Theses and business-oriented research insights

This year, EA – The Entrepreneurship Academy is having the opportunity to watch the second generation of young entrepreneurs graduate from our university. To do so, they had to finalize their studies with a thesis that will ultimately prove that they are ready to move forward to becoming the next generation of game-changers in Romania, demonstrating competencies in the field of entrepreneurship.

In terms of findings, our students managed to do amazing work in terms of deliberately and methodically searching for knowledge and insights which could further help their researched cases and topics. We chose to share with you three of the theses our students have finished, together with some findings our students managed to get, and which will ultimately be implemented inside their companies. 

Some of the subjects that were researched were the factors that contribute to the sale of new FMCG food products in Romanian supermarkets, the fundamental core components required in a successful exclusively digital real estate agency, and how the team size influences productivity of the teams in Romania.

Roro El Abed has chosen to analyze the factors that contribute to the sale of new FMCG food products in Romanian supermarkets. The reason for it is represented by him being an associate of Baity – a company that specializes in the production and distribution of tahini paste. Roro plans on growing it by producing and selling hummus in supermarkets and hypermarkets from Romania. 

Some of his findings can be summarized as in the following:

• For a consumer to purchase a new product, it has to benefit from an appealing brand identity;
• Supermarket presence is something that should not be overlooked;
• Shelf positioning is a factor that can decide whether a product is being initially bought or not by the consumers;
• Advertising plays an important role when it comes to the first purchase of a new food product;
• Pricing is a crucial factor that needs to be thought through, as price changes are rarely accepted by supermarkets.

Researching the fundamental core components required in a successful exclusively digital real estate agency represented the topic of another graduate, Edi Mafteiu, for improving the services that are already available on the market. After working in the industry for 3 years, noticing that not only Romanian real estate agents, but the whole industry faces challenges from customers and the public’s perception, he realized that there is an opportunity for developing a digital business model that can provide the same value as a real estate agent while avoiding the negative perception.

The insights that he managed to extract from the research he conducted are the following:

• Virtual tours (in the form of 360° digital tours, VR, or otherwise) help increase factors such as state of presence, behavioral intent, purchase intent, or the general attitude toward the property’s presentation or the property itself;
• Virtual assistants with artificial intelligence can substitute the real estate agent by providing educated suggestions, based on demographic information and extensive real estate knowledge;
• Escrow payments are a secure way of accomplishing a digital transaction while minimizing the risk of fraud, undisclosed, mispresented, or concealed information;
• Further improvement must be performed to create a model that can support the online transaction of such valuable items (properties).

Another research subject has been analyzed by Tudor Bodan and consisted in how the team size influences the productivity of the teams in Romania. His reason for researching this subject came from his passion for working in teams and from the urge to learn how to improve them. He also saw the subject as an opportunity to become a topic of interest for more Romanian companies or teams. 

Some of the findings which he extracted during the process of writing his bachelor thesis can be summarized in the following:

• The aspects which can be always improved inside a team/ organization consist in their communication, processes, and the delegation factor;
• The well being of the team members and communication are two of the main factors that influence productivity;
• The optimal team is not more than 10, but not less than 4.

On an end note, you can read here their thoughts in terms of how this process looked like throughout their eyes:

All in all, after finishing this academic thesis I can confidently say that even though it was a long process I got to broaden my knowledge in terms of both academia and qualitative research. Most importantly, the research that I have conducted has great applicability for my company because it serves as a guidance tool for our entrance into the regional FMCG food market. – Roro El Abed

Through writing the thesis I got the chance to practice many of the concepts I’ve learned throughout the past 4 years. I found research exciting and insightful, as validating initial assumptions proved to be a real challenge. As the topic I chose to research was very close to my passions (real estate brokerage), looking for and finding answers was eventually pure joy. – Eduard Mafteiu

Writing this thesis has been a real journey. It was a long process through which I learned a lot of things, from how to do proper research, to how to analyze data for qualitative research. I liked it and I am glad that I chose this theme due to the many valuable and thought-provoking insights I found. – Tudor Bodan