SDA Bocconi's DBA, the Program for Pundits

THE NEW DOCTORATE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IS FOR SENIOR MANAGERS WITH AN AMBITIOUS GOAL: BECOMING THOUGHT LEADERS IN THEIR ORGANIZATIONS BY INFUSING MANAGERIAL PRACTICE WITH A BIT OF SCIENCE. EVERY PARTICIPANT WILL HAVE A PERSONAL COACH AND THE FACULTYTOPARTICIPANT RATIO IS UNPRECEDENTED

SDA Bocconi School of Management launches its Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA), a 3-year research doctorate for experienced managers determined to become thought leaders in their fields and organizations, to start in academic year 2017-18.
 
The typical candidate is a senior manager or entrepreneur, an achiever with ten or more years of experience and with a desire to infuse managerial practice with a bit of science, to produce new managerial knowledge and ideally publish the results of their research.
 
DBA programs are offered by a small number of schools in the world, mainly located in Europe and North America, and SDA Bocconi’s DBA is a niche program, with 10-15 accurately selected candidates and an unprecedented faculty-to-participant ratio.
 
“SDA Bocconi’s DBA stands out for two reasons”, says the program director, Marco Tortoriello, a Full Professor of Management at Bocconi University with long experience in teaching and designing education programs abroad (HEC Paris and IESE Barcelona). “The first is the top-tier pool of professors that comes from being a part of Bocconi University, something no other business school can boast of. The second”, Tortoriello continues, “is the one-to-one relation with the coach. A professor with a track record of publications in the most important academic journals will be assigned to each candidate according to their research interests. The coach will advise the candidate on the literature review, dissertation design and writing, remaining in touch with them for the entire length of the program”.
 
SDA Bocconi’s DBA is a part-time program. The first two years primarily consist of coursework in four weekly residential modules and virtual learning classrooms using state-of-the-art technology. The third year will be mainly devoted to individual research and study, conducted under the close supervision of an academic coach. The candidate will draft a doctoral dissertation that will be presented and defended in form of a monograph solidly rooted in business.
 
The DBA, at a par with the PhD in Business Administration, is considered the terminal degree in business administration studies, but the two programs are aimed at different candidates. The PhD candidate is younger and wants to develop a career in academia, while the DBA candidate is a senior manager interested in making a difference in their own field.  The DBA also differs from a Master in Business Administration (MBA). MBA candidates are young managers wanting to climb the corporate hierarchy through the acquisition of general management knowledge. DBA’s focus is more specialized and candidates are not there to acquire knowledge, but to learn how to produce it, with the help of an academic personal coach. DBA candidates have often attended an MBA when younger.
 
More information: www.sdabocconi.it/dba

by Fabio Todesco