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Mishari
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 05 May 2008, 13:43
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I'm planning to apply in a couple of years to PhD in strategic management/entrepreneurship. I have time to take preparatory coursework during the next two semesters. What do you suggest ? I have undergrad in engineering, including an advanced statistics course and math courses through differential equations and linear algebra. I have two courses in principles of macroecon. and microecon.

I'm thiking of taking the some or all of the following:

- Econometrics
- Microeconomic Theory
- Macroeconomic Theory
- Industrial Economics (industrial organizations/ economics of industry)
- Managerial Economics
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cabro57
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 05 May 2008, 21:35
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Mishari
I'm planning to apply in a couple of years to PhD in strategic management/entrepreneurship. I have time to take preparatory coursework during the next two semesters. What do you suggest ? I have undergrad in engineering, including an advanced statistics course and math courses through differential equations and linear algebra. I have two courses in principles of macroecon. and microecon.

I'm thiking of taking the some or all of the following:

- Econometrics
- Microeconomic Theory
- Macroeconomic Theory
- Industrial Economics (industrial organizations/ economics of industry)
- Managerial Economics
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Let me first say that background coursework is definitely not going to be the weakest part of your application, even if you do nothing. However among the course list above I'd say Industrial Economics is definitely the most important. Econometrics is always nice and shows you're not afraid of math (although your engineering undergrad also points that out). Micro and macro can be useful, although they're especially useful in the more quant-oriented fields of economics (Finance, Accounting, Economics itself). What's managerial economics? Is it managerial accounting, ie. capital budgeting, activity-based costing and other strategic cost management-type of stuff? If so, it's probably important.
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Mishari
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 06 May 2008, 09:14
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Thanks for the reply.

Here is a description of a course in industrial economics:

This course examines the main topics in industrial organization such as concentration, barriers to entry, product differentiation, innovation and technical change, vertical integration, diversification and regulation. The aim is to provide an overview of industrial organization and economics to students with basic knowledge of microeconomics. The effects of structural conditions on the firm’s pricing strategies and performance are examined.

I'm just trying to take advantage of my time to prepare for PhD in strategy. I want to boost my chances for admission as much as possible. Do you think taking courses now in economics or other areas will somehow enhance my application competitiveness ? at least i'm showing that I'm really interested in the PhD and preparing for it early. I will be working at the same time as a research assistant with a faculty member in the same area (but not at the school I wanna apply to).
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bauble
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 07 May 2008, 05:30
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Mishari
I'm planning to apply in a couple of years to PhD in strategic management/entrepreneurship. I have time to take preparatory coursework during the next two semesters. What do you suggest ? I have undergrad in engineering, including an advanced statistics course and math courses through differential equations and linear algebra. I have two courses in principles of macroecon. and microecon.

I'm thiking of taking the some or all of the following:

- Econometrics
- Microeconomic Theory
- Macroeconomic Theory
- Industrial Economics (industrial organizations/ economics of industry)
- Managerial Economics
Show more

I'd say IO/Micro would be the best choices. IO is good since it is highly relevant, micro in comparison is arguably less relevant but perhaps a stronger signal of ability (assuming you're taking phd level in each case). Econometrics is also a decent choice, but some people view it just as a tool, so they'd think of it as "go read STATA command sections in the manual and whatever else you need so you know what you're doing" and put less emphasis on the theoretical side of it. Macro is a bit less relevant, and I'm also not sure what managerial economics is.
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hobbit
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 09 May 2008, 17:59
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just finished my first year screening exam in strategic management.

if you ask me about background courses for strategic management - get away from economics. strategic management is so much more than economics, that if you take too much of it, is like limiting yourself to that aspect of SM. why not taking something on strategy or organizational aspects (like organizational learning which is highly relevant to SM and has nothing to do with econ....
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Mishari
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 10 May 2008, 01:49
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Hobbit,

the purpose of taking courses during the next two semesters for me is to : 1. prepare for PhD work in strategic management and 2. Enhance my application and making my profile more competitive for top 10 business schools.

Should I take more math courses ?
i.e. partial DFQ, Real analysis, Econometrics ..

OR some management courses: Strategic management/ international business .. etc ?
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Preparatory courses for Strategic Management 10 May 2008, 04:31
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in fact - the course that will help you most (at least for the first purpose if not for the second as well) is taking a course in research methods. it seems that you have enough quant background. you don't need much more than what you have unless you want to get PhD in finance. economics might help if you never took any class on economics, but if you did, the added value of another course would be low.

the most you can do is read papers. but there is no course on that, is it?
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