Duration
Number of credits
| Master in sales management (120 ECTS) (en alternance) | 15 crédits |
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
As part of the Master in Sales Management work-study programme, students must complete a final piece of work known as the "Final Paper". This written document is a personal piece of work prepared at the end of the Master degree for a maximum of 15 credits.
The objective is to allow the student to demonstrate that, at the end of their course, they are able to use the knowledge they have acquired to adopt a personal, methodological, reflective and rigorous approach to a research question in Sales Management or its related fields.
More precisely, the Final Paper must correspond to the dual requirement of being a dissertation (a scientific piece work) and a project (a practical piece of work). Students must also be critical and demonstrate the ability to structure their thoughts, support a critical position, analyse their way of working, and communicate the results of their research in a reasoned manner.
Students are free to choose the issue to be analysed in the Final Paper, provided that this issue is relevant to the professional world in which the student has performed the work placement and is directly linked to the Sales Management curriculum. In addition, the subject of the Final Paper must be original, wide-ranging and focused on the analysis of a Sales Management issue.
The choice of the subject of the Final Paper is presented and defended in the work placement report for Block 1 of the Masters. The objectives of the study, methodological steps and theoretical foundations of the Final Paper will be discussed and approved by the management team during the oral defence of the work placement.
The subject of the Final Paper is then validated by the Dissertation Management Committee, chaired by the Academic Director of the Master in Sales Management work-study course. This Committee appoints the promoter of the Final Paper and the readers on the basis of a proposal from the lecturer responsible for the Final Paper of the Master in Sales Management work-study course.
The student's work in preparing the Final Paper is mainly supervised by
1. A promoter of the Final Paper: a member of the teaching staff of HEC Liège chosen for their specific competence in relation to the subject matter. Their role is to provide assistance to the student in terms of theoretical foundations, methodology and advice.
2. The company tutor: the manager or senior executive within the company appointed to supervise the work placement. They are involved in the issue being studied and are sufficiently available. They assist and guide the student: facilitating access to information and acting as an intermediary in terms of internal contacts within the company.
3. A reader: the academic supervisor who has followed the student throughout the two years of the work placement. This is the contact person for the project.
The student arranges for the Final Paper promoter and company tutor to meet to evaluate and supervise the work, particularly at the intermediate deadlines to assess progress of the work. Students should be careful to schedule the dates and places of these appointments with sufficient notice.
Students should also ensure that they meet the reader of the Final Paper according to the procedures agreed with them at the beginning of the work.
For any general questions, they should refer to the lecturer responsible for the Final Papers.
The teaching staff consists of an academic advisor: Thierry Pironet (HEC-ULiège), a Final Paper coordinator, Sandrine Wouters (HEC-ULiège) and a team of promoters and readers.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
In accordance with work placements, students must address all or part of the following points in their report if they are relevant to the subject of the Final paper
- Be able to describe the products and services offered by a company and define its value proposition in a competitive context. Be able to describe the competition and the position of the company, the segments aimed at and the target market. Be able to give a critical opinion on these elements.
- Be able to explain the pricing policy used and be able to calculate the cost of the products and services provided by the company. Be able to constructively criticise the company's pricing and cost policy.
- Be able to describe and quantify the distribution networks used by the company and be able to explain why these are used and others are not. Be able to describe the order taking process from prospecting through to taking orders in the different networks. Be able to give a critical opinion of the distribution strategy.
- Be able to describe all the regulatory and legal constraints that the company faces. Be able to explain all documents related to the products and services offered. Have a critical opinion on the documentation.
- Be able to analyse international, multicultural, societal, ethical and environmental issues and the risks associated with them.
- Be able to describe the company's information system and in particular the use of social networks. Be able to define a digital strategy for business relations.
- Be able to describe and define the performance indicators of the company and the sales department in particular. Be able to connect the strategy to these indicators.
- Be able to identify one or more areas for improvement in the operating processes of the company's sales department.
- Be able to present their work in writing and orally using professional presentation materials.
This consists in carrying out a literature review and a complete and generic overview of the subject and then analysing the situation of the internship company within this context. They must learn to carry out a business diagnosis on a theme and then, having presented the potential methodologies for solving this "problem in the company", justify the choice of the chosen methodology. It should be presented in the form of an action plan and objectives to be achieved. They will thus be able to plan improvement work following this audit.
