Katz Graduate School of Business - Doctoral Program

The Doctoral Program in Business Administration seeks to prepare students for careers in research and teaching in management and related areas at leading business schools and universities. This is accomplished by fostering a learning environment in which students can achieve intellectual growth and fulfillment. Successful completion of the doctoral program therefore entails much more than the satisfaction of a set of formal requirements. Doctoral students are expected to assess their knowledge and skills in regular consultation with the faculty and to develop a set of educational experiences that will fulfill their needs and facilitate the pursuit of personal goals.

Contact Information

Director

Doctoral Program

Katz Graduate School of Business

282 Mervis Hall

Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone: (412) 648-1522

Web site: http://www.katz.pitt.edu/

Application Procedures

All application materials must be submitted by February 1 of the year of expected entry into the program. The basic prerequisite for admission to the doctoral program is the equivalent of an American bachelor's degree. Many applicants also have advanced degrees and professional experience. Scores on the GMAT or GRE (as well as on the TOEFL for international students) are required, along with recommendation letters and transcripts.

Financial Aid

Most financial aid for doctoral students is in the form of an assistantship that requires research and some teaching. The assistantship provides a stipend, tuition remission, and health insurance. Assistantships are available to domestic as well as international students. Funds associated with specific research projects are sometimes available to students, and faculty often help students obtain funding for dissertation research.

Sequence of Study

Progress to the PhD consists of, in order: the seminar phase, comprehensive examinations, and the dissertation. Students complete coursework in the seminar phase. This is the time during which the student sets scholarly standards and goals. Every student prepares a written statement called the Field Statement upon declaring a major and minor. This is also the time to form relationships with faculty members and begin developing research skills.

Most doctoral courses involve research projects and the majority of students, including all those with assistantships, work on faculty research from an early stage.

Formal requirements in the seminar phase are:

Comprehensive examinations are written and oral examinations in the major and minor. Each student's exams are designed individually, focusing on the area(s) of specialty. The student is expected to demonstrate comprehensive ability, meaning the ability to synthesize and build on all that he or she has learned. The dissertation is independent research on a problem of significant size and importance. Students choose a Dissertation Committee to guide them through the process. Once a sizable part of the research has been completed, the student must take an Overview Examination—a final check on the viability and worth of the project—before writing and defending the dissertation. For more details on requirements of doctoral students, see Regulations Pertaining to Doctoral Degrees.

Timeline to Graduation

Most students earn the PhD in four to five years. The seminar phase typically lasts two years, while the comprehensive exams and the dissertation together require an additional two to three years to complete.

Placement

The Katz School's goal is to place PhD graduates in universities that consistently produce high quality business research, and a successful record has been established in this regard. Alumni are on leading faculties worldwide, from the London Business School to the University of Southern California. Other alumni across the U.S. teach at the Universities of Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, and many more.

PhD placement is a high-priority for Katz faculty and a formal support system has been established for this purpose. Starting at least a year before graduation, faculty members in the student's area(s) of interest help the student to clarify career plans and to identify, as well as screen, position openings. Faculty then pave the way with introductions and recommendations, and guide students through the interviewing and networking process at professional conferences.

Individual Program Design

The school offers structured doctoral programs in the following areas:

• Accounting
• Artificial Intelligence
• Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy
• Finance
• Information Systems
• Marketing
• Operations Management
• Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
• Strategic Planning and Organizational Studies

Within the framework of these nine standard programs, every PhD student plans a unique, individual course of study. A student may choose any of the nine areas as a major or as a secondary course of study. Also, a minor based on courses from another department may be appropriate if it is distinctive and supports the major area.

Each of the areas of study provides additional choices to meet student interests and developmental needs. All have subspecialties; all explore a range of current topics. In addition, to expand the option in the core areas, students are invited to draw on courses and research opportunities from anywhere in the Katz School, in other parts of the University, or in other institutions.

Two goals must be balanced in planning an individual program. One is to acquire a sound body of knowledge in recognized disciplines and methods. The other is to choose a mix of courses, mentors, and research topics geared to the student's own interests and talents. Ideally this will lead to a truly original dissertation, followed by a career of meaningful research.

Accounting

The doctoral program in accounting provides an opportunity for study in a variety of specialties in managerial accounting, financial accounting, governmental and healthcare accounting, and auditing. Students are encouraged to follow their special interests and to take courses as needed in other departments of the University and at other universities in the city.

