The Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) is an executive doctoral degree designed for experienced professionals who want to bridge academic rigor and real-world impact. Delivered in cooperation with IAE Angers – Université d’Angers and CEIBA Business School, the program supports candidates in producing a doctoral thesis grounded in their professional field, using robust research methods and a reflexive, evidence-based approach.
In line with EDBA Council’s standards, the program promotes engaged scholarship: research that sits at the intersection of theory and contemporary business issues, with contributions for organizations, industries, and society.
The DBA is also a participatory platform: candidates learn to design research with stakeholders, generate actionable knowledge, and develop the posture of a practitioner–scholar.
DBA candidates are typically senior managers, entrepreneurs, and executives who want to formalize their experience into research-driven insight.
As often said: “To practice without theory is to sail an uncharted sea; theory without practice is not to sail at all.” The DBA helps candidates become engaged management scholars—able to connect conceptual clarity with practical transformation.
An executive doctorate for established professionals who want their research to produce measurable practical contributions beyond the classroom.
A community of candidates who are already shaping organizations—and who want to share, debate, and co-produce knowledge at a higher level.
A structured journey that builds critical thinking, methodological competence, and academic discipline, enabling candidates to contribute to the state of knowledge and inspire new ways of doing business.
A 3-year, executive-friendly pathway designed to fit demanding professional schedules while maintaining strong academic standards. The journey begins with coursework and research design to help you clarify a real managerial problem, position it in the literature, and select an appropriate methodology.
You then move into supervised fieldwork, where you collect and analyze data in your organizational or industry context. Throughout the process, you progress through structured milestones—proposal readiness, research seminars, and draft submissions—so your thesis develops step by step.
The final stage focuses on research dissemination and the completion of a defensible manuscript, culminating in the viva-voce defense.
You build your research mindset and toolkit through three applied management research courses and a sequence of research design & methodology workshops.
– Take applied research courses (e.g., Issues in Management Research, Supply Chain and Sustainability, Organisational Behavior)
– Complete the research design sequence: Problem formulation → Theorizing → Methods
– Strengthen your methods toolkit with qualitative & quantitative analysis
– Produce and validate your Thesis Proposal, then complete the Thesis Proposal Defense (proposal milestone)
– Demonstrate readiness for the next stage via the program’s comprehensive readiness assessment (“Grand Comprehensive Exam” in the brochure narrative).
You work with a dedicated supervisor and a supervisory committee to conduct in-depth field studies and craft a thesis with potential for publication, supported by regular meetings (face-to-face + virtual).
– Research Seminars (periodic checkpoints)
– Thesis Draft 1: Literature Review
– Thesis Draft 2: Literature Review + Research Methodology
– Thesis Draft 3: Literature Review + Methodology + Empirical Analysis
– Research dissemination (sharing your findings)
– Final thesis + Thesis defense (viva-voce)
Your DBA is supported through a structured, research-driven mentoring model designed to help you move from a solid proposal to a defensible thesis—and research outputs you can disseminate.