The faculty in the College of Business offer a Ph.D. degree in Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree, and an M.B.A. for Executives program.
Other professional master’s degrees offered through the College of Business are described in this catalog under their respective degree program headings.
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
The M.B.A. program is supported by academic units within the College of Business. For a description of the M.B.A. program, see “Master of Business Administration.”
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
The Ph.D. degree in Business Administration prepares candidates for scholarly careers at leading educational institutions and for positions in business and government organizations where advanced research and analytical capabilities are required. Major emphasis is placed upon the development of expertise in a chosen subject area, a disciplined and inquiring mind, competence in research methodology, and skill in effectively communicating advanced business concepts.
Students are encouraged to work closely with the faculty from the beginning of their programs. A ratio of resident doctoral students to faculty of less than one to one ensures that faculty may serve effectively as mentors for doctoral students.
Admission. A completed application for admission to the Ph.D. in Business Administration degree program includes
Admission is granted for fall semesters only. The deadline for receipt of all required application materials is February 1.
Areas of Concentration. The Ph.D. student may choose from among seven areas of concentration: accountancy, finance, health services research, information management systems, management, marketing, and supply chain management. The accountancy specialization area includes financial accounting, managerial accounting, tax policy, auditing, and information systems. Research activities in information management encompass areas of theory and application in computer information systems. Research interests of the finance faculty offering the finance concentration focus on corporate finance, investments, financial markets, and banking. Health services research focuses on organization, delivery and financing of health services, and on the relationships of structures and processes of health services to outcomes such as quality of care and health status changes. The management concentration requires three core courses: organizational theory, organizational behavior, and research methodology. In addition to these core courses, students choose one of two specialty tracks: strategic management or human resource management. Research conducted by the marketing faculty offering the marketing concentration is focused in several areas: advertising, buyer behavior, distribution channels, services marketing, and other dimensions of marketing, including sales management, industrial marketing, and public-policy implications of marketing. The supply chain management faculty in the Department of Business Administration offer the supply chain management concentration and are actively involved in the input-conversion-output process.
Program of Study. See “Doctor of Philosophy” for general requirements. The Ph.D. degree program requires mathematical competence through linear algebra and calculus and computer skills. The program of study includes graduate study in economics, behavioral sciences, and quantitative/statistical analysis. The advanced program is composed of an area of concentration and supporting course work that best prepares students for conducting scholarly work in their areas of interest.
Comprehensive Examinations. A written comprehensive examination, designed to ascertain the candidate’s knowledge and orientation in the major field of study and fitness to proceed to the completion of a dissertation, is required at the end of course work. An additional written comprehensive examination on a candidate’s supporting course work is a departmental option. An oral examination after completion of written examinations is also a departmental option.
Dissertation Requirements. The candidate must present an acceptable dissertation based on original investigation. The dissertation must represent a significant contribution to knowledge, be written in a scholarly manner, and demonstrate the ability of the candidate to do independent research of high quality.
Final Examinations. A final oral examination in defense of the dissertation is required. The examination covers the subject matter of the dissertation and the field most nearly corresponding with that of the dissertation.
For faculty, research activity, and courses, see “Accountancy.”
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
The faculty in the Department of Business Administration have a strong commitment to scholarly research in a wide variety of areas. Although the faculty have published in a number of business and interdisciplinary journals, the research can generally be divided into four areas: business law, management communication, supply chain management, and real estate.
The business law faculty have been conducting research on antitrust and labor disputes in the sports industry, standards of disclosure, strategic legal planning, and commercial contract negotiations. The relationship between business law and business ethics is a major focus of this group. Collaborative writing, negotiations, and patterns of strategies for communicating organizational change are some of the areas in which management communication faculty are conducting research.
The research conducted by supply chain management faculty includes purchasing performance, forecasting, vendor evaluation, contract negotiation, materials management and acquisition, transportation regulation and policy, in addition to other related areas. In the area of real estate, research topics include the impact of discount points on housing value, a rational expectations model of housing price, the time on the market, inflation, interest rates, and cost of housing.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
For faculty, research activity, and courses, see “Economics.”
