DPhil Management

Marc Ventresca - An economic and organisational sociologist, Marc has a long-time focus on social sciences approaches to nascent markets, large-scale and systems innovation, and governance.

His current research includes four related work programmes:

• Space commerce and governance, with a focus on growth of venture capital, ventures focused on geospatial analytics, emerging venture strategies, and space as a ‘commons’ (per Ostrom)
• Changes in the energy industries (strategies, architecture, governance) and the move to renewable sources, with focus on digital energy services
• A critical view of concept and empirical studies of ‘ecosystems’ in strategy, organisation theory, and innovation studies
• Changing forms and practices in social innovation, systems change, and contested knowledge.

Ivona Hideg - Ivona’s main programme of research includes workplace equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). In her work, she focuses on gender, but also examines issues surrounding race, ethnicity, language and accent including intersection of various identities that we all hold.

Grounded in psychological theories and using experimental methodology, Ivona’s work seeks insights on root causes of inequities in the workplace, such as persistent underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions and other male-dominated fields (ie entrepreneurship).

By doing so, Ivona seeks to develop and test solutions for greater equity, inclusion and career outcomes of traditionally disadvantaged groups.

Mari Sako - Mari's main areas of expertise include global strategy, comparative institutional analysis, outsourcing and offshoring, professional services firms and professions, artificial intelligence (AI) and business models.

Her current research examines the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal services, conducted as part of a UKRI-funded programme. Doctoral applications are most welcome from students in social sciences, who can work with Mari on exploring the impact of AI on:

• business models
• the future of work
• technology startup ecosystems in professional services (such as law and accounting).

She is open to doctoral research proposals in this and related fields of research.

Matthew Amengual - Matthew's areas of expertise are in the political economy of development and global labour standards. 

Akshay Mangla - Akshay's interests lie in questions of when, why and how states build institutional capacity to perform their core functions in developing countries. Within this broad agenda, his ongoing research investigates the causes and consequences of institutional reform initiatives within frontline agencies of the Indian state (eg primary education and the police).

He is also examining how non-state actors, including private firms and civil society organisations, engage with the frontline state during policy implementation, thereby influencing bureaucratic effectiveness and the quality of public services. He is interested in advising DPhil students working on these and related topics in the political economy of development.

Agni Orfanoudaki - Agni conducts research at the intersection of machine learning and optimisation with applications in the industries of healthcare and insurance. Her research agenda primarily focuses on developing new methods and models for healthcare practitioners using data-driven techniques. She is also studying the implications of these models on automated decision making, addressing the implementation challenges of machine learning algorithms in practice.

 Areas of interest:

• Business analytics
• Healthcare operations
• Algorithmic insurance
• Personalised medicine

Eero Vaara - Eero’s research focuses on organisational and strategic change. His work deals with:

• strategy process and practice research
• studies of radical change, such as mergers and acquisitions
• work on institutional change and legitimation
• research on multinational corporations, nationalism and globalisation.

He is a world-leading expert especially in communicative and discursive perspectives. Eero combines practically relevant topics such as strategy work and management of post-merger integration with deep theoretical and methodological reflection on organisational and strategic processes and practices.

Eric Zhao - Eric's research is cross-disciplinary in nature and sits at the intersection of strategic management, organisation theory and entrepreneurship. He is actively involved in four major research areas:

• optimal distinctiveness
• institutions and entrepreneurship
• resource and resourcefulness
• resilience and crisis.

His 2017 SMJ article 'Optimal Distinctiveness: Broadening the Interface between Institutional Theory and Strategic Management' and his solo-authored book Optimal Distinctiveness: A New Agenda for the Study of Competitive Positioning of Organizations and Markets are widely regarded as foundational contributions to the burgeoning literature on optimal distinctiveness.

Rafael Ramirez - Rafael researches scenario planning and ground breaking research on interactive value and networked strategy, which has led to widely cited papers in the Harvard Business Review, the Strategic Management Journal and to the development of the Oxford Collaborative Strategy Lab.

Alex Nicholls - Alex's main areas of expertise include:

• impact investing
• impact measurement
• social entrepreneurship
• public policy and social innovation
• systems change
• social movements.

His current research explores the materiality of impact risk - in terms of both financial and impact outcome risk, the use of AI in impact measurement and reporting, and historical patterns of ethical consumption. He is open to doctoral research proposals in these areas as well as others.

Steve New: Steve has interests across the field of supply chain management, including how firms' practices relate to questions of ethics, human rights and sustainability. He has particular interest in the impact of commercial practices and inter-organisational power.

His recent work has focussed on questions of supply chain transparency, wages within supply chains and the challenge of incorporating ESG criteria in procurement from smaller companies.

Juliane Reinecke - Juliane’s research explores how organisations can address various sustainability challenges including climate change, human and labour rights, and sustain the global commons. As no business can address these systemic challenges alone, a particular focus of her research lies in how multiple stakeholders collaborate to create novel governance solutions. Current projects include collective action for labour rights in the Bangladesh garment supply chain and the role of institutional investors, particularly pension funds, in the transition to a net zero economy.

Juliane welcomes candidates pursuing interdisciplinary approaches and/or using qualitative methodologies, such as ethnography.

Harvey Maylor - Harvey is open to a range of lenses being brought to bear on systems complexities and the ‘lived experience’ of systems leaders. Particular areas of interest include:

• What is the impact on performance of the relationship between the NEO profile of an individual and the complexities of the system that they are charged with leading?
• Is there a moral limit to the complexity we should ask organisational leaders to face? And is there an impact on the delivery of public value of high levels of complexity?
• What is the impact of systemic voids on the delivery of grand challenge objectives?
• Systems of routines: linking the areas of routine dynamics and systemic design as a tool for organisational analysis.

You will require:

• a good undergraduate degree: 2.1 (GPA 3.5 or its equivalent)
• GMAT or GRE test results
• TOEFL or IELTS test results (If you are not from an English speaking majority country)
• three pieces of written work, including a well-developed research proposal
• three academic references

Successful applicants typically have a distinction in a Master’s level degree in addition to their undergraduate studies, but exceptional applicants from undergraduate programmes in relevant subjects will be considered.