DB9804 brings the DBA project to its conclusion — interpreting the completed results in light of the business literature and practice, responding to final committee critique, and defending the finished work.
Writing the discussion chapter
DB9804 requires writing a discussion chapter that interprets the results reported in DB9803 against the existing business/management literature and the study's theoretical framework, honestly acknowledges study limitations, and — critically for a DBA, an applied doctorate — articulates specific, actionable implications for business practice, not just academic implications for future research.
Final committee review and defense presentation
The course covers incorporating final rounds of committee feedback on the complete dissertation document, and preparing a professional defense presentation summarizing the entire project — problem, literature gap, methodology, results, and practical implications — concise enough for a committee defense format while still substantively representing the full body of work.
Key topics in DB9804
- Writing a discussion chapter connecting results to literature and theoretical framework
- Honestly articulating study limitations and their implications for interpretation
- Translating academic findings into specific, actionable business practice implications
- Incorporating final committee feedback across dissertation chapters
- Building a professional, concise final dissertation defense presentation
- Preparing to field committee questions during the formal defense
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Worked example: translating a finding into an actionable business implication
- Academic finding: A significant interaction effect shows remote-work flexibility predicts engagement specifically among employees with young children at home
- Academic implication: Contributes to the literature on how family caregiving responsibilities moderate the flexibility-engagement relationship
- Practical implication (DBA-specific): Organizations should consider offering flexible scheduling as a targeted retention lever specifically for employees managing caregiving responsibilities, rather than treating flexibility as a uniform, one-size-fits-all benefit
- Lesson: A DBA discussion chapter must translate findings into genuinely actionable guidance for practicing managers, not stop at the academic contribution alone
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DBA discussion chapter and final defense preparation assignments.
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Frequently asked questions
The Doctor of Business Administration is explicitly an applied, practitioner-oriented doctorate, distinct from a PhD in business, which is primarily oriented toward generating theoretical and academic contributions to management science. DB9804 requires the discussion chapter to translate findings into specific, actionable guidance for practicing managers and organizations — not instead of academic contribution, but in addition to it — because a DBA dissertation that only discusses its findings' implications for future academic research, without addressing what a business leader should actually do differently based on the findings, fails to fulfill the applied purpose the degree is specifically designed around. This dual emphasis (genuine academic rigor plus genuine practical applicability) is what distinguishes strong DBA dissertations from either a purely academic PhD dissertation or a non-rigorous business white paper.
An effective defense presentation identifies the small number of most essential elements a committee needs to understand and evaluate — the core problem and its significance, the key theoretical framework, the essential methodology decisions, the headline findings (including any that were unexpected or complicate the original hypothesis), and the concrete practical implications — rather than attempting to walk through every detail of a multi-chapter dissertation. DB9804 teaches that the goal isn't to prove exhaustive coverage of everything written in the full document (the committee has already read it), but to demonstrate the candidate's command of their own work — the ability to clearly and confidently articulate what was studied, what was found, why it matters, and to field follow-up questions that go beyond what's explicitly covered in the slides, drawing on the deeper knowledge developed through months or years of sustained engagement with the topic.