The structured Ph.D. program in Operations Management at the Center for Doctoral Studies in Business (CDSB) offers doctoral candidates a rigorous and research-oriented education at the intersection of Operations Management, Operations Research, Business Analytics, and Data Science. The program is designed for outstanding students who want to develop strong quantitative, analytical, and methodological skills and apply them to relevant problems in business and society.

Research in the Area Operations Management covers a broad range of topics, including production management, supply chain management, service operations management, procurement, sustainable operations, and risk management. Across these fields, doctoral candidates learn to analyze complex decision problems, develop empirical and quantitative models, and derive insights that support better managerial decision-making.

The CDSB program combines structured doctoral training with close supervision by renowned professors in Operations Management. Doctoral candidates benefit from a broad and flexible curriculum that provides a solid methodological foundation from the beginning of the program while allowing them to specialize according to their individual research interests. In addition, the opportunity to participate in Ph.D. courses and summer schools offered by international institutions provide doctoral candidates with new perspectives on current and emerging topics in Operations Management.

The program prepares doctoral candidates for academic careers as well as research-oriented and analytics-focused positions in industry, consulting, and public institutions.

The CDSB Operations Management program follows a flexible structured curriculum that gradually leads doctoral candidates from methodological training to independent doctoral research. Within the Operations Management program, students may specialize on predictive and prescriptive analytics. Doctoral candidates can build and extend their skills in areas such as mathematical optimization, stochastic modeling, simulation, data-driven decision-making, and machine learning. 

The following exemplary study plan focuses on predictive and prescriptive analytics with i) core courses, ii) thesis-related courses, and iii) analytics-oriented electives.  Core courses provide common methodological foundations in predictive and prescriptive analytics. The thesis-related courses closely support the early development of the doctoral candidate’s dissertation projects. They provide doctoral candidates with a structured environment to improve their scientific skills, for example through presenting and refining research ideas and receiving feedback from Operations faculty. This early integration of thesis-related courses is a key strength of the CDSB program in Operations Management, as it enables doctoral candidates to make substantial progress on their individual research from the beginning of the program. Based on specific research interest, analytics-oriented electives can be selected to cover state-of-the-art quantitative methods and allow doctoral candidates to focus on their doctoral dissertation. 

Many doctoral courses have a hands-on character, enabling doctoral candidates to translate analytical methods into research projects and managerial insights. Many courses are strongly connected to the Ph.D. project of the doctoral candidates to allow a quick start with own research. Throughout the program, doctoral candidates present and discuss their research in seminars, receive feedback from faculty and peers, and become part of an active research community.

Students interested in the structured Ph.D. program in Operations Management can apply through the CDSB application portal. For each academic year starting in September, applications are accepted between mid-November to the end of March. Applications submitted before mid-January are treated as early applications and reviewed before the final deadline. Further information on the admissions process is available on the CDSB website or via cdsb.gessuni-mannheim.de.