The PhD programme in Entrepreneurship at University of Essex – Essex Business School gives students the “opportunity to engage with debates surrounding entrepreneurship, such as knowledge production, organisational development and innovation in the new economy. Essex PhD candidates explore issues such as:
- entrepreneurial disengagement
- co-creation in social entrepreneurship
- cognitive entrepreneurship and over-optimism”
Areas of faculty research
- Economics of innovation
- Evolution of technology markets
- Technology Licensing & open innovation
- Ethics, politics and aesthetics of entrepreneurial leadership
- Migrant entrepreneurship
- SME management
- Women-led enterprises
- Entrepreneurship through bricolage
- M&As, innovation, networks and entrepreneurship
PhD students focused on Entrepreneurship at the University of Essex conduct their research under the auspices of the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship research group. They can also engage with the Hive Entreprise Centre, a dedicated business hub for start-up and growing businesses to develop case studies on growth-oriented enterprises and SMEs.
Doctoral candidates have the option to either follow a traditional dissertation route or instead work on a ‘three paper’ thesis where they produce and publish three research articles, each framed by an introduction and conclusion. As part of their curriculum, PhD students can also opt for the ‘Creating and Managing the New and Entrepreneurial Organisation’ module which brings in a practitioner’s perspective.
Of course, the core curriculum focuses on entrepreneurship theory and practice to help students acquire “information, knowledge and a critical understanding of economic, sociological, psychological and managerial theories of enterprise creation and development and how they apply in practice in the world of business and other organisations”.