Global Business Team Projects, GlobalMBA Cohort 2024/25

A Comparative Study of Green Banking in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore

Lars Kitzmann, Leah Köllmann, Camilo Ramirez, Carmen L. Rodriguez Gonzalez, Julia Wojcicka

This thesis analyses how green banking is defined, operationalized, and advanced in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and which factors most strongly drive or constrain its adoption at both bank and system level. It applies PESTELE to map macro forces in each country and SWOT to assess internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats, addressing four questions on key macro drivers, cross-country contrasts, main SWOT elements, and convergent or divergent patterns. A mixed qualitative design combines document-based analysis of policies, regulations, market reports, and academic studies with five semi-structured expert interviews from academic and professional fields. Interview data are analyzed using Mayring’s qualitative content analysis, coded along PESTELE and SWOT, and Mill’s comparative method is used to isolate the most important determinants explaining differences in green banking development. Conceptually, green banking is framed as a subset of green finance covering both banks’ operational footprint and their indirect impact through products such as green bonds, loans, deposits, mortgages, and green sukuk, while engaging with risks of greenwashing and the role of ESG risk management. The three countries form a coherent yet diverse ASEAN sample, a climate‑vulnerable emerging market, an Islamic finance hub, and a developed financial center, allowing analysis of how institutional maturity, Islamic finance structures, and regulatory sophistication shape outcomes. The study finds that regulatory pressure, climate vulnerability, stakeholder expectations, strong taxonomies and supervisory guidance, active green capital markets, and strong internal capabilities jointly determine the credibility, broadness, and scale of green banking in ASEAN.

To Host or Not to Host: A Context-Sensitive Analysis of the Olympic Games’ Economic and Social Legacies

Sara Bodden, Maija Gorskaja, Madison Gupton, Peyton Summers

This thesis examines the economic, social, political, infrastructural, and environmental legacies of hosting the Olympic Games, focusing how outcomes differ across various host contexts. Using a systematic literature review and Preuss’s Legacy Cube, the study compares legacies across developed and developing countries, large and small cities, and Summer and Winter Games. Findings show that Olympic legacies between 1976 and 2024 are highly diverse, with positive and negative outcomes frequently coexisting across host cities. Across dimensions, economic legacies were dominated by planned tangible outcomes such as GDP growth and employment; social legacies mixed community engagement gains with recurring displacement effects; political legacies emerged largely as intangible shifts in governance and national image; infrastructural legacies were primarily planned tangible developments in urban and transport systems; environmental legacies ranged from sustainability initiatives to significant ecological degradation. Across all contexts, a consistent gap emerges between the optimistic rhetoric used to justify hosting and the often limited or uneven legacies delivered. The thesis concludes that the question “to host or not to host” cannot be answered universally; instead, hosting outcomes depend on a host’s political stability, economic capacity, urban planning integration, and ability to create realistic legacy expectations. Policy recommendations emphasize strengthening long-term governance structures, improving transparency, aligning legacy goals with local needs, and rebalancing risk-sharing mechanisms with the IOC to ensure more equitable and sustainable outcomes for future hosts.

Environmental Sustainability in the Semiconductor Industry: An Evaluation of Current Practices and Challenges

Martyna Golub, Lauren Jaritz, Luisa Kondring, Jessica Piedziak, Lungdawng Tangbau

This thesis analyses the efforts of major semiconductor manufacturers to integrate sustainability across their production and supply chains against a backdrop of increasing resource intensity. The research employs a mixed-method approach, incorporating a quantitative and qualitative analysis of corporate sustainability reports, an interindustry comparison utilising the 10R framework, and interviews with industry professionals. 

Key findings indicate that while companies have institutionalised environmental reporting and operational efficiency measures, implementation remains constrained and uneven. The industry places a primary emphasis on mitigating the environmental impact of the fabrication stage through process-centric initiatives, including energy/water efficiency and solvent recovery. However, these efforts result in only moderate overall sustainability performance. The simultaneous pursuit of economic growth and environmental sustainability is hindered by systemic and multi-dimensional barriers. These include the technological impossibility of high-purity, closed-loop recycling due to extreme miniaturization and purity demands, coupled with institutional constraints such as IP/security concerns. Consequently, the role of Circular Economy principles is limited to enhancing process efficiency and facilitating the refurbishment of capital equipment. It is evident that achieving true product-level circularity remains a long-term objective contingent on structural design modifications and the implementation of advanced digital traceability solutions. Rather than proposing a single solution, the thesis emphasises the significance of extending research on technological transitions, feasible circular material alternatives, harmonised sustainability metrics, and the governance frameworks necessary to facilitate profound systemic change.

Comparative Analysis of Innovation Activity in the EV Industry in China, U.S., and Germany

Darryn Bone, Julia Croonenbroeck, Robert Hoder, Fabian Schmider, Parker Schmidt

This thesis employs the PESTEL, SWOT, and TOWS frameworks to structure a multi-case analysis. All cases were purposefully selected. China, the U.S., and Germany were chosen as they represent the largest EV markets in manufacturing and sales. The companies analyzed include legacy ICE manufacturers transitioning to EVs (General Motors and Volkswagen) and pure EV producers (BYD, NIO, and Tesla), enabling comparison both across and within markets. The study identifies key differences in external factors influencing innovation in the three countries. After the introduction, the theoretical and conceptual framework is outlined as the basis of the research. PESTEL guides the assessment of external environments to uncover innovation-related drivers. Company-specific innovation indicators are then examined, followed by a SWOT analysis integrating firm-level strengths and weaknesses with country-level opportunities and threats. A subsequent TOWS analysis connects these findings, and the conclusion answers the research question while noting limitations and areas for future study. Major differences affecting innovation include affordability, charging infrastructure, and battery technology, all which shape adoption rates. Lower adoption can drive innovation, while higher adoption provides revenue to support it. Government incentives, labor and production costs influence affordability and free resources for R&D. Among the three markets, China shows the highest affordability, strongest public charging network, most extensive government support, lowest labor and production costs, and the most advanced battery technology. Its access to rare earth materials further supports R&D. Strategic partnerships also help legacy automakers accelerate battery innovation and ease the transition from ICE to EVs.