SMI PhD Topics/areas
How are strategic decisions affected by environmental uncertainty?
Outline: Concepts of uncertainty have long been at the heart of many of the core theories used
in strategic management to understand competitive advantage as well as organizational
boundaries. Uncertainty has many important implications for numerous dimensions of
organization (e.g., new organizational forms, global R&D, integration-responsiveness, etc.),
as well as the many initiatives (e.g., corporate venturing, corporate transformation, etc.) or
techniques (e.g., scenario planning, real options analysis, etc.) that might be used in the
strategy process to cope with uncertainty. Some of these approaches have been used for some
time with uneven success, and others are just now being adopted by organizations.
The proposed project will conduct a number of qualitative and quantitative analyses to
investigate how organizations might address growing uncertainty and enhance their
effectiveness in responding to changes in the global business environment.
Existing research strengths: The proposed project complements and extends existing research
strengths at Kingston University, in the areas of Strategy and Entrepreneurship within the
Strategy, Innovation and Marketing Department
Supervisor: Dr Riccardo Vecchiato (r.vecchiato@kingston.ac.uk)
Organization Theory and Academic Spinoffs
Understanding academic spinoffs as a form of technology transfer has been a very important
research area for years. Most of the literature has looked at how universities can create and
manage spinoff firms but we still know little about how spinoffs grow or how they affect the
universities that create them in the first place.
This topic area will involve organization theories such as reputation, legitimacy, status and
ecology to answer questions such as: how do spinoffs socialize? how do spinoffs compete or
cooperate? how do spinoffs gain legitimacy and reputation? what is the optimal number of
spinoffs in a university’s portfolio? etc.
Several methods of analysis can be used for the above research questions with either a
contemporary or a historical approach (for instance, interviews) but a longitudinal pane
dataset approach would be perhaps preferred.
Supervisor: Konstantinos Pitsakis (k.pitsakis@kingston.ac.uk)
In the context of retail internationalization, how do local retailers from emerging
markets compete with foreign retailers?
Outline: Chinese indigenous firms have risen as powerful players in the global market in the
last two decades. Therefore, exploring their catch-up process has become a popular theme
attracting research attention from academia. However, most of the existing research has
restricted the research scope to manufacturing firms in the high technology sector, and cases
from service, especially retailing, have been under-researched.
This has led to a call for research to look into the retail sector and investigate how Chinese
indigenous retailers develop the capability, and what strategies are used, to compete with their
foreign counterparts.
The proposed project will use a qualitative approach and will try to draw on a range of
theories, such as embeddedness/networking theories, theories in the field of innovation and
retail innovation, and probably some theories from the discipline of sociology such as
structuration theory.
Existing research strengths: The proposed project complements and extends existing research
strengths at Kingston University, in the areas of retail internationalisation.
Supervisor: Dr Amelia Au-Yeung (a.au-yeung@kingston.ac.uk)
Vertical extensions: consumer evaluation and feedback effects
There has been extensive research on brand extensions, but less so on vertical extensions, that
is line extensions at a lower (downscale extensions) or higher (upscale extensions) price than
the ‘normal’ range of products sold under a brand name. For example, we do not know the
effect of vertical extensions of different magnitude on extension evaluation and on the brand
image. Price differentials of different magnitude could be considered in order to establish, for
instance, the existence of any threshold effects on the evaluation of vertical extensions of
brands with different position on the price/ prestige spectrum.
In the context of vertical extensions of brands with different position on the price/ prestige
spectrum, the effect of the product category (e.g. more conspicuousness v less conspicuous
product categories) and of the brand logo visibility (or brand prominence) could also be
studied. Indeed, prior research by Dall’Olmo Riley, Pina and Bravo (2013) found evidence of
interaction effects between the position of a brand on the price/ prestige spectrum and the
product category on the value perceptions, extension attitude and purchase intention of
vertical extensions. However, further research needs to substantiate and extend these findings.
Finally, the type of brand (e.g. service or luxury), previous experience with the product
category and ownership (or usage) of the brand may be factors affecting the evaluation of
vertical extensions and the post-extension image of the parent brand.
It is envisaged that the PhD candidate will focus his/ her research on one of the aspects
highlighted above.
Supervisor: Dr Francesca Dall’Olmo Riley (f.d.riley@kingston.ac.uk)
The applicability of consumer behaviour theories to leisure behaviours and choices.
Outline: There are a number of similarities between leisure behaviour and consumer
behaviour more generally (e.g. patterns of purchase or participation and the degree to which
markets are segmented). However, these similarities have been little explored in both the
leisure and consumer behaviour literature.
The proposed project will employ data from large scale surveys (such as Taking Part) to
investigate patterns of participation and the drivers of participation in for example arts, sports,
heritage or gambling activities and how far these patterns conform to what is known about
brand buying behaviour.
Existing research strengths: The proposed project extends and builds on current research
strengths within the Marketing research group in both consumer behaviour and specifically
consumer behaviour in leisure and experiential markets.