Accounting Curriculum

The accounting curriculum has been designed with the presumption that almost all students will seek academic careers at research-oriented institutions when they graduate. The accounting faculty helps students develop as much human capital as possible during their program of study to give them a running start in an academic career. This involves having students acquire knowledge and research skills in both general and specific areas, gaining experiences in making research presentations and fielding questions, and taking steps to become a future educator. In this spirit, students are required to take doctoral seminars in accounting as well as a number of courses outside of accounting but related to an individual student's specific interest.

The accounting area includes two levels of requirements: core courses and electives.

Core course requirements

BACC 2401 - Financial Reporting and Control

BACC 2528 - Managerial Accounting

Students are expected to have the above background before entering the doctoral program. However, promising students without the full background are sometimes admitted conditionally based on their completing the necessary coursework at Katz.

BACC 3011 - Management Control Systems

BACC 3012 - Survey of Financial Accounting Research

BACC 3014 - Behavioral Research in Accounting

BACC 3015 - Analytical Research in Accounting

BACC 3017 - Accounting Workshop

Electives

The remaining courses required should be chosen to enhance students' expertise in their prospective areas of research. Students may take these additional courses in other departments of the University or at other universities in the city.

Secondary Course of Study in Accounting (for doctoral students focusing in other areas)

A secondary course of study in accounting offers the opportunity to acquire expertise across the various accounting functions. This secondary course of study may be of particular interest to students in areas such as finance and information systems. The secondary course of study in accounting requires a basic knowledge of the two accounting courses listed under "A" above and:

BACC 3011 - Management Control Systems

BACC 3012 - Survey of Financial Accounting Research

Students pursuing the secondary course of study in accounting should also take one other doctoral seminar identified by the student and the student's advisors.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study that, in a business school environment, provides opportunities for research in a wide variety of functional areas. The PhD program offers a thorough grounding in the scientific and theoretical bases of AI. The faculty in this area have an empirical orientation, and are particularly interested in research that combines artificial intelligence and management science and statistics. Core requirements include courses in artificial intelligence theory and programming, optimization, networks and graph theory, and cognitive processes and problem solving.

Beyond coursework, the program stresses student involvement in applied research through relationships with the local business community and at the Katz School's Artificial Intelligence in Management (AIM) Laboratory. The AIM Lab is a key resource for student and faculty research. Current and recent AIM Lab projects have been funded by the U.S. Army, Bayer, Blue Cross of Western PA, Tippins, Legent, Rockwell International, and Glaxo. Students have used their experiences with such projects, and data stemming from the lab, in their research.

AI Curriculum

PhD students in artificial intelligence are expected to develop a program of study that will enhance their understanding of potential problem areas in management, and build their skills in formulating, designing, and creating systems and theories to help solve these problems.

This course of study requires a total of seven courses, including one course each in:

AI programming techniques

Optimization theory

AI theory

Problem solving and modeling techniques

Networks and graph theory

Advanced seminars and electives should reflect the student's interests and intended area(s) of application. Students are encouraged to do research in areas of current faculty interest, for the opportunity to develop and use AI techniques in management.

Secondary Course of Study in Artificial Intelligence

A secondary course of study in artificial intelligence consists of a coherent set of four courses from among the core areas mentioned above.

Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy

The PhD Program in Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy is one of only a handful of such programs in the U.S. The faculty in this area studies the complex ways in which business organizations interact with, respond to, and actively manage their environments. This field addresses the basic problems of organizational governance, organization environment management, and related ethical and social issues. The Business, Government, and Society Research Institute supports research by Katz faculty.

Curriculum in Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy

PhD students in this field are expected to achieve an understanding of the basic literature and theory of the field; the methodologies appropriate for research; and a set of special theoretical perspectives or issue/problem areas appropriate for research in this area.

In addition, a major portion of the program consists of seminars on advanced topics reflecting the scholarly and research interests of the faculty.

The course of study consists of core courses, advanced seminars, and electives.

Core courses

BENV 3011 Corporate Social Performance: Core Readings

BENV 3013 Environmental Research Methodology

BENV 3014 Empirical Research in Corporate Leadership, Ethics, and Social Performance

Advanced seminars

BENV 3012 Values and Ethics in Organizations and Society

BENV 3031 Government Regulation

BENV 3032 Managing Environments

BENV 3091 Independent Readings in Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy

Electives

Students are expected to design a coherent concentration for their elective and advanced seminar courses. Elective courses may be taken outside the Katz School. Students may design their advanced seminar/elective concentration to focus on cross-cutting or interdisciplinary fields. Suggested elective courses include independent readings courses (BENV 3091/92).

Secondary Course of Study in Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy

The secondary course of study consists of BENV 3011 and six additional credits to be selected from the core courses or advanced seminars.

