PU MBA Graduate Research Project (GRP) Topics

The Pokhara University MBA ends in a Graduate Research Project rather than a conventional thesis, and the distinction matters for how you choose a topic. The GRP sits inside a trimester structure alongside coursework and an internship, so the realistic research window is short and the topic has to be correspondingly tight.

That pushes you towards questions answerable with data you can get quickly — published company data, or a survey of a population you already have access to through your internship or employer. The topics below are chosen on exactly that basis.

Each one names its data source, an analysis method and an honest feasibility rating. Your concentration courses should steer which group you look at first.

What we help with

Fitting a GRP into the trimester structure

The PU MBA runs on trimesters with coursework, seminars and an internship alongside the research project. The practical consequence is that your effective research window is shorter than a semester-system thesis, and topics that need three months of fieldwork will not fit.

The students who finish comfortably do one of two things. Either they choose a secondary-data topic where the dataset can be assembled in a fortnight, or they use their internship organisation as the research site so access is already secured. Both approaches remove the failure mode that stalls most GRPs, which is waiting on permission.

Write the proposal so the timeline is explicit and weekly. A supervisor can spot an infeasible plan immediately from a realistic Gantt chart, and that conversation is much cheaper in month one than in month four.

Using your internship as the research site

If your GRP studies the organisation you are interning with, agree the scope with them in writing at the start. Be explicit about what data you will use, how it will be anonymised, and that the report will be submitted to the university and may be read by examiners.

Be equally explicit with your supervisor about the relationship. Studying your own employer is entirely legitimate and common, but it introduces bias that you should address in the methodology rather than leave for an examiner to raise.

Where an organisation asks you to withhold commercially sensitive figures, that is usually workable — index the values, or report ratios rather than absolutes. Agree this before you collect, not after you have written the analysis chapter.

Finance and investment

Listed-company data is the fastest route to a finishable GRP. If your internship is in a bank or a financial institution, use that access — it is the single biggest advantage a PU MBA student has.

  1. Determinants of stock returns on NEPSE

    Public price data over a long series, and a question that connects directly to your investment coursework.

    Data
    NEPSE daily price series and company fundamentals for listed firms.
    Method
    Fama-French style multi-factor regression, or CAPM with size and value factors.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  2. Financial distress prediction for Nepali listed companies

    A model-building project with a clear evaluation criterion, which examiners find easy to assess.

    Data
    Audited financial statements of listed firms including any delisted or distressed cases.
    Method
    Altman Z-score computation plus logistic regression on distress indicators.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  3. Merger and acquisition effects on Nepali bank performance

    NRB-driven consolidation gives you genuine before-and-after events, which is rare in Nepali data.

    Data
    Annual reports of merged banks either side of the merger date; NRB merger approvals.
    Method
    Paired comparison of pre and post-merger ratios; event study on share price where listed.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  4. Investor behaviour and herding on the Nepali stock market

    Nepali retail investors trade in a market small enough that herding effects are detectable.

    Data
    NEPSE cross-sectional return data; optionally a supplementary investor survey.
    Method
    Cross-sectional absolute deviation model for herding detection.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  5. Capital structure decisions in Nepali insurance companies

    Insurance is less studied than banking but equally well documented, so the literature gap is real.

    Data
    Annual reports of listed insurance companies; Nepal Insurance Authority statistics.
    Method
    Panel regression of leverage on firm characteristics and regulatory capital requirements.
    Feasibility
    Straightforward
  6. Effect of corporate governance on firm value in Nepal

    Board composition and disclosure data are in annual reports, making a governance index constructible.

    Data
    Annual reports; construct a governance index from board size, independence and disclosure items.
    Method
    Regression of Tobin's Q or ROA on the constructed governance index.
    Feasibility
    Demanding

Marketing and consumer research

PU MBA cohorts are working professionals often enough that employer access is realistic. Use it — a survey inside one organisation beats a general public survey you cannot complete.

  1. Customer relationship management and retention in Nepali banks

    Directly commercial, and banks track retention themselves, so your findings have an audience.

    Data
    Customer survey through a cooperating bank, plus institutional retention data if released.
    Method
    Regression of retention intention on CRM dimensions; segment comparison.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  2. Brand equity of Nepali versus international hotel chains

    The Nepali hospitality market has both, which gives you a clean comparison.

    Data
    Guest survey at selected properties; requires management permission.
    Method
    Aaker brand equity dimensions; independent samples comparison between chain types.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  3. Determinants of online shopping adoption in Nepal

    Adoption is still incomplete, so there is genuine variance to explain rather than a saturated market.

    Data
    Primary survey across adopters and non-adopters, 250+ respondents.
    Method
    UTAUT constructs; structural equation modelling or multiple regression.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  4. Effectiveness of influencer marketing for Nepali consumer brands

    Recent, commercially live, and narrow enough to complete if you fix one category.

    Data
    Consumer survey plus engagement metrics from cooperating brands.
    Method
    Regression of purchase intention on source credibility and parasocial constructs.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  5. Service quality in Nepali private hospitals

    A high-involvement service where quality perception genuinely drives choice.

    Data
    Patient survey with hospital administration approval; ethical clearance likely required.
    Method
    SERVQUAL gap analysis with dimension-level comparison.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  6. Green marketing and Nepali consumer purchase intention

    Emerging in the Nepali market, so you are describing something rather than confirming a settled finding.

