Business Administration PhD

Major: Business Administration
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 90.0 (post-bachelor's) or 60.0 (post-master's) 
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 52.1301
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 11-1021

About the Program

Drexel’s PhD in Business Administration prepares candidates for careers in academic research and teaching. The degree program includes specializations in accounting, finance, marketing, operations and business analytics, and organizational behavior or strategy. Doctorates are delivered as full-time, on-campus degrees and typically 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 web page.

Doctoral 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 Administration’s curriculum.

Additional Information

For more information please contact our Graduate Student Services department at lebowgradenroll@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.

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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.

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Concentration credits include courses in Accounting (ACCT), Statistics (STAT), Economics (ECON), Finance (FIN), General Business (BUSN), International Business (INTB), Legal Studies (BLAW), Management (MGMT), Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing (MKTG), Operations Research (OPR), Organizational Behavior (ORGB), Production Operations Management (POM), or Taxation (TAX), with a course number range between 900-999 or other approved course at the PhD level.

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Dissertation Research credits include courses in Accounting (ACCT), Statistics (STAT), Economics (ECON), Finance (FIN), General Business (BUSN), International Business (INTB), Legal Studies (BLAW), Management (MGMT), Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing (MKTG), Operations Research (OPR), Organizational Behavior (ORGB), Production Operations Management (POM), or Taxation (TAX), with a course number of 998 or other approved dissertation research course at the PhD level.

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Concentration credits include courses in Accounting (ACCT), Statistics (STAT), Economics (ECON), Finance (FIN), General Business (BUSN), International Business (INTB), Legal Studies (BLAW), Management (MGMT), Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing (MKTG), Operations Research (OPR), Organizational Behavior (ORGB), Production Operations Management (POM), or Taxation (TAX), with a course number range between 900-999 or other approved course at the PhD level.

**

Dissertation Research credits include courses in Accounting (ACCT), Statistics (STAT), Economics (ECON), Finance (FIN), General Business (BUSN), International Business (INTB), Legal Studies (BLAW), Management (MGMT), Management Information Systems (MIS), Marketing (MKTG), Operations Research (OPR), Organizational Behavior (ORGB), Production Operations Management (POM), or Taxation (TAX), with a course number of 998 or other approved dissertation research course at the PhD level.

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 Office of Graduate Studies or from the Thesis Reviewer in 5038 MacAlister Hall.

Sample Plan of Study

Economics Stream - Post Master's 

Selected Faculty Researchers

ACCOUNTING

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

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

Hande Benson, PhD (Princeton University) Department of Decision Sciences and MIS. Professor. Mathematical Optimization, Non-linear Optimization, Large-Scale Optimization, Portfolio Optimization, Business Analytics.

Wenjing Shen, PhD (University of Michigan) Department of Decision Sciences and MIS. Associate Professor. Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management, Production and Operations Management, Interface with Marketing.

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.

Gregory Nini, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) Department of Finance. Marshall Austin Endowed Term Professor in Finance. Design of Bank Loans, Nonprice Terms of Corporate Credit Agreements, and Leveraged Financial Markets.

MANAGEMENT

Jeongsik Lee, PhD (University of California)  Professor. Social Networks, Economic of Innovation, Technology Management

Mary Mawritz, PhD (University of Central Florida) Department of Management. Professor. Counterproductive Workplace Behavior, Unethical Conduct, Bottom-line Mentality.

MARKETING

Chen Wang, PhD (University of British Columbia Canada) Associate Professor of Marketing. Consumer Curiosity, Self-Regulation and Goals, Sensory Perception, Consumer Technology.

Yanliu Huang, PhD (University of Pennsylvania) Associate Professor of Marketing. Consumer In-Store Decision Making, Consumer Planning, New Technology in Marketing, Consumer Welfare.