Programme

Overview

The University of Agder offers an International Management PhD programme to individuals of all nationalities seeking academic research and teaching careers in the area of international management.

The programme focuses on management issues related to international activities of organisations - ranging from multinational corporations to non-profit organisations - and their interactions with foreign governments, customers, competitors, and partners.

The overall purpose of the programme is to give the PhD Research Fellow a thorough theoretical and methodological background, along with the experience of completing a substantial piece of original scientific work (the dissertation). The programme focuses on international management issues that draw primarily on the academic disciplines of management, human resource management, strategy and marketing.

Examples of current dissertation topics include:

• Internationalisation of Firms
• International Strategy
• International Knowledge Management
• Corporate Governance and Microfinance
• International Marketing
• Globalisation and Ethics
• International e-Business and e-Commerce
• International Entrepreneurship
• International Human Resource Management
• Direct Foreign Investment

Programme Progress Plan

The PhD programme is estimated to take 3 years of full-time study (180 ECTS - European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). Approximately 1/3 is dedicated to PhD seminars and 2/3 for the dissertation.

Courses

COMPONENT	COURSES
Core area courses 30 ECTS credits	International Management Theoretical Foundations of International Management International Strategy and Structure International Marketing International Organisational Behaviour and HRM A comprehensive examination covers all four courses (30 ECTS credits).
Methods courses 20 ECTS credits	Research Methods Prerequisite: Intro to Theory Building Testing (One week) Theory of Science Qualitative methods Survey of Statistical Methods A comprehensive examination covers all of the three courses above. Elective Methods course (worth 5 ECTS credits)
Specialisation courses 10 credits	The candidates choose two of the following courses (each worth 5 ECTS credits): Research Issues in International Strategy Research Issues in Ethics Research Issues in International Marketing Research Issues in International Corporate Governance Research Issues in International Entrepreneurship
Dissertation - 120 ECTS credits

Requirements and Obligations

Academic Requirements:

The PhD degree is awarded on the basis of:

1. One year of coursework with comprehensive exams in Research Methods and International Management
2. A successful defence of a dissertation proposal
3. An approved dissertation and a satisfactory public defence of the dissertation

Work Obligations:

Research fellows may be offered an opportunity to participate in teaching and research for the Faculty while in the programme

The Dissertation

The dissertation shall be an independent piece of scientific work that meets international standards within the relevant subject area. The dissertation shall contribute to the development of new knowledge within the subject area and be of sufficient academic quality so that it can be publicised as part of the academic literature in the subject area.

Joint work may be approved as part of the dissertation provided that the candidate’s own independent contribution can be identified and documented.

Collections of several minor works (articles) may be approved as a dissertation when they in content constitute a totality. A summary must then be prepared to give an overall perspective.

The dissertation may be written in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or English. If the candidate wants to use a different language, an application must be made by the time of admission.

Dissertation Advisor Allocation

A preliminary dissertation advisor will be appointed for each PhD research fellow at the time of admission. This person plays a key role in guiding research fellows through the program. Depending on the specific topic, a different advisor may be appointed for the purpose of guiding the research fellow through the dissertation.

For a list of available PhD advisors and their areas of specialisation - refer to Core Faculty.

Interaction with the advisor is instrumental in helping the research fellow to integrate both required and elective coursework which reflects the research fellow's unique interests.