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 Core Courses * | ||
ECON 902 | Mathematical Economics | 3.0 |
ECON 910 | Advanced Microeconomics I | 3.0 |
ECON 940 | Econometrics I | 3.0 |
ECON 941 | Econometrics II | 3.0 |
STAT 931 | Statistics for Economics | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 15.0 |
* | Operations and Business Analytics students may make substitutions for the econometrics series. Their research methodology sequences is comprised of Statistics, STAT 924 Multivariate Analysis I and OPR 922 Operations Research Methods I. |
Economics Stream First Year Core Sequence
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ECON 902 | 3.0 | ECON 910 | 3.0 | ECON 941 | 3.0 |
STAT 931 | 3.0 | ECON 940 | 3.0 | ||
6 | 6 | 3 | |||
Total Credits 15 |
Behavioral Stream
Behavioral Stream Core Courses | ||
STAT 924 | Multivariate Analysis I | 3.0 |
STAT 932 | Statistics for Behavioral Science | 3.0 |
MGMT 906 | Foundations of Research in Behavioral Science | 3.0 |
MGMT 907 | Research Analysis in Behavioral Sciences | 3.0 |
MKTG 940 | Multivariate II | 3.0 |
Total Credits | 15.0 |
Behavioral Stream First Year Core Sequence
Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MGMT 906 | 3.0 | MGMT 907 | 3.0 | MKTG 940 | 3.0 |
STAT 932 | 3.0 | STAT 924 | 3.0 | ||
6 | 6 | 3 | |||
Total Credits 15 |
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
The LeBow College of Business home is a 12-story, 177,500-square-foot academic building named Gerri C. LeBow Hall. Located in the heart of Drexel University campus, it forms a gateway to Drexel and serves as a backdrop to the historic statue of A.J. Drexel (Moses Ezekiel, 1904).
The building’s organization unites the school’s various constituencies around a five-story-high atrium ringed by 15 classrooms of varying sizes and configurations, including a finance trading lab. The atrium is immediately accessible from main entrances at the three corners of the building. An open stair within the atrium leads to a 300-seat auditorium, 100-seat lecture hall, and a behavioral studies lab one floor below. Other amenities consist of 19 collaboration rooms, 3,500 square feet of student lounges and quiet study areas, a bank of four elevators and full ADA accessibility, and an event space with catering capacity. The building's upper floors contain faculty and staff offices interspersed with seminar and conference rooms.
Gerri C. LeBow Hall brings together faculty, students, and staff in a state-of-the-art building on the University City campus. Please visit the LeBow College of Business webpage, the Behavioral Lab webpage, the Finance Trading Lab webpage, and the SAP Next-Gen webpage to learn more about Gerri C. LeBow Hall.
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.