Executive PhD in Business Management
Create meaningful impact today and shape a responsible business world for tomorrow through a transformative journey bridging research and executive practice.
3 residential weeks per year
January 2027
Objectives
Designed for visionary leaders, the Executive PhD in Business Management bridges academia and executive practice, empowering you to rethink leadership and drive meaningful change :
- Create net-positive business impact
- Pursue a fully personalized intellectual trajectory
- Generate original, actionable insights
This transformative program equips you to generate original, actionable insights that shape executive decisions, redefine strategy, and shape the future of business.
Elevate your thinking. Expand your influence. Redefine your legacy. Unleash Tomorrow.
Benefits
This programme is designed to fit your professional life while delivering the depth and challenge of a world-class doctoral experience.
Why choose an Executive Phd in Business Management?
Beyond flexibility, this programme offers benefits that redefine how you learn, lead, and create impact:
- Enhance your analytical and critical thinking skills
- Conduct original research that contributes to the field of business management
- Apply research methods and tools to uncover insights
- Develop innovative, impactful solutions to complex business problems
- Build lifelong connections with a diverse community of peers, mentors, and industry leaders who will inspire, challenge, and support your continued growth.
A game-changing experience
The Executive PhD in Business Management is not just about mastering research – it is about rediscovering your capacity to think differently. It challenges you to pause, reflect, and re-examine the assumptions that shape your leadership.
Surrounded by diverse peers and guided by leading scholars, you will explore new ways of seeing, questioning, and deciding. Each conversation, each piece of research, expands your understanding of what purposeful leadership can mean.
By the end of this journey, you will not just influence your organization — you will redefine the way you see the world of business, and your place within it.
Programme
Turn evidence into action !
The Executive PhD in Business Management combines rigorous academic research with real-world application, preparing senior professionals to address complex business challenges with confidence and impact.
Overview
EDHEC’s Executive PhD in Business Management is a transformative experience for senior professionals ready to redefine leadership and thinking. It builds the intellectual depth, research mastery, and strategic foresight needed to turn uncertainty into opportunity and ideas into lasting business impact.
Throughout your journey, you will learn to translate evidence into action, using research as a catalyst for innovation and purposeful growth.
Lead with purpose - starting now.
Why this programme?
In a world defined by disruption and transformation, this programme places you at the heart of responsible leadership and net positive business by equipping you with :
- Advanced research and analytical capabilities to make evidence-based decisions.
- Strategic insights to drive meaningful progress and sustainable growth.
- A lifelong learning mindset aligned with EDHEC’s Generations 2050 vision.
What you will gain
As a thought leader, you will inspire change – guiding your organization toward sustainable growth, shaping the next generation of management practice, and leaving a legacy that endures.
You will emerge as a C-suite-level strategist, a sought-after consultant, and an influential voice in academia and industry, recognized for your ability to create new insights and drive meaningful changes.
Curriculum
Experience a cutting-edge, personalized learning journey that blends rigorous research training with real-world application.
The programme integrates core and specialized courses, interactive research seminars, mentoring workshops, and international conferences – creating a dynamic environment where knowledge and practice continuously reinforce each other.
Core methodological courses lay a rigorous foundation of state-of-the-art analytical techniques, research methodologies, theoretical lenses, and a focus on net positive business. You then deepen your expertise through specialized modules and mentoring, exploring emerging ideas and building mastery in your chosen field.
Your journey culminates in a doctoral dissertation, developed in close collaboration with EDHEC’s world-class faculty, who provide tailored, one-to-one guidance on research with both academic depth and strategic industry relevance.
This individualized mentorship empowers you to shape a research agenda fully aligned with your professional ambitions and establish yourself as a future thought leader.
Year 1
You will take part in three immersive residential sessions across EDHEC’s Lille, Paris, and Nice campuses (September, January, and May).
These intensive modules build a strong foundation in research design and analytical methods, guided by EDHEC’s internationally recognized faculty.
