University

of Oxford
DPhil Programme in
Management Studies
2015/16

Welcome to Sad Business School.

I am delighted that you are
considering applying for the
DPhil programme here.

We welcome you
as a student and as
a colleague.

At Oxford the DPhil is the degree that corresponds to a PhD at most other universities. Essentially
our DPhil Programme offers in-depth training in academic research skills that will prepare you to
become a productive scholar.
Doctoral training at Sad Business School will immerse you in all aspects of academic life. Yes, of
course we provide courses in a wide range of research methods, and you will work closely with
your supervisors (most DPhil candidates are assigned two supervisors) to define your research
question and develop your thesis. In addition, you will have opportunities to gain teaching
experience, either at undergraduate level through your college or as a teaching assistant on the
MBA programme, and to become involved in the intellectual community at the School and in the
rest of the university. DPhil candidates are full members of the research centres and departments
with which they are associated. They attend academic conferences, make presentations, organise
lectures and seminars, and contribute to management and academic decisions. If you are accepted
on the programme, we will welcome you as a student and as a junior colleague.
Sad Business School is relatively small and we have deliberately kept the DPhil programme small
too: we will accept a maximum 12 candidates this year who in the vast majority of cases are fully
funded. Full funding ensures that you will not have to worry about tuition costs or living expenses,
but can devote all your energies to getting the most out of your time here. You will have lots of
opportunities and receive a lot of attention not only from your supervisors but also from other
faculty who are happy to act as sounding boards, to talk about your research, and to suggest
different methods and techniques.
We are looking for talented applicants who are enthusiastic about research and genuinely
intellectually curious. If this sounds like you, I encourage you to take a closer look at our DPhil
programme, and I look forward to discussing your application with you.

Thomas Noe
Thomas is the Ernest Butten Professor of Management Studies and DPhil Programme Director.
His research has influenced the way companies are financed through the issuing of securities,
contributed to the way we analyse systemic risk for firms, and provoked a re-evaluation of the
way senior managers are compensated.

University of Oxford Doctoral Programme 2015/16

www.sbs.oxford.edu

Research
At the heart of the DPhil programme is an emphasis on
high-quality, rigorous academic research.

While there are variations according to your subject area and your own experience when you join
the programme, you can expect to have extensive training in all the principal research methods.
These are typically taught in lectures and seminar-style classes, with some assessed work. In
addition, you are encouraged to seek out and take courses in other departments typically
offered by departments in the Social Sciences Division although courses in maths, computer
science, and the natural sciences may also be valuable especially when your work has
interdisciplinary elements.
This breadth of research training is essential if you are to progress in an academic career. You
need to be able to make informed choices about the methods you employ even at this early
stage. And as your thinking develops and you begin to research more widely, you will naturally
want to bring in other approaches.

The people at the top always reflect the tone of the whole
organisation, and its easy to see where Sads interested, supportive
environment comes from. A few weeks ago I was walking through the
School when I saw the Dean, Professor Peter Tufano. He said, Marc
youve got to make an appointment. Come and see me: I want to hear
about your research. So I went to see him and we chatted for an hour.
This is the Dean of the Business School; hes running the whole place
and yet he gave me an hour of his time. My research is not even in his
field but he was genuinely interested and encouraging. I think thats
extraordinary you just wouldnt get this at many other schools. Other
professors, too, will ask me how its going and want me to share my
work with them.
Above all, I feel grateful for the privilege of working with and learning
from Mari Sako and Eric Thun, my supervisors. Also, in my second year
I had the opportunity to co-convene together with Mari Sako the
Strategy, Innovation and Marketing Lecture Series! I dont feel like a
student: I feel that Im being treated as a junior colleague. It makes a
huge difference.
Marc Szepan

From the second year of your DPhil, while you may still have some coursework, you will
concentrate primarily on your thesis. This is for most students a hugely exciting and stimulating
time, as they get to work closely with leading academics in their field and to explore their own
interests in greater depth. The student-to-faculty ratio is such that there is plenty of interaction
and individual attention, and many students have co-published with their supervisors.
Students are encouraged to go to academic conferences and to participate in research activities
organised by the Schools research centres and other university departments and institutes. You
can also take full advantage of the many resources available in Oxford, from the range of libraries
to employment opportunities, funding, data, and mentoring.

Marc is a DPhil candidate and recipient

of a Templeton Education and Charity
Trust DPhil Scholarship. He is cosupervised by Professor Mari Sako
and Professor Eric Thun. His academic
research interests are in international
business, global strategy, crossborder M&A, and China business and
economics. He has been a teaching
assistant for the Global Strategy
courses in the MBA and EMBA
programmes, and for the Business in
China course in the MBA programme.

