Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

The DBA program at EU Business School is a flexible program that combines of both coursework and research components and comprises an effective blend of mandatory coursework, professional residencies, trainings and seminars, research papers and a final dissertation.

The DBA program is divided into three stages:
• Coursework Stage
• Candidacy Stage
• Dissertation Stage

Coursework Stage

The coursework stage takes a minimum of one year. It provides students with the theoretical and practical foundations of the primary and supporting fields of study. The study plan will define how each student’s interests and objectives will be pursued during the DBA program. It is unique since it bridges students’ educational activities with their personal, long-term career goals. Each course is given in seminar form. The DBA seminars listed below are the core portion of the curriculum. Student progress and participation is evaluated in each of the subjects through a research paper or an alternative assignment requested by faculty.
During the coursework stage, students must successfully complete three independent and stand-alone assignments to be eligible for the next stage. Each assessment component is due by a scheduled deadline announced during the particular academic year after the completion of each module. Students will undertake the following assignments during the first year of their study:

• A paper on research methods or literature review
• A business project
• A research paper

Candidacy Stage
After the successful completion of the coursework stage, students embark on the candidacy stage where they apply the knowledge and skills acquired in stage one to finalize their research interests, outlined in the research proposal.
At this stage the student should start developing their research idea(s) and develop a research proposal on their planned academic investigation.
Once the research proposal has been submitted, a formal DBA colloquium evaluates the academic feasibility of the research proposal, and whether the research conducted will add value to the overall body of academic literature. The acceptance of the research proposal marks the completion of the candidacy stage, and the candidate embarks on the third and final stage, i.e., the dissertation stage.

Dissertation Stage
Once the research proposal is accepted and approved by the colloquium, the candidate enters the final research stage of the program. In this stage, the candidate will mostly work independently under the promoter’s guidance to execute the research which will culminate in the doctoral dissertation.

COURSE LIST
Behavioral Science for Business Modeling
This course introduces students to the plethora of behavioral science techniques that have emerged as management tools to tackle the bias of the irrational mind. While people’s choices may be irrational, the body of literature suggests that they are irrational in predictable ways. Hence, behavioral science (a branch of study that encompasses psychology, psychiatry, sociology and anthropology) has been incorporated in business and management studies in recent years, demonstrating that organizations have a vast array of tools at their disposal to tackle unconscious bias, instincts and the choices people make. These tools that promote business efficacy range from nudging to other debiasing tools that help redirect peoples’ behavior and choices without actually restricting them. Today, behavioral science is applied in multidisciplinary fields from economics, management studies, decision making and persuasion techniques, negotiations, etc.

Business & Ethics: Driving the Change
In recent years, business activities have come under increased scrutiny from a range of stakeholders. There is a rising awareness of the need to balance short-, mid- and long-term business strategies with economic, social and environmental sustainability. This course is designed to equip business professionals with the key knowledge and skills essential for the management and leadership of change for ethical and sustainable business models. Topics include ethical thinking, corporate social and environmental responsibility, stakeholder management, professional ethics and ethical leadership.

Data Analysis
This course provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of data analysis, walks the student through the thinking necessary for extracting useful knowledge and business value from the collected data and examines the many data-mining techniques in use today. Students examine real-world business problems to understand these principles. Thus, students will learn how to improve communication between business stakeholders and data scientists and also how to participate intelligently in a company’s data science projects. The student will also discover how to think analytically with regard to data, and fully appreciate how data science methods can support business decision-making, understand how data science fits in an organization —and how this organization can use it for building competitive advantage. The emphasis throughout the course is on the acquisition, application and discussion of models and techniques through analysis and practice.

Econometrics
This doctorate module is designed to introduce the tools and application of econometrics, the field of ‘economic measurements’. The module delves beyond statistics and provides a useful and practical approach to doctorate research in all subjects. The module covers simple and multiple linear regression analysis, the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation, the question of hypothesis testing and construction of confidence intervals, nonlinear models and problems of regression analysis, including heteroscedasticity, causation and endogeneity. This module uses case studies and practical examples throughout the learning process and, as a test, it introduces the computer software of SPSS/Stata to practice the regression analysis. It also provides further examples, cases and sources for real-life application.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation

This course is an introduction to advanced concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation and examines why they are combined in today’s business world. Innovation looks like an oxymoron: or does it fuel wealth production? To understand why innovation is necessary now and in the future, this course will start by defining innovation cycles since the emergence of industry around 1800 in Great Britain and France. We will also examine industry ruptures and inventions, particularly innovation cycles, and milestones recurring at different moments of history or periods. Then, the class will focus on what happened in the last cycle of innovations, particularly since the explosion of IT (information technology) and digital transformation. The course will include insider contributions to innovation startups and innovation parks, and examine new technologies introduced during the last half-century.

Global Finance & Managerial Accounting

This covers different aspects of finance and accounting, such as the role and management of finance, the source and uses of finance, understanding financial and management accounting fundamentals for managers, stockholders, financial analysts and creditors. Students learn to analyze and create alternative investment projects and to prepare corresponding budgets. Specific topics include the managerial approach to financial analysis, budgeting, planning and control, the management of working capital, long-term assets and long-term financing. In addition, the course looks at the analysis of accounts and financial information from the point of view of the users and emphasizes the international dimension. It covers financial reporting, principal financial statements, international accounting issues (US GAAP and IFRS), other sources of information, principles of credit analysis, analysis of stockholders’ equity, inventories and long-lived assets, interpreting and analyzing financial statements.

Leading Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the integration of digital technologies in all areas of the organization: it is composed of digitization – migrating from analogue to digital systems and solutions, and digitalization – changing how a business operates and delivers value to customers. It also requires a significant cultural change and buy-in across the organization and requires businesses to constantly challenge the status-quo, experiment and get comfortable with failure. This sometimes means leaving behind current practices and implementing new ones that are still being defined. The aim of this course is to develop hands-on knowledge of digital trends, digital transformation methods, the implementation and challenges of digital transformation, as well as foster outside-the-box thinking when considering how to digitalize an organization

Value Based Strategy
What is the goal of business? This course starts by demystifying the ultimate reason for business activity, whether it is to generate employment, boost production, increase shareholder or stakeholder value, or incorporate corporate social responsibility, ethics, sustainability, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst that accelerated the quest for a new world: this is not a crisis, but a new system. What is emergent is that sought values are multi-dimensional, growing ever faster, and taking new shapes and forms. The world today is fundamentally different from that of yesterday. Debt crises demonstrated the end of Keynesian and monetary policies, while accentuating the downward trajectory of the currency race. The modern international system is archaic, yet destinies are more interconnected than ever. The issues of climate change, trade sanctions and embargos, resource competition and depletion, mass extinction, developing economies, migration, etc., are among the many challenges which we face today in an interconnected world.

Research Methodology

Current and aspiring senior managers and professionals must have a knowledge and understanding of the nature and conduct of management research, set within an appropriate degree of methodological rigor. In addition, given the holistic aims of the DBA program, the dissertation is the primary integrating piece of work demonstrating that graduates can address business and management problems and projects competently. Therefore, a high standard of achievement will be expected, and the project should draw on the intellectual and analytical skills and knowledge developed during the academic components of the program.