Year 2 and Year 3
You will deepen your expertise through tailored specialization courses and high-impact research bootcamps led by leading international scholars in your field. These experiences strengthen your methodological knowledge and prepare you to contribute new insights to both academia and practice.
Extension: finalisation of the thesis report and defence
Beyond coursework, participants are actively integrated into the research community, attending and preparing for cutting-edge research seminars, doctoral conferences and receiving individual mentorship from their dedicated EDHEC supervisor.
Each academic year concludes with a formal review meeting, where participants present their research progress, receive in-depth feedback from their supervisors, and refine their roadmap for the year ahead.
The faculty fosters a co-creation approach to research and provides the opportunity to collaborate with inspiring academics and industry experts.
At EDHEC, research goes beyond theory — you actively create, shape, and experience it firsthand. You are invited to join projects that bridge insight and impact.
This hands-on approach gives participants direct access to cutting-edge thinking, while actively shaping solutions with tangible impact. By working side-by-side with thought leaders in their fields, participants accelerate their research capabilities, grow high-value professional networks, and generate ideas with immediate potential for business growth and innovation.
This journey opens doors to emerging topics reshaping global business strategy — from AI-powered decision-making and net-positive business models to digital ecosystems and platform-based value creation.
It is more than research. It is co-creating the future of business with impact.
Faculty
Norld-renowned international faculty and research centers
Learn from an outstanding team of leading international scholars.
The Executive PhD in Business Management features a world-class faculty of experts from different business disciplines. Our faculty boasts a remarkable record of publications and editorial contributions in leading international journals across all fields of the business domain.
Their numerous teaching awards, extensive PhD supervision experience, and prestigious appointments at leading universities, alongside senior-level collaborations with major corporations, governments, and supranational organizations, attest to their unparalleled reputation for excellence and expertise in research.
Learn more about our faculty and their publications
Michael Antioco
Michael Antioco
Paolo Antonetti
Paolo Antonetti
Naeem Ashraf
Naeem Ashraf
Tuba Bakici
Tuba Bakici
Pierre-Jean Barlatier
Pierre-Jean Barlatier
Foresight, Innovation and Transformation Chair Affiliate
Shiko M. Ben-Menahem
Shiko M. Ben-Menahem
Fabian Bernhard
Fabian Bernhard
Family Business and Psychology
Ludovic Cailluet
Ludovic Cailluet
EDHEC Centre for Responsible Entrepreneurship Director, Family Business Chair Research Associate, Global Economic Transformation & Technology (GETT) Track Director
Marie-Cécile Cervellon
Marie-Cécile Cervellon
Mohamed Hédi Charki
Mohamed Hédi Charki
Sylvain Colombero
Sylvain Colombero
Arne De Keyser
Arne De Keyser
Maria Figueroa-Armijos
Maria Figueroa-Armijos
Ivan Gordeliy
Ivan Gordeliy
Xing Huan
Xing Huan
Viacheslav Iurkov
Viacheslav Iurkov
Fatma Jemaa
Fatma Jemaa
Sachin Kamble
Sachin Kamble
Foresight, Innovation and Transformation Chair Member
Yenee Kim
Yenee Kim
Alena Kostyk
Alena Kostyk
Thomas B. Long
Thomas B. Long
Loick Menvielle
Loick Menvielle
Mashiho Mihalache
Mashiho Mihalache
Julia Milner
Julia Milner
Leadership Development Chair Research Associate
Camille Pradies
Camille Pradies
Diversity & Inclusion Chair Research Associate
Kumar Ranjan Rakesh
Kumar Ranjan Rakesh
Management in Innovative Health Chair Research Associate
Rene Rohrbeck
Rene Rohrbeck
Madlen Sobkowiak
Madlen Sobkowiak
Director of the MSc in Sustainable Business Transformation
Arash Talebi
Arash Talebi
Riccardo Valboni
Riccardo Valboni
Wim Vandekerckhove
Wim Vandekerckhove
Cédric Verbeeck
Cédric Verbeeck
MSc in Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Director
Cedric Verbeeck, PhD, is Professor of Operations management and Director of the MSc in Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at EDHEC Business School.
