Phd in Business: only for academics?

Hello

I am interested in the Phd program in Business Administration. My concern is the following. I do teach at an University and obviously this will help for that purposes. However, my main motivation behind this is that I beleive it would help for my professional work as a future manager or company director. Do you agree on this?

Would you recommend NCU (I saw all programs, and the other one I liked was Capella, but cost almost double NCU plus other cons).

Comments welcomed.

Velero

 

I don't think that a PhD from a low tier University would be helpful to land a job a director of VP at a 500 fortune company.

If this is your goal, I would look for a top MBA from a top school like Duke that offers an online MBA.

The PhD in business is normally required for teaching or research jobs but not for professional jobs.

If your final goal is teaching, then the PhD from NCU would be helpful as this is a requirement even for adjunct positions at many Universities.

 

Duke´s MBA tuition programa´s are around $90-115 k

Harvard would also help to get in those 500 Fortune companies.

 

No free lunch, if you want the best then you need to invest in your education. A cheap and low tier degree wouldn't really add too much to your present education so even 30K or 20K would be too much as you are not getting return for your investment.

In few words, an Phd from an online school is not going to help you to compete with Harvard or Duke graduates if this is what you are looking for.

 

For sure that´s not the intention. Its obvious that if you can pay 20-30 k would not pretend the sama as something that cost 100k. But that is not related to the issue I posted

 

Do I understand that you are FT faculty at a University and you are "thinking" about a business PhD?

This simply does not track.

 

The only purpose of a PhD in business is to learn how to do doctoral-level research in a business discipline.

Period.

I can't speak for the DL institutions, but an AACSB-accredited Ph.D. is ALL about research. Good luck getting admitted if they believe you are seeking a Ph.D. for other reasons.

By the way, "other reasons" includes "teaching at a university." Teaching is viewed as a necessary evil to get the resources to do research.

 

Re: Re: Phd in Business: only for academics?

Re-read his original post. Where did he say full-time faculty?

 

The DBA or DM degree, on the other hand, are more practical and applied in their emphasis. They would be more useful than the PhD in Business (a research degree) insofar as moving into top management. The DBA and DM degrees would also likely have greater acceptance at colleges and smaller universities where the emphasis is on teaching rather than research.

 

Re: Re: Re: Phd in Business: only for academics?

Actually, until more specifics are known - it's not possible tom provide "good" inpout - as opposed to "any" input.

 

But do you think that from an employer persepctive would be a difference between a Phd and a DBA? From a student, what I see is that programs are quite similar.

Thanks
Velero

 

Re: Re: Phd in Business: only for academics?

Jim

No, I am not a FT faculty, thats not the case. I am employeed at a company.

Would a company value a DBA or Phd? Lets assume you arleady have a mastrs.

 

I work as a strategy consultant with clients across many industries, and I would say that:

--0% of the C-levels of my clients, at the time I was working on a project there, had a doctorate
--0% of the SVP's I've worked with (one on every project) had a doctorate
--Many of the above had MBAs as their terminal degrees
--Across the last 20 projects or so, I recall working with 2 PhD's in client organizations. One had a PhD in finance and had been hired specifically as "quants" to calculate power prices using computer simulation. Another had a PhD in industrial engineering and was leading a decision analysis group at a pharmaceutical company

In my very limited data set, I haven't seen any PhD's in Business Administration or DBA's in a "company director" position. I'm guessing that there are many with this degree who choose to pursue teaching and/or research, versus go into a corporation to leverage their degree. For the director position, it seems that the prior work experience is what gets them in that role, not the prior degrees.

I hope this is a helpful perspective, though I imagine it's not what you're looking to hear. In the end, I would think getting the PhD/DBA because you want the PhD/DBA accomplishment for yourself would be the reason for your moving forward. When people living in urban areas ask me if they should buy their first house or rent, I generally tell them that if the best reason for buying isn't financial gain (highly uncertain and highly discounted cash flow benefits), but that you want to be a home owner. There's a proper analogy there somewhere.

Best of luck to you!

 

I can not imagine knowing enough based on what little you have written to give advice in this situation.

I am sure others will feel free to do so.

 

Here goes nothing, Jim.

Assuming you can spell masters and you are looking to work for a company, a doctorate can actually be a liability. According to Resumes for Dummies, "A doctorate traditionally has been reserved for research and teaching...Doctorate-holding job hunters return home every day with heads hung low because they are rejected for being "overqualified.""

The book actually suggests omitting the doctorate from your resume.

One of the SMEs I work with has a PhD and told me that it was a hindrance in him getting his current job.

The bottom line...If you are looking for a new job or a promotion, a master’s degree or a graduate certificate will get you further. If you want to earn a doctorate, then do it for your own sense of accomplishment.

All of this advice brought to you free from a "dummy."

 

I don't plan to list my PhD (when I get it) on my resume except for when I apply for teaching positions. That is why I have enrolled in UF's grad certificate program so I will have a school with name recognition.

 

My current resume states, "Currently working on a degree in Business Administration."

I am trying to covey that I am becoming more business savvy without stating that I am working on a PhD.

 

I would like to add a different perspective. The Ph.D. in BA will open more doors in both academia and industry, and the DBA will generally open fewer doors in either. However, I say this using the most common understanding that Ph.D.s often tackle more advanced research and DBAs tackle specific applications. The exception would be that most schools with longstanding DBA programs train them the same as Ph.D.s. In general, the Ph.D. in BA can do much more advanced research, so they can certainly handle an applied problem.

 

It is certainly possible that you will be put in situations where you must suffer fools gladly, but then why would you want to work for fools anyway?

Dave

 

How true! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.