We appreciate your interest in writing your bachelor’s thesis at the Department of Corporate Development.

Application

Bachelor’s theses are assigned once per semester during the first registration period via KLIPS. The general deadlines in KLIPS apply. Following the assignment in KLIPS, you must complete a survey in ILIAS to finalize your application to write the bachelor’s thesis at our department. 
To do so, please use the following ILIAS link (navigation path: Magazine > Faculties > WiSo > Business Administration > Department of Corporate Development > Applications for Bachelor’s Theses in the Department of Corporate Development (Application Bachelor’s Thesis Department Corporate Development)).

Applications are accepted for the following chairs:

• Organizational Behavior (Prof. Burmeister)
• Strategic Management (Prof. Heinz)
• Supply Chain Management - Strategie und Innovation (Prof. Sting)
• Organizational Behavior (Jun.-Prof. Hofer) – Note: Applications are only accepted during the winter semester
• Business Ethics (Prof. Irlenbusch)
• Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (Prof. Mona Mensmann)
• Human Resource Management (Prof. Sliwka)
• Entrepreneurship and Management (Prof. Schwens)
• Strategie (Jun.-Prof. Pandit)

Once your application is approved, you will be contacted by your assigned supervisor. Please note: the start date of the supervision process is not equal to the official registration of your thesis at the examinations office. 

Please note that your official thesis registration must be submitted to the examinations office within the following deadlines:

• Summer semester application → Submission by June 30 at the latest
• Winter semester application → Submission by November 30 at the latest

Prerequisite

To officially register a bachelor’s thesis with the examinations office, students must have completed at least 100 ECTS. Students may apply before meeting this requirement if it can reasonably be expected—for example, due to pending examination results or the recognition of credits earned abroad—that they will have obtained the required 100 ECTS by the time of official registration.

In addition, writing a bachelor’s thesis in the Department of Corporate Development requires successful completion of a bachelor’s seminar at one of the department’s chairs. This requirement does not apply to MESS students.

As part of the bachelor’s seminar, you will write a seminar paper in a small group and receive feedback on your academic approach. The seminar covers the fundamental requirements of academic work and offers the opportunity to gain important experience for writing the bachelor’s thesis.

Further information can be found on the Bachelor’s seminar website.

Topics

In general, candidates are encouraged to propose their own topics. The topics for the theses can be very diverse. We also welcome practice-oriented topic ideas—especially those developed in collaboration with a company.

Supervision

Your supervisor will serve as your advisor throughout the entire research and writing process. After you and your supervisor have jointly determined a topic, the bachelor’s thesis must be officially registered with the examinations office. The writing period begins with this official registration and typically lasts 12 weeks. The bachelor’s thesis must be completed and submitted within this period.

Submitting the Thesis to the Examinations Office

The thesis must be submitted to the examinations office by the specified deadline. Submission is done digitally via the WiSo Inbox. Please follow the current guidelines issued by the examinations office.

Further Information

Please use our mandatory template. Writing the thesis in English is encouraged.

Please refer to the current examination and study regulations issued by the examinations office.

If you have any further questions regarding theses in the Corporate Development area, please feel free to contact the secretariat at office-cd(at)wiso.uni-koeln(dot)de.

Application

To apply for supervision of your master’s thesis in the Department of Corporate Development, please use this ILIAS link (navigation path: Magazine > Faculties > WiSo > Business Administration > Department of Corporate Development > Applications for Master’s Theses in the Department of Corporate Development (Application Master’s Thesis Department Corporate Development)).

Applications are accepted for the following chairs:

• Organizational Behavior (Prof. Burmeister)
• Strategic Management (Prof. Heinz)
• Supply Chain Management - Strategie und Innovation (Prof. Sting)
• Organizational Behavior (Jun.-Prof. Hofer)
• Business Ethics (Prof. Irlenbusch)
• Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (Prof. Mona Mensmann)
• Human Resource Management (Prof. Sliwka)
• Entrepreneurship and Management (Prof. Schwens)
• Strategie (Jun.-Prof. Pandit)

Please note that the desired start date you indicate in the survey does not constitute an official registration of your thesis with the Registrar’s Office; it merely indicates your preference.

After the application deadline has passed, we will inform you of the department or supervisor to whom you have been assigned. You should then contact your supervisor directly. Together, you will clarify your research question, methodology, and the structure of your thesis, plan your approach, and conduct an initial literature review. The duration of this process may vary. Once these arrangements are finalized, you must register your thesis with the Registrar’s Office, at which point the six-month thesis period (three months for CEMS students) begins.

Please note that the registration date of your thesis with the Registrar’s Office must fall within the following deadlines:

• Application for the summer semester → Registration by June 30 at the latest
• Application for the winter semester → Registration by November 30 at the latest

Prerequisite

To register for the master’s thesis, you must have earned at least 60 ECTS credits (as of the date of formal registration). You may apply in advance if you will meet this requirement by the time of formal registration, even if you are awaiting exam results or credit transfers from abroad.
We primarily supervise Master’s theses for students in the Master’s in Corporate Development program and a limited number of students in the CEMS Master’s program. Students in other Master’s programs can only be supervised if the department’s capacity has not been exhausted by the aforementioned students and if they submit a particularly compelling proposal for their thesis.

Topics

In general, we encourage candidates to propose their own topics. Thesis topics can be diverse. In addition to traditional literature-based studies, empirical research addressing current research questions is particularly welcome. We also expressly welcome empirical master’s theses conducted in collaboration with companies. Furthermore, students may design and conduct their own online surveys or, where appropriate, develop independent laboratory experiments.

You can discuss your topic ideas with our research assistants or professors during a consultation even before submitting your application.

Supervision

Once you have successfully applied for a spot, a research assistant from the department will serve as your supervisor throughout the entire writing process. The typical timeframe for completing the master’s thesis is six months.

Submitting Your Thesis to the Registrar’s Office

The thesis must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by the specified deadline. Submissions must be made digitally via the WiSo Inbox. Please follow the Registrar’s Office’s current guidelines.

Further Information

Use of our template is mandatory. We expect master’s theses to be written in English.

Please refer to the current examination and study regulations issued by the examinations office.

If you have any further questions regarding theses in the Corporate Development area, please feel free to contact the secretariat at office-cd(at)wiso.uni-koeln(dot)de.