Doctoral Program in Strategy
Individuals with an interest in scholarly research on organizational behavior,
organization theory, and strategic management can join the Strategy Ph.D. program,
traditionally one of the strengths of the Paul Merage School of Business. The
doctoral program is one of the country's most prominent.
The program offers broad exposure to theory and research on micro and macro
levels of organizational behavior, business and corporate strategy. Micro-organizational
behavior includes topics such as cross-cultural management, power and influence,
negotiation process, team and interpersonal processes, organizational change,
organizational commitment, work motivation, and leadership. Organization theory
(macro-OB) addresses contemporary theories about organizations (i.e., community
and population ecology, institutional theory, organizational learning and decision
making) and applies them to research problems like the determinants of new organizational
foundings, growth, adaptation, design, performance, survival, and evolution.
Strategic management emphasizes the determinants of firm performance, including
industry structure and competition, organizational resources assessment, the
nature and sources of competitive advantage, the role of top management, corporate
restructuring and global strategy.
Students in the Ph.D. Program design personal areas of specialization that
reflect their individual interests. Students are encouraged to take advantage
of the intellectual diversity of the Strategy area and the larger
university to develop specializations that integrate ideas from a variety of
academic fields.
Other unique feature of our program include:
- The diverse and exciting business climate of southern California with its
emphasis on global businesses, science-based technology firms, and a high
rate of new venture start ups
- A rigorous intellectual environment in which Ph.D. candidates work closely
with faculty on projects of mutual interest
- Our Seminar Series in which leading scholars visit UC Irvine and present
their research
- An excellent record placing Ph.D. graduates including: Dartmouth, MIT,
Carnegie-Mellon University, Cornell University, University of Minnesota, Georgetown
University and USC. This strong placement record reflects the national and
international reputation of the program as one of the premier Strategy Ph.D. programs
The Ph.D. Program at the University of California, Irvine focuses on a self-paced
and independent approach to doctoral education with a great deal of student-faculty
contact. Students are expected to take an active role in developing their specific
interests within the fields of organizational behavior, organization theory,
and strategy in conjunction with the faculty. In addition, students are trained
for their future teaching responsibilities through our Teaching Development
Program as well as teaching assistant assignments.
Our primary objective is to provide an intellectual environment in which talented
individuals can develop a strong understanding of organizational and strategic
phenomena and to enable them to make significant contributions to their field
through their research and teaching. We encourage applicants who come from a
variety of undergraduate disciplines (e.g., psychology, sociology, economics,
and business).
Strategy Faculty
The Strategy area at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business is consistently
recognized as one of the most productive in business schools. The Strategy area
faculty are members of the editorial boards of the premier academic journals
in their fields and are leaders in their professional associations.
Faculty profiles, courses and other area information can be found on the Strategy
Academic Area page.