The thing that has surprised me most about the DPhil programme is
just how difficult it is to define your research question! I knew that I
was interested in materials and 3-D printing and, having already done
a Masters degree, I had some idea about research. But still defining the
research question turned out to be one of the most difficult things I have
done. It took a huge amount of personal time and a lot of discussion with
my supervisors.
Thankfully, it was approved and I now aim to finish my thesis in just over
a year so I will have taken four years. I hope then to continue working
in the field of materials and sustainability, perhaps getting involved in
policy issues.
Alysia Garmulewicz
Alysia completed an MPhil in
Geography and the Environment at
the University of Oxford before joining
Sad Business School. Her thesis is
based on mixed-methods research
into materials in 3-D printing. She
is co-supervised by Dr Felix ReedTsochas and Professor Steve Rayner.
She is jointly funded by Sad Business
School and Green Templeton College.

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The supervisors view

All members of faculty who supervise DPhil candidates believe in and aim for the same
very high standards, but how we achieve these may vary significantly and very much
reflect different personal styles. That is really part of the joy of doing a DPhil: it is most
definitely not a one-size-fits-all, standardised process. Each doctoral students experience
is going to be idiosyncratic, and shaped by the student, his or her supervisors, and the way
that they choose to interact.
Although much of my current research is located within the social sciences, my original
academic training and earlier research was in physics, and my current style of supervision
at the Sad Business School draws on the collaborative norms and practices that are
common in the natural sciences.
In my view most of us are able to be more productive when we work closely with others,
and have the opportunity to test out embryonic ideas on a regular basis. Interestingly,
there is good empirical evidence showing that the most impactful academic work is
increasingly being done by teams of authors, even in fields where this hasnt been the
norm. I think its important that DPhil students have the opportunity to develop their
research in the same sort of creative and stimulating environment, so I try to see students
that I am supervising once a week. We also hold weekly group meetings, and I encourage
my students to organise seminars and colloquia.
Again, this is very much my personal view, but if you only see your supervisor twice a
term, you probably feel under tremendous pressure to deliver something perfect each
time. You may be hesitant to articulate things that could be wrong. But if you meet
more frequently it becomes a continuing conversation. Both of you have room to try out
ideas that havent been totally thought through. And if some of them, in the cold light
of day, turn out to be a bit silly or plain wrong, thats OK! Research is about trying out
different approaches, and especially if the problem that you are addressing is difficult and
challenging, you should be prepared to make plenty of mistakes along the way. But its only
through constantly testing and defending your thinking with more experienced academics
and your peers (and this applies every bit as much to faculty members as it does to DPhil
candidates) that you can find your way to really interesting new ideas.
As a supervisor, I dont want instrumental students. Im not interested in people who
have a nine-to-five approach to research, or who just want a degree. I want people who
are passionate about their subject, who strive to achieve excellence, who aim to publish
in top-tier journals, and who value the deep insights that can be provided by tackling
problems through a variety of perspectives.

Felix Reed-Tsochas
Felix is James Martin Lecturer in Complex Systems and Associate Dean for Research.
He works on a broad range of problem domains, linked by an interest in modelling the
structural and dynamic properties of complex networks. Specific applications include
the impact of ICT on social networks, social influence and innovation diffusion in online
environments, common structural features in organisational and ecological networks,
large-scale supply networks, as well as economic and financial networks.

University of Oxford Doctoral Programme 2015/16

www.sbs.oxford.edu

Teaching
Teaching is probably the most important non-research
component of an academic career. After the first
year of intensive research-based coursework, there
will be many ways in which you can gain practice and
experience in this area.

At Sad Business School, depending on your subject, there are

opportunities to work as a teaching assistant on the MBA and EMBA
degree programmes, as well as on some of the executive education
programmes. Areas in which teaching opportunities are available
include finance, marketing, organisational behaviour and strategy,
entrepreneurship, and international business. We work with the
Department of Educational Studies to run a regular DPhil teaching day,
although most of what you learn about teaching will come from acting
as an apprentice. You observe how the faculty member you work with
prepares lectures, engages students with the topic, and keeps them
motivated and interested throughout the sessions. You are likely to be
involved with preparing materials, answering questions from students,
and marking assignments.
You may also want to try your hand at tutoring or lecturing to
undergraduates through your college. The tutorial is an important
feature of teaching at the University of Oxford, and is the model
on which your individual meetings with your supervisor are likely to
be based. Learning to question, draw out arguments, and present
different points of view is invaluable practice not only for teaching, but
in developing your own research.

