Business Administration

Major: Business Administration
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Total Credit Hours: 60.0 (Post-Master's) or 90.0 (Post-Bachelor's)
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 52.0101
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-1021

About the Program

Drexel's PhD in Business program prepares candidates for careers in academic research and teaching. The PhD in Business includes specializations in accounting, finance, marketing, management (organizational behavior and strategy), and operations & business analytics. PhD degrees are delivered as full-time, on-campus degrees and normally require about five years to complete. The LeBow faculty take a hands-on approach to research and mentoring students on a daily basis. The support of LeBow's collaborative, collegial research environment provides our doctoral students with tremendous research opportunities.

The program enables students to complete their doctoral coursework in two years. Students begin specializing in their chosen area during the first year of study. For information about doctoral work in economics, please visit the PhD in Economics webpage.

PhD students complete a minimum of 60.0 quarter credits beyond the master's degree. Students who enter the program without a master's degree must complete 90.0 credits beyond the bachelor's degree. Degree Requirements describe the basic structure of the PhD in Business curriculum.

Additional Information

For more information about the program, visit the PhD Program in Business page.

Admission Requirements/Financial Aid

The LeBow College of Business seeks applicants with exceptional ability and motivation who can succeed in a research-oriented program. Admission to this full-time program is competitive and highly selective. Applicants are only admitted for full-time status. Applicants must specify their proposed area of specialization, and their credentials are ultimately compared to the credentials of other applicants in the same specialization area. There may be relatively few openings in a given area. A master's degree is not a requirement, although most admitted students have one.

In reviewing an applicant's credentials, the faculty consider the following factors:

• Prior Academic Accomplishments: The faculty will examine all course work taken prior to application, paying particular attention to the specific courses that have been completed. Applicants should have attained a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) for all undergraduate course work completed. They also should have attained a minimum 3.3 average for any graduate-level course work taken. The faculty generally expect applicants to demonstrate a substantially higher level of accomplishment than these minimum requirements.
• Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or Graduate Records Examination (GRE): Applicants to all specializations within the PhD program are required to submit scores from either the GMAT or GRE. While all specializations will accept either one, applicants applying to the Accounting, Management (Organization or Strategy), Finance, or Marketing specializations should submit GMAT scores. Applicants to the specializations in Operations & Business Analytics or Economics should submit the GREs. GMAT and GRE scores are not accepted if they are more than five years old.
• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): Applicants whose native language is not English and who have not already received a degree from a U.S. university, must also submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
• Personal Statement/Essay: Each applicant must submit a personal statement. The personal statement should explain the applicant's educational and personal experiences that have influenced the decision to pursue a PhD and should discuss the candidate's career plans and goals. The faculty are especially interested in learning about an applicant's prior research experience and the commitment to future research in the applicant's area of specialization.
• Letters of Recommendation: Two letters of recommendation must be submitted in support of the application. Applicants are strongly encouraged to seek recommendations from academics or other professionals who can assess the applicant's likelihood of success in a research-oriented PhD program.

Admission Procedures

The PhD Program in Business admits students each Fall. To be considered for admission, the completed application must be received by the LeBow College of Business Office of Graduate Admissions no later than January 15th. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all transcripts, test scores and letters of recommendation, as well as the application form and the personal statement, are received by Drexel University no later than January 15th.

Assistantships and Financial Aid

LeBow generally provides 5 years of tuition and stipend support conditional on satisfactory progress throughout the program. PhD students are also provided with substantial support for traveling to academic conferences.  Each applicant to the PhD program is automatically considered for a graduate assistantship as well as for admissions into the program. First-year graduate assistants are assigned to work with a faculty member on research and/or teaching activities. During the second and subsequent years, graduate assistants are generally assigned a combination of teaching and research responsibilities. Assistants receive a stipend and 27.0 credits of tuition remission per academic year. Doctoral students who are making satisfactory progress toward the degree can expect to be provided with an assistantship through the Spring Quarter of their fifth year from the date they start the program.

