Q: Would you please let us know more about your EA-DBA program?
A: Firstly, it is a DBA program (Doctor of Business Administration) which means that participants will generate new knowledge and become Doctors. It is therefore designed for high level business executives. Secondly, “Euro-Asia” means that it is organized by 3 top level business schools (Kedge Business School, Korea University Business School, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University Faculty of Business), some being in Europe and some being in Asia.
Q: We hear more about MBA and EMBA degree programs. If one has already a MBA or an EMBA degree, is the DBA program a must for him? In what circumstance should one get a DBA degree? In short, for whom is the DBA program designed?
A: If managers want to go for a DBA degree, they need to have a master degree and at least 10 years of professional experience. Actually, the vast majority of our students have a MBA or an EMBA degree. They choose to follow a DBA program because it is very unique. There are no repetitions at all with what they learned in a MBA or EMBA. Our EA-DBA program follows a more scientific approach. It enables to question what they learned, ask the right questions and get the answers that they need in their companies or on their market. It focuses on the production of a doctoral dissertation which is a unique piece of knowledge produced by the participant. In that sense, the DBA program is a very nice complement of a MBA. It goes a step further.
Q: MBA and EMBA students are used to sitting in the classroom, listening to lectures and doing group projects. Is DBA a challenge to them?
A: Yes, definitely. The DBA program highlights the production of unique, original piece of research, which is not the case in other programs at all. The participants will gain humility, curiosity, knowledge and above all an open mindset enabling them to think differently. They will read articles they generally don’t read, analyze their business situation differently, build models and produce new results linked to their business situation. All this with the help of top level professors and of their own dissertation advisor.
Q: What will the EA-DBA bring to business leaders? How can the DBA help business leaders climb to a higher strategic or academic level? Why it is important for business leaders to get the EA-DBA degree?
A: The real question is not that of the degree in itself. “Being a doctor is nice and prestigious” is not the key issue here. So, why go for it? Because it is unique occasion to break the rules and to challenge the way you think every day about your business problems. Business executives are very good at decision making and have a lot of practical experience. However, they usually use the same type of model and rules of thought when they think about business problems. The unique feature of the EA-DBA is to break these models. The state of mind is: “Listen, you have your models and they work reasonably well. But there are other models out there that you never considered and which might better fit, there is a lot of knowledge in academic research and you can produce yourself new knowledge through your dissertation with the help of an academic advisor. Isn’t that challenging?” So, the whole idea is to bring participants to think differently and to bring them to a higher level.
I’ll give you an anecdote. Two or three years ago, I was the DBA advisor of a senior manager of a big Chinese State-Owned Enterprise. After we went through the whole program, he came to me and told me “I’ll never talk to my managers in my old way ever again.” Not only did he produce a very nice dissertation, he also realized that the models he used to apply and the certainty he had in decision making could indeed be discussed and might be improved. He literally opened his mind. It’s probably the most wonderful feedback I’ve ever had from a senior manager.
Q: Why don’t business leaders apply to a PhD program rather than to your DBA program?
A: On the surface, a PhD resembles a DBA. They are both scientific, research-oriented programs. At the end of these programs, participants deliver and defend their dissertation and become a Doctor in business. However, there are huge differences between both. A PhD is essentially academic-oriented while a DBA has an applied and management orientation. A PhD program concerns young students aged 25 or 28, and who just had their master degrees. It is a full time program and it takes 4 to 5 years to complete a genuine PhD. Managers don’t have that much time, they are older and they have a lot of experience to build upon. These high level managers going for a DBA degree already have questions in their mind, and for which they are seeking answers or at least further knowledge. They might ask themselves “what explains the failure rate of new products in my business”, or “what is the relative impact of technology and consumers’ insight on the success of my new products”? They wish to dig into relevant and important problems they have been facing for years, and without a clear analysis or a satisfactory answer. Another key difference is the access to empirical data. DBA students who work as high-level managers in big companies or as successful entrepreneurs generally have access to abundant data they can use for their research.
Q: The EA-DBA is a Joint program organized by three business schools. How can the program benefit Chinese, European and other Asian business leaders?
A: Our program was developed based on a common vision and understanding of three major leading schools, namely KEDGE business school in France, Korea University Business School, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic Faculty of Business. These three schools are the best or among the very best in their countries, all have an international orientation, and have a top level faculty with world-famous professors.
The participants in our EA-DBA program are international as well, with managers from Korea, Singapore, China, France and the USA. There are two tracks, one given in the Chinese language, and the other one in English, and these two tracks mingled together as well. Courses are given in France, Korea, mainland China and Hong Kong. The conjunction of these three prestigious schools allows us to select top professors to be the dissertation advisors of our participants.
Those three schools are internationally recognized through auditing bodies like AACSB, EQUIS or AMBA. Compared to other DBA programs, our international EA-DBA program certainly offers more diversity. All this opens participants’ minds and makes them think differently as mentioned before. It also creates a network of international managers within our DBA alumni group.
Q: Let us know more about the process of the EA-DBA program.
A: The key feature of our DBA program is the dissertation written by each participant. We want participants to produce top level applied research for themselves of course, but the results they produce will also be of value for the business world as a whole. Their dissertation will be published in scientific or managerial journals for others to read. It takes a long time to write and defend a dissertation. Therefore, during the first year, participants follow some seminars to learn how to conduct research. What is business research? What is a DBA dissertation? How to write a DBA dissertation? What is hypothesis? How to test a hypothesis? What results are expected? They also follow some content-oriented seminars linked to important concepts and practices such as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), business ethic, or Cultural issues in Management. The two other years are essentially devoted to the dissertation, with research seminars and many presentations devoted to improving participants’ research for a successful defense.
Q: If you had to write a short advertisement for the EA-DBA, what would you write?
A: I would say: “If you are humble, curious, and eager to learn; If you really wish to think differently and solve problems in your company; If you wish to contribute to knowledge in your field of management; If you want to meet new friends and become part of a fantastic group of EA-DBA alumni, then join the EA-DBA program”. You will have fun.
Professor Introduction
Dwight MERUNKA is Professor of Marketing at Kedge Business School and at Aix-Marseille University (IAE Aix-Marseille). He taught at several Universities around the world including the University of Texas at Austin, Renmin University of China, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Paris-Dauphine University, and Universities in Dakar, Abidjan, and Cotonou in Africa. He is director of research and director of the EA-DBA program and was named President of the national committee for the selection of University professors by the French Ministry of Research and Higher Education. He published over 50 articles in leading academic journals such as Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, or International Marketing Review. He received best paper awards from the American Marketing Association annual conference and from the National Conference on Sales Management. His research interests cover branding, consumer behavior, cross-cultural issues and subsistence marketplaces.
