SKEMA business school proposes a strong international standard base PhD in Management – called KTO (Knowledge, Technology and Organization) PhD. This PhD in Management combines disciplinary breadth and methodological depth. It prepares candidates for research and teaching careers at leading educational institutions where advanced research capabilities are required. This 4-year PhD programme is intensive – with high expectations for publication – and places major emphasis on independent inquiry, on competences in research methods and on ability to conduct team work.
Why to choose the SKEMA business PhD program in Management? The KTO PhD program offers:
1. Unique Research capabilities:
- The PhD programme is mostly supported by the Knowledge, Technology and Organization (KTO) research centre. The KTO research centre seeks to contribute to academic and policy debates about management challenges in a global knowledge based economy. The topics covered by the KTO centre include organization or entrepreneurship in relation with innovation and knowledge. The KTO centre also investigates various issues in strategy, international business, business ethics and emerging countries for instance. Professors from KTO have a strong record of publications in recognized international journals (such as Strategic Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of International Business Studies, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change etc. The KTO centre organizes international research workshops and seminars on a regular basis with participation of professors from the world’s leading universities. It also supports doctoral seminars where SKEMA PhD students and invited students are invited to present their research work.
- The KTO PhD also benefits from the expertise and competencies from other SKEMA business school research centres (e.g., the European Centre for Corporate Control Studies, Innovation and Competition Research Centre). Students will have the opportunity to meet faculty from other centres in methodological courses and during regular common seminars.
2. A truly international PhD:
- The KTO PhD in Management is a truly international programme. All courses and seminars are held in English and most students come from all over the world. Foreign professors from the best universities are regularly invited for research seminar or teaching.
- PhD students are encouraged to carry out periods of study abroad and spend periods in other partner universities in their third and fourth year of study.
- SKEMA Business School is a multi-campus business school located in France (Sophia Antipolis, Lille and Paris), North America (Raleigh, North Carolina) and China (Suzhou). Students have opportunities to visit other SKEMA campuses when useful for their research project or teaching experience.
3. Excellent working conditions:
- Assistantships are awarded every year through a financial aid package that fully covers tuition and provides an attractive stipend that can continue for up to four years in the programme.
- Funding for participation in leading in international conferences, seminars, colloquiums or workshops are available.
- Students have the possibility to access to a large and rich portfolio of databases (e.g., ORBIS, WRDS, Thomson One, etc.)
- The KTO PhD is located in the French Riviera in Sophia Antipolis, one of the most popular science parks in Europe with leading innovation clusters in electronics, aerospace, software, telecommunication, perfume and tourism etc.
4. Learning environment:
From inception, students become involved a research environment. In the first 3 months, each student is assigned a faculty sponsor for the first year and integrated in a department in relation with their area of specialization. Together the student, the director of the department and sponsor develop a plan of study and assistantship experience. Students begin discussing research with their sponsor in the fall of their first year with the goal of initiating a research project by the summer after the first year.
After the end of the first year, both sponsors and students can decide whether they wish to convert the relationship to one of supervisor-supervisee for the purpose of the dissertation. However, students always have the option to choose another supervisor. Students are also encouraged to find a co-supervisor in the course of their research project in particular when an external specific competence may be beneficial to the student’s advancement.
Finally, all along their PhD, students are proposed to teach in undergraduate or graduate programs to get a real teaching experience. They further attend and contribute to KTO and department meetings as members of SKEMA faculty.
How to enter to the PhD programme:
Admission to the KTO PhD programme is highly competitive. Admission decisions is made by a recruiting committee and rely on a number of factors including academic background (e.g., grades and training in mathematics, statistics and social sciences), research experience, test scores, aspirations, and fit with the research interests of our faculty. Download and fill in the KTO PhD Application form as soon as possible.