Additional Information

For questions about applying, please contact:

The LeBow PhD Program Office
Bennett S. LeBow College of Business
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875
lebowphd@drexel.edu

Degree Requirements

60.0 credits (Post-Master's degree)
90.0 credits (Post-Bachelor's degree)

• 15.0 credits of core courses
• 30.0 credits of specialization requirements
• 15.0 credits of dissertation research
• 30.0 credits for students without master's degree

Core Program

PhD students in business select one of two broad streams of research:

• Behavioral-based research; or
• Economics-based research

Within each stream all students pursue a common set of core courses during their first year of study. This core consists of course work in research methodology (three courses) and economics (two courses) or behavioral science (two courses). In addition to these core courses, students also take courses in their specializations during their first year in the program.

Each research stream consists of 5 core courses. All courses are 3.0 credits each.

Economics Stream First Year Core Sequence

Behavioral Stream

Behavioral Stream First Year Core Sequence

First-Year Examination

After the completion of the core coursework, students are examined on their competence in the core material and their readiness to proceed to their specialization area.

Specialization

The PhD Program in Business offers specializations in six areas:

• Accounting
• Finance
• Marketing
• Organizational Behavior (Management)
• Operations & Business Analytics
• Strategy (Management)

Each specialization area consists of 10 courses (30.0 credits) in addition to the 5 stream courses. The courses outside of the stream courses are either department requirements or electives selected by the student with the approval of their PhD coordinator. Up to 3 of the electives may be independent studies or dissertation research courses subject to the approval of the student’s PhD coordinator and the Director of the LeBow PhD Program. The requirements of each area of specialization are discussed in detail on the Lebow College of Business PhD Program Areas of Specialization webpage.

Candidacy Examination

At the completion of their coursework, students take written and oral candidacy examinations. These examinations test each student's preparation for dissertation research. Once the candidacy examinations are passed, the student is recognized as a PhD candidate.

Doctoral Dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is a piece of original research designed to make a contribution to the student's chosen discipline. Each candidate selects a dissertation adviser and an advisory committee of additional faculty members is formed. The candidate prepares a detailed dissertation proposal that is defended before the University community. After successfully defending the proposal, the candidate conducts the research (15.0 credit minimum) and prepares a written dissertation. The completed dissertation is then defended in a final oral examination.

Dissertation Format Review

In addition to meeting the Thesis Advisory Committee's standards of originality and scholarly content, all doctoral dissertations must conform to university format requirements. Students should obtain a copy of the Thesis Manual from the Graduate College of Drexel University or from the Thesis Reviewer in 5038 MacAlister Hall.

Facilities

Selected Faculty Researchers

ACCOUNTING

Hsihui Chang, PhD (University of Minnesota) Department of Accounting and Tax, KPMG Endowed Chair and Department Head. Professor.

Anthony P. Curatola, PhD (Texas A&M University) Joseph F. Ford Professor of Accounting. Professor. Federal and state income tax policy, retirement income taxation, fringe benefits taxation, educational savings and tax incentives, federal and state income tax research.

DECISION SCIENCES

Avijit Banerjee, PhD (The Ohio State University) Department of Decision Sciences. Professor. Interface with Marketing, Pricing Revenue Management, Inventory Control, Operations Planning and Scheduling, Production Planning and Control, Supply Chain Management

Seung-Lae Kim, PhD (Penn State University) Department of Decision Sciences. Professor. Inventory control, Production Planning and Control, Quality Management, Six-Sigma, Supply Chain Management

FINANCE

Michele Lowry, PHD (University of Rochester) Department of Finance. TD Bank Professor of Finance. Empirical Corporate Finance, including initial public offerings, mergers, and corporate governance.

Ralph Walkling, PhD (University of Maryland) Stratakis Professor of Corporate Governance, Department of Finance. Professor. Corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions.

MANAGEMENT

Jeffrey H. Greenhaus, PhD (New York University) William A. Mackie Professor of Management. Professor. Work-Life Balance.

V. K. Narayanan, PhD (University of Pittsburgh) Delloitte Touche Jones Stubbs Professor. Cognition and Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organization design

MARKETING

Rolph E. Anderson, PhD (University of Florida) Royal H. Gibson Sr. Professor of Marketing. Professor. Personal selling and sales management; multivariate data analysis; customer relationship management (CRM); customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Bert Rosenbloom, PhD (Temple University) Rauth Chair of Electronic Commerce. Professor. Marketing channels and distribution systems, electronic commerce, inter-organizational marketing management, wholesale and retail distribution, marketing strategy and planning.