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The academic head Prof. Dr. Hölter explains the focus and the special features of the dual undergraduate degree programme in Business Administration.
Are you interested in business administration and would you like to directly apply what you have learned in practice? Our dual study programme Business Administration combines academic business studies with systematic on-the-job training in a company.
The Business Administration degree programme has been completely revised and now offers significantly more elective and specialisation options with which you can design your studies even more flexibly and individually. The core curriculum combines contemporary content with modern, digital teaching formats and is complemented in the best possible way by comprehensive specialisations (majors & minors) from the 2nd year onwards. This way, you are fully prepared to start your professional career!
The Business Administration degree programme comprises six semesters. Each semester consists of a theoretical phase at university (20 weeks per year on average) and a practical phase in the company (32 weeks per year on average). In the first year of study, you learn the basics of business administration. In the second and third year, you have the opportunity to specialise by choosing a major (36 ECTS) or two minors (18 ECTS each) from our wide range of specialisations.
Teaching of basic mathematical knowledge; transfer of economic problems into mathematical approaches; and application in practice.
Legal regulations auf accounting, accounting procedures, account charts, accounting processes including annual financial statement postings, problem-oriented application of full and partial cost accounting
Teaching of selected approaches, methods and instruments of personnel management and leadership, analysis of common personnel and leadership situations, application to current practical tasks
Gain basic knowledge of informatics using business information and application systems for computer-aided design, control and processing of business processes, basics and potential uses of databases and their implementation in companies.
Principles and fundamentals of scientific knowledge acquisition in business administration; examination of long-term framework conditions of the economy (megatrends); examination of political-legal, ecological, socio-cultural and technological influencing factors.
Usage of statistical concepts; especially probabilities and probability distributions, sample size, significance, causation, correlation, linear regression.
Understanding the basics and the methodology of microeconomic theory, assess the economic impact of economic develepments, public sector activities and policies on firm behaviour, household behaviour, market outcomes and economic welfare.
Understand how companies raise money to finance their investments; realise the role of the financial manager in a business organisation and the effects of financing decisions on the market value of a firm.
Get a holistic academic and theoretical understanding of marketing management, its main components as well as the implementation of such knowledge and expertise to real business situations.
Understand the general principles of law; read and judge contracts on international contractual disputes; discuss legal questions.
Basics of market research and data collection; development of questionnaires for statistical surveys; time series analysis, cluster analysis, software application.
Become familiar with basic strategic concepts, selected process, organisational and business model innovations, and innovative starting points in new and existing companies, "big-picture" overview of companies and their capabilities and develop an understanding of change.
Operations Management: basic insight into the physics/logic of operations, recognition of OM problems and finding appropriate methods to solve them Operations Research: unterstanding of different types of optimisation methods and their benefits and limitations in practice.
Basic knowledge to implement projects within the available time and cost frame as well as the required quality, overview of the most basic instruments and methods of project management; structure, plan, control and manage projects of medium complexity.
Understand organisations; exploration of organisation theory; get to know dimensions that describe specific organizational design traits and structures.
Learn basic concepts and strategic advantages of responsible and sustainalbe leadership, get to know and apply central terms, theories, strategies and management models of sustainability, develop an own sustainability strategy.
Gain basic psychological knowledge regarding human thinking, feeling and behavior in the market and business context.
For the one-week study excursion, students choose a topic which is usually dealt with intensively within one week abroad. Company visits, visits to foreign universities and an exciting social programme make this week an unforgettable experience.
During the Management Game students will combine the knowledge and skills from different modules in a simulation, which contains managing a manufacturing company for some years.
In our dual degree programme Business Administration, you can decide whether you want to choose a comprehensive specialisation (major) or two different specialisations (minors). The major runs from the 3rd to the 6th semester, while the minors take place consecutively from the 3rd to the 4th semester and from the 5th to the 6th semester.
If you already know exactly in which area you would like to specialise, you can choose one major or two minors before starting your studies. Some of our cooperation companies even offer you a place to study with a specific specialisation. In case you are still unsure in which direction you would like to specialise, that's no problem either. You simply start your studies and, together with your company, choose one major or two minors in your first year. Just as you like. At HSBA, the choice is yours.
