To me, it is more complex than that what has been said so far. Utility of an
earned doctorate varies depending upon your field with the various business
disciplines. But first, a brief anecdote:
Back when I was in the real world, working for a living, my immediate boss was
shown an applicant's resume, who had just earned an MBA in a well-known evening
program, commenting something like "How could we ever use anything like that?"
This was within a major division of a Fortune 500 company, in the manufacturing
division. My boss was, at that time working for his MBA, and his boss had no
response when that was pointed out. My boss wondered if continuing his program
was worth while.
These days, doctorates are highly valued in accounting, resulting in higher
salaries for accounting faculty to try to keep from losing them to industry.
The same for Information Technology (althought there may be a current dip in
demand); but not for computer science. Also for market research; some of that
may spill over to marketing generally. For operations, there is demand for
certain aspects of operations research, but generally as technical
specialists. There is still suspicion of "too highly educated people" in day-
to-day operations management. Most firms have begun to learn to do strategy
themselves (as demonstrated by the research that has shown there is no longer a
major edge to those firms that are known to practice strategty management;
everybody is doing it.) I also detect increasing interest in those with
Business & Society specialization (although the number in industry is still
very small).
For consulting, as noted by many, the demand is generally there for all
specialities. Of course, depending on the economic cycle.
Of coure, like all such posts, this represents my perception. Others may seed
it differently.
Tim Edlund, Morgan State University
Quoting Jay Warner <
quality@a2q.com>:
> As a closet academic in business clothing (straighten those metaphors
> out, will you!), I concur.
>
> A Ph. D. in a business position, especially with a 'practically'
> oriented firm, will cut negative ice. The experience of analytical
> rigor will prove beneficial no end, just don't explain where it came
> from.
>
> As a consultant, it is a definite plus.
>
> the key is one's ability to translate from the abstraction levels
> expected of Ph. D. work, back into language the audience is familiar
> with. Ah, there's the rub!
>
> Cheers,
> Jay
>
> Romie Littrell wrote:
>
> > I started out in graduate school with a part-time
> > job at a commercial research company doing work for
> > the government; the USA government seems to like PhDs.
> > Later I had a part-time job with a publishing company,
> > and the sales and marketing manager had a PhD, but did
> > not put it on his business card.
> > My first real job was with LTV Aerospace in a
> > division doing research for the government; again a
> > PhD was an asset.
> > From there I worked for Univac (Unisys), Xerox,
> > and IBM, in their sales and marketing divisions, and
> > then ran my own international trading company; there a
> > PhD was viewed with some suspicion, and it was best to
> > leave it off business cards. You were viewed as not
> > really concerned with practical and useful things.
> > I should imagine that as a consultant, a PhD on
> > the card is o.k.
> > Now I'm in academia, where a PhD is good.
> > My impressions from working around the world is
> > that in the U.K. and N.Z. the attitudes toward PhDs in
> > business are similar to the U.S.A. In Germany and
> > Switzerland PhDs are not uncommon in business, and are
> > valued and listed on business cards. In China, they
> > are respected.
> > So the answer is, as usual, it depends.
> > Regards,
> > Romie Littrell
> >
> > --- Kim Boal <
KimBoal@TTU.EDU> wrote: > Dear All, As
> > a dyed in the wool academic, I
> > > basically prepare students to
> > > be researchers. However, one of my Ph.D. students
> > > (in his mid-40s) wants
> > > to know about other career opportunities/paths.
> > > Many of you have chosen
> > > paths other than being at a research university. I
> > > would appreciate
> > > feedback, that I can pass on, regarding
> > > non-university careers, and how one
> > > pursues them.
> > >
> > > Thanks, Kim Boal
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --------------------------------
> > > Kim Boal
> > > College of Business Administration
> > > Texas Tech University
> > > Lubbock, TX 79409
> > > (806) 742-2150
> > >
KimBoal@ttu.edu
> >
> > =====
> > Prof. Romie F. Littrell, Ph.D.
> > Facutly of Business
> > Auckland University of Technology
> > Private Bag 1020
> > Auckland 1020, New Zealand
> > Fax (64) 9 - 917 -9629
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Everything you'll ever need on one web page
> > from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
> >
http://uk.my.yahoo.com
>
> --
> Jay Warner
> Principal Scientist
> Warner Consulting, Inc.
> 4444 North Green Bay Road
> Racine, WI 53404-1216
> USA
>
> Ph: (262) 634-9100
> FAX: (262) 681-1133
> email:
quality@a2q.com
> web:
http://www.a2q.com
>
> The A2Q Method (tm) -- What do you want to improve today?
>
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