A Ph.D. in management prepares the student to teach in a university or to conduct research in his chosen area of specialization. Although there are traditional topics within this Ph.D. program, such as marketing and accounting, new technologies and global issues put a contemporary spin on them. New areas, including e-commerce and sustainable management practices, expand the range of topics available at universities.

Operations Management

Topics within operations management include exploring models for natural resources or for nonprofit organizations. Productivity and time flow, logistics management, inventory management and location theory and revenue management are all elements of this larger topic.

Information Management

A relevant and hot topic today is electronic commerce. In studying this, students look at both the business and technical issues of the subject. Areas within this topic include security and regulatory issues of electronic merchandising and payment, global implications of e-commerce, new models of business-to-consumer and business-to-business transactions and marketing within the e-commerce world.

Management and Organizations

Within this topic, students study the sociology and psychology of the behavior of individuals, groups and organizations and the environment in which these interactions occur. Social processes are at the heart of this topic. Students usually conduct both qualitative and quantitative research.

Accounting Management and Information

This topic involves rigorous and in-depth study of statistics and economics. Focusing on accounting research, econometrics, finance, economic theory or mathematics courses provides a basic for further exploration of the subject. The research within this topic is quantitative and statistical.

System Dynamics

The topic of system dynamics analyzes the behavior of systems, to understand and influence how things change over time. Within this, students can focus on system principles, the dynamics of the economy and industrialization and policy analysis. System dynamics are relevant to such diverse subject areas as economics, information systems and political science.

Marketing

Disciplines relevant to this topic in management include behavioral science, operations research and statistics. Topics in marketing address the issues that will enable organizations to provide goods and services that satisfy people's needs. Understanding the psychological basis of economic and consumer behavior as well as focusing on how to determine, provide and measure customer satisfaction are just two of the many research areas within this topic.

International Management and Organization

Within this topic, research includes a focus on international and socially responsibility management. Global issues of business sustainability, strategy and organization are in the curriculum alongside cross-cultural management theories and strategies. There may also be an opportunity for an international research exchange within the Ph.D. program.