Oponentura72427_sieber.pdf, 546.4 kB Stáhnout

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Master´s Thesis Evaluation by the Opponent

Title of the Master´s Thesis:

Mobility of the Future: Should airlines cooperate with rail companies?

Author of the Master´s Thesis:

Linus Malzfeldt

Goals of the Master´s Thesis:

This thesis aims to examine the strategy design of an intermodal rail and aviation as an effective and efficient means of transportation.

Evaluation:

Criteria Description Max.

points

Points

Content 70%

Output Quality Results are well presented and discussed, conclusion too brief, inadequate description of methodology, lack of financial data. Overall,

decently researched, original but of a low practical relevance. 20 16

Goals The goals of the thesis are evident with clearly defined question. Due to the lack of data (e.g. cost benefit analysis) the goals haven’t been

fully accomplished. 10 16

Methodology: Methods are not really discussed with a brief information about literature review and interviews. Nevertheless, the interviews - or rather the knowledge gained from those interviews - are interwoven within the whole thesis with a full transcripts of five interviews with the industry experts annexed. I am adding an extra point just because of the annexed interviews as they present quite valuable material.

20 15

Theory/

Conceptualization: The Author demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the topic area including key concepts, terminology, theories, definitions, etc. - based

on a literature review and industry experts interviews. 20 18

Formal require ments 15%

Structure: The thesis is a consistent, well-organised logical whole. 3 3

Terminology: Linguistic and terminological level. 4 4

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Formalities: Formal layout and requirements, extent, abstract. 4 4 Citing: Quality of citations and reflection of Ephorus results.

4 4

Deliver y 15 %

Presentation

document: Is the presentation itself structured in a clear way? Is it appealing and easy to follow? Does it convey the message efficiently? 5 Presentation skills: Are you conveying the message efficiently and timely? Do you use

appropriate words, speed, tone of voice, gestures, movement etc. to

express your thoughts in a clear manner? 5

Argumentation: Are you able to readily and briskly react to questions or comments?

Are you able to explain unclear parts and connect comments to relevant places in your presentation or parts of particular analyses?

How well are you able to defend to your ideas and recommendations? 5

100 0

Other comments:

In general, the goals are introduced clearly and well accomplished. Findings are

understandably presented and discussed. The thesis meets all formal requirements. It is clear, that designing the feasible systematic changes in transport is multidiscipline task.

From this perspective is questionable, how the method applied in the study can guarantee feasible option creation.

Questions or comments to be discussed during the thesis defence:

I understand the companies’ financial data had to be difficult to acquire nevertheless how would you evaluate the economic/social/environmental benefits of the intermodal design of transportation?