings:
- The CEO’s last 100 days
- Wealth distribution among stakeholders: The role of owners
- Family firms and owner-managed firms with a focus on corporate governance (e.g. board of directors, owner control) and firm strategy
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Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
For thesis supervision requests please get in touch with Tobias Palm or Marie Klein.
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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”
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Tobias Palm
contact
tobias.palm@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
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Subject areas:
Management practices in owner-operated companies, i.e. for example
- Which management practices are applied in owner-managed companies such as start-ups, family businesses and SMEs, and have an impact on the success of the company (e.g. probability of survival, financial performance)? Examples are innovation practices (e.g. active management of technology-exchange with universities), financial practices (e.g. annual budget preparation), human capital practices (e.g. objectives & performance tracking)
- Which management practices of owner-managers (e.g. of start-ups, family businesses and SMEs) are used to optimize the success of the company (e.g. practices that allow dealing with feedback - which feedback is relevant? How can it be implemented?)
- What distinguishes management practices in owner-managed companies from management practices in non-owner-managed companies?
- Which factors have a particular impact on management practices in owner-managed companies, e.g. size of the company, authority of the owner-manager?
Methods:
Mainly qualitative, quantitative imaginable.
Thesis topic postings:
Topic can be freely chosen within the above mentioned topics.
Please approach me with first concrete ideas (e.g., research question, method, topic)
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Marie Klein
contact
marie.klein@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Zellweger
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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.
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Sebastian Sigg
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contact
sebastian.sigg@unisg.ch
assistant to Prof. Dr.Christine Scheef
Main supervisor:
Prof. Dr. Christine Scheef
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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 and qualitative theses; literature review possible for bachelor's theses; no single case studies and no practice projects.
Thesis topic postings:
Corporate governance in owner-managed firms and its influence on firm strategy |