PhD in International Management Programme

Courses 2012 - 2013

More information is available in the course descriptions below and in the detailed course plan for the 2012 cohort in the right sidebar [updated on 25 January, 2013].

IN-616 International Mergers and Acquisitions, 7.5 ECTS

The course decription for IN-616 was approved by the Faculty board on 12 December, 2012.

Contact

Contact Målfrid Tangedal, malfrid.tangedal@uia.no , phone no. +47 38141549, if you want to attend one of the courses above.

PROGRAMME AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Admission requirements

The candidates should have at least a master’s degree, normally including a master thesis, from an academic institution with good reputation, preferable in Economics, Finance, Business administration, management, marketing, International Business or a related business discipline (300 ECTS credits), obtained at least with honours (B or better). We look for applicants with strong motivation that are willing to engage the necessary scientific rigor required for high quality research. Moreover, a strong qualification in applied research methods is an advantage. Fluency in written and oral English is a prerequisite.

With the application, the interested candidates should submit a short (approx. 4 pages) dissertation proposal. This proposal needs to be within the research area of International Management - broadly defined. The proposal should fit the research competencies and interest of available supervisors. UiA emphasizes close collaboration between supervisors and PhD students. Interested candidates are therefore encouraged to study the research background of the potential supervisors and may also get in touch with them to discuss research proposals. When applying for the programme, the following documentation should be submitted:

1. a letter of motivation including suggested supervisor from UiA
2. a full resume/curriculum (including transcripts of grades)
3. an approx. four-page research project
4. academic references
5. the Master thesis and other relevant scientific publications written in English

All candidates are interviewed before admission and additional documentation, including GMAT, TOEFL etc., may be requested. Depending candidates’ academic background intake into the programme might be conditioned that candidates follow some master courses. Final decision on intake is the discretion of UiA.

General description and profile

The coursework consists of a minimum of 45 ECTS credits. The courses enable students to write the thesis, as well as develop strong research skills. Students are therefore often encouraged, especially by their supervisors, to take more courses than the minimum 45 ECTS credits. The coursework is organized as follows:

Theory courses

IN-612 Core Theories in Management, 5 ECTS

IN-613 International Marketing, 5 ECTS

IN-614 International Management, 5 ECTS

IN-615 International Strategy and Structure, 5 ECTS

Methodology courses

ME-622 Introduction to Theory Building and Theory Testing for International Management, 0 ECTS

ME-612 Survey of Statistical Methods, 5 ECTS

ME-613 Qualitative Research Methods, 5 ECTS

ME-614 Theory of Science, 5 ECTS

Elective courses

ME-621 Writing and publishing academic research, 5 ECTS

Other elective courses can be organized as directed reading courses, or can be elected at our partner universities http://nfb.nhh.no/Home or taken with other prestigious universities in accordance with the supervisors and the head of the PhD programme

If not otherwise permitted by the committee for the specialization, all theory and methodology courses are mandatory and are taken during the first months of the PhD process. The completion of a course normally requires the writing up of a course paper and other evaluation methods set by the responsible professors. In some special cases and when recommended by the supervisor(s) the committee for the specialization may allow candidates to replace mandatory courses with other PhD courses. In addition to the mandatory courses in Theory and Methodology candidates are required to take a minimum of 10 ECTS credits elective courses. Elective courses should be taken in agreement with supervisor(s) and should be in fields relevant for the candidates’ own research. Normally at least 5 ECTS credits of the elective courses are taken in research methods. All candidates need to complete a minimum of 45 ECTS credits within two years after start-up.

As indicated in the table the coursework is divided into three main areas:

Theory Courses.Theory courses are intended to give the students a thorough grounding in the main literature of International Business and in particular to get an overview of major theories applied in International Management research.

Methods courses.The purpose of the methods courses is to provide students with a solid methodological foundation and an insight into what constitutes science.

Elective courses. The purpose of the elective courses is to go into depth in a limited number of specific issues and to learn theories and methodologies relevant for the student’s own research. UiA is member of the National Research School of Business Administration and our students have the opportunity to participate at any PhD course organized by the research school and its members.

