PhD in Management - Entrepreneurship

The Telfer Ph.D. in Management is designed the shape visionary, influential thinkers who have a positive impact on the lives of people, organizations, and communities through their research. Our students work on their research in collaboration with internationally renowned professors. We share with our students the expertise of our researchers, their extensive networks, and their partnerships with organizations in local, national, and international business communities. Our mission is to consistently maintain high-quality research networks – and to put our students at the center of everything. The Telfer Ph.D. offers students the opportunity to specialize in one of five fields:

• Accounting and Control
• Entrepreneurship
• Finance
• Health Systems
• Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources

Entrepreneurship reflects the burgeoning of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for a disproportionately large share of net job creation and Canada’s economic development, and contribute to the national trade balance when firms expand overseas. Outcomes that are not just related to the creation of new firms – an entrepreneurial orientation can be equally applied to large corporations and public and non-profit sectors where new ideas trigger programs and processes that benefit society as a whole. Entrepreneurship is therefore central to developing effective public policy and educating those engaged in the commercialization of technology. All topics are inter-disciplinary in nature, including the entrepreneurial process and cognition, opportunity recognition, emergence of new firms, intrapreneurship, social entrepreneurship, SME policy and new venture financing.

Entrepreneurship as a specialty

The Ph.D. in Management offers students the opportunity to focus on one of five specialties: Accounting and Control, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Health Systems and Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources.

Students who choose to specialize in Entrepreneurship will reflect on the burgeoning of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for a disproportionately large share of net job creation and Canada’s economic development as well as the application of an entrepreneurial orientation to large corporations and public and non-profit sectors. All topics are inter-disciplinary in nature, including the entrepreneurial process and cognition, opportunity recognition, emergence of new firms, intrapreneurship, social entrepreneurship, SME policy and new venture financing.

Program Highlights

At the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, we are committed to providing our students with all the tools to succeed. Our students work on their research in collaboration with internationally renowned professors. We share with our students the expertise of our researchers, their extensive networks, and their partnerships with organizations in local, national, and international business communities. Our mission is to consistently maintain high-quality research networks – and to put our students at the center of everything.

The Doctoral Leadership Development Program offers seminars, special workshops and activities focused on personal and professional development. These activities assist in the holistic development of doctoral candidates. Additional workshops are also made available through the Altitude Program.

In addition to workshops, the Telfer School of Management is lucky to host several research talks every year. We currently host the Management Research Seminar Series, and the Health Systems Research Seminar Series. All doctoral students are invited to make at least one thesis-related presentation to the Telfer School of Management Research Seminar Series.

Multidisciplinary research is also an inherent part of the Ph.D. in Management. All students, regardless of specialization, examine the multidisciplinary nature of management decision-making. Telfer students push beyond the traditional knowledge boundaries and incorporate knowledge from other disciplines embracing emerging and sometimes conflicting paradigms including sustainability, responsible management and the need to balance environmental, economic and social outcomes.

Finally, a teaching practicum is offered and encouraged regardless of the student’s intended career. The ability to teach is an important skill for both academic and non-academic careers. Students are also encouraged to enroll in the University of Ottawa’s Certificate in University Teaching.

Everyone who joins the tight-knit community that makes up our management school is immediately engaged in the business of building a better Canada.

Our students are fully immersed in a learning experience that goes beyond the classroom and takes them out into the practical world, where they benefit from working with partners to make a real impact in their world. This exposure prepares our students to become a new generation of leaders ready to apply their learning to the world around them.

Our faculty devotes themselves to conducting leading-edge research that produces the insights and ideas that we use to shape our unique curriculum. Our staff is committed to providing the support that makes all this important work possible, united by a shared belief that better business means a better Canada, and that a better Canada means a better world.