PhD in Management

The PhD Programme in Management covers several fundamental research domains: strategy, organizational behavior, marketing, innovation management and entrepreneurship, finance and financial intermediaries. The 4-year programme offers specialization in two major areas: Management and Banking & Finance. Besides a series of common courses, students take specialized courses from one of the two areas.

NRRP Call - Further PhD Positions
Appointed by RD 952/2022 Prot. n. 0357333 of 02/12/2022

Call for Application and NRRP Call
Appointed by RD 830/2022 Prot. n. 0127511 of 30/05/2022

The Ph.D in Management offers to students a broad and inter-disciplinary education in the fields of business and finance studies and management research. It provides candidates with strong theoretical foundations in social science disciplines and a deep knowledge of research methods applied to management, banking and financial problems. It offers specialisations in two major concentration areas: General management and Banking & Finance. Doctoral students are expected to have full-time status, attend core and elective courses, participate in research projects conducted by faculty members, present their works at international conferences, and publish in international journals. The program offers the opportunity to acquire knowledge and advanced research methodologies in the scientific areas described before. It requires the production of an original research contribution. PhD students acquire competencies that can be used both in the academic and business sectors.

During their first year, students of both tracks attend two compulsory courses: Research methods and Econometrics. The compulsory courses for first-year candidates in Management are: Introduction to statistics, Strategic management, Quantitative Res. Methods, Consumer Behaviour, Organizational Behavior, Research in Accounting, Qualitative methods, and Economics of Innovation. The compulsory courses for candidates in Banking & Finance are: Microeconomics and 3 courses among: Seminars in Corporate Finance 1 and 2, Seminars in Banking, Intertemporal Asset Pricing, Corporate Governance, Behavioural Economics, Experimental Economics. During the second year, candidates in Management attend 3 courses among: Arts, History and Management, Consumer Behaviour/Marketing Strategy, Technology Entrepreneurship and Research in Strategic Operations. Candidates in Banking & Finance must attend 2 compulsory courses: Econometrics 3 and Advanced Micro Panel Models, and 2 courses from the list of courses described in the first year. In addition, all candidates take the seminar "The Art of Managing the Peer Review Process". During the second year, the students attend two types of "lunch seminars" (at least 22 compulsory). The first type is called "My cup of tea". During these seminars, one member of the Faculty of the Department meets all the PhD students to present his/her research field. The second type is the "research seminars" featuring international scholars that give a talk on their research. Finally, students, in collaboration with Bologna Business School, participate in the training on writing case studies and, guided by a professor of the school, draft a case study. Over the last year, the course offering in the various areas characterising the doctorate has been enhanced by involving 6 renowned professors affiliated with London School of Economics (UK), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Syracuse University (USA), Cass Business School (UK), Michigan Ross (USA) and Grenoble (FR).

During the first three semesters PhD candidates learn the analytical tools for theoretical and empirical research in various sectors of economics and management. They will also attend summer schools and methodological seminars at the Department, other research centers of the University of Bologna or other universities. All the courses require the preparation of research notes. At the end of the first year research all candidates prepare a research paper under the supervision of a faculty. During the third semester of the II year candidates prepare their thesis proposal which is presented at a department seminar. The thesis will be supervised by one main advisor (among members of the PhD committee). All PhD students normally are involved in research projects carried out by the Department and have to joint the 'lunch seminar' organized monthly by the Department. The University takes care of delivering basic courses (students are invited to attend) on 'research management and how to participate to EU projects and being aware of other research collaborations opportunities', 'Intellectual Property Management' and 'Entrepreneurship'. On top of basic courses, more advanced courses on these topics can be attended. The PhD coordinator suggests attendance to specific events (conferences, workshops, schools), based on the research projects of individual students.

The entire PhD program is thought in english. Specifically: - All courses are held in English - Our students are immersed in an international research environment, wherein several seminars, summer schools and workshops are organized with the participation of internationally renowned scholars - The calls for applications are regularly published on the websites of international associations and job market platforms specialized in management and economics (e.g., INOMICS, EIASM, SSRN, AKADEUS, Academy of Management) Over the last 10 years, our program has attracted 26 international students (corresponding to the 40% of the enrolled ones) from various countries including: Brazil; Russia; Turkey; Serbia; Ukraine; Albania; Indonesia; China; Romania; Lithuania; Pakistan; India; Iran; Tunisia; Iceland; Nigeria; Philippines, Portugal. Various foreign PhD students have also spent research periods at our Department (e.g., from Brasil, China, Germany, Spain and Norway) or have attended our PhD under international mobility programs (e.g., Alban, Erasmus Mundus, World Bank). Several former alumni have become leading scholars and serve as post-doc or as faculty at top-rated universities abroad such as City University London, Cambridge University, Case Western Reserve University, HEC Paris, HEC Lausanne, IESEG Paris, Imperial College London, INSEAD, ISG Paris, Università Catolica de Lisboa, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Lugano.

Presentation of papers to national and international workshops, conferences and seminars during the PhD studies and submission of articles for publication in (mostly international) scientific journals during the PhD studies and immediately after graduation. Final thesis in the form of a monograph or a collection of three papers.