Canberra, 25 January 2011
The more you learn, the more you realize that you need to learn more…
Here I am, at the beginning of the second year of my PhD. I survived my first year by completing all 6 required courses (management research methods, qualitative research methods, literature review, social impact analysis, corporate sustainability and CSR reporting). I have also come up with early concept of my PhD topic. Taking my experience as a practitioner, I believe that corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially community engagement where companies strategically invest on empowering communities, will enhance social capital which is one of five the capitals (financial, human, social, natural and infrastructure) needed by sustainable companies. At this point in time, my research topic is “Social Capital and Value Creation: A Case Study of Indonesian Corporations”. I see that CSR will enhance social capital, and social capital will create value to corporations. Therefore, companies will be more sustainable if they enable community to prosper with them. I presented this topic on November 29 at the PhD annual meeting and it was well received by my faculty.
I must say that PhD is a very lonely journey. It is between me and my readings. I spent most of my time thinking, reading and writing; exploring, comparing and linking different constructs; making sense of different models… The main challenge now is to find a good fit between my research questions and the methods to answer those questions. Sometimes the challenges are so overwhelming. Oh well, now I can understand the old sayings: the more you learn, the more you realize that you need to learn more… That is very true.
Anyway, I just finalized my PhD plan. I post it in my blog so I have a ‘moral contract’ to finish my PhD on time:
- February 2011: Finishing the first draft of my thesis proposal
- May 2011: Presenting my proposal to the panel
- June 2011: Participating in thesis proposal competition
- July – December 2011: Fieldwork in Indonesia
- January – December 2012: Writing and analyzing my data; presenting my research in conferences; sending my paper to journals.
- March 2013: Submitting my thesis
- July 2013: Graduate!
Also, I will give two hours tutorials for under-graduate class in Corporate Sustainability during the first semester of 2011. It will be interesting, because I will have a chance to share my knowledge on the subject that I am very passionate about.
As always, I’ll do my best, and I always believe that God will help me to do the rest.
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