Hi all,

I am supposed to write my master thesis this semester (MSc Food Innovation & Market, with a major in Business), but my university is not providing any assistance what so ever. The rule is that once you have submitted a research proposal and this proposal have been approved, you will be fitted with a supervisor. Have spent the last few weeks writing a 20 page proposal. This was of course not approved, as my topic is to broad etc. The uni just told me to revise without giving any advice as to HOW, or any feedback at all on my chosen topic.

I have never written a dissertation before, and I feel I am in dire need of advice and guidance.
I want to focus on sustainable entrepreneurship within the food production industry, and my idea was to unveil some Critical Success Factors for sustainable innovation as this is somewhat of a mystery given the relative novelty of this type of enterprise. I planned to do this with the help of surveys using Likert scale where company managers can rate the importance of CSf's identified in related fields such as sustainability in general, food innovation and entrepreneurship. Open-ended question would be included in order to cover those factors which respondents thought were missing from the survey.
Q1: is this too broad of a topic? How can I trim it down?

Initially, I had no idea what country or region to perform the research. I am Swedish, but live in Taiwan. Taiwan has not enough sustainability focus at this time, and many countries who rate high in sustainability still can not show for a large sample of sustainability focused food entrepreneurs. Now, my idea is to include several countries in order to get a larger sample. For example, Sweden, Aus, NZ and Canada all rank in the top 12 of most sustainable countries, they are relatively homogenous in Hofstaedes cultural index and they all have cooperations or networks listing suitable SME's.
Q2: Would this be a valid approach?

I will appreciate any advice on this matter!

I am in need for some topic inspiration for my upcoming thesis dissertation. I am studying at the Agricultural University of Sweden, at a master's program called 'Food Innovation and Market'. Once graduated, my degree will be a MBA with a major in Food Science/Innovation. The program is especially geared towards SUSTAINABLE food innovation.

Now, my university does not provide any assistance when it comes to thesis topics; this we have to figure out on our own. We are required to send in a topic proposal a few weeks prior to the course start and just hope for the best that our topic will be approved.
Due to the uniqueness of my program, I am having a bit of trouble to figure out a topic that will be valid in the eyes of my supervisor.

I would deeply appreciate any advice! These are a few of the areas I've been considering so far (which are basically just mainstream business topics focused on the food sector):

* Does a sustainability focus enhance corporate reputation in the food industry? A case study of….
* An assessment of sustainable competitive advantage within the European/Swedish food industry
* What are the effects of leadership style and team process on performance and innovation in the food industry?
* How does a company lead in a way that generates successful innovation within the food industry?

However, as I am currently living in Taiwan studying Chinese Mandarin, I'd actually love to be able to focus my topic on some kind of comparison between Taiwan and Sweden...