Throughout the coursework and in the entire specialization it is emphasized to provide the students with knowledge on how to publish academic research in their fields.

The dissertation

Students start working with their supervisors from the start-up of the specialization and the supervisors help the student to define and forward the dissertation. Normally students are assigned two supervisors; commonly one primary supervisor and one secondary. Although supervision and collaboration between the student and the supervisor(s) are very important, the main key for a completed dissertation is the student’s own efforts and dedication. The dissertation is primarily the project of the student himself/herself and ability to work independently is required.

Depending on the research subject and the supervisor(s)’/candidate’s preference, the dissertation may consist of a monograph or a number of research papers related to each other. Increasingly students are encouraged to write paper based theses where some of the papers are authored together with supervisors or other academics. A paper based thesis normally consists of three to five papers. The specialization stresses the importance of publishing in high ranked International peer-reviewed journals and students are encouraged to get their papers published even though the review process can be time consuming. In any case all papers need to be of publishable quality to be included in the thesis. For a paper based thesis the final dissertation should include an introduction binding together the papers making up the thesis.

During the dissertation process students are encouraged to build their own research networks, to have longer stays with other academic institutions and to participate at international research conferences. To enable this, and to learn about accessing research funding, students are expected to apply for funding from external and internal parties.

Progression

The process of the PhD starts with the mandatory courses. Candidates unable to pass the involved course evaluations including getting minimum grade B on their course papers will be screened out from the specialization. After around seven months of intensive course-work the students start working full time with their proposals. First there is a pre-proposal defense, followed by a full proposal defense seminar normally arranged 10 to 12 months after start-up. An overview of the normal study progression is showed in table 2.

The proposal defense is a major milestone in the specialization. Here the students should outline research questions, design, models, methodologies, data, theories etc. For paper based theses a preliminary indication of papers to be included in the thesis should also be included in the proposal. In some cases a complete working paper ready for journal/conference submission can replace a traditional proposal but in such cases indications of the next papers to be written should be given and it should be demonstrated how the papers together will make up a complete PhD thesis. For a candidate to continue in the specialization, the proposal must be accepted by the supervisors and the committee for the specialization.

Progression reports need to be submitted at least on an annual basis. Likewise, progress seminars will be organized at least once a year. Students are required to demonstrate progress in order to remain in the program until the dissertation defense.

Before sending the thesis for evaluation by an external committee the specialization may organize a pre-defense seminar where the candidate gets final inputs for her/his thesis before completing this. The public defense of the dissertation will normally take place approximately 6 months after the submission of the thesis.

Learning outcome

After completing the PhD programme, specialization in International Management, candidates should have the knowledge, skills and the general competence needed to be at the research frontier of the field.

Knowledge: The candidate should be able to:

• list, describe and discuss the theories that are central and at the core of the international management literature
• list, describe and evaluate the research methods, approaches and paradigms that are used in international management research
• list relevant outlets to publish his/her research

Skills: When the candidate has completed the PhD programme he/she should be able to

• contribute to develop new knowledge, theory, methods, interpretations and forms of documentation within the field of international management research
• evaluate and judge the adequacy of using different theories and methods in the research process
• formulate research questions, plan and conduct research at the research frontier within international management
• write academic texts according to the norms in international management research, and can reflect on the research and writing process
• critically evaluate and pass constructive judgment on scholarly work within international management
• establish and maintain scholarly networks

General competences:
When the candidate has completed the PhD programme he/she should be able to:

• identify and reflect on relevant ethical questions in the research process and conduct own research according to established ethical standards
• gather, analyse and disseminate a comprehensive amount of scholarly text
• present own and others scholarly work in relevant forums
• participate in research teams and understand the importance of publishing and accessing funding to succeed in modern research

Teaching methods

The courses will be a combination of lectures and seminars, student discussions and presentations by the students.

Assessments methods

Paper approvals and exams. Pass/Fail - where Pass must be equivalent to the letter grade B or better.

Occupational profiles of graduates

Both private and public sector, incl. academia

Qualification awarded

The programme leads to a PhD degree from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, specialisation in International Management.

Responsible faculty

Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. Coordinator Roy Mersland

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