Explore PhD Research Opportunities at NTU – Guided by CBIT

PhD Opportunity at Nottingham Trent University

The NTU Centre for Business and Industry Transformation (CBIT) is excited to announce the latest opportunities for those who wish to pursue a PhD in the UK. We invite you to propose pioneering research in one of our key thematic areas. We are seeking innovative thinkers to delve into opportunities that align with the NBS CBIT’s research strengths and vision.

Before crafting your application, we encourage you to immerse yourself in the world of CBIT. Visit the Research Degrees in NBS page and the CBIT webpage to gain insights into our centre’s focus, understand the application nuances, grasp the essence of the NBS PhD experience, and most importantly, learn what makes a compelling research proposal (detailed under ‘How to Apply’).

For personalised guidance or to explore your ideas further, Professor Xiao Ma, Director of the Centre for Business and Industry Transformation, welcomes informal discussions. Reach out at Xiao.ma@ntu.ac.uk to discuss any of the following riveting research topics:

#01: Future Leaders and ESG-Driven Business Models

Apply Environment Social and Governance (ESG) principles and standards to existing businesses seems challenging since ESG criteria and standards (such as carbon emission and net zero initiatives, waste management, employment diversity and inclusion, fair labour police etc.) are commonly considered a “compliance” issue by most firms. The compliance mentality made ESG a “cost-bearing” matter for firms rather than a profit-making one. Consequently, firms are less incentivised to improve their ESG performance. However, ESG can be a profit-making force. For example, UK energy consumers have become more likely to buy sustainable energy. Therefore, there is a need for business leaders to develop more sustainable offerings which can generate better returns through higher margins. This project aims to develop more sustainable and profitable ESG-driven business models by collaborating with future ESG leaders.

ESG-Driven Business Models

Developing More Sustainable More Profitable (MOSMOP) business models requires the ability to rapidly and effectively respond to consumers’ and broader stakeholders’ value perception and behaviour shift toward ESG. To this end, this project will first seek to understand consumer brand perception to depict stakeholders’ ESG perceptions and relevant new needs. Secondly, this project collaborates with future ESG leaders and practitioners, sharing existing knowledge and best practices in incorporating ESG into business model design in their context. The share and collaboration could help participants redesign their business models by aligning stakeholders’ ESG perceptions as a pivotal proposition to create unique products/services for their businesses and industries. This project empowers future ESG entrepreneurs who lead the adoption of ESG in their business model innovation.  Meanwhile, future ESG entrepreneurs will play a significant role in transforming the ESG norms into a wide business community through social business networking. They will subsequently become a disruptive force that can better design economically viable businesses while enhancing ESG performance, arguably addressing globally shared ESG challenges. The result will allow academic partners to derive new insights, inform more research opportunities, and design new curriculums.

#02: Personal Data Rights, Economy and New Business Model

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) have given individuals new rights over their personal data and changed power relationships with many companies as new technology, such as private data accounts, will help individuals acquire, use and share data for their own benefit. One may also argue that individuals are starting to establish data “ownership rights”, which so far, has not been constituted by any major legal framework.

Personal Data Economy

Private data accounts are like individual bank accounts that contain data rather than money. The introduction of such accounts to the market reflects the societal need for privacy as well as the economic power that comes from personal data sharing rights. The accounts offered in the market are diverse in architecture and capabilities as they are in name. They range from centralised systems to fully decentralised ones. Some have advanced micro server capabilities whilst others function as pure data stores or lockers. Regardless of the diversity, organisations that offer private data accounts are gaining traction worldwide, such as digi.me, citizen.me, hubofallthings, and SOLID. Many organisations (Ghadimi, Toosi et al. 2018) will let individuals legally own the rights to their data in the databases, bringing the data in and pushing it out as they wish at the touch of a button. Inside these accounts, data is often within the control of the individual, and individuals can give specific access rights in return for some benefit. Private data accounts bring the opportunity for new online services that exhibit real-time personalisation possibilities. For example, contextualized insurance offering matched to the person’s needs, on-demand consumption of digital content, smart mobility solutions curated to the personal journey, personalized narratives of a museum experience to suit individual tastes and time available, etc. Individuals owning data rights would incentivise privacy preserving models of data exchange that can be matched with dynamic context.

With such technological possibilities, the boundaries of what is possible would also require proper legal frameworks and would also be dependent on use cases and their business/economic models. All this suggest that real time, dynamic personalisation is not only complex in the understanding of all the issues, but also inter- and trans-disciplinary and researchers involved are often different in terms of their research approaches as well as their methodologies.

