Possible areas of Ph.D. projects – Management

Ph.D. in Internationalization and Enterprise Growth

Supervisor: Jerzy Cieślik Ph.D. and Eugeniusz Kąciak Ph.D.

The objective of the project is to study the relationship between international involvement and company growth and performance. The research will focus on internationalized high growth firms; that is, those that use exports and international business operations as a vehicle for accelerated growth. The longitudinal database which has already been created in the Center for Entrepreneurship at Kozminski University can be used for the elaboration of several doctoral dissertations within the framework of a broader research undertaking. The data set covers over 4000 so called Polish gazelles. The research will use mostly quantitative methods, particularly the econometric analysis of panel data, combined with factor and cluster analyses. The use of mixed methods is also possible, i.e. combining econometric analysis with case studies or interviews. The findings derived from the research will form a base upon which to build a theory explaining the existing patterns and functional characteristics of internationalized high growth firms within a broader framework of the theory of the growth of the firm. Thus, the research aims to fill the gap in the existing body of knowledge concerning the relationship between engagement in international operations and company growth.

Keywords: internationalization, high-growth firm, exporting, gazelle

Ph.D. in international business: the effectiveness of public support for SMEs internationalisation

Supervisor: Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič Ph.D.

All over the world governments undertake various support programs and initiatives to help small and medium sized firms operate in foreign markets. However, research evidence indicates that only a small portion of SMEs is aware of existence of such programs and even less actively uses them. The effectiveness of different kinds of public support (financial vs. nonfinancial) is also triggering a hot debate. Therefore, the main objective of the dissertation is to examine the effectiveness of the government’s export support programs in the context of Polish SMEs. Research methodology will include both quantitative and qualitative approach.

Keywords: public support, export, small and medium sized enterprises

Ph.D. in international business: Learning from failure

Supervisor: Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič Ph.D.

Key reasons that explain why firm engage in internationalisation include: search for new markets, resources and efficiency gains. While there is much research evidence that supports the positive relationship between internationalisation and performance, we should also recognize that there is another edge of international business strategy. Entry into foreign markets may also be a risky move: instead of gains firms experience losses, and finally divest. The objective of this dissertation is to explore the phenomenon of failure in international markets, and whether (and how) such learning is accumulated and leveraged in other markets. The dissertation will employ qualitative methods (multiple case-study).

Keywords: internationalization failure, exit strategy, learning

Ph.D. in international business: Traditional and internet based SMEs – from ‘distance’ to ‘virtuality’ trap

Supervisor: Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič Ph.D.

Research evidence indicates that on-line channel enhances export performance. However, when SMEs treat Internet as an alternative to traditional channels they may end up in a ‘virtuality’ trap (Sinkovics et al. 2013). This specifically concerns ‘born-globals’ operating in virtual environment. The objective of this dissertation is to explore the challenges faced by Polish internet-based SMEs that are internationally oriented. And a key question is how to overcome a virtuality trap. Research methodology will include both quantitative and qualitative approach.

Keywords: virtuality trap, internationlisation strategy, born-globals

Ph.D. in management/strategy/interfirm cooperation

Supervisor: Monika Golonka Ph.D.

Interfirm cooperation has been recognized as one of the major ways of competing. Firms can obtain an access to the “network resources” by creating interfirm ties and participating in networks of ties. Cooperation with many various partners seems to be the first considered strategy especially in small and medium enterprises. Existing literature widely recognizes many aspects of effective interfirm cooperation, and its meaning for firms. In the previous research several approaches to analyzing interfirm cooperation have been used (dyadic alliance, alliance portfolio, networks of ties, etc.). However, there is still enormous number of unsolved research problems and questions that need to be answered.

The objective of this Ph.D. project is to identify research gaps and examine interfirm cooperation incorporating alliance portfolio approach/network analysis, managerial perspective, and institutional context. Both qualitative, and quantitative methods will be used, as well as various techniques (interviews, questionnaires, database-based analysis).

