I just started my second year of the London Business School PhD program in Strategy and Entrepreneurship (2019 intake) and am writing this post to share my PhD experience with potential applicants. I include answers to frequently asked questions below. Caveat is that these are based on my own PhD experience, so definitely worth seeking other perspectives too. If you are also considering the department of Organizational Behavior at LBS, please find my classmate Rohin Borpujari’s insightful primer on his experience here.
For other helpful resources on applying for a PhD in Business, check out this wiki based on content by Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj, Megan Gorges and Stephen Turban; and this post on studying entrepreneurship by Dr. Andrea Contigiani.
1. Why did you pursue a PhD in Strategy & Entrepreneurship at LBS?
I am a non-traditional PhD candidate and my journey to LBS is atypical. I was pursuing a PhD in Transport Studies at the University of Oxford when I came to LBS in Autumn 2018 as a visiting PhD student in the SE department. My dissertation research at Oxford focused on the digital ride-hailing platform industry, and it reached a point where I needed to learn more about the topic from a strategic management perspective. I was encouraged to consider LBS by two mentors in the field: Prof. Jasjit Singh from INSEAD, whom I had conducted research with in Singapore, and Prof. Kristina B. Dahlin, whom I had worked with as a TA for a High-Tech Entrepreneurship course at Oxford.
My visiting studentship at LBS enabled me to get to know the SE department well before applying. I spent a year taking four core strategy and entrepreneurship courses alongside the first- and second-year students. I was deeply immersed in the research process: attending the department seminars featuring early work by scholars from other schools and sharing a nice office with the third-year SE students, all while working on a research paper with Prof. Michael G. Jacobides, who specializes in platform ecosystems.
Ultimately, the LBS experience helped me realize that I want to become a professor at a leading, research-focused business school. This newfound career goal and visiting student experience motivated me to apply to the LBS SE PhD program as my top choice.
The main reasons why I chose to apply to the LBS SE PhD program are:
- Academic fit: The department is a strong fit for my research interests based on what the faculty works on and its deep focus on strategy and entrepreneurship. I was also interested in all of the department seminar topics, the courses and research discussions that took place.
- Cultural fit: In particular, I enjoyed the collaborative environment that I experienced with the LBS students I took classes with and interacted with. It was also easy to approach the faculty and they prioritize working with PhD students.
- Rigor: The LBS faculty are top-notch and research active. I learned so much from both the junior and senior faculty through the courses, seminars and office hours to discuss research ideas in just one year. I was confident that I would be well-trained as a management scholar at LBS by the end of five years in the PhD program.
- Research support: LBS generously supports student research. As a visiting student, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a research grant (£11,230) from the LBS Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for my co-authored project with Prof. Jacobides. Also, LBS has one of the largest departments focused on strategy and entrepreneurship, so there are plenty of opportunities to explore different research topics and work with different faculty as my interests developed.
- Location: London is a great place to live if you like big, cosmopolitan cities and there are opportunities to take courses at other excellent schools nearby like UCL, Imperial College and LSE; and Oxford and Cambridge if you’re willing to make the commute. LBS is also one of the AASCB-accredited schools in the UK, which I believe helps when applying for jobs later on.
2. What is the LBS SE admissions process like?
Applications are due in early January.
In the past, interviews were required for selected applicants who move onto the next stage. The interviews usually took place in early February on the LBS campus. When I applied for the 2019 intake, I had two days worth of 20-minute interviews with nine faculty members and a PhD student in the SE department; and the Director of the LBS PhD program. The discussions mainly focused on why I was interested in LBS and what my research interests were. The interview days also included lunch with the SE PhD students and a social event on the last evening. Overall, it was a good way to get to know the LBS campus, faculty and students in a short amount of time. I also enjoyed meeting other applicants from around the world and we kept in touch, so it was interesting to see where we all ended up going a few months later. I received my LBS acceptance email in early March.
Last year, the interviews for the 2020 intake were slightly different. That cohort had a total of six 45-minute interviews online and in person with SE faculty. Also, the applicants were pre-assigned two research articles to read and be prepared to discuss during the interviews. I thought this was a good way for candidates to also get a feel of what future PhD courses and discussions at LBS would be like.
3. What does the LBS SE PhD entail in the first two years?
The first two years of the LBS SE PhD program are more structured and focused on completing: 12.5 credits of coursework (13 courses), a second-year research paper under the supervision of a faculty advisor, and a second-year qualifying exam in May.