I have enjoyed being a teaching assistant for the MBA and

EMBA module, Strategy and Innovation, jointly taught by my
supervisor, Professor Marc Ventresca, and by Professor Teppo
Felin. The module is about how new markets are created, how
technology develops, and how entrepreneurs and incumbent
firms can organise for innovation. As a TA I marked more
than a hundred versions of each practical task, as well as the
final exams and group projects. For a whole term I never saw
the surface of my desk! I also had eight tutorial sessions with
an undergraduate student for an Organisational Behaviour
course. For each tutorial the student prepared readings and
submitted an essay in advance. It was great to see how their
critical analysis developed as they tried to relate the different
concepts about the study of organisations to those firms or
groups that they know.

Guillermo Casasnovas
Guillermos research is supervised by Professor Marc
Ventresca and Professor Tim Jenkinson. His thesis looks at
the social finance context in the UK, specifically at the role
of intermediaries in the emergence and current landscape
of this institutionally complex field.

University of Oxford Doctoral Programme 2015/16

www.sbs.oxford.edu

Community
In joining the Sad Business School you will become part of
a vibrant scholarly community that extends far beyond the
boundaries of the department.

Unlike many other business schools, Sad makes the most of being part of a great university. We
come under the aegis of Social Sciences, and have particularly strong links with other departments
in the division, such as the Department of Economics, the Blavatnik School of Government, the
Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance, and the Oxford Martin School, which focuses on
interdisciplinary research aimed at solving some of the most pressing global challenges of the 21st
century. Many of our current DPhil candidates are working at the intersections of these subjects,
and in some cases will have a supervisor from the Business School and one from somewhere else.
We are also keen to learn from subjects which would seem to be very distant from the traditional
concerns of business and management. We bring in outside speakers (from the university and
from elsewhere) to lecture on a range of topics. Engaging with the Humanities, for example, is a
popular series of lunchtime talks that has covered everything from how to lead an orchestra to the
architectural history of Oxford.
This idea of drawing on the richness of different disciplines is ingrained in the structure and history
of the university. Like all other students and faculty, when you are accepted to read for a DPhil
at the Sad Business School, you will also become a member of one of the universitys colleges.
Being part of one of these small, multidisciplinary communities means that you meet students
and academics from all over the world who are engaged in study in a broad range of subjects. You
may be sitting next to a philosopher one night at dinner, or strike up a friendship with a chemist,
or decide to attend a series of history lectures organised by the college. The opportunities for
intellectual exploration and discovery are limitless.
Even within the School, though you may specialise, you do not operate in a silo. All the DPhil
students sit together in a large office, and often socialise as a group as well as working together.
They have a termly dinner, and hold a number of informal meetings as well as the formal DPhil
Committee. Once a year they collaborate to organise a Doctoral Colloquium, making all the
decisions about topics and speakers and other arrangements.

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Doing a DPhil at Oxford allows me to be part of and even contribute to a

centuries-long tradition. During the year-end exams at the examination schools, as
I walked the impressive marble halls looking for my assigned seat, wearing my fancy
sub-fusc, I really felt part of history.

The thing about Oxford is that you can meet absolutely anyone. I wanted to talk to
the Theology Professor at Christ Church (my college), so I dropped him an email
and we had coffee together! Scholars are generally friendly and kind, and interested
in talking about their research and hearing about yours.

Even more exciting was attending my supervisors (Professor Colin Mayer) book
launch at Blackwells Bookshop last year. Before the launch I was looking around at
the beautiful Norrington Room of Blackwells, impressed by the variety and volume
of books and there was my supervisors book among them. Colin introduced me
to his family, friends and colleagues later that night as his doctoral student, and I
realised that I was part of a true scholarly tradition. The next morning I went back
to my research knowing where my work may end up one day.

The DPhil is a very entrepreneurial programme in the sense that you are in charge
of your work. If you want to do something, like go to a particular conference or
have a secondment to another university, it can usually be done. This also means
that you have to be active and push yourself. No one is going to spoon-feed you.

Mehmet Ihsan Canayaz

Mehmet is a DPhil candidate in Financial Economics. He is supervised by Professor
Colin Mayer and Dr Han zsylev, and he has been awarded the Sad Business
School Foundation (SBS-SBSF) DPhil Scholarship. He also won the Alastair
Ross Goobey Memorial Scholarship and the ICGN Scholarship, both granted by
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). Mehmets research interest is
in empirical corporate finance and primarily in corporate governance. He is currently
working on firm reputation, firm commitment and political economy.

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University of Oxford Doctoral Programme 2015/16

Ali Aslan Gmsay

Ali is a DPhil candidate in Organisation and Management Theory and
is based in the Novak Druce Centre for Professional Service Firms. His
thesis employs an institutional perspective to explore the intersection of
religion and organisations. In a related research project he looks at Islamic
Entrepreneurship, and has published in the Journal of Business Ethics and
the Journal of Management Development. Ali is supervised by Professor Sue
Dopson and Professor Tim Morris.

www.sbs.oxford.edu

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Student life in Oxford

As a graduate student at the University of Oxford, you will
be a member of one of its 38 colleges. You will apply to your
preferred colleges after you have been accepted on to the
DPhil programme.

