Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Doctoral Programs
  • Introduce Yourself
  • Apply
  • Students on the Job Market
  • For Alumni
  • Overview
  • PHD Programs
  • Research Community
  • Admissions & Financial Support
  • Placement
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Doctoral Programs→
  • PhD Programs
    • PhD Programs
    • Accounting & Management
    • Business Economics
    • Health Policy (Management)
    • Marketing
    • Organizational Behavior
    • Strategy
    • Technology & Operations Management
    →
  • Strategy
    • Strategy
    • Program Requirements
    →

Strategy

Strategy

  • Program Requirements
The doctoral program in Strategy encourages students to pursue multi-disciplinary research that utilizes multiple methodologies—quantitative, as well as qualitative—to study how companies and industries around the world develop and sustain competitive advantage.

Students in the program are expected to master graduate-level microeconomic theory and econometrics. In addition, they are expected to devote substantial time to mastering one additional complementary discipline, such as psychology, sociology, or political science, and developing expertise in research methodologies suited to their particular interests, such as qualitative analysis, designing effective fieldwork, and analysis of survey data.

Students in the Strategy doctoral program work closely with faculty in the Strategy Unit. In addition to the doctoral program in Strategy, the Strategy unit offers a program in Business Economics, which is designed to attract students interested in pursuing research using a purely economics-based methodology.

Curriculum & Coursework

Our programs are full-time degree programs which officially begin in August. Students are expected to complete their program in five years. Typically, the first two years are spent on coursework, at the end of which students take a field exam, and then another three years on dissertation research and writing.

The program requires a minimum of 13 semester long doctoral courses. Students in the Strategy program complete courses in the areas of business management theory, economic theory, quantitative research methods, academic field seminars, and two MBA elective curriculum courses. In addition to HBS courses, students may take courses at other Harvard Schools and MIT.

Research & Dissertation

Students in strategy begin research in their first year typically by working with a faculty member. By their third and fourth years, most students are launched on a solid research and publication stream. The dissertation may take the form of three publishable papers or one longer dissertation.

Examples of thesis research include the relationship between non-market experience and the use and outcome of patent strategies by pharmaceutical firms; the antecedents and consequences of corporate strategy decision-making, specifically focusing on divestitures and governance; the impact of religion on individual financial choices and institutional structures; innovation in emerging markets; and the causal effect of incentive policy reform, expatriates and social relationships on innovation.

Program Requirements

Profiles

Dafna Bearson

Strategy

Rowan Clarke

Strategy

Professor Maria Roche

Strategy
“Students in the program come from diverse backgrounds ranging from computer science to psychology. It's really fascinating how different our worlds views are!”
Do Yoon Kim
2019 Graduate, Strategy
“Students in the program come from diverse backgrounds ranging from computer science to psychology. It's really fascinating how different our worlds views are!”
Do Yoon Kim
2019 Graduate, Strategy

Recent Placement

Innessa Colaiacovo, 2024

University of Oregon, Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, Management Department
Advisors: Rembrand M. Koning (Chair), William R. Kerr, and Shane M. Greenstein

F. Christopher Eaglin, 2022

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Duke University, Fuqua School of Business, Post-Doctoral Fellow (2022-2023); Assistant Professor (2023-)
Advisors: Tarun Khanna (Chair), Dennis A. Yao, Michael Luca, and Frank Nagle

J. Yo-Jud Cheng, 2019

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, Strategy, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Area
Advisors: Boris Groysberg (Chair), Jan W. Rivkin, and Paul M. Healy

Laura Katsnelson, 2024

Senior Regional Economist, Department of Economic Research, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Advisors: Hong Luo, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Rebecca A. Karp

Young Hou, 2021

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, Strategy, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Area
Advisors: Dennis A. Yao (Chair), Juan Alcacer, and Jan W. Rivkin

Do Yoon Kim, 2019

Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Information Systems Department
Advisors: Shane M. Greenstein, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Dennis A. Yao, and Prithwiraj Choudhury

Nataliya Langburd Wright, 2023

Columbia Business School, Management Division
Advisors: Tarun Khanna (Chair), Shane M. Greenstein, Laura Huang, and Rembrand M. Koning

Hyunjin Kim, 2020

INSEAD
Advisors: Dennis A. Yao (Chair), Rebecca M. Henderson, Michael Luca, and Amanda Pallais

Innessa Colaiacovo, 2024

University of Oregon, Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, Management Department
Advisors: Rembrand M. Koning (Chair), William R. Kerr, and Shane M. Greenstein

Laura Katsnelson, 2024

Senior Regional Economist, Department of Economic Research, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Advisors: Hong Luo, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Rebecca A. Karp

