Dissertation at IfSTO

Dissertation at IfSTO

Your Doctoral Thesis at the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization

Are you interested in writing your doctoral thesis at the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization? You are very welcome!

To help you assess whether your qualifications and circumstances fit the goals of the Institute, we provide some initial orientation below.

The Institute aims to produce research that is highly relevant from both a theoretical and a practical perspective (relevance) and that meets the highest scientific standards in terms of methodology (rigor). We make our research accessible to a broad audience through presentations at international conferences and publications in leading international journals. We follow an empirical research approach and collaborate with world-leading researchers, universities and companies. Our aim is to make a significant contribution to the scholarly discourse. Our research tends to be fundamental in nature and focuses on developing and testing theory. We strive to generate findings that are as generalizable as possible. Doctoral theses are an essential part of the research conducted at the Institute.

In our experience, the following success factors are crucial for achieving these goals:

Your research interests match the Institute’s research focus. The focus lies on Open Innovation and User Innovation (OUI). This ensures that we can offer you the best possible supervision, that synergies are used, and that our research activities remain highly coherent.

Close connection to the Institute. This is a key success factor! The Institute has an active research culture: regular research meetings, discussions, supervision meetings, and attendance at international conferences and doctoral seminars. You can only benefit from this if you are closely integrated into the Institute’s team. This requires that you are present at the Institute regularly and over longer periods of time. External doctoral candidates are integrated into the team, which means they also contribute to teaching and to the management of the Institute.

Your goal is a first-class research contribution. As a rule, this is reflected in a publication in a top international journal.

Excellent qualifications and strong commitment. You should meet the following requirements:

• A completed diploma or master’s degree in business, economics or the social sciences

• Knowledge of empirical social research and statistical methods, or the willingness to acquire it

• Knowledge of and interest in technology and innovation management, particularly in Open Innovation and User Innovation (OUI) and the interface between OUI and organization design

• Excellent presentation skills

• Excellent command of German and English

• Drive and a high level of motivation

• Independent, entrepreneurial thinking and action

Please keep in mind that a doctoral thesis is a long-term project. Because of its inherently innovative character (a new and relevant research contribution), it requires many iterations. To use a comparison from sports: a doctoral thesis is not a 100-meter sprint but a marathon. On average, doctoral theses at the Institute take four years to complete.

Important note

A commitment to supervise a doctoral thesis can only be given once a comprehensive research proposal is available that meets international quality standards.

Before an initial meeting, please send us the following documents:

• A letter of motivation

• A detailed CV

• A 2–3 page research outline covering:

  • The research problem and its relevance from a theoretical and practical perspective

  • The research questions addressed

  • Ideas for the empirical part of the project (data collection and analysis)

  • How the project relates to the existing literature and which gap it addresses

  • A timeline for the research project