PhD in management

The Rennes School of Business PhD in management programme integrates students into a rich and varied academic environment over 3 years, exposing them to top level research in their chosen discipline. The programme uses a mix of specialised teaching and research activities to enable students to acquire specialist knowledge in their domain, preparing them for an outstanding career.  We will seek to recruit 3 or 4 excellent students on to the programme in September 2025. 

Mission

The mission of the PhD in management programme is to enable participants to develop the necessary research and analytical skills to bring a valuable contribution to their area of academic expertise. Over the three years of the programme, participants are prepared for international, research-driven academic careers or research positions in multinational companies, organisations or institutions.

5 reasons to join the programme:

Join an animated and varied research community of PhD, post-doctoral students and academic researchers who regularly publish in top peer-reviewed academic journals.
Join our international research networks with partner universities around the world.
Become a specialist in your domain and achieve excellence in one of our 5 research areas:

– Artificial Intelligent-Driven Business
– Agribusiness
– Green, Digital and Demand-driven Supply Chain Management
– Rethinking Tomorrow’s Organisation
– Financial & Corporate Outcomes

Benefit from seminars and workshops delivered by world-class academics.
Join a French triple-accredited business school (EQUIS, AACSB, AMBA) for international attractiveness and the quality of its Faculty.

Programme

The PhD in management programme has a standard duration of 36 months for full-time students. It is structured around methods and specialised courses as well as various formats to acquire the best academic skills.

Foundation and two methods courses

Preparing for a Successful PhD Experience and Beyond
Advanced quantitative methods
Advanced qualitative methods

“Rennes SB Expertise” sessions

Bi-monthly 1h30 sessions delivered by Rennes SB Faculty and CUT fellows in three areas
Rennes SB Topics: Theory, results, hot topics
Rennes SB Methods: Specific research techniques and approaches
Rennes SB Soft Skills: Preparation to succeed in academia

Annual PhD workshop
Students present their work (March/April) for discussion and feedback with a panel of other students and academics from Rennes SB or external. Students can use the discussion and feedback to inform their Annual Progress Review (APR) documents. Participation in the annual workshop and APR is mandatory for continued registration.

Seminars
The Research Lab and the research centres run a regular series of seminars during term time. Attendance at seminars relevant to the student’s research and/or organised by the relevant research center is strongly encouraged.

Conferences, Conferences Funding and Training Course Funding
Students are encouraged to present their work at national and international conferences. Funds are made available to enable students to attend conferences and courses.

Admission

2025 timeline for a start in September 2025

Applications: 1 January – 31 March 2025
Application review: 15 April 2025
Review Results: 30 April 2025

Eligibility

To be eligible you must have obtained merit or distinction in your Master’s level degree in Business, Management or a related discipline (e.g. economics, law) from a reputed university or higher education institution. Applicants from other academic backgrounds must provide written justification for how their previous work or experience has prepared them to join one of the research centres’ specialised research orientations.
English proficiency required (native speaker, previous degrees taught entirely in English (min. 3 years), or TOEFL >80/IELTS>6.5/TOEIC>800)
Evidence of ability to support yourself financially for 3 years for self-funded applicants.

How to apply

Applications are open between January 1 and March 31, 2025

Candidates should complete the application form provided below (“Apply Here” button) and return it with all the required documents listed at the end of the application form to phd@rennes-sb.com between 1 January and 31 March 2025. The subject line of the e-mail should be “Name Surname – Ph.D. application”.

Please note:

that incomplete application files will not be processed. Make sure to send ALL documents requested.
Application received before 1 January and after 31 March will not be processed.

Before starting we remind you that you will need to provide a short research proposal linked to one of the Research Centre orientations, preferably with a proposed Rennes SB supervisor.
Please explore our Research Centres sites below and the Faculty profiles to ensure that your research area fits with Rennes SB’s orientations.

Application Checklist

Letter of motivation,
CV,
Copy of diploma(s),
5-6 page research proposal, (based on the call for applications if applicable) presenting your proposed research question, the societal/business background, proposed methods of investigation/research design, a brief overview of current research in this field, how this project will impact business, management and/or society. Include a reference list.
Any other administrative documents, identity card, residence permit, visa or other, to for potential registration process,
Transcript of grades for MSc and Bachelor degrees,
Evidence of ability to complete PhD in English (written justification, TOEIC, TOEFL, examples of publications in English, etc.),
Two recommendations from professors who have followed you during your studies other than the potential thesis director,
If any: A letter of agreement from a thesis supervisor at Rennes School of Business and a co-supervisor, working in a partner organisation.

Fees and scholarships

The Rennes SB PhD programme waives all tuition fees to attract the best candidates.