Finally, students will learn to define the ways of measuring performance against their objectives and will present the results of their work while keeping a critical eye on the hypotheses they have put forward in their work, the methodology followed and measuring the results achieved. Based on their own particular case, they may or may not draw general conclusions using a critical approach.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
- Prerequisites Work Placement 1 (M1) and Thesis Preparation Course (M1)
- Co-requisite Work Placement 2 (M2)
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Two activities take place in M1 during Work Placement 1 to prepare the Final Paper. These activities are therefore prerequisites for the Final Paper. As a reminder,
- In February (M1), an interview (possibly by phone or Skype) between the academic supervisor and the student is organised. The objective is, on the one hand, to identify what the work placement achieved and areas in which there is room for improvement (on the basis of continuous formative evaluation grids) and, on the other hand, to approve the subject of the final dissertation. The company tutor may be invited to this meeting.
- in May (M1), a final report on the first-year work placement will be submitted for defence in June to a jury composed of the company tutor and the academic supervisor and possibly the internship coordinator. It will include the finalised audit, the topic of the dissertation, the literature review on the dissertation topic and the methodology that will be followed to carry out this work. Partial results may be presented.
- Students are required to prepare a development plan for their Final Paper which should be sent by e-mail to the academic supervisor no later than the last Friday of November of M2. The development plan, which should be no longer than 3 to 5 pages, includes any reformulation of the subject to be addressed, specification of the objectives and methodology followed, an update on documentary research, as well as a detailed action plan for the main stages of the project in order to guide the work within the company.
- For January of M2, the student organises a presentation to which the tutor in the company, the academic supervisor and the promoter of the Final Paper are invited. Rem. If it does not take place in January, a meeting will be scheduled in February with the promoter of the Final Paper and the student to finalise the objectives of the deliverable, i.e. the final dissertation. The company may be invited to this meeting.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
- Meetings
Recommended or required readings
- Thesis preparation course
Assessment methods and criteria
There are drafting criteria and evaluation procedures
Drafting criteria
The Final Paper consists of a maximum of 70 pages excluding appendices. It must be written in English, or possibly in another language with the agreement of all members of the jury. It is presented in Times 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing, and printed on both sides.
A one-page Executive Summary in English and a list of Keywords are printed on the back of the dissertation. In addition, if the dissertation is written in a foreign language, a one-page Executive Summary in French will be printed on the back cover of the report.
The dissertation is written in the form of a "company report", the aim being to inform, explain and guide the company in the operational decision, but it must also meet the academic requirements specific to any final dissertation (scientific rigour, referencing of sources, qualified statements, etc.).
It is structured as follows:
1. Acknowledgements
2. Abstract
3. List of abbreviations/Glossary
4. Introduction
5. Developments
6. Conclusions
7 Appendices
8. List of contact persons
9. Bibliography and references
10. Paginated table of contents
The introduction includes, in a few words, the activity of the company and the context of the study requested, as well as the student's mission, objectives, methodology and overall plan of the dissertation. The student defines the subject and justifies their choice. The student explains in a dedicated chapter (about 5 pages), how this Final Paper is part of a Sales Management approach. In the Developments chapter, the student sets out the structured process that led them to formulate the conclusions. They also develop the scientific aspects related to the theme studied. In the conclusions, the student formulates recommendations and operational suggestions with arguments to solve the problem.
Any form of plagiarism will be sanctioned by a grade of 0/20. Information about plagiarism (in French) can be found at: http://www.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_145216/fr/vos-travaux-sous-surveillance?hlText=vos+work+under+monitoring&hlMode=exact.
The current bibliographic standards are the APA standards (http://doclib.ulg.ac.be/apa/).
The student must obtain the standard "HEC Liège" cover from the Centrale des Cours (N1). The cover page of the dissertation must be presented in line with the model used on LOL@ in the "Final Paper" course.
Assessment methods (15 ECTS)
The overall assessment covers the oral defence and the Final Paper on the basis of the following criteria:
- the ability to establish a critical analysis report with regard to the object under study and to make a link between theory and practice;
- knowledge of the object under study;
- mastery of the theoretical foundations and the ability to make the link and transpose the theoretical foundations to the reality of the company;
- the quality of the methodology, work linguistics and data collected;
- the relevance, coherence, originality and depth of the solutions envisaged or analyses proposed;
- the quality of the argumentation and critical reflection and oral defence (clarity of the presentation, originality and relevance of the answers given to the jury's questions).
