Bachelor's programme in Business Administration at HSBA

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.

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)