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The first part of the research report was to suggest possible seminar topics based on my progression degree.
I researched both the curriculum for Erasmus Rotterdam and Tilburg University as I applied to both universities.
I then selected Marketing Management and Finance because I believe they are some of the most relevant subjects in Business.

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RSM's International Business Administration (IBA) programme takes a broad approach, yet offers differentiation as well. You will investigate each functional area of business during at least two courses for each topic. The research-oriented approach is reflected in a track of research courses throughout the entire programme. Your professional development will be stimulated in a similar track. For most courses, you will attend plenary lectures and work in small groups, allowing for lively interaction and tailored feedback. Many courses chose a distinctly international approach, both content-wise, but also valuing the diversity that exists within the IBA student population consisting of 60 different nationalities. Upon successful completion of the IBA you will receive a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.

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RSM's International Business Administration (IBA) programme takes a broad approach, yet offers differentiation as well. You will investigate each functional area of business during at least two courses for each topic. The research-oriented approach is reflected in a track of research courses throughout the entire programme.

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Program and courses BSc International Business Administration

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The International Business Administration program is the ideal preparation for a career in one of the many aspects of international business: Management, Marketing, Accounting or Finance. Together with students from all over the world, you will study how international organizations function and will become well equipped to deal with the dynamic environment of a multinational.

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Besides the curriculum of both universities, this is one of the websites I visited to inform myself more about the concept of debt in businesses. The specific case was about Google, a company that has no debt. The article stated that the government often encourages businesses to have debt by reducing the corporate taxes.
It is quite interesting as they mention that Google not having debt is unproductive but that it is something that will change in the future as growth slows down. The reason why I find this interesting is because when I was in senior year, we had to a study about Arturo Calle, a Colombian fashion brand. Calle described that the success of his business was the fact that he never went into debt. That it was better to save up money and then spend it, rather than paying off debt.
After reading this article it made me wonder if perhaps the Harvard Business Review was assessing the benefits of the overall economy and not of Google. it also made me think that perhaps Calle was looking put for his own benefit and not of the overall economy.

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Many companies tend to carry more debt than equity, but Google is different. Today, Google has no debt. But is that good or bad?

Just recently I (Joe) was facilitating a session with employees from a small business that had been acquired by a larger public company. The small business did not have any debt prior to the merger. During the balance sheet discussion, the previous owner of the small business asked, "Why do we have debt in this new company? I hate debt."

Most of us don't care for debt. We hear about the crushing effect of consumer debt on our economy. So why is debt for a business a good thing?

There are two reasons why a company should use debt to finance a large portion of its business.

First, the government encourages businesses to use debt by allowing them to deduct the interest on the debt from corporate income taxes. With the corporate tax rate at 35% (one of the highest in the world) that deduction is quite enticing. It is not uncommon for a company's cost of debt to be below five percent after considering the tax break associated with interest.

Second, debt is a much cheaper form of financing than equity. It starts with the fact that equity is riskier than debt. Because a company typically has no legal obligation to pay dividends to common shareholders, those shareholders want a certain rate of return. Debt is much less risky for the investor because the firm is legally obligated to pay it. In addition, shareholders (those that provided the equity funding) are the first to lose their investments when a firm goes bankrupt. Finally, much of the return on equity is tied up in stock appreciation, which requires a company to grow revenue, profit and cash flow. An investor typically wants at least a 10% return due to these risks, while debt can usually be found at a lower rate.

These facts make debt a bargain.

It would not be rational for a public company to be funded only by equity. It's too inefficient. Debt is a lower cost source of funds and allows a higher return to the equity investors by leveraging their money.

So why not finance a business entirely with debt? Because all debt, or even 90% debt, would be too risky to those providing the financing. A business needs to balance the use of debt and equity to keep the average cost of capital at its minimum. We call that the weighed average cost of capital or WACC.

Back to Google. It's a nearly $22 billion company with no debt, which is inefficient. The problem for Google is that their cash flow and profit are so strong that they can finance the business with retained earnings. But I predict that as Google matures and growth slows, debt will become an important source of funding.

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Many companies tend to carry more debt than equity, but Google is different. Today, Google has no debt. But is that good or bad? Just recently I (Joe) was facilitating a session with employees from a small business that had been acquired by a larger public company.

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After researching the possible seminar topics, I shared it with my group members via StudyGroup
I shared two possible seminar topics, one regarding marketing and the other one regarding finance. Even though I am interested on both topics, I am more attracted to the topic of finance. To me it is extremely interesting to develop an understanding regarding the concept of debt, as it is something that an individual would naturally believe to be negative. However, without debt there would be no economy and no progress.

