SCI Master's Thesis Guide 2024

As a default, the master’s thesis is written on a topic related to the student’s chosen major. The supervisor should be a professor or lecturer in the field of the chosen major. Contact details for professors and lecturers are usually firstname.lastname@aalto.fi and can be found from DIEM people -page. 

List of supervisors

Supervisors at Strategy & Venturing / Strategy majors	Potential topic areas
Robin Gustafsson	Strategic Management, Strategy, Platform Business, Platform Economy, Innovation Policy
Mikko Jääskeläinen	Corporate entrepreneurship & venturing, Venture capital, Entrepreneurship ecosystems, Innovation, Product management, Product development
Kimmo Karhu	Digitalization, Platform Strategy, Digital Platforms, Open-Source, Innovation, Information Systems
Jukka Luoma	Competitive Dynamics, Data-driven Decision Making, Analytics, Competitive Strategy
Markku Maula	Venture Capital and Private Equity, Corporate Venturing, Mergers and Acquisitions
Tero Ojanperä	Platform Strategy, Business Models, Strategy, Artificial Intelligence
Henri Schildt	Digital Strategy, Digitalization, Strategic Change, Sensemaking, Industry Ecosystems, Social Organizations, Social Enterprises, Organizational Values
Jens Schmidt	Strategy, Innovation, Business Models, Ecosystems, Platforms, Internationalization
Timo Vuori	Strategy Formulation, Strategy Execution, Platform Strategy, AI in Strategy Process, Emotions, Cognitio
Supervisors at Operations and Service management / Operations Management major	Potential topic areas
Karlos Artto	Project Business, Project Operations, Project-Based Firms, Project Networks and Supply Chains, Buying Projects, Selling Projects, Innovation, Product/Service Development
Jan Holmström	Operations Management, Design Science Research, Digitalization of Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Digital Twins and Virtual Counterparts, Industrial Services, Physical Asset Management, Building Information Management
Jouko Karjalainen	Management Accounting and Cost Estimation
Risto Rajala	Management of Service Systems, Development of Digital Services, Service Innovation and Business Models
Lauri Saarinen	Data Analytics-based Operational Management
Timo Seppälä	Digital Operations, Platform Governance, Industrial Ecosystems
Kari Tanskanen	Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Pekka Töytäri	Customer Value, Institutional Change, Business Ecosystems and Platforms, Value Based Selling and Pricing, Sales Management, Service Innovations
Siavash H Khajavi	Digital transformation of manufacturing and operations, utilization of additive manufacturing, digital twins and block chain technologies and impact on operations management, machine learning in operations and maintenance, digitalization of aftersales and spare parts operations.
Supervisors at Organization Design and Leadership major	Potential topic areas
Satu Rekonen	cross-functional / multidisciplinary teamwork, new venture teams, creative problem-solving, collective creativity, organisational renewal and development, design thinking, experimentation
Lauri Järvilehto	Startup Entrepreneurship, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Nina Nurmi	Virtual / Hybrid Work, Leadership, Work Design, Organizational Design, Virtual Teams, Teamwork, Well-Being
Natalia Vuori	Strategy Implementation, Change Management, Organizing for Innovation, Heuristics and Biases, Emotions and Cognition (identity, motivation, cognitive frames) in Organizational Processes
Jari Ylitalo	Leadership, Leadership and leader development, Organizational development and transformation, Leadership in networks, Collaboration in networks and partnerships, Dialogue in organisations
Frank Martela	Work engagement, meaningful work, employee motivation, decentralised organizations, self-management, minimalist leadership, servant leadership
Supervisors at Product and Innovation Management major	Potential topic areas
Mikko Jääskeläinen	Corporate entrepreneurship & venturing, Venture capital, Entrepreneurship ecosystems, Innovation, Product management, Product development
Satu Renkonen	Cross-functional / multidisciplinary teamwork, new venture teams, creative problem-solving, collective creativity, organisational renewal and development, design thinking, experimentation
Kimmo Karhu	Digitalization, Platform Strategy, Digital Platforms, Open-Source, Innovation, Information Systems
Jens Schmidt	Strategy, Innovation, Business Models, Ecosystems, Platforms, Internationalization
Jan Holmström	Operations Management, Design Science Research, Digitalization of Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Digital Twins and Virtual Counterparts, Industrial Services, Physical Asset Management, Building Information Management
Risto Rajala	Management of Service Systems, Development of Digital Services, Service Innovation and Business Models

Exception: Writing the thesis on a topic related to your minor.

You can also write the master’s thesis on a topic that is related to your chosen minor. In these cases, the supervisor must be a professor who is an expert in the field of the respective minor. NB! Even if you are writing your thesis on a topic related to your chosen minor, you must complete a maturity test according to these instructions.

• If you are writing a master's thesis on a topic related to your chosen minor, please provide information on the Additional Information -tab in MyStudies when you are applying for supervisor, topic, and advisor approval. 

Evaluation

• All master’s theses must be evaluated according to the SCI guidelines for master’s thesis evaluation. 
• For all master’s theses written on a topic related to the student’s chosen major where the supervising professor is not a professor at the IEM department, the professor responsible for the major will need to approve and sign the evaluation form in addition to the supervising professor. 
• For all master’s theses written on a topic related to the student’s chosen minor, the program director will need to approve and sign the evaluation form in addition to the supervising professor. 

• PP-slides here. 
• see video 
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