PhD in Business Administration - Eligibility, Admission, Syllabus, Institutes, Scope

A PhD in business administration is a Doctorat course in business management. It  is a three to five-year research-based programme. The goal of the course is to produce individuals who have a highly skilled analytical understanding of business principles. It covers new methodologies in KPIs, management, and quantitative and qualitative techniques.

Business administration encompasses a wide range of topics in business management. Candidates who complete this program are prepared for careers in marketing, education, finance, sales, and government.
Business administrators carry out their department’s or organization’s objectives, policies, and procedures.
They also make products and provide services. Students in the business administration course are taught business administration principles.

PhD Business Administration graduates work in administration, education, finance, sales & marketing, MNCs, and other fields. Associate Managers, Management Professors, Operation Managers, Administration Managers, and other job profiles are available to them. The average annual salary ranges from INR 7 lakh to INR 17 lakh.

World economies are looking for capable entrepreneurs to create jobs and bring useful products to market.

A doctorate degree in business administration contributes to high pay, job satisfaction, and rapid advancement.The course provides a solid methodological foundation, as well as exposure to cutting-edge themes and methods, as well as the ability to develop and implement research projects in business disciplines.

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PhD in Business Administration: An Overview

PhD Business Administration is a research-based program that is typically pursued by candidates who wish to conduct research and publish papers. The following is a list of the course’s essential information.

Level of Course	Doctorate
Also referred as	Doctorate in Philosophy – Business Administration
Duration of Course	3 to 5 years
Type of Examination	Semester
Eligibility Criteria	Masters level qualification in relevant fields with a minimum of 55% aggregate in final year examination.
Process of Admission	National level exams or University-specific Paper mode Offline entrance examination.
Fee for the Course	INR 9,000 to 90,000
Average Annual Salary	INR 1,00,000 to 1,30,000
Top Hiring Firms	The banking sector, universities, MNCs, Administrative sectors, etc.
Positions of Job	Assistant Manager, Administration Manager, Events Executive, Business Administrative Executive, etc.

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Relevant Links
Ph.D. (management Studies)	Ph.D. (marketing)	Ph.D. (operation Management)
Ph.D. (business Management)	Ph.D. (finance)	Ph.D. (human Resource Management)

PhD Business Administration Eligibility

• Candidates must have completed 10+2+3+2 or 10+2+4+2 years of full-time study at a recognized university or board.
• Candidates must have completed a master’s degree program in the relevant field, such as an MBA, M.Phil, or any other master’s degree program.
• In master’s degree programs, they should have received a minimum of 55 percent.
• For admission to the PhD Business Administration program, you must have a strong command of the English language. This is due to the fact that the medium of instruction is English. Furthermore, the dissertation and research work must be completed in English.
• Candidates with a minimum of five years of teaching and work experience will be given priority.

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PhD Business Administration Admission Procedure

PhD Business Administration admissions are determined by national entrance examinations such as GATE, UGC-NET, CSIR-NET, ICAR, and others. Some institutes have their own entrance exam, which is followed by a personal interview.

The following is an example of a typical PhD Business Administration admissions process:

• Candidates must apply to the institute by completing an application form, submitting the required documents, and paying the application fees.
• Candidates will be judged on their performance in national or state-level entrance exams as well as their grades or ranks.
• Shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview after the merit list is released.
• Enrollment: After passing the interview, candidates will receive an offer letter to join the institute. Candidates must choose whether or not to accept the offer letter by the deadline and for the initial amount.