#03: Industry Hopping and Business Transformation for non-data Driven Businesses

Business Transformation

Data Driven Business (DDB) entering a sector then dominating it has almost become a norm for the past decade. We all have witnessed Airbnb taking over hotel market without owning a single room; Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba suffocating high street retailers without opening a single shop; and Uber, Didi and Grab killing traditional taxi companies without buying a single cab. When analysing such business cases during my senior research fellowship, it became clear that their services have all leveraged a common but key resource – now well known as personal data. In 2008, DDBs could barely make to the top 100 (http://fortune.com/fortune500/2008/) in the Fortune 500 list. By 2018, DDBs such as Apple and Amazon are in the top 10 (http://fortune.com/fortune500/2018/), with Alphabet (Google) at 22nd. The successes of these Internet giants have been built upon innovative ways of using our personal data. The data is predominately co-created with individuals and collected through the use of a variety of products or services mostly offered by Non-Data-Driven Business (NDDBs). Sadly, individuals and NDDBs, as co-creators of our own data, are rarely in a position to make use of it, and consequently out of the value chain of the personal data economy. INSPIRED is to exploit this complex phenomenon academically and practically, so this proposal will discuss a number of concepts and methods that are tightly rooted in related domains and intertwined. Since May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the 2nd Payment Services Directive (PSD2) have put Europe at the forefront of global data protection laws and given individual citizens new rights over our personal data. Emerging from these consumer-friendly regulatory changes, Private Data Accounts (PDA), like individual bank accounts, has started to support individuals to acquire, use and share personal data for their own economic benefits. PDAs are also arguably the best responses to the increasing societal need for better digital privacy. These developments have levelled the data economy playing ground. NDDBs now could have access to high quality contextual personal data directly through PDAs, more than what the Internet giants ever had before. The project will engage with business partners, in particular, Non-Data-Driven Businesses (NDDBs), to understand their cyber-physical competencies and capabilities of producing data-driven services, practically facilitate the development of new data-driven products and subsequently enable them to hop into a data-driven economy.

#04: Leveraging Business Models for Investment Due Diligence in the Venture Capital

Due Diligenece, PhD, Venture Capital

In today’s business environment, venture capital due diligence is a critical process that goes beyond financial evaluation, including legal and operational assessments of potential investments. The marketplace is evolving rapidly due to technological innovation and the rise of digital and platform-based business models, necessitating a reevaluation of traditional due diligence practices. To stay competitive and fully leverage the potential of startups, venture capitalists must deeply understand how these companies create, deliver, and capture value—a perspective grounded in business model analysis.

A well-crafted business model offers a blueprint for company operations, market positioning, and revenue generation. It provides insights into how a company differentiates itself, scales its operations, and adapts to market changes. For venture capitalists, a thorough examination of a startup’s business model can reveal the underlying mechanisms that drive sustainable growth and long-term success.

Existing literature highlights the importance of aligning business model analysis with due diligence efforts. For instance, a study on orchestrating new markets with cloud services found that startups with clear business models had a higher success rate, with an 84% survival rate over four years. Similarly, an alternative due diligence case study demonstrated the success of using the horizon methodology, lean startup principles, and competitive analysis alongside traditional due diligence to facilitate a successful acquisition. These examples illustrate that business model analysis is not just a theoretical exercise but a practical tool that can significantly impact investment outcomes.

#05: Transforming Beef Farming Through Digital Twin Technology and Triple Bottom Line Balance

Animal Digital Twin

Small-hold beef farming is currently at a critical crossroads, confronting a range of challenges that affect environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and economic viability. This sector plays a significant role in environmental emissions, challenging efforts to combat climate change and reduce the agricultural ecological footprint. The economic productivity gap between small-hold and large-scale farming operations highlights the urgent need for innovative solutions to improve competitiveness and sustainability. Social issues such as inconsistent beef quality, high calf mortality rates, and growing concerns about animal welfare call for a comprehensive approach that adheres to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) principles, balancing environmental integrity, social equity, and economic viability.

Precision farming is celebrated as a transformative force in agriculture, presenting a promising solution to these challenges. However, its potential remains largely untapped in the beef farming sector. The underutilization of precision farming techniques, including real-time data management and analysis, impedes the sector’s ability to make informed decisions that could reduce environmental impacts, improve animal welfare, and enhance economic outcomes. By leveraging precision farming, small-hold beef farms can adopt more sustainable practices, improve their productivity, and contribute positively to the agricultural landscape.

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