DPhil in Management

Supervisors in this area:

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 programs:

• 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.

Amir Amel-Zadeh - Amir's research generally examines the economic consequences of voluntary and mandatory financial and non-financial (ESG) reporting and the role of intermediaries such as equity research analysts. He is particularly interested in DPhil students who can work with him on applying natural language processing and machine learning techniques to examine the content and quality of information disclosures and their effects on capital markets.

His projects range from examining narrative disclosures in annual reports and other regulatory filings, to analysing earnings call transcripts, media coverage and other textual and financial information but he is open to other project suggestions in this field of research. In addition to the requisite knowledge in accounting and finance prospective DPhil students should have a good working knowledge of Python programming and basic knowledge of text analysis and/or machine learning algorithms.

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 (a) business models, (b) future of work, and (c) 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.

Harvey Maylor - Harvey is open to a range of lenses being brought to bear on these areas of interest, though would prefer that the subject basis is Operations and Supply Chain Management which includes:

• Complexity response
• Systems design
• In search of project excellence
• Design thinking and innovation

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

Michael Gill - Michael employs qualitative research methodologies and methods to examine people’s experiences of work. He is particularly interested in experiences of suffering in the workplace and the implications of suffering for workers’ behaviours, emotions, and identities.

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, and 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 postmerger integration with deep theoretical and methodological reflection on organisational and strategic processes and practices.

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.

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.

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.