Keywords: Interfirm cooperation, alliance, managerial perspective, institutional context

Ph.D. in performance management in hybrid organizations

Supervisor: Prof. Giuseppe Grossi

In the wake of NPM we have experienced a “marketisation” of the public sector and with that an increase in the number of hybrid organisations that combine the features from public sector organisations with those from private sector organisations. The various cases of hybrid solutions in Europe and elsewhere (such as purchaser–provider models, contracting out, outsourcing/commissioning, corporatization, public–private partnerships, co-production, etc.) create new accountability problems in terms of governance, and performance management. Increasingly, we also find networks delivering public services where public,non-profit and commercial organizations are collaborating in different sectorial contexts (for examplewater, energy, transport, healthcare, education). The objective of this Ph.D. project is to identify innovative research questions on hybrid organizations with an inter-disciplinary perspective (public management, accounting, organization, etc.). The expectation is that these questions will be examined using qualitative research methods and sources (case studies, interviews, observations, etc.).

Keywords: hybrid organizations, performance management, qualitative study

Ph.D. management/strategy in open source, knowledge-intensive work, or the digital society revolution
Supervisor:Prof.DariuszJemielniak

Open collaboration and peer production organizational models (epitomized by such successful endeavours as Wikipedia, Apache, Linux, or Mozilla Firefox) have a potential to redefine the society and markets we operate in. This is so, as they successfully rely on dispersed contributions model in a-hierarchical environment. They form largely understudied and little understood phenomena, and as such they offer a unique chance to contribute to the body of science with a truly novel dissertation, actually expanding our understanding of the social world.

If you are interested in the emerging management and strategy models, including open collaboration and peer production, but also reaching further to the more general topic of knowledge-intensive work (software engineers, lawyers, and other professionals), let’s talk.

Similarly, come over if you are fascinated by the topics of new digital media distribution channels (including piracy), or the issues of knowledge legitimation online (why do people believe anti-vaccine websites? how does the DIY biology movement organize through the Internet?), new forms of governance and organizing (FB, Twitter, Snapchat), social resistance to control (Tor, Signal, the Anonymous), as well as new the forms of crowd production (memes, blogs, remix culture).

PH.D. in Family Business
Supervisor: Prof. IzabelaKoładkiewicz

Family companies are among the key actors in every economy. Their input into its development is undisputed. In spite of this, they continue to be a barely identified phenomenon. Our knowledge about them remains patchy and fragmentary although it is unnecessary to convince anyone as to the specific nature of family businesses. This is determined by the overlapping in them of two systems—the family system and the company system. In investigating family businesses it is necessary to remember to take into account the role of the owner–family in the operations and development of the company. Among key research challenges created by family companies is succession, which encompasses the transfer of knowledge, ownership, and authority between the older and younger generations. An important challenge is also the identification of the role of the owner–family in both crisis situations and in the quest for a recipe for company success. It is in the context of the latter aspect that special interest is stirred by the building of company innovativeness, creativity generating the added value of the network of relations, and the search for new foreign markets. The above list in no way exhausts research possibilities inherent in family businesses, where the objective of this Ph.D. project is to examine family businesses from the selected perspective. The expectation is that these issues will be examined using qualitative research methods and sources (case studies, interviews, observations, etc.).

Keywords: family business, succession, knowledge management, corporate social responsibility, innovations.
Ph.D. in Corporate Governance

Supervisor: Prof. IzabelaKoładkiewicz

The challenges facing the corporate governance system (CG) are growing in line with the complexity of modern corporations. To a great extent, its effectiveness is defined by its success, where an important dimension is the trust given by stakeholders of the capital market. A basic internal mechanism of the CG system—which takes part in its building—is the board of directors / supervisory board. Much has already been written about the board, but the rapidly changing economic world is resulting in the appearance of ever–new challenges to face. The objective of this Ph.D. project is to identify new challenges that are faced by today’s board of directors / supervisory board and to find the best way to meet them. The expectation is that these issues will be examined using qualitative research methods and sources (case studies, interviews, observations, etc.).