Nataliya Langburd Wright, 2023

Columbia Business School, Management Division
Advisors: Tarun Khanna (Chair), Shane M. Greenstein, Laura Huang, and Rembrand M. Koning

F. Christopher Eaglin, 2022

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Duke University, Fuqua School of Business, Post-Doctoral Fellow (2022-2023); Assistant Professor (2023-)
Advisors: Tarun Khanna (Chair), Dennis A. Yao, Michael Luca, and Frank Nagle

Young Hou, 2021

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, Strategy, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Area
Advisors: Dennis A. Yao (Chair), Juan Alcacer, and Jan W. Rivkin

Hyunjin Kim, 2020

INSEAD
Advisors: Dennis A. Yao (Chair), Rebecca M. Henderson, Michael Luca, and Amanda Pallais

J. Yo-Jud Cheng, 2019

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, Strategy, Ethics & Entrepreneurship Area
Advisors: Boris Groysberg (Chair), Jan W. Rivkin, and Paul M. Healy

Do Yoon Kim, 2019

Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Information Systems Department
Advisors: Shane M. Greenstein, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Dennis A. Yao, and Prithwiraj Choudhury
See All Placement

Current Strategy Students

  • Jackson Anderson
  • Ana Antolin
  • Dafna Bearson
  • Liz Calder
  • Rowan Clarke
  • Leila Doumi
  • Aticus Peterson
  • Katie Piner
  • Joey Ryu
  • Kyle Schirmann
  • Yifei Wu
  • Haiyang Zhang
Current Strategy Students
  • Jackson Anderson
  • Ana Antolin
  • Dafna Bearson
  • Liz Calder
  • Rowan Clarke
  • Leila Doumi
  • Aticus Peterson
  • Katie Piner
  • Joey Ryu
  • Kyle Schirmann
  • Yifei Wu
  • Haiyang Zhang
Close

Current HBS Faculty

  • Juan Alcacer
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • Brian K. Baik
  • Julie Battilana
  • Ethan S. Bernstein
  • Jeffrey J. Bussgang
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Alberto F. Cavallo
  • Alex Chan
  • Prithwiraj Choudhury
  • David J. Collis
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • DJ DiDonna
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Carolyn J. Fu
  • Stuart C. Gilson
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Boris Groysberg
  • Jonas Heese
  • Rebecca M. Henderson
  • Ebehi Iyoha
  • Archie L. Jones
  • William R. Kerr
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Raymond P. Kluender
  • Nancy F. Koehn
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Karim R. Lakhani
  • Himabindu Lakkaraju
  • Josh Lerner
  • Michael Lingzhi Li
  • Deepak Malhotra
  • Edward McFowland III
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • John C. Mulliken
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Frank Nagle
  • Seth Neel
  • Felix Oberholzer-Gee
  • Joseph Pacelli
  • Lynn S. Paine
  • Elisabeth C. Paulson
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Meg Rithmire
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Charlotte L. Robertson
  • Maria P. Roche
  • Clayton S. Rose
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • William A. Sahlman
  • George Serafeim
  • Willy C. Shih
  • Christopher T. Stanton
  • Jorge Tamayo
  • Jo Tango
  • Sara McKinley Torti
  • Isamar Troncoso
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • Andy Wu
  • Jeremy Yang
  • Dennis A. Yao
  • David B. Yoffie
  • Shunyuan Zhang
Current HBS Faculty
  • Juan Alcacer
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • Brian K. Baik
  • Julie Battilana
  • Ethan S. Bernstein
  • Jeffrey J. Bussgang
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Alberto F. Cavallo
  • Alex Chan
  • Prithwiraj Choudhury
  • David J. Collis
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • DJ DiDonna
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Carolyn J. Fu
  • Stuart C. Gilson
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Boris Groysberg
  • Jonas Heese
  • Rebecca M. Henderson
  • Ebehi Iyoha
  • Archie L. Jones
  • William R. Kerr
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Raymond P. Kluender
  • Nancy F. Koehn
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Karim R. Lakhani
  • Himabindu Lakkaraju
  • Josh Lerner
  • Michael Lingzhi Li
  • Deepak Malhotra
  • Edward McFowland III
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • John C. Mulliken
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Frank Nagle
  • Seth Neel
  • Felix Oberholzer-Gee
  • Joseph Pacelli
  • Lynn S. Paine
  • Elisabeth C. Paulson
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Meg Rithmire
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Charlotte L. Robertson
  • Maria P. Roche
  • Clayton S. Rose
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • William A. Sahlman
  • George Serafeim
  • Willy C. Shih
  • Christopher T. Stanton
  • Jorge Tamayo
  • Jo Tango
  • Sara McKinley Torti
  • Isamar Troncoso
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • Andy Wu
  • Jeremy Yang
  • Dennis A. Yao
  • David B. Yoffie
  • Shunyuan Zhang
Close

Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest

Big data
  • Alberto F. Cavallo
Competitive advantage
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • David B. Yoffie
Competition
  • David B. Yoffie
Competitive advantage
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • David B. Yoffie
Competitive strategy
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • Dennis A. Yao
Corporate governance
  • Jonas Heese
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Joseph Pacelli
  • Lynn S. Paine
  • Clayton S. Rose
  • George Serafeim
Corporate strategy
  • Juan Alcacer
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • David J. Collis
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Clayton S. Rose
Economic development
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Meg Rithmire
Economics
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Alex Chan
  • Ebehi Iyoha
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • Dennis A. Yao
Emerging markets
  • DJ DiDonna
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Meg Rithmire
Entrepreneurship
  • Brian K. Baik
  • Jeffrey J. Bussgang
  • Archie L. Jones
  • William R. Kerr
  • Raymond P. Kluender
  • Nancy F. Koehn
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Josh Lerner
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Maria P. Roche
  • William A. Sahlman
  • Christopher T. Stanton
  • Jo Tango
  • Sara McKinley Torti
  • Andy Wu
Game theory
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
Government & business
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Charlotte L. Robertson
  • Dennis A. Yao
International business
  • Juan Alcacer
  • David J. Collis
  • William R. Kerr
Machine learning
  • Himabindu Lakkaraju
  • Michael Lingzhi Li
  • Edward McFowland III
  • Seth Neel
  • Elisabeth C. Paulson
  • Isamar Troncoso
  • Jeremy Yang
  • Shunyuan Zhang
Mergers & acquisitions
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • Stuart C. Gilson
Strategy
  • Juan Alcacer
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • Carolyn J. Fu
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Deepak Malhotra
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • John C. Mulliken
  • Felix Oberholzer-Gee
  • Maria P. Roche
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • George Serafeim
  • Andy Wu
  • Dennis A. Yao
  • David B. Yoffie
Technology strategy
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Karim R. Lakhani
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Frank Nagle
  • Willy C. Shih
  • Andy Wu
Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest
Big data
  • Alberto F. Cavallo
Competitive advantage
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • David B. Yoffie
Competition
  • David B. Yoffie
Competitive advantage
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • David B. Yoffie
Competitive strategy
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • Jan W. Rivkin
  • Eric J. Van den Steen
  • Dennis A. Yao
Corporate governance
  • Jonas Heese
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Joseph Pacelli
  • Lynn S. Paine
  • Clayton S. Rose
  • George Serafeim
Corporate strategy
  • Juan Alcacer
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • David J. Collis
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • Clayton S. Rose
Economic development
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Meg Rithmire
Economics
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Alex Chan
  • Ebehi Iyoha
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • Dennis A. Yao
Emerging markets
  • DJ DiDonna
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Meg Rithmire
Entrepreneurship
  • Brian K. Baik
  • Jeffrey J. Bussgang
  • Archie L. Jones
  • William R. Kerr
  • Raymond P. Kluender
  • Nancy F. Koehn
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Josh Lerner
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Maria P. Roche
  • William A. Sahlman
  • Christopher T. Stanton
  • Jo Tango
  • Sara McKinley Torti
  • Andy Wu
Game theory
  • Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
Government & business
  • Mattias E. Fibiger
  • Sophus A. Reinert
  • Charlotte L. Robertson
  • Dennis A. Yao
International business
  • Juan Alcacer
  • David J. Collis
  • William R. Kerr
Machine learning
  • Himabindu Lakkaraju
  • Michael Lingzhi Li
  • Edward McFowland III
  • Seth Neel
  • Elisabeth C. Paulson
  • Isamar Troncoso
  • Jeremy Yang
  • Shunyuan Zhang
Mergers & acquisitions
  • Leemore S. Dafny
  • Stuart C. Gilson
Strategy
  • Juan Alcacer
  • Bharat N. Anand
  • Carolyn J. Fu
  • Tarun Khanna
  • Rembrand M. Koning
  • Deepak Malhotra
  • Cynthia A. Montgomery
  • John C. Mulliken
  • Felix Oberholzer-Gee
  • Maria P. Roche
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • George Serafeim
  • Andy Wu
  • Dennis A. Yao
  • David B. Yoffie
Technology strategy
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Karim R. Lakhani
  • Kyle R. Myers
  • Frank Nagle
  • Willy C. Shih
  • Andy Wu
Close
ǁ
Campus Map
Doctoral Programs
Harvard Business School
Wyss House
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6101
Email: doctoralprograms+hbs.edu
Registrar: docreg+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.