Executive DBA Curriculum

3 credits | Professor:

The course prepares DBA students to engage with accounting research, covering topics such as research consumption and production. It includes teachings on the philosophy of science and research study design to avoid validity threats. Additionally, students will learn about academic etiquette, particularly in the context of scholarly peer reviews.

3 credits | Professor:

The course focuses on exploring both conceptual and applied aspects of marketing management. It is a seminar course emphasizing class involvement, paper preparation, and oral presentations. Throughout the course, students will engage with important topics in marketing management, analyze research papers, and present their own research proposals, culminating in an examination at the end of the term.

• Knowledge

  • Key marketing concepts and foundational theories

  • Advanced understanding of marketing phenomena, from both academic and managerial perspectives

• Skills

  • Conceptual modeling and theory formation

  • Develop novel ideas and research proposals to advance marketing strategy research

  • Bridge marketing academia - practice divide

3 credits | Professor:

This a foundational doctoral-level course that covers essential concepts in corporate finance, including contracting frictions, financing, investment, M&A, and corporate governance. Students will gain mastery of both the conceptual and methodological aspects of each core concept. By the end of the course, students will be well-prepared to teach introductory undergraduate or masters-level corporate finance courses at four-year colleges or Ph.D.-granting institutions.

3 credits | Professor:

This course will provide experience in designing research for organizational science to maximize the validity of eventual conclusions; methodological choices, constraints, and compromises (trade-offs).

• Knowledge

  • Research design

  • Determine validity and generalizability in research

• Skills

  • Develop and design research studies

  • Recognize gaps in knowledge

  • How to contribute to the academic body of knowledge

3 credits | Professor:

This seminar course delves into current theoretical and research issues in management. It covers topics ranging from individual behavior within organizations to organizational design and strategy implementation. Students will explore important management theories and cutting-edge research, with a focus on emerging areas, especially in the applied domain.

3 credits | Professor: Dr. Andrew Petersen

This course grounds students in the process of developing translational research broadly within the business domain. Students will learn how to identify applied challenges, develop research questions to address these challenges, design applied studies, and frame their work using rhetoric that connects with the applied community.

• Knowledge

  • Research design

  • Translational science

• Skills

  • Formulate research questions relevant to applied professionals

  • Design studies that match methodological rigor and applied relevance

  • Frame and communicate ideas consistent with translational science

3 credits | Professor:

This course provides a breadth of statistical skills necessary for advanced data analysis. Students will learn how to employ data analytic processes that address challenges associated with experiments, surveys, time-series, panels, and/or multilevel models. Software packages, concepts, and business applications will vary and evolve to keep pace with technology, theory, and instructor interest.

3 credits | Professor:

This course equips students with various business analytic tools and techniques to analyze data, make predictions, and propose optimal solutions. Topics covered include data visualization, regression, classification, machine learning, optimization, and simulation, enabling students to address descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive business analytics challenges. The course emphasizes methodological aspects, providing a comprehensive understanding of how to apply these tools in diverse business scenarios, with software packages and applications tailored to evolving technology, theory, and instructor expertise.

• Knowledge

  • Business analytics concepts and techniques

  • Basic analytics skills for research

  • Descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics

• Skills

  • Descriptive analytics and visualization

  • Sampling of various methods of predictive and prescriptive analytics

  • Application of analytics to research

3 credits | Professor:

This course is designed to develop students' understanding of strategic decisions within the end-to-end supply chain. The course adopts a systems perspective, exploring critical decisions related to make, source, deliver, and return processes of goods and services, all linked to the firm's business strategy and financial outcomes. With a problem-driven approach, students will connect supply chain management issues to research, analyze emerging industry challenges, and learn to formulate new research questions, gaining valuable insights into key concepts and decision-making in supply chain management.

3 credits | Professor:

This course provides the foundational skills necessary for conducting qualitative research in an applied business context. Students will explore some of the following topics: ethnography, observation, interviewing, grounded theory, discourse analysis, case method, narrative analysis, and action research. Through this process, students will be introduced to the epistemological foundations of qualitative research, learn different methods of data collection, introduce different techniques for coding and analyzing qualitative data, and provide guidance on creating rigorous qualitative research.

• Knowledge

  • Gain an understanding of the bases for knowing in and about organizations—such self-awareness will be based on an appreciation of epistemology (how we know), ontology (our assumptions about the world around us and our roles), and axiology (the values we subscribe to, and the values implicated in research

  • Demonstrate understanding of key organization theories, the connections between them (if any), and the methods used to study them

• Skills

  • Search, locate and critically evaluate research (on various theories) to explore research questions of interest to them

  • Synthesize and apply published research to refine their research questions and design

  • Communicate the conclusions and implications of their research to key audiences such as colleagues, clients, and other stakeholders (including the public)

  • Practice to be a self-directed learner, who also helps others to learn by discussing own experiences pertinent to concepts and theories learned during the course

  • Apply the concepts and theories learned during the course to potentially improve organization’s operations and performance

18 credits

Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.