PhD Position in Global Strategy and Innovation

Despite stark evidence and mounting pressures from the public opinion and stakeholders, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the related policies vary substantially across countries and firms. As dominant players in the global economy, multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been called to take a more active role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and recently their strategy has been increasingly influenced by the UN's 2030 Agenda. MNEs' managers are pressured by their stakeholders to integrate policies and practices which have a clear connection to sustainable development. Yet this represents a major managerial challenge, as the MNEs' actions and strategic decisions may exacerbate rather than alleviate global challenges such as climate change, poverty, gender discrimination, unsustainable consumption, among others.

MNEs are among the leading global players able to promote sustainable development via both direct and indirect strategic actions. MNEs are the main organizational channel for the mobility of people, knowledge, capital, and goods across countries and play a primary role in the creation, diffusion, and utilization of technological innovation. A key area for future research is the investigation on how complex organizations, such as MNEs, may contribute to the achievement of SDGs by:

• designing green-oriented innovation processes,
• adopting digital technologies to redistribute innovation activities more equally across the global value chains,
• changing hiring and collaboration practices to improve diversity and inclusion.

This project will focus on one or more of the interrelated research themes described above. Searching for a setting representing a (quasi-)natural experiment is preferred to gauge causality. The research setting also points toward a multi-level theoretical and empirical approach that involves different levels of the firms from individuals, teams, top-management teams, and subsidiaries. A variety of data sources can be adopted, including patent- and individual-level data.

What are you going to do

You will/tasks:

• pursue and complete a PhD thesis within the appointed duration of four years, during which you will follow PhD level coursework, plan and conduct your PhD research;
• actively collaborate with the researchers from Amsterdam Business School;
• present research findings at international conferences;
• submit your work to prestigious management science journals;
• assist in teaching activities, such as tutorials, Bsc and MSc thesis supervision.