SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR’S REFERENCE  Program:	Master in Management (MIM)  Student:	Filipp Shved Title of thesis:	Cultural contingences in Entrepreneurial Orientation – Firm Performance relationship 	 Justification of the topic choice. Accuracy in defining the aim and objectives of the thesis. Justification of the topic choice; accuracy in defining the aim and tasks of the thesis; originality of the topic and the extent to which it was covered; alignment of the thesis’ topic, aim and objectives.  In modern dynamic competitive environment, firms try to find new sources of competitive advantage. Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) represents one of the possibilities in creation the competitive advantage of the firm.  Although the EO was extensively researched during the last decades, its influence on firm performance is not considered universally positive.  Entrepreneurship does not occur in a vacuum, instead, the entrepreneurs and their firms are embedded in a series of social structures, including national culture. Moreover, nowadays, youth entrepreneurship is considered a critical economic development strategy. Master thesis of Filipp Shved is devoted to investigation of the role of national culture in the relationship between EO and firm’s performance. Taking into account the above-mentioned importance of youth entrepreneurship and EO, the chosen topic is very relevant and the results of this study might have both theoretical and practical implications. The goal of the master thesis was formulated as is identifying the relationship between EO and firm performance in different cultural settings.  For testing theoretical model Filipp has utilized data from 46 countries from GUESSS study combined with Hofstede Center Report.  Structure and logic of the text flow. Logic of research; full scope of the thesis; alignment of thesis’ structural parts, i.e. theoretical and empirical parts.  Structure of master thesis is designed to achieve the goal and research objectives stated. The master thesis is based on the deductive approach, which starts with extensive literature review and leads to the hypotheses and theoretical model development, followed by empirical test of the theory. The master thesis consists of two chapters, introduction, conclusion, list of references and appendices. After the introduction that includes justification of research topic, formulation of the research questions and research objectives, the first chapter is dedicated to the literature review on the main research directions in literature devoted to EO-performance relationship and moderating role of national culture in these relationships.  Based on the literature review Philipp developed theoretical model and explained the choice of Hofstede approach to national culture. The second chapter includes the description of the method of the empirical research, main empirical findings and explanations of the results from different theoretical perspectives. Conclusion provides theoretical contribution and managerial implications of the research results.                                                                Quality of analytical approach and quality of offered solution to the research objectives. Adequacy of objectives coverage; ability to formulate and convey the research problem; ability to offer options for its solution; application of the latest trends in relevant research are for the set objectives.  Philipp has formulated research questions and research objectives in the proper and accurate way. In order to address the research questions Philipp applied deductive approach which allows developing theoretical model and testing this model on the empirical data. As a research strategy for empirical part of the study Phillip utilized rich empirical dataset from Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey, 2016. In 2016 50 countries participated in this project, however, the final sample for the master thesis includes only 41 countries due to lack of information on national culture dimensions on all countries.  Phillip used only data on active founders – students who have own firms.  The justification of the chosen research design is presented in the proper way; the reliability of main findings is proven by the methodology implemented in accurate way.   Quality of data gathering and description. Quality of selecting research tools and methods; data validity adequacy; adequacy of used data for chosen research tools and methods; completeness and relevance of the list of references.  The quality of data has been proven by publications in top-level academic journals, including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Small Business Economics etc. Despite the fact that Philipp personally was not involved in data collection process, he was able to develop theoretical model and apply econometrics technics for data analysis.  The quality of data and data analysis prove the reliability and validity of main findings and justify the main conclusions and theoretical contribution.  Scientific aspect of the thesis. Independent scientific thinking in solving the set problem/objectives; the extent to which the student contributed to selecting and justifying the research model (conceptual  and/or quantitative), developing methodology/approach to set objectives.  The theoretical part includes the comprehensive literature review and allows justifying the theoretical framework and developing theoretical model and research hypotheses. The literature review is presented in the good scientific manner and includes the description and explanation of the chosen literature for analysis. The empirical part of the master thesis includes all necessary elements of the good research paper in business and management studies.  Phillip has demonstrated the ability to both analyses of the existing literature and synthesis main findings in order to provide his own ideas in entrepreneurship field.  Practical/applied nature of research. Extent to which the theoretical background is related to the international or Russian managerial practice; development of applied recommendations; justification and interpretation of the empirical/applied results.  The main research findings have both theoretical and practical implications. From the theoretical perspective, this study extends the growing body of entrepreneurship literature related to EO - firm performance relationship by examining how national culture can moderate this relationship.  Regarding managerial and practical implication, the results suggest that the young firms in order to succeed in in modern dynamic environment should take into account the peculiarities of national culture dimensions in their country.  Quality of thesis layout. Layout fulfils the requirements of the Regulations for master thesis preparation and defence, correct layout of tables, figures, references.  Overall, layout fulfils the requirements of the Regulations for master thesis preparation and defense, all tables and figures are given in the appropriate way.  Originality of the text. All sources of match identified by the Safe Assign system follow the allowed cases, the paper does not contain any elements of plagiarism.  The thesis text is original and does not contain elements of plagiarism   The Master thesis of Filipp Shved meets the requirements for master thesis of MIM program thus the author of the thesis can be awarded the required degree.  May 31, 2018. Research advisor Professor, Strategic and International Management Department                 			 Galina Shirokova