An Oxford college is both an academic and a social community, and is central

to the Oxford experience. While the Sad Business School will be the focus
of your academic life, your college is your home in the University. It provides
accommodation, meals, common rooms, sports and social facilities, academic
support, intellectual stimulation and pastoral care.
Many DPhil students stay in college accommodation, which is located in or
around the city centre. It is also possible to rent privately. Both your college and
the Universitys accommodation office can help you find somewhere suitable
to live. Even if you are living out of college, you can still have meals there, take
advantage of its library and sports facilities, and participate in social events.
For a fuller idea of student life in Oxford, please read our DPhil student blogs:
http://programmes.sbsblogs.co.uk/category/programmes/dphil/

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Beyond Sad Business School

Oxford DPhils are now working in some of the worlds leading
business schools and research institutions. Graduates have
secured appointments at, among others:

Cornell University
Bristol Business School
Bocconi University
Sad Business School
University of Oxford
University of Reading
University of Cambridge
Moscow School of Management Studies
University of Technology, Sydney
University of Warwick
Warwick Business School
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
New York University

International Monetary Fund

Ivey Business School / Western Ontario
Renmin University of China
Ritsumeikan University
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Ecole des Mines, Paris
IAE Business School
Harvard Kennedy School/
Balfour Centre for Science
World Bank
Harvard University
Office of Financial Research

The academic freedom you enjoy is terrific.

From day one of the programme, the focus is
on your research and your personal progress.
The entire environment is extremely
supportive and encouraging, giving you
the freedom to explore, be creative with
your research, and really make it your own.
Everyone is very collegial and accessible, and
lots of high-profile academics come to visit,
so you dont just work with your supervisor,
but with an entire scholarly community.
In this sense, the programme is not about
just earning a degree, but genuinely about
preparing you for an academic career your
very own career.
My supervisor was a very keen squash
player and we both participated in our
college squash tournament. He happened
to have one of my chapters in his bag and
so in between matches we just sat on a
pile of exercise mats and went through
my latest ideas. It was a bit bizarre, but
a very powerful eye-opener about how
approachable faculty are here. I had not seen
that before.

Dr Michael Smets is Associate Professor in

Management and Organisation Studies and a
Research Fellow at Green Templeton College.
He is also a member of the Novak Druce
Centre for Professional Service Firms, based at
Sad Business School. His research focuses on
professional service firms (PSFs), especially their
internationalisation, innovation and regulation.
Michael studied at Cologne University in
Germany before joining Sad Business School
for his postgraduate education. He obtained
an MSc in Management Research and a DPhil
in Management before accepting a postdoc position jointly held by Sad Business
School and the School of Management at
the University of Alberta, Canada. Before rejoining Sad Business School full-time in 2013,
Michael was a Lecturer in Strategy at Aston
Business School, Birmingham.

Michael Smets

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Application requirements

The Oxford DPhil in Management Studies is organised into two possible research pathways.
The financial economics pathway is built on coursework in economics and finance, and embraces
research topics in asset-pricing and corporate finance, the design and regulation of securities
markets, corporate financial policy and the impact of financial markets on real economic activity.
The management research pathway is built on coursework in theories of organisations, institutions,
strategy, and markets, focuses on using both quantitative and qualitative methods in the wider field
of management studies, and engages research topics in organisations, operations management,
science/technology studies, international business, marketing, innovation studies, entrepreneurship,
and strategy.
We accept only the highest calibre candidates with the motivation to pursue a career in academic
research. We value excellence in academic preparation and accomplishments. The application
process does require submission of the GMAT/GRE, dated within the past five years, and evidence
of your ability in research-oriented written work. For further information, contact details, and to
apply, please see our website:

Funding
Over 90 percent of DPhil students receive
full-funding over four years, which includes
tuition fees and a living stipend. The
Admissions Office will help identify a suitable
scholarship for you during the course of
your doctoral application. Please contact the
Admissions Office for further information:
dphil@sbs.ox.ac.uk

www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/degrees/dphilmgmt/how-to-apply
All admissions decisions are made by a committee, not by individual faculty members, so it is not
necessary to contact potential supervisors directly to discuss your application.

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Oxford, OX1 1HP
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Sad Business School is one of

the worlds leading and most
entrepreneurial business schools.
An integral part of the University
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the academic rigour and forward
thinking that has made Oxford
a world leader in education. The
School is dedicated to developing
a new generation of business
leaders and entrepreneurs and
conducting research not only into
the nature of business, but the
connections between business
and the wider world.

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