ANNOUNCE: Georgia Tech PhD Program in Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

Please distribute widely to any potentially interested student.  Thank you (and apologies for cross-posting).

Georgia Institute of Technology - College of Management
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Strategic Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

The Strategic Management Area at Georgia Tech's College of Management (COM)
seeks Qualified Applicants for their Ph.D. program

Have you ever thought about getting a Ph.D.?  A doctoral degree qualifies you to pursue an academic career as a researcher and educator.  An academic career provides not only tremendous intellectual freedom, but makes it possible to work with bright young people throughout your life.  You really can make a difference through the scholarly research you create, and the lives you shape through your teaching.  The life style is great, and the pay is good!  Frequently, Ph.D. graduates' starting salary range from $110K to $170K, depending on placement, which is largely determined by performance in the doctoral program.  Graduates from the GT's Strategy PhD program have recently taken tenure-track positions at some of the world's leading universities like the University of Virginia.  Moreover, the job market for Strategy Ph.D.s has been strong, and in recent years more positions have been available than candidates pursuing jobs.  Thus, it is not surprising that the position of a university professor is frequently ranked as one of the most desirable jobs in the world.

Why in Strategic Management?   As the integrative discipline in business management, strategy is both interesting and fun.  The unifying element of strategy research is driven by answering the question of why do some firms outperform their competitors? To answer this critical question, researchers draw on different disciplines, such as economics and sociology, to study the critical roles that managers, technologies, and business relationships play in determining why some companies do better than others.  The Strategy Area at GT focuses on strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Why at Georgia Tech?  GT's Ph.D. program is strongly research oriented, and emphasizes the early involvement of our students in research projects with world-wide leading faculty. The Ph.D. program places significant weight on learning outside the classroom.  Given the small size of the program, the tutorial-mentor model is the primary educational approach employed.  Thus, doctoral students experience significant attention and support by a diverse set of world-class faculty.  

At Georgia Tech, the study of strategic management is interdisciplinary and integrative, providing focus in the areas of technology and innovation management, entrepreneurship, and international management.  The Strategic Management area represents a strong community of active researchers pursuing a wide variety of interests.  See http://mgt.gatech.edu/fac_research/acad_areas/stg_mgt.html for more information.

GT Strategy Ph.D. students are successful.  They have published in leading academic journals (e.g., Industrial and Corporate Change, Organization Science, Research Policy, and Strategic Management Journal), and their research has been included in the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.  Strategy Ph.D. students have presented research at prestigious conferences held in the U.S. and Europe like the Academy of Management Meetings, Atlanta Competitive Advantage Conference (ACAC), Roundtable for Engineering Entrepreneurship Research (REER), Strategic Management Society Conference, and the Technology Transfer Society (T2S) Conference.  They have been included in by-invitation-only conferences and invited to present research at places like the Harvard Business School, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  A current student has won a competitive Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship and College of Management Teaching Award.  Another student holds one of the coveted GT's Presidential Fellowships.  Job placements continue to be strong.

Here is what some current Ph.D. students have to say about Georgia Tech's Ph.D. program in strategic management: 

. I selected the Georgia Tech Ph.D. program in Strategic Management over several others because I found good synergy between my research interests and those of the faculty in the program here.  The strategy faculty has a strong commitment to fields such as innovation, high technology, international issues and entrepreneurship.  The multi-disciplinary approach is encouraged through a variety of classroom settings and research activities.  
. The program in strategy is has a strong research emphasis in innovation, which is unique among all the top management Ph.D. programs. After spending a year, I am impressed by the academic atmosphere here: there is round-the-clock hard-work going on in every corner of this brand-new building, but there is fun among us as we enjoy life, and there is frequent cooperation between faculty from different departments, and there is a culture that encourages students and faculty to work together closely.
. Many new Ph.D. students are concerned about finding a faculty member whose research interests overlap with their own.  I have found that at Georgia Tech, this concern is mitigated both by the faculty's breadth of research interests and willingness to help young researchers. 
. The Georgia Tech Ph.D. program has encouraged my intellectual growth and provided a challenging environment in which to learn how to be a successful faculty member at a top-level research university.  
. There exists a rare balance in the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech between allowing young researchers the freedom to explore their own interests and giving them the guidance to create exemplary research. 
. Faculty are very supportive in developing each student's research ability.
. At the end of my 3rd year, I am confident I have made a good choice for my doctoral study.  The research active faculty are approachable and willing to work on joint projects with Ph.D. students.  I have already had several opportunities to present papers at academic conferences both domestically and abroad.    

