PhD Marketing and Strategy (Decision Making and Strategy Process)

We analyse important marketing and management issues, communicating our findings to both the business and academic worlds. We believe we can only do this effectively by achieving the highest standards in research, teaching and consultancy work. Our academics are well known in their fields and have published work in leading marketing and management journals. While we cover the breadth of marketing and strategy, we particularly focus on four key areas of research activity.

The Marketing and Strategy Department has a long tradition of quantitatively studying firm-level phenomena such as strategic orientations, slack resources, strategic planning and strategic flexibility and their influence on firm performance. More recently, work has focused on managerial-level issues such as strategic thinking, sensemaking and other facets of management cognition, strategic options and the strategy tools used in decision making.

We use a range of methods appropriate for investigating complex issues in decision making and strategy process research. Recent projects have incorporated qualitative cognitive methods, including sorting techniques, cognitive mapping and laddering techniques as well as in-depth interviews and observations in case studies.

All candidates should hold the equivalent of a UK First or Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree from an approved university or higher education institution. They should also hold the equivalent of a UK Masters degree in business, management, or the social sciences (or related disciplines) from an approved university or higher education institution, with a significant research/dissertation component, having achieved an overall grade of Merit.

Undergraduate Degree - 2:1 or above (or equivalent)
Masters Degree - Merit (or equivalent)
Evidence of meeting the English language requirements

IELTS - 6.5 (Reading and Writing 6.5, Listening and Speaking 6.0)
TOEFL - 93 (Reading 22, Writing 26, Listening 19, Speaking 19)