Finance

Finance focuses on issues relating to the acquisition, allocation, and valuation of financial resources. It deals with corporate financial policy, optimal consumption-investment decisions, and the nature of capital market equilibrium in a world of uncertainty. In particular, it is concerned with analyzing portfolio decisions of individual investors, financing and investment decisions by firms, the determination of the market values of capital assets, and the behavior of security prices in different markets.

The finance faculty emphasizes formal modeling of these issues and empirical testing of the various theoretical developments. The PhD program has a strong research orientation and is intended to develop research capabilities in financial economics.

Students focusing in finance must take the core of finance courses, a set of advanced seminars, and electives.

Core courses

BFIN 3011 Theory of Finance 1

BFIN 3012 Theory of Finance 2

BFIN 3013 Empirical Research in Finance

Advanced seminars

BFIN 3015 Valuation Models in Finance

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Research in Capital Markets

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Corporate Governance and the Structure of Enterprise

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Recent Research in Finance

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Research Methods in Finance

BFIN 3017 Mathematical Methods in Research

Students are required to take the core courses, three to six credits of the advanced seminars, plus courses in microeconomics, economics, probability theory, and continuous-time mathematics, according to the students' backgrounds and needs.

Secondary Course of Study in Finance

Courses required for the secondary course of study in finance are as follows:

BFIN 3011 Theory of Finance 1

BFIN 3012 Theory of Finance 2

BFIN 3013 Empirical Research in Finance

In addition, it is recommended that students take at least one special readings course or an approved elective from the courses offered in the MBA program.

Information Systems

The PhD program in Information Systems (IS) focuses on the management and organizational uses of computerized information systems. All students are expected, by the end of their first year of study, to have basic competence in computer programming, systems analysis and design techniques, and data base management systems. In addition, students must fulfill research methodology requirements, take six to eight doctoral IS seminars in the major area, and three to four seminars in a related secondary course of study area. Most students start with a small-scale research study as part of BIS 3011/Current Issues in IS Research, a doctoral seminar generally taken in the first term.

The course of study consists of a set of IS prerequisites, core doctoral seminars in the IS area, and additional seminars leading to qualifying and comprehensive exams.

IS Prerequisites

In doctoral seminars, it is assumed students have completed these master's-level courses or their equivalents:

BMIS 2410 Management Information Systems

BMIS 2589 Systems Analysis and Design

BMIS 2588 Data Base Management

IS Doctoral Seminars

Generally, at least six doctoral seminars are offered in each two-year period. Students are usually expected to enroll in all seminars that are offered in their first two years of study.

The core consists of:

BIS 3011 Current Issues in IS Research

BIS 3012 Foundations of Research in IS

Other seminars offered recently were:

BIS 3015 Advanced Topics: IS Development and Implementation

BIS 3015 Advanced Topics: Information Technology and Organizational Coordination

BIS 3019 Human-Computer Interaction

BIS 3020 Strategic Management of IT

A non-credit workshop, BIS 3018, is offered each year; all doctoral students and faculty participate regularly in this workshop. Students receive a "pass-fail" grade for the workshop taken in the term that is most convenient for them to formally register.

Secondary Course of Study in Information Systems

The secondary course of study in IS may be fulfilled by completing BIS 3011, 3012, and any two other doctoral-level IS seminars except BIS 3018.

Marketing

The PhD program in marketing is intended to give students both the substantive knowledge and the practical research skills necessary to make contributions to marketing thought and practice. After acquiring the fundamentals, students have considerable freedom in selecting advanced coursework and a focus of study within their specialization. Along with seminars offered by the marketing faculty, students are encouraged to take seminars in related areas such as economics, sociology, psychology, statistics, philosophy, and anthropology.

This course of study involves seven marketing related courses for a total of 21 credit hours. Courses may be selected from the following seminar list. Students may also petition to have specific MBA-level marketing courses in the Katz School or courses elsewhere in the University count for credit toward a marketing focus.

The marketing seminars consist of:

BMKT 3011 Current Research in Marketing

BMKT 3012 Theory Construction in Marketing

BMKT 3013 Behavioral Science Applications in Marketing

BMKT 3014 Foundations of Marketing Management

BMKT 3015 Foundations of Consumer Behavior

BMKT 3016 Advanced Topics in Marketing: Emerging Issues

BMKT 3017 Applications of Analytical Methods in Marketing

BMKT 3018 Special Topics in Marketing 1: Marketing Models

BMKT 3019 Special Topics in Marketing 2: Scaling and Measurement Issues

Secondary Course of Study in Marketing

The secondary course of study consists of three courses of the student's choosing.

