Electives on the MPhil in ISO

This course helps you understand a variety of predominantly quantitative research methods, as well as their embeddedness within various research designs. The course is divided into two independent content blocks, parts I and II, and is designed in such a way that part II can be attended without having attended part I previously. Upon completion you’ll have a good understanding of various research methods commonly used in management research, and will have applied this knowledge to your own research project.

Specifically, the course covers the following content areas, among others:

Part I

• Research design
• Experimental & quasi-experimental design
• Survey design & analysis
• Mediation & moderation

Part II

• Multilevel design & analysis
• Social network design & analysis
• Big data research design & analysis
• Meta-analysis

The course increases your understanding of organisational research methods and your sensitivity to the practical problems in conducting organisational research, and enables you to apply organisational research methods to your own research projects and interests.

This course is a survey of 3 distinct yet related areas: marketing, innovation and emerging economies. Marketing is the study of the interaction between organisations and markets. Innovation is the study of the commercial exploitation by organisations of new ideas. Emerging economies, such as India and China, are the big economic phenomenon of the contemporary global scene and the theatre in which new opportunities for marketing and innovation are unfolding in real time. This course takes a strategic perspective on these topics, viewing them all from the perspective of the firm and its performance.

You are introduced to the foundations necessary to conduct research in the three areas of marketing, operations & technology management, and finance, with a view to developing your own skills as researchers in these areas and in business in general. This course covers standard models of:

• individual choice under certainty and uncertainty
• production theory
• general equilibrium
• monopoly pricing, price discrimination
• information economics
• behavioural economics

The course gives you some fundamental knowledge of competitive markets, enabling you to leverage your course knowledge to do original research and write papers in your chosen field of research in a business school.

This course introduces you to the operations and technology management (OTM) research that is done at Cambridge Judge and enables you to write a convincing research proposal. The 8 sessions will be delivered by different faculty. Each session will focus on one or 2 recent papers that you will read before the session. The focus of the session is on “what’s the contribution?” and “why is this a contribution”? The lecturer will explain the process that led to the paper and the challenges that arose during the research and its publication. There will also be time to discuss the methodological skills that were necessary to produce this research, and how to acquire them. You will explore what makes a good research question, what is a suitable research method for the question at hand, how does the research relate to and extend the existing academic literature and how does the research inform management practice? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions – it is therefore important that you hear from different faculty members who have differing views – and to then make up your own mind.
Following the course, we expect you to identify a faculty member with whom you will produce a research proposal in an area of their expertise. This proposal will form the assessment of the course. You will also be able to expand on this proposal for your PhD continuation application.

This course examines critical issues concerning digital and social innovation for organisations and the wider society. The module focuses on theories from organisation theory, IS, innovation, and management to conceptualize digital and social innovation. Their role in enabling opportunities is discussed as well as the unexpected consequences of innovation for different industries and societies. The main texts draw from information systems, organisation theory, social innovation, and general management.

In particular, you learn about the dynamics of digital disruption, how to design for social innovation and how digital platform ecosystems provide new opportunities for innovation. The concept of institutional complexity in the context of digital social innovation is also explored.

Poverty and inequality, access to potable water, resource depletion, climate change, global health, war, mass automation. There are many grand challenges – “formulations of global problems that can be plausibly addressed through coordinated and collaborative effort” (George et al, 2016: 1880) – facing the world. A plethora of organisational forms, from charities and NGOs, to social enterprises, to social movements, to public organisations, to multinational corporations, are implicated in these challenges in different ways. Why, then, have management researchers tended to downplay or ignore these issues for so long? Whatever the reasons, management research is changing fast: grand challenges and an associated set of unconventional contexts have surged to the forefront of the discipline. Members of the Organisational Theory and Information Systems (OTIS) group – both students and faculty – have been at the vanguard of this shift.

The module is designed to explore the methodological challenges and opportunities of engaging in ‘real world’ research in unconventional contexts and focused on complex social issues.

By the end of the module participants should:

• have a clear understanding of the opportunities, and the trials, of conducting field research on grand challenges
• be aware of the distinct ethical issues involved in collecting data in unconventional contexts, and the importance of reflexivity and positionality
• appreciate the role of complex coordination in the study of grand challenges
• recognise the practical issues inherent in theorizing from field data in unconventional contexts, and taking work of this kind through the journal review process

This course provides a foundational survey of the key theories, puzzles, and empirical contributions in strategic management. These include the relationship between different strategies and the resource and capability bundles firms develop, strategic positions they create, and their financial performance and competitive advantage. The course gives attention to how decision makers operate at the upper echelons, such CEOs, executive teams, and boards of directors, and how they shape the firm’s strategic choices. The course also covers substantive research on the changes to competitive and corporate strategies undertaken by firms in connection with the disruptions in the environment. The course involves active student participation and discussions in a stimulating class environment and the critiques of seminal classic contributions and latest research in key strategy topics. It also involves students developing their own research ideas and learning to communicate them effectively. The focus of the module is on development of students for a scholarly research career.

This course surveys the major theoretical perspectives andempirical studies in strategic management research, particularly as it relates to the underlying strategic and organisational processes.

Strategic management is currently one of the liveliest areas in all of the social sciences, in part because of the importance of understanding how to best position organisations and get ahead of competition and in part because of the challenges to traditional theory that have emerged over the past 20 years. Strategy deals with charting the future directions of the firm and implementing these directions to maximise the long-term profits. Accordingly, strategic management and processes address the resources, capabilities and strategic positioning of the firm to create and sustain competitive advantage as well as the psychological and social challenges in implementing organisations’ strategies.