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The final seminar topic was chosen and the question was assigned.
The topic chosen was about finance and debt, which is something I find quite interesting. The question is really broad which means that many valid arguments can be formulated, such as government monetary debt, or international debt, etc.
It is also interesting to be able to focus on the opinions of various members of the political spectrum as it is something that I have never assessed before. I have always seen debt as a hard fact stating that it is necessary and have never actually studied the political aspects and opinions regarding it. I am quite excited to research this question!

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After the seminar question was assigned, I started brainstorming possible ideas and arguments for the question. The brainstorming method I used was Mind Mapping. The reason why I chose this method was because I think it makes me stay more organized and see the bigger picture. It has also been shown that it increases learning retention by 95% over regular note taking (Byrnes, 2010) (See PDP for reference)
After finishing my brainstorming, I now have a clearer idea of the terms I will use to conduct my research

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To begin my research, I usually look at regular sources to find an overall idea of what the topic is about, what my position is regarding it and any interesting information. After that, I usually go on Google Scholar and type in keywords for my searches. I used words such as "Government debt impact" "Politics of government debt" and so on. I found one of the sources using Google Scholar and decided to research on engines suggested during english class. I then researched on DOAJ, and although all sources are free, it was extremely hard to find relevant sources to my topic, no matter the amount of keywords I used. It seems as if their search engine is not very good at filtering every journal. I decided to then go to a Harvard search engine as they often have papers available for the public and I was able to find a reliable source fairly quickly regarding the political stance on government debt. I also decided to try Google, to evaluate my critical skills when it comes to filtering sources by myself instead of using an academic search engine. I was able to find a source by a federal agency that provides economic information to congress, making it quite reliable.

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The source evaluates the impact of a high government debt on economic growth.
It aims to evaluate if there is an existent relationship between the two. It is stated that national debt is a burden for next generations (Modigliani as citen in Checherita and Rother, 2010). It is also mentioned that growing economic debt can lead to higher interest rates, decreasing private spending as well as foreign investments (p.11). The source evaluates some of the negative aspects of growing debt after surpassing an optimal level. However, It is also stated that substantial debts have been created in the past for public work improvements (p.8) and that a positive impact on higher debt would be if it was used to finance productive public investment (p.23).
In conclusion, it can be said that debt is beneficial when used to finance public investments, which can be an argument for governments acquiring more debt. A negative argument would be that piling more debt would harm future generations, increase interest rates and decrease private spending and investments.

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This source evaluates the political economy behind government debt and how different political beliefs can influence the views regarding it. The source mentions that fiscal policy often comes tied with political ideas as it is about the redistribution among individuals which is the core of political conflict (p.1). It is stated that when the left party is in office it often chooses to tax more and leave a surplus to generate an incentive for the right to spend more. On the other hand, the right decided to run into more debt so the left wont be able to spend as much when in office. (p.24) It can then be said that the different political approaches is to anticipate what the other political party would do in office. Since left wing voters like more government expenditure than right wing voters do (p.35) It makes sense why the right would gain more debt so the left wont be able to spend as much as they desire and vice-versa.

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The source published by the Congressional Budget Office shows the long term budget outlook of 2014. Within the budget outlook, debt is discussed and how a large national debt can have an impact on various individuals. It is stated that how long a nation is able to sustain growing debt is unpredictable (p.3) This could be because every nation is different, and there is no existing model that could apply to all of them. In the ways that a growing debt can affect the population is that investors will try to doubt the governments ability to pay their debts (p.3) This could drive possible investors out and harm the current ones. Growing debt would also reduce money for private investments, increase interest rates and it would also restrict policymakers to use taxes to control the economic cycle (p4) It can be argued that this could lead to a deeper recession. Short term debt can increase peoples spending, create more jobs and increase the overall living standards. However, a long term debt can lead to output reduction and unemployment.

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During my seminar question research, I tried using several search engines such as DOAJ, ScienceDirect, UVA and more. However, I found that Google Scholar was the most useful one as their filter engine is quite good and relevant information always shows up. I have always been lucky with Google Scholar as I have only encountered few articles that were not free access. I think this is one of the most useful academic search engines as it is easy to use, has a good search engine and relevant information. I believe my stance on this will change next year when I have full access to my university library, but as of right now I think this one is the most useful because I tried using the UVA library and it did nt have a good search engine or very relevant sources (see post above)

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This article published by Colorado State University highlights the importance of reflection.
Since I was little in school, after every assignment we would have to reflect about the task given. I never liked doing this very much but I am grateful for it now because I believe it helped me improve quite a lot.

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Writing@CSU is the home of Colorado State University's open-access learning environment, the Writing Studio. Use this site to write, learn to write, take writing classes, and access resources for writing teachers.