Keywords: corporate governance, board of directors / supervisory board, board dynamic / board capital, corporate governance best practices.

Area of PhD: trust and distrust within and between organizations Supervisor: Prof.DominikaLatusek – Jurczak

Trust has been recognized as an importantphenomenon in shaping cooperative relations within and between organizations. It has been claimed to be a key to successful management. Recently, however, this unidimensional view is being questioned. It is being indicated that unconditional trust may actually be detrimental for organizational endeavours and interorganisational cooperation as well. It has been also noted that mistrust, when controlled and prudently managed, can be beneficially ingrained into managerial practices. Topics related to interorganisational management, issues of trust and distrust building, breaking and repairing, as well as social networks and social capital-related themesare welcomed from potential PhD students.

Ph.D. in cross-cultural management

Supervisor: SławomirMagalaPh.D.

Contemporary cultural climates are warming up much more quickly than the waters of our oceans and the air of our atmosphere. And yet, we all talk about carbon dioxide and not about global mourning of Lady Di. Cultural industries emerge from the shadows of states and markets, displaying dynamics of their own. There are two major factors responsible for the acceleration of these processes of cultural warming up and change. First, the globalization of market economy has accelerated the multilevel conflicts of class, gender, age, race, religion and other fault lines dividing networks and societies and sustaining the old or generating the new inequalities. Second, the spread of mass media and social media in ICT/GSM platforms, linking most human communities as communication audiences, mobilized movements and parties for change. Old political labels do not stick. Wikileaks and twitters trump TV news and newspaper headlines. Both the most radical US presidential candidate (Sanders) and the most conservative one (Trump) criticize corporate greed and call for a redistribution of capitalist wealth before the forthcoming elections, and so does the Pope in Cuba. At the same time professional monopolies of politicians, priests, lawyers, medical doctors, university professors or media journalists are being broken by popular access to databases and the bottom-up build-up of civic networks, initiatives and societies. If you still want to invest in your professional career in one of the most stable educational bureaucracies, brace yourself up for interpretative, qualitative, participative action research approach.

Keywords: cross-cultural influences, global networks, management of meaning, qualitative research methods

Ph.D. in Digital Marketing

Supervisor: GrzegorzMazurek Ph.D.

For the last two decades, Internet, digital technologies and virtualization processes have been considered as developing phenomena in management and marketing studies, particularly within the context of creation of inter- and intra-organizational networks, customer relationship management, e-commerce, social media along with the appreciation of intangible assets (information and knowledge). In cybermarketing era, companies have to deal with new challenges of collaboration, customers’ engagement and value network creation. The proposed research studies shall be focused on the understanding and analysis of the multifaceted impact of the Internet on marketing – its concept, activities and managerial aspects such as organization of marketing actions – going much beyond simple “e-marketing” perspective. They shall particularly identify the relationship between the marketing virtualization and the company’s performance, showing the impact of such processes on the effectiveness and efficiency of a company, identifying changes which appear in managerial aspects of marketing activities.

Keywords: digital marketing, social media marketing, management of marketing activities, customer relationship management, international Internet marketing

