The marketing study project gives MSc Marketing students the opportunity of making a synthesis of the prior knowledge they acquired throughout the program, and of showing their ability to put it into practice. Parallel to this course students are pursuing an empirical marketing project. This course offers a stimulating environment to learn and to discuss how to fine-tune research questions, (ii) how to derive an empirical approach to provide answers to these questions, (iii) how to select adequate methods to analyze quantitative and/or qualitative data, and (iv) how to translate empirical findings into managerial value and to provide management implications of our research. Moreover, this course offers a platform for MSc Marketing students to meet and discuss their marketing study projects with each other and experienced researchers.

The emphasis of this course is to enable students to translate their conceptual marketing know-how into an empirical project of practical relevance.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Successfully integrate their marketing and methodological background knowledge into an empirical approach.
• Plan and conduct an empirical project of practical relevance and importance.
• Provide constructive feedback on their colleagues’ projects and to defend their own project against critical comments.
• Further improve their presentation and team working skills.

While some parts of the seminar are held in a colloquium-style teaching format, the course will also utilize a mix of interactive faculty lectures, class discussions, and student presentations. The instructors will provide students with additional advice,  group coaching sessions, and feedback. Active participation is crucial for a favorable outcome of this course. Thus, all students are required to attend the entire seminar.

Grading of this course is based on the following components:

• quality of final presentation (your Master Thesis project) - 50%
• progress of your project (based on class-participation and faculty evaluations of progress report sessions) - 30 %
• peer feedback quality - 20 %

Note: to successfully pass this course, your weighted final grade needs to exceed 60% (marks are assigned in equal percentage increments)

Attendance policy: attendance at the kickoff day and the days of the final presentations is mandatory!