Doctor of Business Administration

The degree of Doctor of Business Administration, abbreviated, (DBA) or (D.B.A.) and equivalent to (PhD in Business Administration), is a research doctorate in business administration. The D.B.A. requires coursework and research beyond the masters degree that normally results in a dissertation and possible journal publication that contributes to business practice.

Purpose and Recognition

The D.B.A. is usually identical to a Ph.D in Business Administration, except that it tends more towards applied research rather than theoretical research, especially during the thesis writing phase. A few schools, prominently among them Harvard Business School and Boston University School of Management, offer D.B.A.s out of tradition or for lack of agreement with the Graduate School of these respective universities which control the granting of Ph.D.s. Most schools that offer D.B.A.s, however, do this for lack of recognition (i.e. the university is not accredited to grant the Ph.D.) or to serve a different market segment of current or potential executives and consultants. As a result, D.B.A. students are more likely to study part-time, while this is strictly avoided in the Ph.D. programs of top-ranked business schools; they may also be older.

The portion of the program that consists of coursework may be comparable to that of a Ph.D. However the larger part of the program, consisting of independent research and the writing of a thesis, is geared towards more applied research in D.B.A. programs, with the research making a direct contribution to business practice. Another way to see the distinction is that Ph.D.s aim at the creation of new theory, while D.B.A.s aim at applying theory to business problems.

Contribution

The choice of D.B.A. or Ph.D is always relevant for those considering a doctorate and its contribution. A Ph.D in Business is more suitable for students who want to pursue a career exclusively in academics, while the D.B.A. has been designed for students who might wish to pursue a career in the profession as well. A typical D.B.A. program has a dual purpose: (1) to contribute to both theory and practice in relation to business and management; and (2) to develop professional practice and to contribute to professional knowledge. Nevertheless, the D.B.A. degree can suffice to obtain tenure-track positions at research-oriented schools, provided the research conducted was of high quality.

Structure and Format

Typical entry requirements include M.B.A., MSc, or similar masters degrees, or equivalent qualifications in general management, or in a functional field by examination awarded by a professional body. Some universities also ask for significant experience in a managerial or professional supervisory position involving responsibility for strategic issues. The D.B.A. normally requires a significant thesis, dissertation or final comprehensive project including a formal defense and approval by nominated examiners or an officially sanctioned and qualified doctoral review committee. The degree is conferred when all coursework, testing, and written research are completed and reviewed and approved by the awarding institution.

D.B.A. candidates may specialize in areas such as management science, technology management, organizational behavior, economics, or finance or other practical fields. Curricula may be offered on a full-time or part-time basis. According to the European higher education standards set by the Bologna Process, it is stated that the normal duration of a doctorate should correspond to 3–4 years of full time study.

D.B.A. program quality

The responsibility for the overall quality of a D.B.A or other doctoral programs resides within the graduate research degrees committees or their equivalent within the university. As such, D.B.A programs must have a specific set of university regulations and must be subject to appropriate quality approval processes. Regulations should include reference to protocols for treating ethical issues in research, including those involving researchers working within the organisation that employs them and/or having access to privileged information. The implementations as above are widely used in Australian Universities, for instance a D.B.A student cannot embark into research phase before passing all his/her courseworks, research proposal and ethics, upon passing proposal stage, he/she still needs to clear ethics from Ethics Committee. Even after completing the dissertation writing, the D.B.A candidate still needs to go through numerous internal moderations of the dissertation before submitting to external examinations (at least two external examiners). For successful candidates in the external examinations stage, they usually need to revise their dissertations before final approval from the D.B.A committee of granting the degree. The research phase is always a tedious and demanding phase.

Notable persons with D.B.A. degrees

• Robert F. Bruner – Dean Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia.

• Clayton M. Christensen - the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

• Sumantra Ghoshal – Founding Dean of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and formerly Robert P. Bauman Chair in Strategic Leadership at the London Business School. Alongside his D.B.A. from Harvard Business School, Ghoshal obtained a Ph.D. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

• Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries - the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Professor of Leadership Development at INSEAD and director of the INSEAD Global Leadership Centre.

• CK Prahalad - the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at University of Michigan, Ross School of Business.

• Michael E. Raynor - Canadian management expert and consultant with Deloitte Consulting LLP, the Distinguished Fellow with Deloitte Research.

• Lenos Trigeorgis - Real options pioneer; Professor of finance, University of Cyprus.

• John Quelch - Dean, Vice President and Distinguished Professor of International Management at CEIBS, previously Senior Associate Dean and the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

• Birger Wernerfelt – J. C. Penney Professor of Management and Chair of PhD Committee, MIT Sloan School of Management.

• Robert B. Wilson – Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, and Professor of Economics (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University.

• Dave Yeske, Co-Founder, Managing Director, Yeske Buie; National President (2003), Financial Planning Association (FPA); Distinguished Adjunct Professor, Ageno School of Business, Golden Gate University.

See also

• Business education
• Doctor of Philosophy
• PhD in Management
• PhD in Business Administration
• Doctor of Commerce
• Doctor of Management
• Doctor of Public Administration
• Doctor of Health Administration
• Master of Business Administration