Operations and Decision Sciences

Doctoral study in operations addresses the role of quantitative models in managerial decision-making, and covers the methodologies as well as the applications of management science. Because of the variety of faculty research interest there is great flexibility in choosing a research topic, including disciplinary research on the methodology of operations research and interdisciplinary research with another area such as artificial intelligence, management information systems, finance, accounting, or marketing.

PhD students must take three courses in the core plus 12 credits from the following advanced seminars or other approved electives. With the advisor's approval, students may substitute any of these courses with appropriate graduate-level courses from statistics, economics, or engineering disciplines.

Core Courses

BQOM 3011 Linear Programming

BQOM 3012 Nonlinear Programming

BQOM 3013 Stochastic Processes

BQOM 3019 Simulation Methodology

Advanced seminars

BQOM 3014 Networks

BQOM 3015 Statistical Decision Theory

BQOM 3016 Analytic Hierarchy Process

BQOM 3017 Advanced Topics in Operations Management

BQOM 3018 Decision Making in Complex Environments

Secondary Course of Study in Operations

The secondary course of study consists of BQOM 3011, 3013, and one other approved PhD seminar from among those given above or from other approved electives.

Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

The PhD program in organizational behavior and human resource management (OBHR) focuses on the behavioral processes and strategies of organizations and how they affect individual, group, and organizational performance. Excellence in content knowledge and research skills is strongly emphasized. The program provides an overview of both organizational behavior and human resources management; students can choose to concentrate in either area.

The course of study consists of a set of core courses and electives. Core courses required of all students are:

BOAH 3002 Foundations of Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3003 Foundations of Human Resource Management

Students will then go on to concentrate in one of these two areas. All students, however, are further required to take the following:

BOAH 3021 Behavioral Systems and Management Thought

BOAH 3023 Research in Employee Relations and Public Policy

BOAH 3025 Theory and Methods in Human Resources Management

BOAH 3027 Research Methods in Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3029 Groups in Organizations

BOAH 3031 Advanced Topics in Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3033 Research Practicum

Secondary Course of Study in OBHR

The secondary course of study consists of the two core courses and one additional OBHR seminar for a total of nine credit hours.

Strategic Planning and Organizational Studies

Students in Strategic Planning and Organizational Studies study the problems and issues facing general managers who must formulate and implement strategic relationships between organizations and their environments. Prior research that examines effective planning techniques, corporate strategies, and implementation systems will form the core of many seminars, and improved research projects will be the objective of dissertation efforts. Graduates of this program are now serving in major academic, corporate, and government roles.

Strategic Planning and Organizational Studies Curriculum

This program offers two tracks: Organizational Studies and Strategic Planning and Policy. Each is described separately below.

Organizational Studies Track

The organizational studies track focuses on the system-wide dynamics that determine the effectiveness of the overall organization. Topics include organization design, organizational change and development, organization power and conflict, and the nature of organizational effectiveness.

Students have considerable flexibility in selecting advanced courses and a focus of study after acquiring the fundamentals of research methodology and organization theory.

The required seminars for the major in Organizational Studies are:

BORG 3011 Foundations of Organization Theory

BORG 3012 Research Methods in Organizational Studies 1

BORG 3013 Research Methods in Organizational Studies 2

BORG 3015 Contemporary Organization Theory

Students must take a minimum of two additional seminars in the Katz School and one approved seminar in another department of the University (e.g., psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, mathematics and statistics, etc.).

Suggested seminars:

BORG 3014 Systems Change and Organization Development

BORG 3016 Organization Conflict and Power

BORG 3017 Organization Design and Structure

BORG 3018 Organization Cultures

BORG 3019 Advanced Organizational Topics

BORG 3099 Readings in Organizational Studies

Secondary Course of Study in Organizational Studies

The secondary course of study in Organizational Studies requires the completion of two courses:

BORG 3011 Foundations of Organization Theory

BORG 3015 Contemporary Organization Theory

Students must take at least two additional seminars in either the Katz School (e.g., the suggested seminars above) or approved seminars in other departments of the University; students can take both required seminars plus an additional seminar.

Strategic Planning and Policy Track

The strategic planning and policy field focuses on the concepts and frameworks for formulating and implementing strategic decisions in complex organizations. It is expected that students will have completed an MBA-level course such as management policy before embarking on the major or secondary course of study.