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PhD Business Administration: Institutes Ranked by NIRF

Ranking by NIRF	Name of Institute	Process of Admission	Course Fees	Average Annual Salary
1	Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad	CAT/ GMAT/ GRE	INR 2,300,000	INR 25.83 Lakh per year
2	Indian Institute of Management Bangalore	CAT/ GMAT/ GRE	INR 2,300,000	INR 26.28 lakh per year
3	Indian Institute of Management Calcutta	CAT/ GMAT/ GRE	INR 2,700,000	INR 26.98 lakh per year
4	Indian Institute of Management Lucknow	CAT/ GMAT/ GRE	INR 3,00,000	INR 20.05 lakh per year
5	Indian Institute of Management Udaipur	CAT/ GMAT/ GRE	No Fees Charged	INR 13.2 lakh per year

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PhD Business Administration: Important Entrance Exams

UGC-NET and ICAR NET are two entrance exams that are taken into consideration for admission to PhD Business Administration programs. If a student has not taken the national level exam, some universities conduct their own entrance exams.

The following are some of the university entrance examinations:

• The UGC NET is a national entrance exam for junior research fellowships and lecturing positions. It takes place twice a year. Candidates who pass this exam are usually exempt from the institutes’ university-level entrance exams.
• IBSAT: The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education administers the ICFAI Business Studies Aptitude Test. It offers admission to a variety of management programs. Candidates can check the eligibility criteria, admission process, and exam pattern for better preparation. The exam is scheduled to take place in December 2020.
• Jain Entrance Test: This entrance exam is used to gain admission to Jain University’s PhD programs.
• CUCET is an entrance exam for ten central universities that provide admission to their undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs.
• LPUNEST: For Engineering, Law, and Management admissions, the Lovely Professional University National Entrance and Scholarship Test is held twice a year.

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PhD in Business Administration: Suitable Candidates

• The course is appropriate for those who want to specialize in management science, technology management, organizational behavior, economics, finance, or other practical fields.
• Individuals interested in pursuing a career as a university professor or a researcher in any of the various areas of administration should consider this degree.
• They should be able to think critically and analytically, as well as be familiar with evaluative techniques; have a creative problem-solving approach; and make sound, logical decisions.
• They should have good administrative and management skills, such as understanding of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resource modeling, leadership style, production methods, and people and resource coordination.

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PhD Business Administration: Preparation Plan

Each of the above-mentioned entrance exams for PhD programs has some aspects in common, as well as some differences. The majority of the exams are conducted online using a multiple-choice format.

• Questions about general aptitude, general awareness, and analytical skills are usually included in the exams. Some tests assess both verbal and mathematical abilities.
• Because a student may be required to take more than one entrance exam, it is advantageous to prepare for all types of subjects that may be covered on these exams. Aptitude, awareness, analytical skills, math, verbal skills, essay writing skills, and numerical ability should all be prepared for.
• A practice of the previous year’s question papers should be used to complete a thorough study of these subjects. To prepare for the exams, get a sample and previous year’s question papers.
• First and foremost, candidates must be eligible to apply for the entrance exam, which means they must meet the minimum eligibility requirements for both the exams and the institutes.
• They should make a schedule so that they can properly work on each section. The concepts should be clear, and there will be a lot of practice involved.
• Candidates should look over the previous year’s question papers to get a sense of the types of questions that were asked.
• They should look for topics that come up year after year. Such subjects should not be overlooked when preparing.
• Along with preparing for the entrance exam, candidates should also prepare for the interview round.
• They should be kept up to date on all entrance exam dates.

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PhD Business Administration: Focus Areas

• The PhD in Business Administration is the pinnacle of management and business education. It focuses on research methodologies and methods, as well as creating designs for assets and liabilities.
• In various business disciplines, the focus is on problem-solving, game planning, business strategy, and researching layouts.
• The course also covers data analysis and related tools, which have become increasingly popular in recent years.
• PhD students learn about statistical techniques, measures of central tendency, variance and covariance analysis, cluster analysis, factor and discriminant analysis, and multiple regression and correlation, among other data analysis tools.
• Candidates must work on their research topic and write their thesis during this course.
• Resources Management & Sustainable Development, Managing Innovation & Technology, the Resurge of Businesses and Companies after the COVID Crisis, Social Entrepreneurship, and The Sulci & Gyri of Accounting and Finance are just a few of the popular PhD Business Administration research topics.

