Having completed more than half of the Master’s in Management programme, it feels like the perfect time to reflect on how my academic journey has progressed, particularly with my concentration in “Digital Business, Technology, and Operations”. The burning question that every master’s student has to ask themselves at the beginning of the programme is which concentration is the right fit. The Master’s in Management programme offers four distinct concentrations, each developing different competencies, be it strategic, communicative or data-driven. This decision requires careful consideration of both personal and professional goals.
For me, the choice was driven by two main motivations. First, I wanted to complement my finance-focused bachelor’s degree by acquiring expertise in supply chain management and technology. Second, gaining skills in digital transformation—a field that is becoming increasingly important in today’s professional world—felt crucial. My first impression when I was introduced to the concentrations during the information session was that “Digital Business, Technology and Operations” would allow me to gain hands-on experience with consulting and industry-related projects. I saw this as the ideal opportunity to get insights into technological and business dimensions—an essential skill for my future career!
The summer semester’s core courses “Digital Innovation” and “Digital Operations” began with insightful company projects. In “Digital Innovation”, we collaborated with BMW to develop a customer-centred solution for car interior design, that sparked an unexpected personal interest in automotive topics. In addition, Additionally, we got introduced to the Scrum methodology by participating in a one-day workshop, where we programmed a robot to solve various challenges as a team. The further experience was completed by guest lectures from other professors and company visits where we participated in collaborative workshops. While these lecture days were very intensive, the learning experience was very varied and, looking back, I realize how this content gave me an understanding of technological challenges and their solutions.
After an intense study trip to Prague, where we visited Accenture and RedHat alongside sightseeing trips and fun activities, the final phase of our master’s programme started. Our concentration kicked off with a large group project in “Digital Marketing” in cooperation with Frankfurt Galaxy. This is our last opportunity to give our best, apply our knowledge and receive feedback to improve our skills as we head into the final semester. The upcoming months will bring opportunities for practical experience or a study abroad option, before taking big steps towards completing our studies with the master’s thesis.
This concentration is ideal for students who want to gain new knowledge in operations and digitalisation. The diversity of the course topics and cooperation companies gives students interested in both strategic and operational issues the opportunity to acquire in-depth knowledge. Although the projects in cooperation with companies also require a close exchange with them which can sometimes be demanding, the effort is worth it in the end because it gives you unique insights that go beyond the purely academic setting.
Overall, I am completely satisfied with my decision to choose the concentration “Digital Business, Technology and Operations”. I was particularly surprised by the deep integration of strategic and operational topics combined with interactive lectures. Additionally, the insights provided by business and management consultancies and representatives of corporations and SMEs from various industries complemented the theoretical aspects of our sessions. I am now looking forward to the last few weeks of our final group projects and I can confidently say that these recent months have taught me not only technical knowledge but also greatly improved my teamwork and leadership abilities.