The Program

CYCLE XLI – A.Y. 2025/2026

Learning areas (SSD)

The Department of Business and Management excels in numerous clusters of research but is specifically interested in research projects related to the following prevalent areas of research:

ECON-06/A – Business Economics

ECON-07/A – Economics and Business Management

ECON-08/A – Business Organization

ECON-09/A – Economics of Financial Intermediaries and Corporate Finance

Program structure

The PhD programme is comprised of four years of full-time study.

Year 1 mostly consists of core courses covering the most important research methodologies, principles of epistemiology as well as courses shedding light on the academic career and the publication process. After these courses, students attend three specialized courses in Strategy, Marketing or Organization, depending on which of these tracks they have chosen. At the end of their 1st year, students present a paper (1st year paper) to show their advancement on their dissertation.

Year 2 consists of the remaining three specialized courses in the three majors. Overall, by the first term of their 2nd year, students will have taken 6 courses in their chosen major. These courses cover both the most important theories in the field of either Strategy, Marketing or Organization and the most useful field-specific methodologies.

During their 2nd year, students will have to present a pre-proposal (tin February) and a Research Proposal (in June).

Year 3 and 4 are entirely dedicated to dissertation development, delivery and defense as well as to preparation for the job market.

Along the journey, students will also have to attend seminars and can also be engaged in teaching assistant activities.

Importantly, they are expected to be constantly engaged with their supervisors to make constant progresses on their dissertation project.

Moreover, they are expected to spend a significantly long period as Visiting Scholar (typically in their 3rd year) in one reputed foreign institution.

Teaching Offer

The new TEACHING OFFER for the a.y. 2025/2026 (cycle XLI) is available here:

MANAGEMENT CYCLE XLI
1° YEAR 2025/2026
Term 1 – September / December 2025
CORE COURSES	n.	Subject	Professor	Hs	CFU
	1	Philosophy of science	Lechner & Stoeckl	20	4
	2	Epistemology for Management	Kallinikos	15	3
	3	Introduction to Model Building	Wieringa	15	3
	4	Introductory econometrics for management	Santucci	15	3
	5	Principles of Research Excellence	Colicev	20	4
	6	Systematic Literature Review	Montecchi	10	2
	7	Qualitative research	Bruni/Balachandran Nair	20	4
					23
Term 2 – February / March 2026
CORE COURSES	n.	Subject	Professor	Hs	CFU
	8	Data analysis with STATA	Core	10	2
	9	Data analysis with SPSS	Peluso	10	2
	10	Microeconometrics	Tura	20	4
	11	Structural Equation Modelling	Miceli	20	4
	12	How to get published	Faems	20	4
	13	Machine learning	Sinaimeri/Martino	15	3
					19
Term 2 – April / May 2026
Track	n.	Subject	Professor	Hs	CFU
MARKETING	1	Key topics in Marketing	Costabile/Carpenter	15	3
	2	Consumer behavior	De Angelis/Pozharliev	15	3
	3	Data Collection and Experimental Design in Behavioral Research	Paolacci	15	3
					9
STRATEGY & INNOVATION	1	Empirical methods for strategy research	Pelucco	15	3
	2	Strategic management	Valentini	15	3
	3	International business	Majocchi/Caroli	15	3
					9
ORGANIZATION	1	Experimental design for organization research	Dello Russo	15	3
	2	Social network analysis	Mascia	15	3
	3	Organization theory	Delmestri	15	3
					9
Firts year paper					10
TOTALE CFU FIRST YEAR					61
2° YEAR 2026/2027
Term 1 – September / December 2026
Track	n.	Subject	Professor	Hs	CFU
MARKETING	4	Marketing modelling	Leeflang	15	3
	5	Experimental design for marketing	Scopelliti	15	3
	6	Text mining in marketing research	Villarroel	15	3
					9
STRATEGY & INNOVATION	4	Corporate governance	Zattoni	15	3
	5	Innovation management	Prencipe	15	3
	6	Entrepreneurship	Lechner	15	3
					9
ORGANIZATION	4	Organization behavior	Dello Russo/Homberg	15	3
	5	Frontiers in organizing and organizations: new themes, new forms, new paradigms	Giustiniano	15	3
	6	Organization and technology	Marengo	15	3
					9
Term 2 – February/May 2027
Other activities	Second year paper				10
	Seminars on academic career, ethics and integrity in research		Zattoni	6	1
	Faculty Seminars + PhD Seminars and workshops				14
	Thesis drafting				25
TOTALE CFU SECOND YEAR					59
3° YEAR 2027/2028
Term 1 – September / December 2027
Other activities	Third year paper				10
Other activities	Visiting period o Altre attività				25
Term 2 – February/May 2028
Other activities	Visiting period o Altre attività				25
TOTALE CFU THIRD YEAR					60
4° YEAR 2028/2029
Term 1 – September /December 2028
Other activities	Thesis drafting				25
Term 2 – February/May 2029
Other activities	Final Thesis			/	35
TOTALE CFU FOURTH YEAR					60
				totale	240

N.B. The PhD courses are also open to students enrolled in PhD programmes of other Universities, upon payment of a fee. For further information please contact the PhD & Education Funding Office (dottorati@luiss.it).