The Minor Finance must be taken in advance. The content of Finance is related to the modules Mathe-matics, Statistics, Accounting and Principles of Finance. Further modules: Financial Econometrics, Data Science/Artificial Intelligence/Digitalisation in Finance, FINTECHS and Start-Up-Financing as well as Sustainable Finance.
The Marketing Transformation major builds on the Marketing & Sales minor. It also includes the modules Online Marketing Intelligence, Marketing Performance Measurement and Project Work Marketing.
The major provides subject- and media-specific knowledge relevant to media and communication management. Modules: Technical Production and Design, Communication Theories & Public Relations, Transformation of Media Markets & Products, Content Development, Social Media & Digital Marketing, Strategic and Operational Media Management.
The Sales & Retail major builds on the Marketing & Sales minor. It also includes the modules E-Commerce & Omni Channel Management, Sales Performance Management and Project Work Sales & Retail.
The major builds on the Accounting minor. It combines the fundamentals of business administration with the special requirements in the field of auditing and consulting. In addition, it comprehensively conveys the necessary theoretical basics and provides in-depth insights into the activities of an auditor and consultant in different sectors of the economy.
The module provides basic knowledge in the field of data science and artificial intelligence. In terms of content, parts of the lecture build on statistics. Modules: Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Case Studies on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
The minor builds on the contents of the module "Fundamentals of Business Informatics" and imparts basic knowledge of digitalisation. 3 modules: Digital Business Strategy & Implementation, Digital Process Innovation, Algorithmic Design and Implementation.
The Minor Finance is related to the modules Mathematics, Statistics, Accounting and Principle. 3 modules: Finance Basics, Risk Management, Mergers & Acquisitions.
Objective of the International Management Minor is to gain a general overview over the field of International Management. 3 Module: International Management, Law, Accounting and Taxation, International Human Resource Management and Intercultural Communication, International Trade and Regional Studies.
The minor builds on the contents of the Marketing Management and Quantitative Methods module. 3 modules: Customer Management & Sustainable Marketing, Sales & Retailing Management, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence.
The Minor in Shipping provides maritime and shipping-specific knowledge relevant to working in the maritime industry and specifically in shipping companies. Theory, practice and case studies are closely interwoven. Modules: Shipping Markets, Sustainability & Business Models; Shipping Policy, Law & Insurance; Ship Finance, Case Studies & Projects.
As one of the global megatrends, Sustainability comprises various opportunities for businesses. The Sustainable Innovation minor covers strategic implications of the topic and well as innovative new business models. 3 modules: Sustainable Business Models, Sustainable Supply Chains, Sustainable Innovation Camp.
The Minor in Business Accounting combines the basics of business administration with the special requirements in the field of auditing and consulting. 3 Modules: Auditing 1, Taxation 1, Audit-related services.
The minor consists of 3 modules: The Insurance Business Model – Functionality and Risk Management Approaches, Strategic Management – Starting Points for Insurers and Intermediaries, and Digital Business Models, Innovations and Digital Business Approaches in the Insurance Industry.
The minor builds on the content of the modules Marketing Management, Statistics, Quantitative Methods and Science & Trends and represents a component of the two majors Marketing & Customer Insights and Sales & Customer Insights.
The minor builds on the content of the Marketing Management and Quantitative Methods modules and is a building block for the Sales & Customer Insights major.
The minor teaches specialised and media-specific knowledge relevant to media and communication management.
The dual business programme at HSBA opens up excellent career opportunities. Due to the practical training in the company flanking the theoretical degree courses, more than 90% of our students receive a job offer for the next career step immediately after completing their studies. Whether in human resources management, controlling, marketing, sales, auditing or as a data scientist – with a dual study programme at HSBA, a career in the upper management of nationally and internationally operating companies is virtually guaranteed.
Tim Adler successfully completed his dual BSc Business Administration degree at HSBA in 2022 and has since worked as Global Vertical Excellence Manager at Hamburg Süd. His well-structured Bachelor's thesis, tailored to the interests and needs of his partner company, has served as an accelerator for his career and given him visibility as an expert within the company. How can this succeed? We talked to Tim Adler about it.