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PhD Business Administration: Top Institutes

The table below lists the best colleges in India for pursuing a PhD in Business Administration. Based on placement, location, and accreditation, these colleges are among the best in the country. These colleges also have a strong infrastructure and a high NIRF 2020 ranking.

Ranking by NIRF	Name of Institute	Place	Tuition Fees for the first year	Average Annual Salary
1	Indian Institute of Management	Ahmedabad	INR 23,00,000 (complete fee taken together)	INR 25,83,000
2	Indian Institute of Management	Bangalore	INR 23,00,000 (complete fee is taken together)	INR 26,28,000
3	Indian Institute of Management	Kolkata	INR 27,00,000 (complete fee is taken together)	INR 26,98,000
4	Indian Institute of Management	Lucknow	INR 3,00,000	INR 20,05,000
6	Indian Institute of Management	Kozhikode	INR 2,22,000	INR 26,69,000
7	Indian Institute of Management	Indore	INR 50,000	INR 22,92,000
9	Xavier Labour Relations Institute	Jamshedpur	INR 2,12,500	INR 15,42,000
10	Management Development Institute	Gurgaon	INR 2,33,000	INR 22,05,000
12	Department of Management Studies, IIT R	Roorkee	INR 14,680	INR 9,18,000
17	Indian Institute of Management	Udaipur	No tuition fees charged, since the PhD students receive full fellowship that cover the tuition fees.	INR 13,20,000

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PhD Business Administration: Important Skills Required

• Financial Management : Students must be able to budget and manage their money. They will be able to run their business without losing money and protect their investment if they manage their finances properly. Financial management skills can predict cash flow and sales.
• Communication and Negotiation: When it comes to pricing, business administrators must communicate with suppliers and negotiate. For a variety of reasons, they must also communicate with investors, customers, and employees. To establish a rapport, you must have excellent written and verbal communication skills. The majority of the work you would like to happen is done by communication.
• Leadership:In business administration, leadership abilities are crucial. Leadership is required to lead a team and motivate your coworkers in order to achieve success. A leader’s responsibility is to coach those who work for him or her.
• Project Management and Planning: You’ll be working on a variety of projects and will be required to adhere to a variety of policies. Time, as well as a variety of other resources, must be effectively managed. You can achieve your objectives by planning and developing new strategies.

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PhD Business Administration Syllabus

The minimum prescribed syllabus for a PhD-level business administration course is listed in the table below. Add-on courses, guest lectures, projects, and seminars are all possible for this course. These extracurricular activities are designed to improve the student’s practical understanding and approach. However, these elective subjects would differ from one university to the next.

First Semester (Compulsory Subjects)	Second Semester (Compulsory Subjects)
Strategic Management	Research Methodology
Quantitative Techniques	Case Work
Financial Accounting for Managers	Research Paper
Human Resource Management	Literature Review
Computer Applications	Ethics of Research Proposal Management
Social and Economic Environment	–
Third Semester	Fourth Semester
Submission of Research Proposal	Submission of Research Thesis
Optional Subjects
Human Resource Management	Financial Management
Managerial Leadership	Mergers & Acquisitions
International Human Resource Management	International Finance
Training and Development	Portfolio Management & Security Analysis
Marketing Management	Operations Management
Product Management	Supply Chain Management
CRM	Project Management
Service Marketing	Business Engineering
Internet Marketing	Technology Management

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PhD Business Administration and PhD Finance: Key Differences

A comparison of PhD Business Administration and PhD Finance can be found in the table below. Management students are particularly interested in these two courses. A few of the distinctions are listed below.

