REFEREE’S REVIEW   Program:	Master in Management (MIM) Student:	Polina Yatsyshina Title of thesis:	Factors of distribution network design:  evidence from Russian market 	 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.	5	4	3	2 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.	5	4	3	2 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.	5	4	3	2 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.	5	4	3	2 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.	5	4	3	2 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. 	5	4	3	2 Quality of thesis layout. Layout fulfils the requirements of the Regulations for master thesis preparation and defense, correct layout of tables, figures, references.	5	4	3	2 Each item above is evaluated on the following scale, as applicable: 5 = the thesis meets all the requirements, 4 = the thesis meets almost all the requirements, 3 = a lot of the requirements are not met in the thesis, 2 = the thesis does not meet the requirements.  Additional comments:   The paper written by Polina Yatsyshina is devoted to a classic problem in logistics and supply chain management: the problem of facility location. However Polina did a wonderful job of transforming traditional (and not always interesting topic) to a deep and insightful research. Moreover, she was able to create her own vision and contribution to the existing theory and practice. Thus, I suppose that the research background of the paper is quite strong. The paper has quite extensive methodological part, explaining why she took particular research method and why it is applicable for this type of problem. At the same time, Polina made interesting practical conclusions. I doubt that they will have immediate practical results (in my mind it is hard to implement them), but she made the aggregation and academically interesting the way she sees the solution for the problem of designing the distribution network.   Master thesis of Polina Yatsyshina meets the requirements of the Master in Management program, and according to the reviewer’s opinion deserves a “good (C)” grade, thus the author can be given the desired degree. 04.06.16	  PAVEL MAKSIMOV. 	General Direcor	, Sfera Stabzeniya