Martin Wetzels
Martin Wetzels
Anne Witt
Anne Witt
EDHEC Augmented Law Institute Researcher
Profile
Who is the Executive PhD in Business Management for?
This programme is designed for:
- Senior executives seeking transformation and deeper strategic insight
- Consultants in leading firms aiming to strengthen their expertise
- Professionals transitioning to academia or teaching
If you aspire to:
- Create net-positive business impact through purposeful, evidence-based research
- Pursue a fully personalized intellectual trajectory guided by world-class international faculty
- Generate original, actionable insights that influence executive decisions and drive meaningful change
…then the Executive PhD in Business Management is tailored for you.
Admissions and finance
For the Executive PhD in Business Management the following admission requirements apply :
- A Master’s Degree in a business or management related discipline, MBA, or equivalent qualifications or experience
- Preferably ten years of professional experience minimum
- English proficiency test (TOEFL or IELTS) for non-native English speakers or equivalent qualifications or experience
- Abbreviated Research Proposal with a special focus on industry impact
The Admission process consists of the following steps :
- Application Form including an Abbreviated Research Proposal (2000- 3000 words)
- Screening and Selection
- Interview with the Academic Director of the Executive PhD in Business Management
- Admission Board
The tuition fee for the programme is €68,000 excl.VAT
(2026–2027: €28,000 | 2027–2028: €20,000 | 2028–2029: €20,000)
This fees does not include travel, accommodation, and other expenses related to courses or events.
Scholarships and EDHEC Alumni discounts are available. In addition, EDHEC’s research policy allows participants to apply for funding to attend conferences and research events.
The Executive PhD offers an unparalleled opportunity for ambitious senior leaders to step back, broaden their perspective, and immerse themselves in transformative ideas. This experience will equip you to lead with vision, drive innovation, and create a lasting impact.
Professor Martin Wetzels
Professor Martin Wetzels
FAQ
Questions in this category relate to the Executive PhD in Business Management.
More detailed information can be found on the dedicated pages.
You can also contact us by phone or email.
A master’s degree or equivalent is required (a graduate-level qualification recognized internationally.)
This includes: MBA (Master of Business Administration), MSc or Master in Management, other postgraduate degrees in relevant fields such as marketing, strategy, leadership or operations.
Yes. Holding an MBA is an excellent foundation for pursuing an Executive PhD.
Any program with a strong business focus—such as marketing, strategy, leadership, or operations—can be a suitable pathway.
The Executive PhD takes three years, structured around coursework, research seminars, and dissertation work.
Research experience is useful but not required.
The focus is on applying rigorous research methods to real-world business challenges, so prior research experience is not expected.
The program provides comprehensive training in research methods and academic writing.
The Executive Doctor of Philosophy (Executive PhD) is a globally recognised degree.
EDHEC Business School has designed its doctoral programme in line with international academic standards and awards a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA).
The Executive PhD programme is tailored to executive needs, but offers all the academic rigour of a traditional PhD.
An Executive PhD combines academic rigor with practical application.
Unlike a traditional PhD, it is designed for senior professionals who want to address real-world business challenges through evidence-based research.
It emphasizes original research and scholarly contribution.
The program is intended for senior executives, consultants, and professionals in transition who hold a master’s degree and seek to create strategic impact through research.
The program designed to fit alongside professional responsibilities.
Classes are delivered on campus (e.g., Lille, Paris, Nice) with some additional online components. Participants attend 3 in-person residential sessions per year.
It enhances strategic thinking, expands influence, and positions you as a thought leader capable of shaping business and policy decisions.
You will conduct purposeful, evidence-based research aligned with your professional challenges, aiming to create a net-positive business impact.
Contact us
Meet us
Webinar: Behind the Scenes of a Selection Commitee
Global MBA Consultation & CV Clinic: Toronto
Global MBA Consultation & CV Clinic: Montreal
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