Basis of Comparison	PhD Business Administration	PhD Finance
Also referred as	Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration	Doctorate of Philosophy in Finance
Focus	Business Analytics, Financial Management, Applied Econometrics,HR and IT Management, and Emerging Issues in Organizational Behavior are all areas of study.	Accounting, Economics, Corporate Finance Theory, Statistics, Financial Management,and Investments are all covered in this course.
Type of Degree	Doctorate	Doctorate
Process of Admission	Entrance Exams	Entrance Exams
Eligibility Criteria	A master’s degree with a minimum of 55 percent in management, business administration, or statistics courses	A master’s degree with a minimum of 55 percent in courses related to accounting, economics, and mathematics is required.
Fee For the Course	INR 27 lakh	INR 30 lakh
Average Salary in the beginning	INR 12 lakh – INR 16 lakh per annum	INR 4 lakh – INR 8 lakh per annum
Top Employing Firms	The banking sector, universities, MNCs, Administrative sectors, etc.	Apple, Citigroup, Deloitte, Amazon, Facebook, Accenture, Bain & Company, etc
Career options for Job	Assistant Manager, Events Executive, Administration Manager, Business Administrative Executive, Associate Manager.	Stockbroker, Statistician, CFA, CA, Corporate Banking.

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Future Trends in Business Administration

• Successful social media influencers and many online developers agree that the most powerful tool in content marketing is video. People like and share videos, and this boosts traffic and enhances engagement. This is an emerging trend in the smartphone era.
• Businesses have embraced artificial intelligence to enhance the customer experience. Call centers have changed way too far by using artificial intelligence to answer customers’ questions. Without human intervention, artificial intelligence is capable of adapting to and learning chores.
• Leading firms are hiring remote workers as more work is being moved into the digital cloud. It can be accessed, sent and received from anywhere. Remote workers choose flexible work hours and are involved in creative design and more.
• Millennials in Business Leadership Roles: Many young aspirants are blooming in the business world. People born between 1980 and 2000 are pursuing business to become leaders in the business domain. Business-minded millennials are sought after to exhibit leadership.

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PhD Business Administration: Important Books Recommended

The following are some of the books that students can use while pursuing a PhD in Business Administration:

Book Name	Author’s Name
Business Research Methods	Cooper, D.R., Schindler, P.S. and Sun, J.
Rethinking the Process of Operational Research & Systems Analysis.	Tomlinson, R. and Kiss, I.
Business Data Analysis using Excel.	Whigham, D
The Economic History of India under early British Rule	Dutt, R.C., 2013
Game Theory for Applied Economists.	Gibbons, R.S.

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PhD Business Administration: A Comparison among Institutes

A comparison of the top two colleges for PhD business administration is shown in the table below. IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore are the two colleges. The comparison is based on ranking, admission process, course fees, salary, and other factors.

Name of the Institute	Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad IIMA	Indian Institute of Management Bangalore – IIMB
Highlight	After IIM Calcutta, IIMA was the second IIM to be established. It is a nationally significant institution. It was founded in 1961.	The Institute of Management and Business Administration (IIMB) was founded in 1973 and is a public business school. It was India’s third IIM to open its doors.
Ranking by NIRF	1	2
Place	Ahmedabad	Bengaluru
Average Annual Fees	INR 23 lakh	INR 23 lakh
Admission process	CAT, GMAT, etc	CAT, GMAT, GRE, and NET
Average Annual Salary	INR 25.83 lakh per annum	INR 20 lakh per Annum
Top Hiring Firms	Accenture, PwC, JP Morgan Bank, HSBC Bank, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Microsoft, The Boston Consulting Group,FinIQ, ABG, Aditya Birla Group, American Express, Bajaj Finserv, etc.	Deloitte USI, Deloitte India, AT Kearney, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture,Bain & Company, Strategy, EY-Parthenon, McKinsey & Co, etc.

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PhD Business Administration: Top Job Profiles

For successful candidates, a PhD in Business Administration opens doors to high-level positions with high responsibility and pay.

