The difference between two of the most in-demand courses in management education sphere—DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) and MBA (Masters in Business Administration), confuses most people.
While DBA is a course that is curated for the working professional in order to train them on contemporary business skills, PhD can be pursued by fresh graduates and experienced executives alike.
Here are some of the other key differences between DBA and PhD in business management
Career in academia or Corporates
The target groups for the PhD and DBA Program differ as well. Talking about the career prospects of both the courses, an education counsellor at Jaro Education, one of the top ed-tech companies in Mumbai explained, “Generally, people pursue PhD when they want to seek a career in academia or be a professor in B-school while DBA is pursued by experienced working professionals who are looking for senior managerial positions in their own area of specialisations.”
Ease in information access
Both DBA and PhD are research-oriented. Data is what supports your dissertation or thesis which every student needs to work on. However, one of the biggest advantages of DBA students is that for them, data can be found either in their own businesses under certain confidentiality clauses or they tend to obtain data over time with experience. On the other hand, PhD students have to build data from the scratch either through research, surveys or publicly available materials.
Pedagogy
Since PhD is a full-time programme requiring students to attend classes regularly, they get to interact with the faculty members in person. However, the participants of DBA are mostly working executives and therefore, the classes schedule and curriculum is structured accordingly. The one offered by Jaro Education is blended, offering an in-depth theoretical and applied knowledge on business management.
Even though both these courses have equal value and it completely depends on an individual’s career aspirations whether he/she should opt for PhD or DBA, one of the major benefits of pursuing the latter is the flexibility in timing and class schedule. Moreover, it is observed that professionals who have obtained a degree in DBA can not only pursue a career in the corporate environment but in research and teaching as well.