The COM at Georgia Tech is the home of an NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training program, Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER, see http://tiger.gatech.edu/), as well as a US Department of Education funded Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER, see http://www.ciber.gatech.edu/).  Additional information about Georgia Tech's COM and its faculty is available at: http://mgt.gatech.edu/  The Strategic Management area represents a strong community of active researchers pursuing a diversity of interests (See http://mgt.gatech.edu/fac_research/acad_areas/stg_mgt.html for more information).  The strategy area at Georgia Tech hosts and co-sponsors leading annual research conferences like the Roundtable for Engineering Entrepreneurship Research (REER) and the Atlanta Competitive Advantage Conference (ACAC), which provide an opportunity to mingle with world-wide leading scholars in entrepreneurship and strategy.

How do I finance the program, and how do I apply?  If admitted to the program, you will be fully funded to go to school to get your degree!  Your tuition will be waived, and you'll receive a generous stipend, etc.  Application deadline is January 15th for admission in the following fall semester (August 15th). All relevant financial information, including the application package is online at http://mgt.gatech.edu/programs/phd.html?link=left_info_for   The strategy area will consider applicants that took either the GMAT or the GRE.

Contact the strategy Ph.D. coordinator, Professor Frank T. Rothaermel at frank.rothaermel at mgt.gatech.edu for any remaining questions.

More About Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech's College of Management is, when considering all business schools, ranked 22nd by U.S. News & World Report (#7 in public schools), and top 50 by Business Week, and 15th in Forbes among public schools.  The College of Management is housed in a new, state-of-the-art $57million facility, which is part of the $260 million building complex of Technology Square in midtown Atlanta, in addition to Georgia Tech's Business School, the GT Conference Center and Hotel, the Global Learning Center, the Economic Development Institute, and the Advanced Technology and Development Center (ADTC), one of the leading incubators in the United States.  

The Georgia Institute of Technology (http://www.gatech.edu) is one of the nation's top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology.  Georgia Tech's campus occupies 400 acres in the heart of the city of Atlanta, where more than 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a focused, technologically based education.  Georgia Tech consistently ranks among U.S. News & World Report's top ten public universities in the United States.  In a world that increasingly turns to technology for solutions, Georgia Tech is using innovative teaching and advanced research to define the technological university of the 21st century.

About Atlanta: Atlanta, home to over 4 million people, is the 9th largest metropolitan area in the US, and one of the fastest growing cities.  It serves as cultural and economic hub of the southeastern U.S., with world-class shopping, outstanding restaurants, and five professional sports teams.  Compared to other large cities, Atlanta offers a lower cost of living and excellent weather.  About 120,000 companies have operations here, and Atlanta is 3rd in the list of cities with the most Fortune 500 Headquarters.  Atlanta is home to corporate giants like Home Depot, Coca-Cola, CNN, Newell Rubbermaid, UPS, Georgia-Pacific, Equifax, and Delta Air Lines.  Atlanta is one of the top 10 places for business and careers (by Forbes) and one of the top 25 U.S. cities for entrepreneurs (Entrepreneur magazine and Dun & Bradstreet).  Atlanta's international airport, the world's busiest, makes Georgia Tech readily accessible to any part of the world - 80% of the U.S. population is within a two-hour flight.  Atlanta is also one of the top 5 U.S. cities for singles (by Forbes), one of the top 40 cities for families (by Child.com), and the #1 city for African-Americans (by Black Enterprise magazine).  For more information, see www.atlanta.net/movinghere/index.asp.