Your business thesis will round out your graduate coursework, or in some instances, cap your undergraduate studies. The choice of topics for business theses will inevitably be shaped in large part by the specialized courses you have taken, and the professors your have worked with most closely. However, you can use the writing of a thesis in business school to make yourself a ticket to job opportunities after you graduate. Here are some ideas on accomplishing this.
 
Flattery through business theses
 
You are presumably, by this stage of your degree program, already officially pursuing some subspecialty. This implies that you are acquainted with “your” faculty, whether in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Operations Management, or other concentrations.
 
Use their research to spark an idea for a business thesis topic that you can be sure will interest and engage at least one of them. Check out the recent or not-so-recent publications of the faculty in your department and specialty. As you read them, ask yourself:

• Can the ideas in the work be applied to a different industry or setting?
• Is there an aspect that the author mentions as not having been addressed that could be examined?
• Was this written so long ago that an update is a legitimate, perhaps even welcome, contribution to the field?

Mine the news for ideas for business theses
 
If you choose a topic that has hit the media recently, you know that your readers will be intrigued. Scan the business news for mega-stories that illustrate a major issue, for example:

1. Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World privacy ethics fiasco. What does this tell us about corporate governance, corporate culture, and corporate communication?
2. Google’s stalled effort to digitize every book. What does this tell us about communication with various stakeholders?
3. Wal-Mart’s personnel policies. Are current practices the only way to achieve similar profits? What are the impacts of such practices in the rest of the marketplace?
4. British Petroleum’s Gulf oil leak
5. What quality control measures could have helped to prevent it?

Leverage your background in planning theses in business school
 
Examine issues using companies or conditions in your home region or nation, exploiting your personal knowledge and familiarity, for example:

• Environment/safety
• Communications/marketing
• retention/motivation

These problems, examined in light of your unique origins, will generate a decidedly non-duplicative business thesis.