• Candidates with a PhD in Business Administration can work as assistant managers, administrative managers, events executives, business administrative executives, business development managers, associate managers, and other positions.
• Experienced candidates can aim for higher positions such as directorships, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and Vice Presidents of a company with work experience in the field.

The table below lists some of the jobs, along with their descriptions and salaries:

Profile of Job	Description of Job	Starting Average Salary
Associate Manager	Associate Managers serve as a bridge between Project Managers and the rest of the team. They primarily create project plans, budgets, team resources, team direction, and responsibility distribution.	INR 12,21,861 per year
Administration Officer	They are in charge of the organization’s operations, forecasting business growth, supervising, and supporting employee needs.	INR 4,98,973 per year
Business Development Manager	BDMs are in charge of managing customer expectations and developing business solutions for businesses. They’re also in charge of expanding revenue streams, increasing brand loyalty, and improving customer satisfaction.	INR 6,01,685 per year
Chief Executive Officer – CEO	As the CEO, the employee is in charge of the entire company. They are in charge of strategic planning, financial operations, and so on. They also form new connections with business leaders.	INR 30,44,733 per year
Vice President / CFO	Oversees the management of company finances and is responsible for strategic forward-thinking. Make connections with current and potential investors, participate in audits, and so on.	INR 36,51,736 per year

Some other important areas of employment are

• Asst. Manager
• Multinational Companies
• Industrial Houses
• Business Consultancies
• Accounts & Business Administration Executive
• Private Banks
• Personal Business
• Export Companies
• Financial Organizations
• Administration Manager
• brand and marketing
• Accounts & Administration Executive
• Events Executive

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PhD Business Administration: Benefits and Scope

• India is a huge country with several new businesses springing up all the time. Even international corporations are finding a home in India. As a result, candidates with a PhD in Business Administration have a lot of opportunities.
• The demand for highly skilled professionals to take up leadership roles in industries has increased as a result of recent GST, export laws, renovated taxation, the Make In India movement, and the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission reforms.
• PhD students learn how to run a business more efficiently. They concentrate on improving the business’s quality, lowering costs, creating job opportunities, increasing assets and decreasing liabilities, and so on. In general, they learn how to lead the company forward.
• In theory and practice, the Doctorate degree program is beneficial for academic careers and conducting highly specialized scholarly research.
• Working with faculty mentors and teaching one course per year in their second and third program years can help doctoral students develop effective teaching skills.
• They can also pursue teaching positions in both private and government-run schools and colleges.
• They can work in the hospitality and leisure industry, as well as financial institutions, sales, and marketing.
• The PhD in Business Administration is the highest level of business education. India’s economic growth, ease of doing business, and tax reforms have improved career opportunities in the infrastructure and financial sectors.
• As more international companies set up shop in India and domestic companies become more sophisticated, students with PhD degrees will be in high demand for high-level positions.
• While a PhD in Business Administration is the pinnacle of business education, the candidate can still gain valuable experience by pursuing other fields of study. To gain an advantage in interviews and job roles, consider taking courses in international markets, securities, and debt.
• Working abroad is another fantastic opportunity for PhD students.
• High-end jobs with good work experience are a very high possibility with some initial struggle, and thus there is a lot of room for future career growth.
• Students who excel in business administration have an analytical and computational mindset. They must be capable of comprehending financial, economic, and human resource concepts.
• A degree in business administration is available to those who want to start a career in business management.
• Business administration is regarded as a future-oriented degree. It is a popular professional degree that can be completed immediately following the 12th grade. Banks in both the public and private sectors employ business administration graduates. There are many more options, such as financial analysts and management trainers.
• For business administrators, the sales and marketing sector offers numerous opportunities. Students pursuing this course have the opportunity to work for firms and companies. Business administration students have a lot of options, and their options are diverse.
• Promotions are earned through experience, and jobs in this field are highly rewarding. A post-graduate degree in business administration adds value to a candidate’s resume and raises their earning potential.

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