Students pursuing a major in Strategic Planning and Policy must take the following courses:

BSPP 3011 Strategic Planning Systems

BSPP 3012 Strategic Environmental Analysis

BSPP 3013 Corporate Strategy Research

BSPP 3014 Political and Social Strategic Processes

Students must also take three courses, such as:

BECN 3012 Applied Microeconomic Theory

BORG 3014 Systems Change and Organizational Development

BSPP 3015 Workshop in Strategic Planning and Policy

Secondary Course of Study in Strategic Planning and Policy

The secondary course of study in Strategic Planning and Policy requires the completion of two courses:

BSPP 3011 Strategic Planning Systems

BSPP 3013 Corporate Strategy Research

Plus at least two of the following:

BSPP 3012 Strategic Environmental Analysis

BSPP 3014 Political and Social Strategic Processes

BORG 3014 Systems Change and Organizational Development

BSPP 3015 Workshop in Strategic Planning and Policy

PHD Course Listings

Listed below are the doctoral courses offered by the Katz School.

Accounting

BACC 3011 Management Control Systems

BACC 3012 Survey of Financial Accounting Research

BACC 3014 Behavioral Research in Accounting

BACC 3015 Analytical Research in Accounting

BACC 3017 Accounting Workshop

Business Environment, Ethics, and Public Policy

BENV 3011 Corporate Social Performance: Core Readings

BENV 3012 Values and Ethics in Organizations and Society

BENV 3013 Environmental Research Methodology

BENV 3014 Empirical Research in Corporate Leadership, Ethics, & Social Performance

BENV 3031 Government Regulation

BENV 3032 Managing Environments

Finance

BFIN 3011 Theory of Finance 1

BFIN 3012 Theory of Finance 2

BFIN 3013 Empirical Research in Finance

BFIN 3015 Valuation Models in Finance

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Research in Capital Markets

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Corporate Governance and the Structure of Enterprise

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Recent Research in Finance

BFIN 3016 Advanced Topics: Research Methods in Finance

BFIN 3017 Mathematical Methods in Research

Information Systems

BIS 3011 Current Issues in IS Research

BIS 3012 Foundations of Information Systems Research

BIS 3015 Advanced Topics: IS Development and Implementation

BIS 3015 Advanced Topics: Information Technology and Organizational Coordination

BIS 3018 IS Research Workshop

BIS 3019 Human-Computer Interaction

BIS 3020 Strategic Management of Information Technology

Marketing

BMKT 3011 Current Research in Marketing

BMKT 3012 Theory Construction in Marketing

BMKT 3013 Behavioral Science Applications in Marketing

BMKT 3014 Foundations in Marketing Management

BMKT 3015 Foundations of Consumer Behavior

BMKT 3016 Advanced Topics in Marketing: Emerging Issues

BMKT 3017 Applications of Analytical Methods in Marketing

BMKT 3018 Special Topics in Marketing 1: Marketing Models

BMKT 3019 Special Topics in Marketing 2: Scaling Techniques

Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

BOAH 3002 Foundations of Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3003 Foundations of Human Resource Management

BOAH 3021 Behavioral Systems and Management Thought

BOAH 3023 Research in Employee Relations and Public Policy

BOAH 3025 Theory and Methods in Human Resources Management

BOAH 3027 Research Methods in Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3029 Groups in Organizations

BOAH 3031 Advanced Topics in Organizational Behavior

BOAH 3033 Research Practicum

Operations and Decision Sciences

BQOM 3011 Linear Programming

BQOM 3012 Nonlinear Programming

BQOM 3013 Stochastic Processes

BQOM 3014 Networks and Combinatorial Optimization

BQOM 3015 Statistical Decision Theory

BQOM 3016 The Analytic Hierarchy Process

BQOM 3017 Advanced Topics in Operations

BQOM 3018 Decision Making in Complex Environments

BQOM 3019 Simulation Methodology

Strategic Planning and Organizational Studies

BORG 3011 Foundations of Organization Theory

BORG 3012 Research Methods in Organizational Studies 1

BORG 3013 Research Methods in Organizational Studies 2

BORG 3014 Systems Change and Organizational Development

BORG 3015 Contemporary Organization Theory

BORG 3016 Organizational Conflict and Power

BORG 3017 Organizational Design and Structure

BORG 3018 Organization Cultures

BORG 3019 Advanced Organizational Topics

Strategic Planning and Policy

BSPP 3011 Strategic Planning Systems

BSPP 3012 Strategic Environmental Analysis

BSPP 3013 Corporate Strategy Research

BSPP 3014 Political and Social Strategic Processes

BSPP 3015 Workshop in Strategic Planning and Policy