    Data
    Primary survey with environmental concern and green purchase intention scales.
    Method
    Regression with environmental concern as predictor and demographic moderators.
    Feasibility
    Straightforward

Operations, supply chain and entrepreneurship

These suit students with employer access and mark well because they are under-represented in Nepali MBA archives.

  1. Supply chain disruption management in Nepali importers

    Nepal's import dependence and border logistics make this concrete rather than theoretical.

    Data
    Interviews and survey with importing firms; trade data from Department of Customs for context.
    Method
    Mixed methods — thematic analysis of disruption responses plus descriptive frequency of mitigation strategies.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  2. Inventory management practice and cost in Nepali retail chains

    Retail chains keep inventory data and the cost implication is directly measurable.

    Data
    Inventory and sales records from a cooperating retailer.
    Method
    EOQ and turnover analysis benchmarked against current practice.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  3. Barriers to women's entrepreneurship in Nepal

    Policy-relevant, well supported by funding bodies, and respondents are organised through entrepreneur associations.

    Data
    Survey and interviews with women entrepreneurs via business associations.
    Method
    Barrier ranking plus thematic analysis of interview data.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  4. Startup failure factors in the Nepali technology sector

    Under-documented, and founders of closed startups are often willing to speak candidly.

    Data
    Retrospective interviews with founders; secondary coverage of closures.
    Method
    Qualitative case comparison across failed ventures.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  5. Quality management practice in Nepali manufacturing SMEs

    SMEs dominate Nepali manufacturing and are far more accessible than large firms.

    Data
    Survey of SME managers across an industrial corridor.
    Method
    TQM dimension scoring; correlation with self-reported performance.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  6. Adoption of ERP systems in Nepali medium enterprises

    Adoption is currently underway, so you can capture both adopters and non-adopters.

    Data
    Survey of firms plus interviews with implementation partners.
    Method
    Technology-organisation-environment framework; logistic regression of adoption.
    Feasibility
    Demanding

Strategy, HR and organisational studies

Strong GRP material if you have one organisation committed. Get that commitment in writing before the proposal, not after.

  1. Strategic planning practice in Nepali public enterprises

    Public enterprises publish plans and performance, which gives you a documentary base.

    Data
    Published corporate plans and annual reports plus management interviews.
    Method
    Document analysis against a strategic planning framework; interview triangulation.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  2. Talent management and retention in Nepali IT firms

    Attrition is the defining HR problem in Nepali IT, so firms are motivated to cooperate.

    Data
    Employee survey across two or three firms; exit data where released.
    Method
    Regression of retention intention on talent management practices.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  3. Work-life balance and employee wellbeing in Nepali banking

    Long hours are openly acknowledged, which makes honest responses more likely.

    Data
    Employee survey across branches of one or more banks.
    Method
    Work-life balance and burnout scales; ANOVA across role and tenure.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  4. Change management during digital transformation in Nepali organisations

    Ongoing in most large Nepali institutions, so you can study it live rather than retrospectively.

    Data
    Interviews with managers plus employee survey in one transforming organisation.
    Method
    Kotter or ADKAR framework mapping with qualitative evidence.
    Feasibility
    Demanding
  5. Corporate social responsibility and firm reputation in Nepal

    CSR spending is now mandated for larger Nepali firms, giving you a compliance dimension to examine.

    Data
    CSR disclosures in annual reports plus a stakeholder perception survey.
    Method
    Content analysis of disclosures; correlation with perceived reputation scores.
    Feasibility
    Moderate
  6. Leadership style and organisational performance in Nepali cooperatives

    Cooperatives are accessible and their governance structure makes leadership unusually consequential.

    Data
    Survey of cooperative staff and board members across several cooperatives.
    Method
    Transformational-transactional leadership measurement; correlation with performance indicators.
    Feasibility
    Moderate

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is the Graduate Research Project the same as a thesis?

It serves a similar purpose but is scoped for the trimester structure — shorter, more applied, and assessed against the programme's own GRP requirements rather than thesis regulations. Treat the programme document and your supervisor's brief as binding over any general thesis guidance.

Can I base my GRP on my internship organisation?

Yes, and it is often the most practical choice because access is already secured. Agree the data scope with the organisation in writing first, and address the bias that comes with studying your own workplace explicitly in your methodology.

How large should the sample be?

Large enough to support the test you intend to run, and derived rather than asserted. If you plan regression with five predictors, say what that implies for minimum sample and show the calculation. A derived figure of 180 defends better than a round 400 you cannot justify.

Can I use only secondary data?

For finance and investment topics, yes, and it is frequently the stronger option in a short research window. The requirement is that the analysis is genuine — hypotheses, tests and interpretation, not a descriptive summary of published tables.

What help do you provide?

Topic feasibility, proposal structure, instrument design, sample size derivation, data analysis and draft review. We do not write the GRP or collect your data — read our academic integrity policy for exactly where the line sits.

Is your service confidential?

100%. Your identity and academic work stay completely private and are never shared with your college or anyone else. We use secure, encrypted communication.

How do I get a quote?

Message us on WhatsApp at +977 9768768340 with your assignment brief and deadline, and we'll reply with a transparent quote — usually within a couple of hours.

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