EDBA - Executive Doctor of Business Administration

This course introduces students to the role of a practitioner scholar and introduces them to the research process. It is designed for practitioners with minimal prior research experience. Students begin with exploring the possibilities for a research contribution to practice through an understanding of research methods and then gain experience and understanding with the process of writing a research question. 

The DBA Seminar in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is designed to expose students to cutting-edge theoretical and empirical developments, and appropriate methodological perspectives on entrepreneurship and innovation research. To build a solid understanding of the entrepreneurship and innovation phenomena, the course will commence with a review of the foundations and intellectual heritage of the entrepreneurship and innovation fields. Subsequently, it will focus on some of the main questions that define these fields today and critically examine how researchers are approaching these questions. 

This course is oriented towards introducing experienced business professionals to the latest economic theories and applications. An important objective of this course is to encourage and stimulate independent research that is application oriented. The course will provide a thorough understanding of the global economic environment within which modern business and financial decisions are made. The aim is to train course participants to think systematically about the current state of the domestic and global economy and to objectively evaluate the impact of macroeconomic shocks and policy decisions on the business environment. 

Change is an enigma and yet sustained, desirable change (SDC) drives adaptation, growth and life itself. In this course, we will continuously attempt to answer two questions: What is the process of sustained, desirable change? What is the role of a leader? Concepts from various leadership theories will be used, including understanding the multilevel nature of SDC at the individual, team, and organizations levels. Intentional Change Theory (ICT) will be used, along with other leadership theories as the organizing concept for the changes studied. 

This course will cover the modern theories in the field of strategic management. Students will learn the main research themes, the current debates that characterize the field, and the unanswered research questions that are still being studied. The traditional topics are the research-based view of the firm, sources of competitive advantage, design thinking, top management teams, organizational learning and knowledge management, and corporate culture. 

This course is an in-depth exploration of research methods and research design. This course will focus on developing the essential skills for conducting research. Specifically, candidates will examine methods of selecting a research topic, generating research hypotheses, selection of appropriate articles, quantitative and qualitative empirical research methods, research design and execution, data set manipulation and archival research, etc. Students will be allowed to design and conduct research in their area of interest and are expected to complete the elements of a research project(s). 

Most research begins with a question or inquiry. We focus on statistical inquiry using cross-sectional and time-series data. Students build competencies in 1) reviewing, evaluating and conducting quantitative business research for managerial decision making, and 2) effectively communicating research findings to practitioners. We cover the most proven multivariate analysis techniques and predictive models to assess research questions, emphasizing interpretation, testing and validation. These include data examination techniques, exploratory factor analysis, regression (simple, multiple and logistic) MANOVA, MANCOVA, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and moving-average, exponential smoothing, time-series decomposition and ARIMA models. Software tools include SPSS, AMOS and ForecastXtm. 

This course is designed to prepare candidates to produce and distribute high-caliber, science-oriented marketing research that makes meaningful contributions to marketing knowledge and science, and influences marketing thought and practice. 

The EDBA Seminar in Qualitative Research is designed to train doctoral-level graduate students in qualitative research methodology, from conceptualization through design and data collection processes. The course will combine an in-depth study of qualitative research methods and their application to organizational issues, with student-directed pilot studies for a qualitative research project. 

This course is an in-depth exploration of the foundations of theoretical and empirical financial economics that have formed the modern discipline of finance. This course will examine the most significant research studies that led to these developments. Students will examine these articles in terms of research methods, empirical validity, and relevance to applications of decision making. Students are expected to establish a foundation of financial theory and identify and explore areas of research inquiry. The primary focuses of this course are threefold: corporate finance, investments and valuation. 

In this course students will apply economic concepts to critically evaluate social, political and business decisions regarding resource use, regulation and environmental degradation. Students will gain insight into how to respond, as business decision makers, to regulations and to increased global competition for scarce resources. Students will critically evaluate the concept of sustainability from an economic and business strategy perspective. 

EDBA candidates will develop and present a research design proposal associated with their chosen topic. Specifically, candidates will determine the most proper way to design their research to address the research questions and accomplish the research objectives. At the conclusion of this course, EDBA candidates will have completed a dissertation proposal and participated in a dissertation proposal defense. The proposal should include 1) research question(s), 2) hypotheses, 3) survey research design that includes all the methodological procedures. The research design proposal should demonstrate that the research questions can be answered by the clear and testable hypotheses and valid reliable variables

In the Dissertation Course, EDBA candidates will present their empirical and non-empirical findings to a research hypothesis. The goal of dissertation work is to verify that EDBA candidates have obtained the independent research skills explored during the EDBA course work. Specifically, candidates will implement appropriate methods of selecting a research topic, generating research hypotheses, selection of appropriate articles, quantitative and qualitative empirical research methods, research design and execution, data set manipulation and archival research. EDBA candidates are required to design and conduct research in their area of interest and are expected to complete the elements of a research project(s). 

In the Dissertation Course, EDBA candidates will present their empirical and non-empirical findings to a research hypothesis. The goal of dissertation work is to verify that EDBA candidates have obtained the independent research skills explored during the EDBA course work. Specifically, candidates will implement appropriate methods of selecting a research topic, generating research hypotheses, selection of appropriate articles, quantitative and qualitative empirical research methods, research design and execution, data set manipulation and archival research. EDBA candidates are required to complete the elements of a research project(s). 

This course is designed to provide students an opportunity to supplement their EDBA curriculum and give additional time to complete their dissertation or related research efforts. The EDBA student will be supervised by their Dissertation Chairperson to complete an organized research project.