This is a 4-year program designed for highly qualified and motivated students who wish to acquire the research and analytical skills of the international scientific community in business and managerial disciplines. It is designed for students seeking jobs in academia as well as those who wish to acquire the skills of professional academic research to work in knowledge-intensive firms, multinational companies, government agencies, financial institutions, consulting firms, international agencies.

The program provides a solid methodological basis, exposure to forefront themes and methods, and the ability to design and implement research projects in business disciplines. This is achieved through a balanced mix of full time courses, advanced seminars, field projects, research stages at Bocconi and other leading universities, interactions with international teachers and scholars, and a carefully tutored dissertation project. The faculty is composed of research oriented scholars with international scientific standing, mainly from Bocconi but also from other Italian universities or from other countries.

Bocconi encourages applications from international students. It values their presence in the program as an important contribution to its diversity and intellectual richness. While the program is designed to specialize students in one field of business administration and management, it provides them with the interdisciplinary knowledge that is welcome in the administrative and managerial sciences. It also combines training in the collection and analysis of business data and information with the ability to approach problems logically and from a theoretical perspective. It emphasizes both quantitative and qualitative methods of business research and decision making.
Throughout the program students will find an atmosphere congenial to scientific research and to participation in the international scientific debate. The PhD thesis is expected to show an autonomous ability to identify problems, and to design and conduct original research. It is expected that students will produce articles publishable in international journals.

The Bocconi PhD program in Business Administration and Management has undertaken a progressive path to becoming a leading program worldwide in business and managerial disciplines.