The program trains students to analyze a firm's response to its environment and its competitors. It combines strong theory development with rigorous empirical methods to develop cutting-edge research on important questions in business strategy. Ph.D. candidates complete a series of core classes that introduce students to the core fields in strategic management and frontier research in a number of different fields, including competitive strategy, innovation, intellectual property, non-market strategy, global strategy, organization theory, entrepreneurship and market institutions. Students often choose to integrate strategic management with other disciplines, such as finance, entrepreneurship, technology management, political science, psychology and sociology.
Our program is differentiated from other top Ph.D. programs in a number of ways. The faculty expertise spans a broad theoretical base - encompassing economics, psychology, sociology, political science and statistics - with an inclination toward strong training in methods. We believe that this combination is required to produce well-trained students who will be able to grow intellectually over the course of their careers and, more immediately, obtain an academic appointment at a top business school. This allows students to select a level of analysis for their dissertation that conforms to their interests and strengths while also allowing them to conduct research on the cutting edge of interesting questions in strategy, innovation and decision-making.
One or two advanced doctoral seminars are usually offered each year. Until advancement to candidacy, students will enroll in all seminar courses offered by faculty. Doctoral students may enroll in courses in the Anderson School or elsewhere on campus to develop the substantive background needed to complete a dissertation in their area of interest. These include, but are not limited to, finance, entrepreneurship, innovation and technology, game theory, stochastic processes and their applications, statistics, organizational behavior, economic sociology, psychology, behavioral decision-making, marketing, operations, law and political science.
In addition to an econometrics examination, students sit for a field examination administered by the Strategy area faculty. Regardless of their initial preparation for the Ph.D. program, students must sit for and pass the field examination by the end of the third year in the program. It is expected that most students will pass these exams one year before the respective deadlines.
The third year of the program involves independent study and research supervised by a faculty adviser and culminating in a research paper. In addition, students receiving summer support must produce an initial research paper by the fall of their second year. The final stages of the Ph.D. program are focused on crafting and defending an independent research proposal before a faculty committee nominated by the student. This proposal forms the basis for the student's dissertation. We expect students to complete the program within four or five years.