Sasin DBA Learning Goals

The DBA Program is driven by the following Learning Goals: To develop resilient, adaptive, impactful researchers: with analytical, entrepreneurial and team skills, aware of all forms of diversity, capable of effective communication and engagement with stakeholders, with a keen sense of ethics, responsibility, and the overarching importance of sustainability. In addition, the DBA program will develop your ability to:

1. mindfully reflect upon—and question—your experiences and develop new skills, values, and insights
2. frame your research by critically reviewing—and extending—prior academic and practitioner research
3. rigorously specify real-world problems; design research to logically investigate them; apply a sustainability and entrepreneurial mind-set to execute that research; and persuasively present the results in at least one peer-reviewed journal article
4. add to business management knowledge by making original contributions from your research, which articulate the value-add for stakeholders, and so satisfy the intellectual curiosity which led you to enter the DBA program.

How long will the Sasin DBA take me?

Much depends on how much time and focus you can devote to the program. Chulalongkorn University requires that you complete all the requirements for your DBA (including successfully defending your thesis) within six years of starting your program. Most candidates will finish well within this timeframe, normally within three years of entry; some may proceed at a more leisurely pace of four years. In total, you’ll complete six blended learning courses before progressing to the research phase of the program.  

The Six Blended DBA Courses

Course 1: Fundamentals, Skills, Values & Leadership This course will equip you with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to engage the research process from day one. The course is structured around four key areas of understanding – research practice, mindfulness and reflexivity, leadership and communication, and entrepreneurship and sustainability. After completing the course you’ll have the confidence to communicate your research to stakeholders and start building your research proposal; be capable of mindfully reflecting upon your existing business experience; be able to adopt an entrepreneurial and sustainable approach to business problems; and will better understand the challenges business leaders face. Course 2: Digital & Environmental Disruption – Organizational Impact We are living in a unique period of uncertainty and change. Newly emerging technologies, including AI, are causing digital disruption. Simultaneously, we face multiple environmental challenges, manifest as disruption in the natural world as well as in human society. This course examines the impact of digital and environmental disruption upon management practices, organizations, and business models. must respond to the challenges prompted by digital and environmental disruption. It does so by adopting a practice lens and ecosystems perspective to envision new ways for businesses to create value and enable a better, smarter and more sustainable world. Course 3: Real-world Research Practice This course will introduce you to the iterative nature of the research process and practice of conducting real world research. You’ll learn how to clearly specify problems / research questions in relation to past research, how to utilise concepts and ideas in existing literature to better understand your problem, and learn about the ethical issues that your research may encounter. Real world research approaches, such as action research, design science research, and other practitioner friendly research methods will be introduced, including the key distinctions between quantitative and qualitative data. Finally, you’ll learn about the value-add that different types of research aims to contribute to different types of stakeholders. Course 4: Research Methods: Quantitative Focus OR Qualitative Focus In Managerial Research Methods Workshop 2, you will focus EITHER on quantitative OR qualitative methods. Some candidates may elect to take both these courses (in successive years). This course will enable you to design and conduct reflexive, evidence based-research utilizing quantitative / qualitative approaches, methods, and data. You’ll be exposed to various quantitative / qualitative methods appropriate for real world researchers, and you’ll learn how to distinguish their key features and strengths, and the quality criteria which underpin them and are used to evaluate their use. You’ll gain hands-on experience of applying two quantitative / qualitative methods to your business problem and research topic, and as a consequence appreciate how to choose methods and data for the type of research questions or research problem you are investigating. Course 5: Domain-specific Entrepreneurship, Innovation or Sustainability This course will build on the overviews presented in the Fundamentals, Skills, Values & Leadership course, to present in-depth appreciation of the nature of entrepreneurial management, innovation (including market/demand-driven approach to the innovation process) and the existential imperative of sustainable management, with particular reference to your chosen field (domain) of research. Course 6: Domain-specific Research Seminar This course will be structured by you and your Thesis Mentor to ensure an in-depth assessment of literature on your intended research topic and problem. This will involve reading and reflection, along with several critically reflective literature reviews focussing especially on management and business applications. This course will equip you with the analytical skills necessary to examine, evaluate, and utilise research in your topic area to frame your project focus and inform the design of your research.

Become Part of the Sasin Research Community

In addition to these six blended learning courses in the taught phase of the program, DBA candidates will also take part (in-person or remotely) in Sasin research workshops, and present in these workshops at least once during their time at Sasin. This will ensure that DBA candidates become important members of the broader Sasin research culture. DBA candidates (with permission of the instructors) may also attend and observe MBA and EMBA classes, either in face-to-face classes or by review of recorded materials. While no academic credit will be given for attendance, such participation can materially broaden and enrich DBA candidates’ backgrounds, especially in subject areas where candidates feel they want to further develop their expertise and skillset.