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College of Business
AACSB International EQUIS - European Quality Improvement System International Partner: UC Berkeley

Research Degree Programmes [ Programme Details & Admission ]

ResearchResearch degree programmes aim to provide advanced education to nurture people who can:
  • contribute to the advancement of knowledge through independent and original research;
  • demonstrate specialist subject knowledge and a high level of transferable skills, including analytical, communication and leadership skills; and
  • enhance economic, social and cultural development.
The University offers research degree studies in a wide range of research areas and places strong emphasis on research postgraduate education in professional fields.

The University not only promotes and encourages interdisciplinary research in order to synergise its expertise and research strengths, it also establishes Joint PhD Schemes with a number of Mainland universities. The College of Business has participated in such Schemes with University of Science and Technology of China, Sun Yat-sen University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University and Xian Jiaotong University.

Research degree studies at the College of Business are offered in 6 departments covering a wide range of strategic areas to suit individuals' research interests:

Department of Accountancy

Research in accounting covers a broad spectrum of issues in the areas of financial accounting, auditing, and corporate governance. The major foci in the department include:
  1. Corporate governance, auditing, external monitoring issues in the China, U.S., and cross-country or international settings as they relate to ownership structures, institutional infrastructures, legal regimes, information environments;
  2. Accounting disclosure issues such as disclosure and audit quality, earnings management, accounting conservatism, voluntary disclosures or management earnings guidance, and audit pricing;
  3. Emerging issues in accounting research such as the role of accounting disclosures and audit quality in the debt market or debt contracting, accounting standards harmonization and foreign investment flows, information flows along the supply chain, economic consequences of corporate tax avoidance, the impact of political connections on accounting quality, economic consequences of internal control reporting, accounting determinants of stock price crash risk, accounting quality versus credit quality, tax complexity and tax compliance.

Department of Economics and Finance

Research expertise of the Department includes:
  1. International Economics
    Trade policy; Intellectual property protection; FDI and global sourcing; International migration; International financial crises; Exchange rate misalignments; Purchasing power parity; Capital mobility; Globalization;
  2. Microeconomics
    Game theory; Industrial organization; Energy and environmental economics; Contract theory; Political economy;
  3. Macroeconomics
    Business cycles; Endogenous growth; Structural change; Fiscal and monetary policy; Real estate and urban economics;
  4. Corporate Finance
    Capital structure; Payout policy; Capital raising; Real investment; Firm-bank relationship; Mergers and acquisitions; Restructuring; Hedging; Corporate governance and control;
  5. Asset Pricing
    Equilibrium asset pricing; Equity returnrisk relationship; Term structure of interest rates; Derivatives pricing; Financial engineering;
  6. Investments and Capital Markets
    Financial investments; Market microstructure; Anomalies; International financial management; Financial services and intermediation; Fund management; Credit risk management.

Department of Information Systems

Research in Information Systems (IS) integrates technical and behavioural perspectives in addressing the effective and efficient use of information technology. In this sense, IS deals with aspects of the creation of information systems as well as evaluation in a variety of business, government and societal contexts. Methodologies employed in IS research accordingly cover a broad range from technical to behavioural (both qualitative and quantitative). The College of Business areas of research expertise in Knowledge Management as well as E-Business and Internet Marketing are especially germane to IS. Knowledge Management topics include aspects of design and evaluation of technological support for creation and use of knowledge. E-Business and Internet Marketing deals mainly with business models, processes and systems enabled by Web-based technologies. IS research is especially concerned with socio-technical issues surrounding the application of web-based technologies in business and organizations for improving efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness.

Department of Management

Research foci/expertise in the Department include:
  1. Human Resources Management
    Chinese Human Resource Management; Recruitment & Selection; Training & Development; Selection and Assessment;
  2. Organizational Behaviour
    Organization Theory; Organizational Change; Sociology of Work; Organizational Justice; Coaching; Conflict Resolution and negotiation, Leadership; Risk & Uncertainty; Social Constructionism; Business Ethics; job attitudes; virtual teams;
  3. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management
    New Product Management; New Product Forecasting; Innovation & Creativity; entrepreneurship;
  4. International Business
    International Management; International Organizational Behaviour; MNC Control and Staffing; international alliances; Intercultural Communication; Comparative Management; Japanese management practices; Culture and cognition, Psychology of biculturals, Cross-Cultural Research Methods;
  5. Strategic Management
    Strategic Management; Strategic Management of Financial Resources; Competitive & Cooperative Strategy; Decision-making; Strategy and Policy; Corporate Governance and Political Strategy in Transitional Economies (China); Mergers and acquisitions (M&A);
  6. Corporate Social Responsibility
    Business Ethics; Stakeholder Management; Corporate Social Responsibility.

Department of Management Sciences

Research expertise in the Department can be grouped into two streams:
  1. Operations and supply chain management in a broad sense, which ranges from very theory oriented research such as optimization, game theory, robust optimization, and simulation, to more applied research such as inventory control, financial engineering, sustainability, planning and scheduling, and interdisciplinary research between operations and marketing/finance/accounting;
  2. Business statistics in a broad sense, which includes business intelligence, quality management, survival analysis, statistical modeling, robust estimation, market research, and econometrics.

Department of Marketing

Research foci/expertise in the Department include:
  1. Business Markets
    Forming channel relationships, governance strategy between buyers and suppliers, and application of network theory on business relationships;
  2. Multinational Corporate Strategy and Strategic Marketing
    International strategic alliance, foreign direct investment in China, international HRM, global sourcing strategy, eyquitcontrol and organizational learning;
  3. Internet Marketing
    Online consumer behavior, online advertising, social media, and online retailing;
  4. China Marketing and Chinese Culture
    Dao De Jing, branding;
  5. Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviors
    How consumers from different cultures behave differently;
  6. Consumer Socialization
    How socialization shapes consumer behaviors.