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2023/2024  KAN-CGMAO2001U  Business Project

English Title
Business Project

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for cand.merc. and GMA (GMA)
Course coordinator
  • Giacomo Marchesini - Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
  • Jane Bjørn Vedel - Department of Organization (IOA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation
  • Management
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 04-12-2023

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Be able to define a complex problem in general management and analytics and explain how it can be examined in a coherent research design.
  • Be able to select academic literature of relevance to the defined problem.
  • Be able to justify the choice of empirical setting, methods, and data, and acknowledge the benefits and limitations of specific settings, data, and methods.
  • Be able to analyze the collected data, explain the main findings of the study, and critically reflect on how the project could be improved.
  • Be able to provide clear recommendations for practice and reflect on how recommended organizational changes can be achieved within the chosen empirical context.
Examination
Business Project:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance, see also the rules about examination forms in the programme regulations.
Individual or group exam Oral group exam based on written group product
Number of people in the group 4-5
Size of written product Max. 30 pages
Assignment type Project
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Summer, Max. 60 minutes per group
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If a student does not pass the regular exam, the examiner of the ordinary exam decides whether a new, revised or the same project must be handed in by the submission date for the re-exam.

If a student is absent from the oral exam due to documented illness but has handed in the written group product she/he does not have to submit a new product for the re-take. However the group product must be uploaded once again on Digital Exam.

If a whole group fails the oral exam, they must hand in a revised product for the re-exam.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

In the Business Project course, the students get an experience with conducting their own empirical research project which will prepare them for their Master Thesis. The students will learn how to conduct a research project that builds on the knowledge, skills, and insights that they have acquired during their first year and that offers recommendations to practice (a real-life business situation). With guidance from a supervisor, the students are expected to work independently on the following aspects of the project: problem definition, research question, research design, literature search, selection of methods and collection of data, data analysis and findings development, reflection on boundary conditions and limitations, and development of recommendations for practice.

 

Within the Business Project’s overall scope, the students can motivate and find a starting point for their projects in different ways with implications for their project’s structure. The students can motivate their projects based on:

  • a research gap (i.e., a theoretical puzzle that the literature cannot yet explain) that the students address through an empirical investigation
  • a practice/design gap (i.e., a problem or design issue that is specific to a real-life business situation), or
  • a firm-strategy gap (i.e., an opportunity for a firm to develop a theory on how it can best compete in a certain market).

 

Within these tracks, the students are free to draw on any of the courses in the program.
Description of the teaching methods
The Business Project course offers a limited number of classes/workshops that will support the students in gaining the insights and skills they need to conduct and deliver an ambitious research project about a complex problem in general management and analytics.

The students will have a dedicated supervisor who will assist them in reaching critical milestones in the development of their project.
Feedback during the teaching period
Midway through the course, the students will receive feedback from members of the program’s faculty group. The students will give a presentation of their research design to faculty members and receive feedback on their progress and recommendations for how to move on.
Student workload
Preparation 24 hours
Teaching 9 hours
Exam 173 hours
Expected literature

A list of relevant literature will be provided in class. Below please find an indicative literature:

Van Aken, J.E., & Berends H. (2018) Problem Solving in Organizations: A Methodological Handbook for Business and Management Students, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Golder, P. N., Dekimpe, M., An, J. T., van Heerde, H. J., Kim, D., & Alba, J. W. (2022). Learning from data: An empirics-first approach to relevant knowledge generation. Journal of Marketing.
Last updated on 04-12-2023