Ph.D. in strategic entrepreneurship

Supervisor: Prof.Krzysztof Obłój

Covin and Miles (1999) distinguish four types of (SE) Strategic Entrepreneurship: domain redefinition, strategic renewal, sustained regeneration, and organizational rejuvenation. From this perspective SE deals with radical strategic decisions related to positioning through innovation, change, differentiation and cost leadership in any type of organization– so it is very close or almost equivalent to strategic management and organization theory. But more specific perspective on strategic entrepreneurship underlines that it focuses on combination of entrepreneurial action with strategic action that generates competitive advantage. In CEE we can make strategic entrepreneurship studies even more specific in several ways. We can add context asking if country specific factors matter and create constraints and opportunities sets for local entrepreneurs. We can leverage the problem of critical resources missing in CEE asking how entrepreneurs deal with this issue short and long term? We bring individual back to the entrepreneurial studies and entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial insight are important themes in modern entrepreneurial studies. Focusing on CEE we see that local entrepreneurs imitate, they excel in good enough products or services, they leverage local needs and problems. Is it because of different mental models of entrepreneurs in transition economies or local entrepreneurs do not aim at the insights leading to creation or discovery of big opportunities at all? In general, studies of entrepreneurship in CEE are rather interesting because the environment is still in flux, institutions in making and entrepreneurial practice still develops.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, opportunities, risk-taking, proactiveness, optimism, mental maps, motives

Ph.D. in strategic management

Supervisor: Prof.Krzysztof Obłój

Strategic management is a theory of company effectiveness. It is a difficult, technical, and multidisciplinary field at the intersection of modern microeconomics, financial theory, organizational studies, marketing, quantitative methods and social psychology. As a practice, strategic management is a search for the best way for companies to develop. This is why the simplest definition of strategy is a coherent and effective response to environmental challenges. Strategy is a coherent concept of action based on a few complementary key choices that allows companies to benefit from opportunities to build competitive advantage and to earn above average results. "Strategy" as described by Sun-Tzu in the book Art of war from the 6th century b.c., discussed by 17th century samurai Musashi Miyamoto in the Book of five rings, in the classical treatise About war by Clusewitz, or by Micheal Porter in his famous work Competitive strategy, has a different meaning but always includes common elements: a set of choices made by top managers using company resources and opportunities from the environment to improve effectiveness of a company's activities. These simple elements create huge research opportunities that we still pursue in our studies: how the environmental landscape of modern industries and firms change because of institutional changes, co-optition, complementators, competitive moves of new entrants, political turmoil? How companies adapt to these changes? What are the cognitive, normative and regulatory drivers of key strategic choices? Do leaders really matter? How strategies evolve over time? Etc.

Keywords: industry, competition, strategy, dominant logic, strategic moves, execution, incentives, agency, transaction costs

Ph.D. in Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CSR)
Supervisor: Prof.Boleslaw Rok

CSR can provide an integrating opportunity for businesses, communities, governments and civil society actors to construct a virtuous cycle of growth and long-term positive outcomes. We can observe that many large and small businesses are firmly engaged in the sustainability agenda and a number are fundamentally re-examining the way they do business as a result. Social and environmental issues, once assumed to be the domains of government and non-governmental organizations, continue to move up the corporate leadership agenda in terms of ethical responsibility. But the increasing complexity of sustainability and responsibility creates different barriers for researchers and practitioners. The objective of this Ph.D. project is to identify research gaps and analyse to what extent the ideal of mutual responsiveness and shared responsibility among stakeholders is feasible in commercial settings, enabling sustainable value creation. Both qualitative, and quantitative methods will be used.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability Management, Multi-Stakeholder Partnership.

Ph.D. in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Supervisor: Prof.Boleslaw Rok

It becomes evident that new ways of sustainable consumption and production must be found to achieve sustainability’s short-term, intra-generational, goal of meeting the needs of the present and its long-term, inter-generational, goal of an enduring utilisation of resources. Social entrepreneurship is seen to represent a route both to solving some of the main social and environmental problems that the world faces and to new ways of creating jobs and positive economic impact. Main issues in social entrepreneurship development are connected to citizen engagement, collaboration, access, sharing resources, emerging nonfinancial measures and scalable solutions to sustainability challenges. Socially minded innovators are motivated by primarily “make a difference” goals. However, despite the growing body of knowledge on social entrepreneurship and innovation, little is known about the processes whereby the integration of social mission and commercial instruments really contributes to smart, inclusive and sustainable solutions to our societal challenges.The objective of this Ph.D. project is to analyse the possibilities to minimize negative environmental impact and at the same time improve positive social impact, through hybrid models leveraging the capabilities of multiple actors.