Areas of Specialization
The Esade PhD Program prepares you for a career in research and teaching. Highly individualized, the doctoral program allows students to pursue their own areas of interest. The program is full time and emphasizes a strong foundation in both methodological and theoretical training. Candidates are expected to work closely with the Esade faculty members.
Areas of specialization parallel the strengths of the Esade faculty members. You will have an opportunity to do in depth study in the specialization that most interest you.
Operations, Innovation, and Data Sciences area
Areas of study in Operations Innovation, and Data Sciences include research in three sub-domains: First, the impact of technology on management and organizations, focusing on the digital transformation of organizations, collaborative systems, and the development of tools and techniques to support decision-making. Second innovation in organizations, knowledge management and artificial intelligence, focusing on changing and adaptable environments, such as smart cities and communities. Third operations research investigates activities that transform input into value for the customer with a focus on supply chain management, service design and operations strategies, sustainable and global operations and intra- and inter-organizational innovation capabilities. Our faculty boasts a strong impact in these areas, publishing numerous articles in the top journals in each field and serving as editors and editorial board members of top journals.
Associated Department: Operations, Innovation, and Data Sciences.
Main Research Lines: Artificial Intelligence for Decision-Making, Innovation Management, Operations and Sustainability Practices to Business Networks.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Unit: Research Group on Knowledge Engineering, Business Network Dynamics (BuNeD), Institute for Innovation and Knowledge Management (IIK).
Organizational Behaviour
Organizational Behaviour research draws on a broad range of social science disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, and economics to explore the behavior of individuals, groups, and organizations with the aim of advancing our understanding of business and society.
Organizational Behaviour Research on a variety of topics that span the study of individuals, groups, organizations, and markets. At the micro-level level organizational behavior research investigates leadership, group and team dynamics, identity, diversity, individual learning, and individual networks. At the macro-level, research investigates organizational ecology, governance, organizational learning, networks, institutions, and markets. These two sub-areas employ an array of different research methodologies that include experimental designs, clinical observation, qualitative interviews, surveys, econometrics, and the analysis of large databases.
Associated Departments: People Management and Organization and Strategy and General Management.
Main Research Lines: Human Resources, Leadership & Competences development.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Units: Leadership Development Research Centre (GLEAD), Institute for Innovation and Knowledge Management (IIK), Esadegov Center for Public Governance.
Marketing
Marketing research inquiries into consumer behavior, stakeholder behavior, and firm behavior, and the development of methods for improving the allocation of marketing resources. The discipline covers the design and delivery of brands, products and services, pricing, distribution, and promotion. Marketing also investigates the resource allocation among product/market combinations. Marketing draws from a wide range of disciplines: psychology, anthropology, sociology, and economics.
Associated Department: Marketing Management.
Main Research Lines: Branding, Consumer Behaviour & Pricing.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Unit: Research Group on Brand Management.
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Strategy research investigates how companies and industries around develop and sustain competitive advantage in a globalized economy. One stream of research uses insights about firms and industries from economics as a basis for understanding business strategy. Another tradition in strategic management combines strategy and organizational theory and focuses on the study of strategy processes and outcomes.
Entrepreneurship research investigates the creation and growth of new organizations and markets, the creation of new businesses within existing firms, innovation, and family business in a globalized economy. Entrepreneurship draws from a broad range of social sciences such as economics, sociology, and psychology.
Associated Department: Strategy and General Management
Main Research Lines: Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Family Business, Public Management, and Geopolitics.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Units: Esade Entrepreneurship Institute (EEI), Observatory of Spanish Multinational Companies (OEME), Esadegov Center for Public Governance.
Social Innovation
The faculty members of the Institute for Social Innovation train researchers who contribute to advance the understanding of the role, place, and responsibility of business in society. The research projects pursued by its faculty members cover a diverse set of research domains that include, for example, Corporate Social Responsibility in the mining industry, leadership in nonprofit organizations, the dynamics of conflict and collaboration between business and NGOs, the impact of micro-credit, and the role of users in sustainability innovation.
Associated Research Departments: Society, Politics and Sustainability and Strategy and General Management.
Main Research Lines: CSR, Business Ethics, and Corporate Values, Social Entrepreneurship & NGOs, Sustainability, Environmental Challenges, and Social Responsibility.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Unit: Institute for Social Innovation.
Finance
Finance investigates the determinants of investment, portfolio, and financing choices of firms and individuals, and their mutual interactions. Finance research is both theoretical and empirical. It uses a variety of tools ranging from game theory to econometrics and statistics. Research in finance at Esade includes market microstructure, corporate finance, and credit risks.
Accounting research investigates market and institutional forces that affect the production and use of information by organizations (individual, firms, non-profit, governments). Research in accounting at Esade includes capital market research, management control systems, and performance measurement systems.
Associated Department: Economics, Finance and Accounting.
Main Research Lines: Economics & Finance.
Faculty Affiliated to Research Units: Group for Research in Economics and Finance (GREF).