If the work contains spelling errors (typos, spelling, syntax) and/or does not comply with the rules of form, the supreme jury will assess it.
The jury for the defence of the Final Paper will determine in writing, as soon as the first session is announced which improvements to suggest to the student. The promoter will notify the student.
Work placement(s)
The final paper is linked to the work-study course placements referred to as Work Placement 1 and Work Placement 2.
Organizational remarks
Two main steps: electronic and paper submission and the defence
Submission procedures
Submission of the Final Paper filing consists of 2 steps:
*Electronic submission
The Final Paper is submitted via the MatheO platform, an official dissertation submission tool developed by the University of Liège; the platform makes it possible to conclude a licencing agreement on line.
This electronic version must be submitted no later than 28 May for Final Papers presented in the first session or 13 August for Final Papers presented in the second session.
The text of the Final Paper and the appendices must be in the same PDF file (maximum 12 MB).
This electronic version of the Final Paper is the official authoritative version. The date of online submission is also decisive.
No changes to the PDF file and no addition of appendices to the Final Paper are possible on MatheO after the submission date.
If a Final Paper is prepared on behalf of a company or organisation subject to professional secrecy and which expressly informs the School and the student of this, the confidential data will be collected in a specific appendix which will not be subject to "plagiarism" checks and which will remain locked in the Mathéo Interface.
*Submission of the "paper" version
On the day of submission of the Final Papers, either on 28 May for Final Papers submitted in the 1st session or on 13 August for Final Papers submitted in the 2nd session, students will submit, to the coordinator of the Master in Sales Management work-study course:
- 1 "paper" copy of their Final Paper ("Abstract" printed on the back of the back cover). The other 3 "paper" copies (one for the promoter, one for the reader, one for the tutor in the company) will be given to the recipients by the student.
The "paper" copies must match the electronic version.
- a photocopy of the cover page of the Final Paper, to be sent to the Commission for the Accreditation of Diplomas.
Failure to comply with these terms and conditions will result in the Final Paper not being returned. The deadlines are strictly applicable for both electronic and paper submission. Failure to comply with them will be sanctioned.
As a reminder, the version that is submitted online and the date of online submission are decisive.
Defence of the Final Paper
The oral defence takes place before a jury composed of a jury moderator, the promoter, the reader and the tutor in the company. In the absence of one of the parties, the jury shall validly deliberate on the agreed date. Prior to the defence, the absent jury member will send their written assessment to the moderator. If two members are absent, the moderator of the Final Paper will take the initiative to move the defence in consultation with the jury members, the student and the coordinator of the Master in Sales Management work-study course.
The defence is divided into two parts :
- The presentation in English (10 minutes) of a summary of the Final Paper, additional data or a specific aspect related to the issue under study. This will be supported by a PowerPoint presentation. In order to anticipate any technical problems, students are also required to bring along a printed version of their presentation.
- Answers to the questions asked by the members of the jury (+/- 25 minutes), in French or English.
The second session also includes the submission and defence of a Final Paper.
Contacts
HEC-Liège Academic Manager
Lecturer Thierry Pironet
(Logistics - Production Management) e-mail: thierry.pironet@uliege.be
HEC-Liège
Bâtiment N1 Rue Louvrex, 14, Bureau 328
B-4000 LIEGE
Coordinator of Final papers
Sandrine Wouters
e-mail: sandrine.wouters@uliege.be
HEC-Liège Executive Education
B64 Rue des Chasseurs Ardennais, 3
B-4031 Angleur
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session
Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning
no change
Assessment subjects
no change
Assessment methods
The master theses defenses will be held via the videoconference system Lifesize. Lifesize links will be communicated to students and jury members no later than one week before the date of the defense. If the confinement conditions do not allow it, students will have to deposit only the electronic version of their master thesis on the platform MaTheO.
Contacts
Student office : sandrine.wouters@uliege.be
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session
Assessment subjects
no change
Assessment methods
The master theses defenses will be held via the videoconference system Lifesize. Lifesize links will be communicated to students and jury members no later than one week before the date of the defense. If the confinement conditions do not allow it, students will have to deposit only the electronic version of their master thesis on the platform MaTheO.
Contacts
Student office : sandrine.wouters@uliege.be