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Abstract

TalTech School of Business and Governance, Department of Business Administration, Marketing Research Group is offering a 4-year PhD position in the field of Economic Development / Economic Policy.

Research field: Economics and finance
Supervisor: Edward Kasabov
Availability: This position is available.
Offered by: School of Business and Governance
Department of Business Administration
Application deadline:Applications are accepted between November 16, 2020 00:00 and December 16, 2020 23:59 (Europe/Zurich)

Description

The project is planned as a cross-disciplinary endeavour which explores the role and place of smallscale new ventures and entrepreneurship in economic enablement, the building up and maintaining of critical economic capacity across areas which have been for a long time marginalised by analysts and policy makers – rural, peripheral, disadvantaged and mountainous / upland areas.
Due to the richness and novelty of the topic, its potential policy impacts, as well as the complexity and inter-relatedness of the ’wicked’ issues involved, the project is expected to be informed by and build upon diverse disciplines and perspectives traversing the boundaries of Management/Strategy/Business Administration, Applied Economics/Economic Policy/Political Economy, Sociology or Economic Geography, even Political Science and/or History. Therefore, diverse theoretical perspectives, ontological and methodological approaches are welcome.
At the core of the project is establishing the value of diverse forms and formats of entrepreneurship and new, small ventures to local and regional development, economic advancement and other forms of regeneration / rejuvenation of often-neglected and forgotten areas which are usually assumed to be of lesser economic, social-cultural and political value to the national economy.
In spite of the growing interest in the concept and practice of entrepreneurship in recent years, it tends to be associated with urban locations, especially the ’global cities’ and the hubs of the modern global economy which are also typically assumed to be the sole flag-bearers of creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and advancement. Conisdeably less is known about the shape and form, formats, policy effects and development implications of what entrepreneurs achieve across less populated, less urbanised and peripheral locations. The little evidence collected so far, though, demonstrtaes the considerable positive role they play across small, rural communities. 
An opportunity also exists in exploring the above in the context of less developed, developing and emerging economies where rural entrepreneurship has been shown to assume even more diverse roles – an area which is still underexplored both across urban and rural settings. Yet, some of the most successful initiatives enabling local and rural economies through rural and artisanal entrepreneurship come from such emerging and developing economies. Some recent, prominent examples come from locations as diverse as Thailand, China, Malaysia, and Bolivia. Therefore, the project could suit candidates seeking to explore the specific role that rural entrepreneurship plays in non-Western and
especially non-European contexts.
A potentially exciting option lies in analysing local and regional development of rural areas via entrepreneurship through the application of new technologies, including through the practices of entrepreneurial marketing and digital marketing. Far from being confined to being of the ’necessity’ type, rural entrepreneurship in such locations has been shown to embrace latest technologies. The introduction and growing use of such technologies especially in the last decade as well as more recent developments in communications have assisted rural entrepreneurs in designing, applying and refining highly innovative strategies and techniques to access new markets, manage their customers and business partners. With little to no reference to such practices and achievements in the academic literature so far, the project has the potential to represent a ground-breaking theoretical advancement, while also informing future public policy on such locations.

Qualifications
The applicants should fulfill the following requirements:

  • The candidate should hold a MSc or MA in Strategy, Business Administration, Applied Economics, Economic Policy, Political Economy, Sociology or Economic Geography
  • Applicants holding BA/MA/MSc degrees in Political Science, History or disciplines related to the above are also welcome
  • The candidate should have completed successfully their studies at the time of application, including having successfully defended their thesis