University of Arkansas

Walton College

The Sam M. Walton College of Business

Strategy Entrepreneurship & Venture Innovation Ph.D

Strategy and Entrepreneurship Ph.D.

The Strategy and Entrepreneurship Ph.D. program, designed by the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation department (SEVI), offers students the opportunity to work directly with distinguished faculty to develop cutting-edge business research.

Program Overview

The Strategy and Entrepreneurship curriculum is designed for flexibility, with focused core courses in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, and elective courses in economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and public administration. The combination of a strong core and several areas of emphasis allows students to develop novel theoretical contributions and practical insights for managers, entrepreneurs, and their organizations.

Areas of Emphasis

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship explores how individuals recognize and exploit opportunities and develop new technologies and organizations. Students may further focus on social entrepreneurship, which examines how individuals or start-up companies develop, fund and implement solutions to social or environmental issues.

Strategy and the Business Environment

Strategy and the Business Environment focuses on how business uses strategies such as lobbying and financial contributions to politicians or PACs to achieve superior performance.  It also focuses on how other actors in the business environment, such as social movement activists, regulatory agencies and the judiciary, affect business performance.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility explores how companies simultaneously address the expectations of shareholders and external stakeholders concerned with social and environmental issues. It often involves a “Triple-Bottom-Line" approach through which a company achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives.

Micro Foundations of Strategy and Entrepreneurship

Micro foundations of strategy and entrepreneurship explores the broad impact that individuals have on new and established organizations. It integrates individual-level and firm-level perspectives to understand how individual characteristics such as personality and values shape important organizational outcomes including firm performance, strategy, new value creation, and financial capital acquisition.

SEVI Ph.D. Degree

Strategy and Entrepreneurship Ph.D.

SEVI Faculty
View faculty and research interests

Duration of Program: 4-5 years

Program Start Date: Fall

Application Deadline:
December 15

Curriculum Overview
View a Course Listing

Admissions Information
View Info and Requirements

Required Test: GMAT or GRE


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Program Structure

The Ph.D. program in Strategy and Entrepreneurship is designed to ensure that students receive an exposure to the broad areas of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, develop the conceptual skills and methodological tools necessary to design and conduct independent research, and develop the skills and experience necessary to teach at all levels of higher education. The program requires an educational background in business, sociology, political science, or economics. Students without this educational background may also be admitted but may be required to take up to 3 master's level courses in one of these areas.

 

SEVI Program of Study

Required Courses 13 credit hours
 
Choose one of the following:
 
Supporting Fields 
Choose four courses from the following:12 credit hours

Supporting courses can include the below options or equivalent courses as approved by the Ph.D. Coordinator.

  • PSYC 5063
  • PSYC 6373
  • WLLC 575V
  • SCMT 6443
  • ISYS 6833
  • MGMT 6011
  • MGMT 636V
  • SEVI 636V
  • MGMT 6233
  • MGMT6113

Courses for the supporting fields requirement are selected in consultation with the student's Ph.D. Advisory Committee. All courses taken for the Supporting Fields must be at the graduate level and/or taken for graduate credit. In certain circumstances, and with the approval of the student's advisor and Ph.D. coordinator, a student may request permission to substitute a graduate course not listed here.

Research Requirements 18 credit hours

Research methods courses can include the below options or equivalent courese as approved by the Ph.D. Coordinator.

 

 

Choose 12 hours from the following:

  • MKTG 6433
  • PSYC 5133
  • PSYC 5143
  • COMM 5173
  • PADM 5803
  • PUBP 6143
  • ISYS 6733
  • ESRM 6533
  • ISYS 5723
  • PLSC 5943
  • ESRM 6423
  • MGMT 636V
  • SEVI 636V

Courses used to meet the Research Requirements will be selected in consultation with the student's Ph.D. Advisory Committee and should support the student's program of study. The courses should provide the student with a knowledge of advanced descriptive and inferential statistics, research design, and research methods. In certain circumstances, and with the approval of the student's advisor and Ph.D. coordinator, a student may request to substitute a graduate course not listed here.

 
Dissertation 18 credit hours

 



Admissions Requirements for
the Ph.D. Programs

Applicants who wish to apply for the doctoral program in SEVI must submit their application to the Graduate School of Business by December 15.

Learn more about admissions requirements.

Placements

 

Faculty Research Interests and Highlights

Michael Cummings’ research interests include the social and environmental impact of entrepreneurial activity, as well as financing for early-stage ventures. His research on social and environmental entrepreneurship examines how entrepreneurs measure and communicate the nonfinancial value they create. His entrepreneurial finance research addresses how entrepreneurs attract resources through crowdfunding as well as how migrants and their financial remittances affect the availability of new venture funding in developing countries.
Alan Ellstrand’s research focuses on corporate governance, top management teams, and executive leadership. His early work focused on the influence of board composition on firm performance. More recently he has examined a variety of issues including executive retirement and the implications of gender on executive leadership.
Jake Grandy’s research agenda spans entrepreneurship, strategy and the business environment, and corporate social responsibility. His work explores how both new ventures and established firms influence and are influenced by external stakeholders (such as government, social movement organizations, the media, consumers, local communities). He draws on institutional theory, social movements theory and stakeholder theory to examine this issue in the context of corporate social responsibility.

 

 

Oleg Petrenko's research broadly focuses on the micro-foundations of strategy in large corporation and new venture contexts. Specifically, he is interested in examining the psychology of executives and entrepreneurs and how it impacts strategic decision-making and firm performance.
Jason Ridge’s research interests focus on both corporate political activity and strategic leadership. From the political perspective his current research focuses on the firm-government interface, specifically focusing on how firms utilize political activities to manage their regulatory environment. His strategic leadership focused research considers how executive characteristics and compensation influence strategic decision making.
Dan Worrell’s research interests include the areas of corporate social responsibility, business strategy and business schools’ alignment with and support of faculty research.