Garance Curtzer and Gerard Viladrosa awarded Best MScIB Master’s Thesis of 2024-25

On 17 November 2025 at Campus Ciutadella, the Master of Science in International Business awarded the distinction for Best Master’s Thesis 2024-25 to Garance Curtzer and Gerard Viladrosa for their project “Mercadona’s International Expansion Plan”, supervised by Professor Jose Miguel Aliaga. The award was conferred following a public session in which the authors delivered a structured presentation of their work, with the explicit aim of providing a bridge between cohorts and offering practical guidance and motivation to current students.

Throughout the session, the awardees shared practical advice for completing a master’s thesis with applied relevance. They stressed the importance of defining and refining the research question early, maintaining systematic organisation of data and drafts, and engaging in continuous feedback cycles with supervisors and peers rather than postponing review. Attention to scope management and to the availability and quality of data was highlighted as critical: the presenters recommended prioritising an actionable operational plan supported by robust external evidence and clearly bounded assumptions.

During the presentation, they devoted some time to present the content of their work, explaining how it had developed around three core pillars: the selection of the target market and appropriate entry mode, a rigorous internal and external analysis using established strategic frameworks, and the design of a coherent strategy supported by operational and financial planning. They illustrated how the work balanced methodological explanation with practitioner-oriented outputs, translating academic analysis into concrete recommendations that a company could operationalise. Emphasis was placed on realism and feasibility, with scenarios and assumptions clearly stated to link strategic choices to measurable operational steps.

Curtzer and Viladrosa also reflected candidly on limitations they encountered, including difficulties obtaining internal company data and the challenge of keeping the project scope focused while ensuring analytical depth. Their recommendations included reducing non-essential content, strengthening the link between strategic proposals and operational feasibility, and documenting data sources and methodological choices to enhance replicability. The session underscored the programme’s applied orientation by demonstrating how academic rigour and practical relevance can be combined to produce outputs of interest to both scholars and practitioners.