DBA: Doctorate of Business Administration

Program Overview

The Clermont School of Business's Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) is a three-year, part-time program delivered online with a focus on management science research and practical application. It offers individual supervision, workshops, and seminars, led by experienced faculty in various management science disciplines. The program emphasizes a balance between rigorous research and relevance for management, equipping professionals with advanced theoretical skills and research abilities to address real-world challenges.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The Clermont School of Business offers a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) program, a generalist DBA covering high-level management activities in organizations. It's a three-year, part-time program (weekends) delivered fully online, with the possibility of a one-year extension. The language of instruction for all teaching modules is English, though thesis supervision, writing, and defense can be in French or English. The program is designed around three ambitions: academic (introducing participants to management science research in an international context), scientific (combining management theories and business practices to conduct research relevant to participants' professional activities), and shared educational commitment (providing access to high-level, globally recognized training). The program emphasizes a balance between rigorous research and relevance for management. The DBA aims to equip professionals with advanced theoretical skills in management sciences, develop methodological research skills, conduct rigorous and relevant research useful for managers and companies, develop intellectually rigorous approaches to management, produce and disseminate research on management innovation, and value DBA theses through publications in academic journals. The Dean, Richard Soparnot, encourages pursuing the program, highlighting its recognition as Doctors in Business Administration and its focus on addressing concrete issues with experienced academic supervisors. He emphasizes the development of scientific skills to understand and solve management challenges. The program is offered by an AACSB-accredited school.

Outline:

The DBA program is structured into three years, with the possibility of a fourth year. It comprises three main components: individual supervision, collective workshops, and seminars.

• Individual Supervision: Each student receives 15 hours of meetings per year with a qualified supervisor, a professor from the Clermont School of Business specializing in the student's field.
This supervision extends throughout the doctoral journey.
• Collective Workshops: Workshops support students throughout the thesis process, covering stages like problem statement, theoretical framework, data collection and processing, academic writing (thesis and articles), and oral defense preparation.
Optional workshops in years 1 and 2 delve deeper into data processing, academic writing, and action/collaborative research.
• Seminars: Primarily in years 1 and 2, seminars cover research practices and methods, and major current research issues in management science disciplines (marketing, organizations, human resources, strategy, finance).
Year 3 focuses more on individual thesis work, with fewer seminars and more workshops preparing for presentation, academic writing, and the thesis defense.

Year 1:

• Individual follow-up: 15 hours
• Doctoral Courses: Fundamentals of research (epistemology, methodology); Conducting research projects (approaches, design, literature review, theoretical framework, empirical framework, thesis writing); Research practice in Management Sciences (I) – Main Streams (Marketing, Organizations, Human Resources, Strategy, Finance).
• DBA Thesis Workshops: Research Follow-Up Workshops (Research Statement, Literature Review, Theoretical Framework); Optional Workshops (Action Research and Collaborative Research, Academic Writing); Writing and Presentation of 1st Research (Drafting of the 1st Literature Review, Preparation of a Summary in Publication Format, Presentation at DBA DAYS).

Year 2:

• Individual follow-up: 15 hours
• Doctoral Courses: Training in Qualitative Methods (theory, NVivo software); Training in Quantitative Methods (theory, SPSS software); Research practice in Management Sciences (II) – Contemporary Issues (Marketing, Organizations, Human Resources, Strategy, Finance).
• DBA Thesis Workshops: Research Follow-Up Workshops (Processing Qualitative Data, Processing Quantitative Data); Optional Workshops (In-depth practice in qualitative/quantitative data processing); Writing and Presenting Research (Drafting of Methodological Approach and Results, Summary in Publication Format, Presentation at DBA DAYS).

Year 3:

• Individual follow-up: 15 hours
• Doctoral Courses: Training in the Valuation of Research Work (Presenting Research at Conferences, Publishing in Academic Journals, Ethics and Deontology in Research).
• DBA Thesis Workshops: Research Follow-Up Workshops (Reflection on Discussion and Managerial Implications, Mock Defense of the DBA Thesis); Writing and presenting the DBA Thesis (Writing the Discussion and Managerial Implications, Summary of Managerial Implications in a Managerial Article Form, Presentation at DBA DAYS); DBA Thesis Defense.

Assessment:

The diploma requirements include writing a DBA thesis accepted by the DBA Supervisory Committee and successfully defending the thesis before a scientific committee of experts.

Teaching:

The program uses a blended learning approach combining online modules with weekend seminars. The program features individual supervision from a dedicated faculty member, collective workshops, and seminars. The faculty includes professors from Clermont School of Business and other institutions, with expertise in various management science disciplines. Specific faculty members mentioned include Madeleine Besson, Marc Bonnet, Sébastien Fosse, Helga Foure-Joopen, Arnau Gorgeon, Marc Lecoutre, Elda Nasho Ah-Pine, and Richard Soparnot. Their research interests cover a wide range of topics within management science.

Careers:

The DBA is intended for candidates seeking a doctoral degree to pursue teaching and research, build a publication portfolio, join a business school, move into high-level management positions, retrain in teaching and research, develop academic expertise for consulting, or establish a consulting business.

Other:

The program offers the possibility to enter throughout the semester. Those enrolling mid-semester receive a DBA supervisor and two additional research support workshops before the scheduled seminars begin. The program is also offered in partnership with institutions abroad (EPIM in Sub-Saharan Africa, Impacters Global Events in Dubai, and others in China), though application is through those partners. Research themes are generalist, covering areas like healthcare institution management, digital economy, innovation management, AI and data analytics, human resources, strategy, marketing, finance, oil and gas, and banking.