PhD position on AI, differentiation, and firm performance in technology and product spaces

Many firms are multi-technology and multi-product organizations. Their position and differentiation in technology and product spaces are crucial for their performance. Recent years have witnessed an accelerated rate of adoption of AI technologies by firms across industries. These new technologies are reshaping the competitive landscape. Are you interested in how firms compete, search, and learn in technology and product spaces? Do you want to discover how the integration of AI is driving firms to differentiate from or converge towards each other in their technology portfolios and product offerings? If so, we have a wonderful opportunity for you. Join our team as a PhD candidate and conduct research that has the capacity to guide firm strategy in the era of AI.

Your position
The PhD project will evolve around the question of how the integration of AI across a firm’s technological domains influences its position in the technology space, leading to technology differentiation or alternatively convergence, which in turn impacts the firm’s positioning and performance in the product space. A few specific research questions are included below, but we welcome any interesting inputs from PhD applicants to redefine and reorient the project.

1. How does a firm’s position in the technology space affect its position and performance in the product space?
2. How does the integration of AI affect a firm's positioning in the technology space?
3. To what extent does AI lead to differentiation (or, alternatively convergence) of technology portfolios of firms? What are the contextual factors that amplify or diminish this effect?
4. How do the changes in technology positioning due to AI integration influence firms’ positioning in the product space and overall performance.

The following keywords can help set up the project: technological differentiation, product differentiation, AI, firm performance, technology space, product space.

The PhD candidate will be employed by Tilburg University and the appointment is intended to lead to the completion of a PhD dissertation. For this candidate, in principle the advisors will be Associate Professor Elena Golovko and Associate Professor Zi-Lin He. As a PhD student, you will be an integral part of Department of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at Tilburg University, and you will benefit from a supportive, multidisciplinary, and intellectually inspiring environment. During the first year, you will receive extensive tailor-made training in theory and methods by taking several PhD-level courses, in combination with research training by your PhD advisors. There will be no teaching responsibilities during this first year. After the first year there will be a formal GO/NO GO decision. For the remaining three years, 80% of the position’s time will be dedicated to the completion of your PhD research, and 20% to the acquisition of pedagogical skills through teaching courses and supervising bachelor or master theses within the department. Due to collaboration between the two advisors and Professor Bruno Cassiman of KU Leuven, Professor Wolfgang Sofka of CBS, and Professor Eric Zhao of Oxford, the candidate is expected to visit one of these three universities for a research exchange of six months in the third or fourth year.  This is above and beyond regular yearly conference trips supported by the department.

1. An academic master’s or MPhil/Research Master’s degree in a relevant field. A hallmark of such as degree is a solid master thesis based on scholarly research.
2. Completed the previous university degrees with an excellent GPA (top 10% of class).
3. Proficiency in English to be proven by means of an IELTS score of at least 7.0, with no sub-scores below 6.5, or a TOEFL score of at least 100 (internet based) or 600 (paper based). Exemptions can be provided upon request to native English speakers or to applicants who have obtained their bachelor’s and master’s degrees fully taught in English in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia, or New Zealand.
4. For applicants from a university outside Europe: a recent GRE or GMAT test score of at most two years old.
5. Proficiency in machine learning applications is a plus, such as topic modeling, random forest, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools including doc2vec and BERT that account for word/sentence embeddings and tf-idf that does not.

Tilburg University offers excellent benefits in a pleasant working environment. Our offer includes:

• A position based on 1,0 fte (40 hours per week)
• A salary of €2872 gross per month in the first year, up to €3670 gross per month in the fourth year for full-time employment, based on UFO profile Promovendus and salary scale P. 
• This is a vacancy for a temporary position in accordance with Article 2.3 paragraph 8 under b of the CLA DU. You will initially receive a temporary contract for the duration of 18 months to assess your suitability. The evaluation will take place after about 14 months. If suitable, this contract will be followed by a new fixed-term contract of 30 months. (N.B. program is 4 years, full-time).
• Vacation pay of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. 
• Over 8 weeks of vacation leave. 
• The opportunity to work partly on campus and partly from home with a home office allowance of €2 per day.
• Reimbursement for sustainable commuting: walking, cycling, and public transportation. 
• A monthly internet fee of €25.
• An Options Model in which you exchange benefits for things such as additional leave, more pension, a bicycle or personal training at our Sports Center. 
• A moving allowance (subject to conditions). 
• Employees from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for the 30/20/10% tax facility.
• A pension with ABP; the most sustainable Dutch pension fund.
• Training in personal development, career development, leadership, education, and research or a language course at our Language Center. 
• A work culture in which we embrace differences, everyone is welcome and given equal opportunities. 
• A vibrant campus in green surroundings that is easily accessible by public transport. 

For more information, see our website and the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities.

Tilburg University is one of Europe’s leading universities in the fields of business and economics, ranking #5 in Europe in the field of Business Research (UT Dallas World Ranking 2023) and #9 in Business Administration worldwide (Shanghai ARWU 2022). The School of Economics and Management has 7000 students (26% international) and 400 academic staff (50% international). The campus provides a green, academically centered environment with modern facilities and convenient local transportation. Tilburg’s central position in the Benelux offers excellent regional and international access. Major airports nearby include Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels(Belgium) and Düsseldorf (Germany). English is the working language of the university.

About TiSEM
Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM) is one of Europe’s leading centers for research in business and economics, with research rankings consistently among’s Europe’s top 10 across various business domain. In addition to the strong research focus and collegial research climate, it offers a wide variety of educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, with about 7,000 students enrolled. The School is well-connected to both policy makers and industry in the region and internationally, providing ample opportunities for creating impact with research.
Tilburg School of Economics and Management