Doctor of Business Studies
Faculty of Business

Programme Overview

Programme Structure

The DBS programme is designed to nurture future academia and industry leaders with broad business knowledge, exceptional acumen, and excellent research capability in the areas chosen. Students need to take ten core courses that equip them with advanced business knowledge and research capability to enable them to understand, analyse, and navigate complex business situations and make new discoveries, ultimately contributing to their success in various endeavours in businesses or academia.

 

Depending on students’ individual interests and field of work, they can select two elective courses to gain more in-depth knowledge and training in specific subjects.  In total, students are required to complete twelve courses and obtain 36 credits.  

 

Each student is also required to complete a doctoral thesis (40,000 - 60,000 words) and successfully pass an oral examination to obtain 30 credits.  The thesis research enables students to develop an in-depth understanding of the literature, theories, and methodologies related to a chosen research area, develop good research skills, ethics and practices, and apply research outcomes to real-life problems.

 

Each taught course consists of 42 contact hours, delivered either three hours per week over 14 weeks or in an intensive format to accommodate instructors’ availability. During Year 1, students complete five courses in each of Term 1 and Term 2. In Term 1 of Year 2, students complete two additional courses and begin developing their research proposals while matching with supervisors based on their intended research areas. By the end of Term 1 in Year 2, students are expected to finalize their research proposals. From Term 2 of Year 2 through the entire Year 3, students focus on conducting doctoral research and writing their doctoral thesis under the guidance of their supervisors.

 

Core Courses (10 Courses)

  • DBS701 Residential Workshops
  • DBS702 Research Methodology in Business I 
  • DBS703 Research Methodology in Business II 
  • DBS704 Strategic Human Resource Management 
  • DBS705 Data-driven Marketing 
  • DBS706 Sustainable Accounting and Decision Making 
  • DBS707 Advanced Financial Management 
  • DBS708 Operations and Supply Chain Management 
  • DBS709 Frontiers in Business Research 
  • DBS710 Digital Transformation in Business

Elective Courses (Any 2 Courses)

  • DBS711 Dialogue with Business Leaders 
  • DBS712 Governance and Risk Management 
  • DBS713 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Topics in Business
  • DBS714 Business in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Era

Doctoral Thesis

Students begin to prepare their doctoral thesis in the second semester of the first year and pair their research supervisor according to their research interests. Under the guidance of the supervisor, students will complete the doctoral thesis. The contents include: 

 

  • Research Proposal
  • Doctoral Thesis (40,000-60,000 in English)  
  • Oral Defence