Strategic Management

The PhD program in strategic management allows students to make scholarly contributions to the field through research, and to prepare for a career in academia. From exploring strategic decision processes to resource allocation, students seek to understand the factors that make up a successful organization.

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About the Program

Overview

Isenberg’s PhD in Strategic Management is a rigorous, stimulating and highly collaborative full-time, residential program that prepares students for careers in academia and industry. Students will deepen their understanding of management theory and will conduct independent research based on their interests. Working closely with faculty in intimate classroom settings, students will develop research for publication. Students also teach graduate-level classes.

Cognate Areas

Our program is designed to be an integrative discipline that draws extensively from such fields as organizational theory, organizational behavior, and industrial organization economics. Major topics within the field include:

Competitive advantage
Dynamic capabilities
Corporate governance
Sustainable strategies
Strategic decision-making
Corporate entrepreneurship

Research

Our program offers access to a unique group of world-class faculty specializing in the following research topics:

Strategic human capital
Knowledge management
Inter-group conflict
Uncertainty in strategic decision-making
Strategy development processes and strategic middle management

Academic Overview

Students generally complete a PhD in Strategic Management within four years. Students must take 45 credits of coursework, which seminars in organizational theory and organizational behavior, as well as statistics, methods and elective courses. Students must pass both a qualifying and comprehensive examination, take a professional colloquium course, write and defend a dissertation, and teach at Isenberg.