Here is a list of the courses we take below. The first year kept us busy, especially with four courses in the first term and getting accustomed to the program in general. The second year has a lighter courseload and we are expected to complete our second-year paper and pass the qualifying exam.
In addition, we have to attend weekly SE department research and brown bag seminars in which the LBS SE and invited external faculty present their research in progress. There are brown bag seminars featuring PhD students’ research as well. These seminars enable faculty and PhD students to get feedback on their early research work.
Year 1
Autumn (October-December, 10 weeks)
- Basic Readings in Business (taught by Donal Crilly)
- Strategy Core (Sendil Ethiraj & Catherine Magelssen)
- Statistical Research Methods I (Nicos Savva) or Econometrics I (Alexey Onatskiy)
- Microeconomics I (Emre Ozdenoren)
Spring (January-March, 10 weeks)
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Olenka Kacperczyk & Gary Dushnitsky)
- Statistical Research Methods II (Kamalini Ramdas, Jonathan Berman, Simona Botti & David Faro)
Summer (April-June, 10 weeks)
- Research Design (Olenka Kacperczyk & Niro Sivanathan)
- Sociological Foundations of Strategy (Isabel Fernandez-Mateo & Freek Vermeulen)
Year 2
Autumn (October-December, 10 weeks)
- 2 Electives (can also be taken at UCL or LSE and other UK schools; can also be taken during other terms)
Spring (January-March, 10 weeks)
- Behavioural Foundations of Strategy (Freek Vermeulen, Sungyong Chang & Francisco Brahm)
Summer (April-June, 10 weeks)
- Economic Foundations of Strategy (Ioannis Ioannou & Michael G. Jacobides)
- Foundations of Business Research (Jean-Pierre Benoît & Selin Kesebir)
4. How competitive is the LBS SE program?
I get asked this question a lot and it usually centers around how difficult the coursework is and how competitive or collaborative the student atmosphere is.
The coursework is rigorous, yet manageable if you put in the time and effort required for you to deeply learn and engage with the material. The SE faculty sets high expectations for us to critically think through and discuss the assigned readings for our core strategy courses. I spent the recommended amount of time preparing for those (several hours per class) and learned a lot. The statistics and economics courses are pretty standard, so the ease or difficulty of those courses depends on the background you have in those subjects.
My experience with other students has been largely collaborative and collegial. We have an extremely diverse program and I find there is a lot to learn from each other. I enjoy having regular meetings or study groups to discuss coursework, research ideas and progress with classmates with different interests — it makes learning more fun. I am also grateful to have met fellow classmates who have become close friends.
4. How did you choose your advisor?
In the first year, our cohort is assigned to the same first-year advisor, a SE faculty member who also serves as the SE PhD Coordinator. Our first-year advisor helps us to select course electives and guides us through the overall PhD experience. We are strongly encouraged to explore many research topics in our first year and to do that by meeting with each SE faculty member to discuss their research. At the end of the first year, we are expected to think about a second-year research topic and select an advisor who will advise us on our second-year paper.
If we wish to continue working with that second-year advisor for our dissertation research in subsequent years, we can and it is encouraged. However, if for any reason we want to change our research topic after the second year paper, we are also able to select another advisor for our dissertation research. Overall, the SE department emphasizes that we are free to choose an advisor who fits with our research interests and to explore widely before deciding on a topic.
5. How do you manage work-life balance?
My view on this is shaped by my previous industry experience and personal life commitments outside of the PhD. My former job at an early-stage startup required constant travel and working long hours with tight deadlines, so I appreciate how the relative flexibility of a PhD makes my work-life balance much more manageable than before.
Everyone works differently, but this is what has worked well for me so far: treating PhD requirements like a full-time job. I try to consistently put in full-time work hours, yet work flexibly around important things in my personal life. Overall, my first year of coursework went well and I experienced a reasonable work-life balance with this mindset.
Planning ahead and working on the PhD requirements early also helps. After the first year, I tried to remain consistent with my work hours throughout the “summer break” (July to September) in which we didn’t have any coursework or seminars. I found that studying for the qualifying exam and working on the research paper requirement early helps a lot with work-life balance later on. I can work more leisurely at my own pace without time crunches for upcoming deadlines. I can also start exploring other projects for my dissertation.
