Bachelor or Master Thesis or Project Study
📌 Key facts
Contents
💡 Background
The investments in FinTech start-ups was at a staggering $34bn in 2019. Increasingly many companies offer competitive services, replace certain banking functions and invent new business models. Neo banks, neo brokers, new insurance models, new lenders - there is no shortage of interest and investment in FinTechs. Ant Group, Stripe, N26, Klarna, Trade Republic, WeFox - just to name a few belong to the highest valued start-ups in their countries. Banks start becoming more technology-focused but then there are also Apple and Google which control much of the mobile payment flows.
From this naturally questions arise: What will happen to banks? Which services will be sustained? What will happen to payment flows? Will sustainable finance be a paradigm shift? Can the finance industry be truly democratized? and many more. It is your task to answer any of those questions or think of something different to generate insights into the future of the finance and insurance industry. This can be in any form, for example a case study, trend analysis, framework or interview study.
🦾Who we are
The Chair for Strategy and Organization is focussed on doing research with impact. This means we do not want to repeat old ideas and base our research solely on the research people did 10 years ago. Instead, we currently research topics that will shape the future. Topics such as Agile Organizations and Digital Disruption, Blockchain Technology, Creativity and Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, Diversity, Education: Education Technology and Performance Management, HRTech, Leadership and Teams. We want to always be early in noticing trends, technologies, strategies and organizations that shape the future.
🎯 Goals
- Select an area where the finance or insurance industries are changing
- Determine how this area will develop
- Evaluate the impact on companies, society or business model innovation
🎓 Profile
- Reliable and self-driven
- Interest in Finance / Business / Technology
- Passion to learn more about the future of finance and do research with impact
📚 Further Reading
10 Trends for Finance to Navigate Now by Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/10-trends-for-finance-to-navigate-now/
Global Finance Consumer Insights Survey by PwC: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/consumer-markets/consumer-insights-survey.html
10 Fintech Trends by McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/synergy-and-disruption-ten-trends-shaping-fintech
Sustainable Finance for Asset Managers: https://www.pwc.de/de/finanzdienstleistungen/asset-management/pwc-sustainable-finance-era-asset-managers.pdf
10 Trends for Finance to Navigate Now by Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/10-trends-for-finance-to-navigate-now/
Global Finance Consumer Insights Survey by PwC: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/consumer-markets/consumer-insights-survey.html
10 Fintech Trends by McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/synergy-and-disruption-ten-trends-shaping-fintech
Sustainable Finance for Asset Managers: https://www.pwc.de/de/finanzdienstleistungen/asset-management/pwc-sustainable-finance-era-asset-managers.pdf
📄 Requirements to any Work
We do not want your research to gather dust in some corner of bookshelf but make it accessible to the world. Thus, we warmly encourage you to create some or all of the following:
- Infograph - visually represent some of your work (find examples here)
- Slide Deck - summarize your research and possibly present it
- Extract most important sequences from podcasts, videos, and other media
- 3-4 Tweets about the most important findings and summarizing the topic
- optional: Medium Article - let people outside university know about your research and start your personal brand
📬 How to apply
If you are interested, please contact Prof. Dr. Isabell Welpe (e-mail below) by submitting your CV and grade report. Please also briefly outline your tentative research idea (research question, data and methods, possible outcomes with a tentative outline all in word as *.docx)
We're greatly looking forward to hearing more about you!