Admission requirements
Students need to have participated in one or more courses of the SBB or NTV specialisation program.
Description
The Business Research Essay provides an opportunity to work on a critical exploration of a business topic of your own choice. It will enable you to deepen your understanding of theories and frameworks related to specific areas in the field of management studies.
Topics covered:
The Business Research Essay should build on knowledge and skills acquired throughout the SBB courses and/or the background knowledge you acquired during your SBB Management Internship. It should have a clear focus on creating new knowledge or extending existing knowledge through application in a new domain.
For Business Research Essays that are linked to SBB Management Internships it is important that the essay looks at the internship organisation/assignment as an example or case study of a phenomenon that also has relevance outside the specific company. This means that for these Essays an academic as well as a practical relevance is crucial, as the Essay is a confrontation between scientific theory and a practical problem.
Next to Essays that are linked to SBB Management Internships, it is also possible to write a Business Research Essay connected to one of the research topics of the SBB staff members as described on the SBB website.
Course objectives
This course will enhance a student’s knowledge of business theory and the ability to develop new insights into and benchmarks for industry. At the end of the course students will be able to link business theory to business practice by formulating hypotheses and gathering and analysing data. In addition they will be able to improve their written communication skills.
Timetable
The Business Research Essay has four deliverables. The exact timeline depends on the number of credits that is pursued.
The deliverables are:
1. Essay proposal: description of essay topic/research question that will be investigated, together with an indication of the theories and frameworks that will be explored
2. Methodology/research design: a detailed description of the way in which the research and gathering of data will be done
3. Essay outline: a detailed outline of the content of the essay
4. Draft essay/final essay
More detailed instructions on the timeline and deliverables can be found on Blackboard. It is advised to consult the SBB staff on your choice of topic at an early stage to make sure the topic meets all requirements.
The Business Research Essay can be done any time throughout the academic year.
Mode of instruction
Students are required to send their Essay proposal to the SBB coordinator, who will select an essay supervisor that matched your essay topic. This can either be an SBB staff member or an external expert. Supervision will consist of four progress meetings where feedback on the submitted deliverables and guidance on the preparation of the next deliverable will be provided.
Course Load
5 or 10 EC
The number of credits that students want to pursue determines the required length of the final deliverable. Specific requirements will be set during the first meeting with the Essay supervisor.
Assessment method
Assessment and grading of the Essay will be based on the final essay that is handed in. The other deliverables are not formally assessed and graded, but failing to hand them in will result in the Essay not being graded.
When assessing the Essay the supervisor will (among other things) take into account how clearly the research question was formulated, the quality of the data that was gathered, the quality of the data analysis and how well the conclusions were substantiated.
A detailed marking scheme can be found on blackboard.
Blackboard
Yes
Reading list
To be determined depending on the topic of the Business Research Essay
Registration
Students can register for the course in uSis. Click here for instructions.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Registration Studeren à la carte via: www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/onderwijs/alacarte
Registration Contractonderwijs via: http://www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/onderwijs/contractonderwijs/
Contact
info@sbb.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
None