Supervisory team: Dr Chris Hand (c.hand@kingston.ac.uk) and Dr Francesca Dall’Olmo
Riley (f.d.riley@kingston.ac.uk)
Unravelling societal consequences of status consumption and consumer envy
Status and aspirational consumption are on the increase in every society. Brands, especially
high-end luxury brands, often drive such consumption behaviour. Prior research shows that
consumers’ preferences can depend on others’ possessions. Scholars have described this
social influence using terms such as the ‘bandwagon effect’ and ‘keeping-up-with-theJoneses’. Consumers often want what others have, and consumer envy is seen as one of the
negative unintended consequences of mass advertising, thus harming the social fabric of
society. Brands play a critical role in generating envy and also re-gaining equality caused by
envy. Envy is a fundamental human emotion which stems from social comparisons and gets
reflected through a negative emotional response to another person’s superior quality,
achievement, or possession, in which the envier either desires the advantage or wishes that the
envied person lacks it. Envy, as one of the components of trait materialism, has been
documented to negatively affect subjective well-being and life satisfaction
At the aggregate level, consumption envy can cause societal fissures, and can lead to
heightened demarcations between the haves and the have-nots. In today’s consumerist society
such as the UK, envy remains a socially impactful issue in the way it affects consumption
practices of individuals and groups. There is, however, very little research on status
consumption and consumer envy. This research project aims to investigate several questions
arising from the above aspects of consumer behaviour.
Existing research strengths: The research project will benefit from existing research strength
at Kingston Business School in the domain of consumer behaviour and branding. The
supervisory team has extensive supervision experience and publication record in consumer
research, status consumption and branding.
Supervisory team: Dr Jaywant Singh (j.singh@kingston.ac.uk) and Dr Francesca Dall’Olmo
Riley (f.d.riley@kingston.ac.uk)
Development and changes in consumer perceptions of value: Cognitive and affective
mechanisms
The centrality of value as a ‘critical variable’ in marketing is widely noted by authors and
there is agreement that understanding value leads to understanding marketing. Acceptance of
the view of marketing as an exchange between buyer and seller, in which each gives up
something of value in return for something of greater value, leads to the idea that ‘customer
value is the basic foundation for everything we do in marketing’. From the consumer’s
perspective, value represents what they ‘want and believe they get from buying and using a
seller’s product’ whether a good, service, experience, or anything capable of fulfilling a need
or want. From the perspective of the organisation, providing a superior value proposition
represents an important strategy for competitive advantage and for designing service offering.
The focus of the present study is consumer value. The research will apply equity and justice
theory as well as ideas developed by Daniel Kahneman to advance understanding of the
cognitive and affective mechanisms involved in the development and changes in value
perceptions following product or service failure.
Existing research strengths: The research project develops current research into areas of
consumer perceptions of value and builds on a number of already published peer reviewed
papers on the subject by the supervisory team.
Supervisory team: Professor Stavros P Kalafatis (kalafatis@kingston.ac.uk) and Dr Lesley
Ledden (L.Ledden@kingston.ac.uk)
How does WOM actually work?: A qualitative study
Historically word-of-mouth (WOM) research has focused predominantly on quantitative
analysis of recalled or hypothetical inputs and outputs. Attention has been on factors such as
antecedents, behavioural and attitudinal outcomes, impact of valence and frequency, medium,
closeness of tie etc. Although WOM is arguably one of the most influential impacts on buying
behaviour, much academic research fails to give a richness as to how WOM really works.
Instead, it relies on dry statistics that do not explain the complexity of this multifaceted
process and offer little generalisable advice to practitioners. This suggests a need to use
qualitative research to understand this complex phenomenon more fully, to mine the process
to maximize the chances of successful manipulation. It is thought that the area might benefit
from the use of relevant sociological theory to explore the mechanics of the transmission of
WOM.
The proposed project will conduct numerous qualitative interviews to investigate the social
amplification of WOM messages. For example, what situational factors affect the efficacy of
WOM? How do individuals define closeness of tie? How can organisations harness this
knowledge? One approach may be to track back from purchases or another to identify market
mavens.
Existing research strengths: The proposed project complements and extends existing research
strengths at Kingston University, in the areas of WOM, qualitative research and behavioural
change within the Department of Strategy, Marketing and Innovation.
Supervisory team: Professor Wendy Lomax (w.lomax@kingston.ac.uk), Dr Francesca
Dall’Olmo Riley (f.d.riley@kingston.ac.uk) and Professor Ruth Rettie
(r.rettie@kingston.ac.uk)
PhD STUDENTSHIP (Entrepreneurship Group)
"The Entrepreneurship Group at Kingston Business School is an interdisciplinary teaching
and research group that focuses on researching issues and topics on innovation,
entrepreneurship and sustainability within and across organisations in different industrial and
national settings, in private and public sectors. Our research focuses on making original
theoretical/and or empirical contributions to knowledge and understanding of the three key
areas of: 1) Innovation (and Design) - the development, management, financing (e.g. venture
capital, business angels and crowdfunding) and commercialisation of new products/services,
new processes, new business models, design-led management, etc. in existing firms; 2)
Entrepreneurship -the formation, management, development, and growth of new and small
enterprises; 3) Sustainability – the application of entrepreneurial leadership and innovation to
addressing sustainability and environment related issues.
Students can approach any of these areas of research as distinct elements or combine them in
their studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship and
sustainability means that students can draw on theories and concepts from management,
economics, and sociology in order to address new research problems that have direct or
indirect implications for any of our key areas of research. We stress real world relevance as a
core value of our research. We expect students to be committed to carrying-out rigorous
research, but also to tackling questions that have meaningful implications for innovation,
entrepreneurship and sustainability.
Supervisory team: Dr Fatima Annan-Diab (F.Diab@kingston.ac.uk), Dr Corrine Beaumont
(C.Beaumont@kingston.ac.uk), Dr Yazid Abdullahi (Y.Abdullahi@kingston.ac.uk) and Dr
Yannis Pierrakis (I.Pierrakis@kingston.ac.uk)