Registration fees: €500 per year
Administration fees: €1000 per year

National and international scholarships

Mexico: conacyt.mx/becas_posgrados/
China: cscscholarship.org/ 
Find your country on France Campus: campusfrance.org/fr/espaces 
Find funding on the following page: https://campusbourses.campusfrance.org/#/catalog
The French Embassy in your country may also provide grants.
France: enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/fr/les-cifre-46510

Our PhD students

Rennes School of Business PhD students

Publications & press

The PhD programme in the press

“Les recherches de ce doctorant profitent à son entreprise”, Ouest France
“Cinq idées reçues sur le doctorat”, Ouest France
“Recruter un doctorant : une formule gagnante en entreprise”, Ouest France
“Ce doctorant travaille sur les plans d’évacuation de Rennes en cas de catastrophe naturelle”, Ouest France

PhD student academic publications

Recent academic publications co-authored by Rennes SB PhD students :

Agarwal, S., & Muckley, C. (2022) Law enforcement spillover effects in the financial sector. European Financial Management.doi.org/10.1111/eufm.12356 
Bazih, J.H., Vanwalleghem, D. (2021) Deriving value or risk? Determinants and the impact of emerging market banks’ derivative usage. Research in International Business and Finance, Volume 56, Issue 1, 101379
Benitez, J., Ruiz, L., Castillo, A., & Llorens, J. (2020). How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability. Decision Support Systems, 129, 113223.
Braojos, J., Benitez, J., Llorens, J., & Ruiz, L. (2020). Impact of IT integration on the firm’s knowledge absorption and desorption. Information & Management, 57(7), 103290
Chedrawi, C., & Atallah, Y. (2021). Artificial intelligence in the defense sector: an RBV and isomorphism perspectives to the case of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Journal of Asia Business Studies. doi.org/10.1108/JABS-09-2020-0377
Chen, Y., Bredin, D., Potì, V., & Matkovskyy, R. (2021). COVID risk narratives: a computational linguistic approach to the econometric identification of narrative risk during a pandemic. Digital Finance, 1-45.
Chen, M., Chakraborty, S., Xiong, J., Scaringella, L., & Descubes, I. (2021). Business model renewal and environment changes: Insights of Chinese textile industry. Strategic Change, 30(6), 573-580.
Gao, S., Bagnarosa, G., Dowling, M. Matkovskyy, R. & Tawil, D. (2022) Price transmission in European fish markets. Applied Economics, 54(19), 2194-2213
Huertas-Valdivia, I., Gallego-Burín, A. R., Castillo, A., & Ruiz, L. (2021). Why don’t high-performance work systems always achieve superior service in hospitality? The key is servant leadership. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 49, 152-163.
Jabbouri, R., Schneckenberg, D. & Truong, Y. (2022) From Policy-Practice to Means-Ends Decoupling in Organisations: A Systematic Review and Paths for Future Research. Management International, 26(1),123-148.
Jabbouri, R., Schneckenberg, D., Truong, Y. & Palmer, M. (2019) Institutional Means-ends Decoupling Work in Industrial R&D Project Implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 80, 296-311.
Joshi, A., Benitez, J., Huygh, T., Ruiz, L. & De Haes, S. (2022) Impact of IT governance process capability on business performance: Theory and empirical evidence, Decision Support Systems, 153, 113668.
Kandil, N., Battaïa, O., & Hammami, R. (2020) Globalisation vs. Slowbalisation: A literature review of analytical models for sourcing decisions in Supply Chain Management. Annual Reviews in Control, 49, 277-287.
Longondjo E.C., & Roloff, J. (2020) Protecting environment or people? Pitfalls and merits of informal labor in the Congolese recycling industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(4), 815–834.
Öncü Hazır, Maher A. N. Agi & Jérémy Guérin (2020) A fast and effective heuristic for smoothing workloads on assembly lines: algorithm design and experimental analysis. Computers and Operations Research, 115, 104857.
Palusuk, N., Koles, B., Hasan, R. (2019) All you need is brand love: a critical review of comprehensive conceptual framework for brand love. Journal of Marketing Management, 35, (1-2), 97-129.
Razm, S., Brahimi, N., Dolgui, A., & Hammami, R. (2021, September). Designing Bioenergy Supply Chains Under Social Constraints. In IFIP International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems (pp. 387-396). Springer, Cham.
Saad, G., Bouraoui, T. (2019) Currency returns during democratic transition: Evidence from Tunisia. Managerial Finance, 45, (7), 2019 pp. 966-979.
Wu, X., Xiong, J., Li, H., Wu, H. (2019) The myth of retail pricing policy for developing organic vegetable markets. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 51, 8-13.
Xu, L., Yan, J., Xiong, J. (2019) Network Characteristics and Organizational Innovation Capability: A Study of the Inter-organizational Collaboration Network of New Drug Development in Shanghai China. Strategic Change, Vol. 28, Issue 6, pp. 499-506.
Yan J, Xu L, Farajallah M, Zhao S & Xiong J., (2020) Overview of environmental management in an emerging market. Strategic Change. 2020, Volume 29, Issue 5, pp.553–560.
Zhao, S., Kim, S. Y., Wu, H., Yan, J., & Xiong, J. (2019). Closing the gap: the Chinese electric vehicle industry owns the road. Journal of Business Strategy.
Zhao, S., Xiong, J., Kim, S.-Y., Xu, L. and Yan, J. (2021) When bike-sharing crashed in China: a bumpy ride. Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 42 No. 5, pp. 295-303

Highlights of Rennes SB research

All the latest research news from Rennes SB

“So, are you convinced?”

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