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
The Department of Finance has a strong commitment to academic and professional research. This emphasis on quality research, both empirical and theoretical, is evidenced by the many ongoing and recently completed studies in the areas of corporate finance, investments, and banking. Topics of some recent studies that are representative of department published research include: bid-ask spreads in the interbank foreign exchange markets; cross-exchange comparison of execution costs and information flow for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed stocks; extracting the value of intangible assets from the unit assessment method; the profitability of technical trading rules in the Asian stock markets; intraday bid-ask spread pattern in the stock and option market; on equilibrium pricing under parameter uncertainty; mean reversion in equilibrium asset prices: evidence from the futures term structure; ownership dispersion, costly information, and IPO underpricing; factors determining the number of outside directorships held by CEOs; causality test of short sales on the NYSE; the degree of price resolution and equity trading costs; the valuation impact of common errors in calculating the weighted average cost of capital; why option prices lag stock prices: a trading-based explanation; contract costs, bank loans and the cross-monitoring hypothesis; the intraday relationship between index arbitrage and market volatility; the implications of equity issuance announcements within a parent-subsidiary governance structure; leadership structure: separating the positions of CEO and chairman of the board; an empirical analysis of antitrust legal disputes; empirical examination of information, differences of opinion, and trading activity; causality tests of the real stock return-real activity hypothesis; cost of equity models that meet the needs of the ad-valorem tax analyst; the industry effects of interfirm lawsuits; market discounts and shareholder gains for placing equity privately; quotations, trading costs, and volatility for NYSE and NASDAQ-listed stocks; return autocorrelations around nontrading days; a comparison of the information conveyed by equity carve-outs, spin-offs, and asset sell-offs; is there news in the prime rate?; seasoned common stock issues following an IPO.
These studies use a number of databases including Compustat, CRSP, Citibank, Extel, DRI and TAQ. The databases are available for research by faculty and students. The studies represent the strong commitment to research and the generation of new knowledge by the Department of Finance, indicative of the department’s goal of becoming an outstanding research department.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
For faculty, research activity, and courses, see “Health Services Administration.”
MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAM
The faculty in the Department of Management participate in offering the Technology M.B.A., Executive M.B.A., Evening M.B.A., and Day M.B.A. programs. These programs are administered by the College of Business. Areas of study offered to Technology, Evening, and Executive M.B.A. students include: process management in high technology organizations; globalization and diversity management; entrepreneurship and small business development; and management consulting.
Ph.D. DEGREE PROGRAM
The faculty in the department offer students the opportunity to obtain a Ph.D. degree in Business Administration with a concentration in management. The doctoral program places primary emphasis on the development of research competence and emphasizes teaching as a vehicle to academic professionalism. The mission of the program is to provide an environment that is conducive to the development of scholars who are prepared to assume the diverse responsibilities of positions at leading research universities. The goal is to prepare students for research careers in the academic community.
Doctoral students are encouraged to design an individually meaningful course of study within the larger context of the management field. Opportunities for doing this are available through course work, individual work with faculty members, and independent research and study. Students in the Ph.D. program select a series of Ph.D. course modules within the department and several supporting courses from other departments on campus. Students develop additional focus and expertise through collaboration on major papers with individual faculty members.
The faculty in the Department of Management cover the areas of human resource management, management science, operations management, organizational behavior, organizational theory, and strategic management. The faculty’s research and teaching emphasizes high tech management, quality, process and project management, decision analysis, globalization, diversity, small business and entrepreneurship, change management, stress, job loss, organizational identity, corporate governance, and human resource management practices. The faculty has distinguished itself with research and publications in premier journals. The department ranks 12th internationally for its rate of publication in premier academic journals. The department also ranks 6th internationally in premier journal articles that impact practice in operations and management science.
Further information, links to courses and current faculty, and updates on the Department of Management areas of study for the M.B.A. programs can be found at www.cob.asu.edu/mgt.
General information on the M.B.A. programs can be found at www.cob.asu.edu/mba.
Further information, application procedures, links to current faculty, and updates on the Ph.D. program in Business with a concentration in management can be found at www.cob.asu.edu/mgt/degree/PhDMainPg.htm.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
The Department of Marketing has a significant research orientation that spans a broad scope of topics, including strategic marketing management, consumer behavior, selling and sales management, advertising, channels management, international marketing, business to business marketing, and services marketing. Many research projects involve faculty and doctoral student collaboration. Some specific projects published recently have focused on evaluation of service encounters, advertising creativity, relationship quality in selling, channel responsiveness, salesperson motivation, influence patterns in strategic decision making, consumption symbolism, marketing competencies and organizational performance, social network influences on consumer behavior, innovation in industrial markets, and the effects of relationship marketing.
Omnibus Graduate Courses: See omnibus graduate courses that may be offered.
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