Dear Tim Adler, first of all, congratulations from us on your Bachelor's degree! You wrote your Bachelor's thesis in close cooperation with your partner company Hamburg Süd and were able to deliver significant added value for the company. What is it about?
I worked out success factors for the implementation and optimisation of a lead management process in my cooperation company Hamburg Süd and its parent company Maersk. Lead management includes all processes from the generation of potential customers (leads) to the further development and qualification of these leads into profitable and long-term business relationships. Among other things, the set-up and cooperation of the marketing and sales departments as well as the use of suitable software were examined for optimisation potential with regard to the lead management process.
The work is based on the latest scientific findings as well as qualitative research through expert interviews.
And how did you decide on this topic, did you work out the approach together with your company? Were there specific requirements or did you take the initiative?
From the beginning, it was important to me to work on a topic in which I could show real interest and in which I could develop my own skills while the company benefited from it. At the same time, my enthusiasm for sales and marketing had already developed during my studies. Therefore, I independently searched for a topic that met these requirements with my colleagues from the corresponding departments as well as with my professor Inga Schmidt-Ross. Lead management was the final topic, which was the focus at Hamburg Süd, had strong ambitions for further development and is also still very much in the early stages of research.
How important was it to you not "merely" to do research, but to truly create something?
For me, the concept of the dual study programme at HSBA is precisely designed to create something real through research and thus offer added value to the cooperating companies. This also had an impact on my Bachelor's thesis. Due to the close connection to my company and the colleagues, it simply is great fun to work on an internal project and at the same time to conduct scientific research with the support of the professors. In addition, of course, there is the impression you make in the company when you can actively drive a project forward and thus create real benefit. For me, this solution-oriented way of doing research is one of the main advantages of the dual study programme.
Can you perhaps give an example of the applicability of your work?
The results of my research help to promote an efficient further development of the lead management process in the company. For the colleagues from the departments involved, the well-founded scientific findings as well as the results of the interviews were very beneficial in order to also consider scientific perspectives in the further implementation. The success factors include close cooperation between sales and marketing as well as the targeted use of IT resources for CRM systems and marketing automation.
Does this open up new opportunities for you? Can you expand on your topic at Hamburg Süd?
I was able to expand my network within the Maersk Group many times over through my bachelor's thesis. This provided me with insights into departments and contacts with colleagues, which had a significant influence on my current position in Sales and Marketing. In my new role, I work with sales colleagues all over the world to turn leads into long-term customers. There couldn't have been a better steppingstone for this.
Read the full article: "There couldn't have been a better steppingstone. (hsba.de)
Do you have questions that you would rather discuss with our students? In our Ask a student format you will find contact persons for each of our dual degree programmes: Jennifer Kerßens (Business Administration), Clara Wendrich and Yasch Gahi (Business Informatics), Luca Lenniger (International Management), and Kai Hemp (Logistics Management).
No, you apply directly to the company. If you have successfully completed a selection procedure and are offered a place, the partner company will contact HSBA and register you. You can find all current study place offers from our partner companies on our Study Place Exchange.
Our Hamburg Business Speed Dating offers an additional opportunity. It takes place twice a year.
If you have any questions about an admission test, you are welcome to contact us.
Yes. Most HSBA Bachelor students spend time abroad during their studies, sometimes several times. For example, in one-semester exchange programmes at our partner universities, in the one-week study excursions in the third year of study, or by participating in a summer school. Some partner companies also enable students to spend time abroad during the practical phase. Internationality also plays a major role in everyday study life in Hamburg, as HSBA attaches great importance to the internationality of the course content and offers a wide range of English-language seminars.
It is best if you fulfil the admission requirements for our Bachelor's degree programmes beforehand. Or if your previous grades at degree level are in the right direction. Otherwise your application will not usually be successful. IF you have to take an admission test and would still like to apply beforehand, be sure to mention this in your letter of application. Then it will be clear to the company representatives that you know what you are doing!