Get to Know the Advantages of the DRM Program at BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL

BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL presents the Doctor of Research in Management DRM program that is the highest strata of formal education in the Management field. The program that emphasizes research also offers two selections, Scholar Track as well as Strategy and Growth. Both have different foci adjusted according to doctorate students’ passions and needs. Take a look at the differences and advantages.

Jakarta — Not many universities offer a Doctoral program in Business & Management. Most universities offer doctoral education in Economics, which has a broad scientific scope, in which the Management field is concentrated. With the very rapid development of business, it is necessary to sharpen the focus and expertise in the Management and Business field itself, so that Management can be more precisely positioned as a separate field of study, not merely a sub or concentration of Economics. This will enable practitioners and academics in the Management field to actively contribute in developing the scope and depth of the body of knowledge in Management. This very foundation has been used since the early stage of formation and continued with the development of the BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL Doctor of Research in Management study program.

“From the start, the scope of management is never mixed with economics,” said Dr. Asnan Furinto, Head of AoKI (Area of Knowledge Inquiry) – Marketing, Science & Analytics, Doctor of Research in Management, BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL (BBS). The DRM program, as the name implies, emphasizes the importance of research processes and outcomes that contribute to scientific development and improvement of the best and current practices in management. This is reflected in the DRM tagline, “turning rigor into relevance,” which more or less means using the strength of the theoretical structure and concepts for the greatest benefit and improvement of management practices.

“So, a doctorate from DRM does not only gain experience or literature study. We form these DRM graduates so that they can conduct their own research with scientific principles that are acceptable to the standards of the global scientific community, are able to publish scientific papers in reputable journals, and are instructed to be involved in various kinds of intra- and extra-curricular activities centered on research, “Asnan explained.

Two Selections

Furthermore, DRM offers two-path selections based on the interest of prospective students, namely the Scholar Track (ST), as well as the Strategy and Growth (SG). ST leads more to the scientific development or theoretical contributions. Asnan compared this track to one similar to a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) program abroad, whereas SG is closer to a DBA or Doctor of Business Administration.

“Indeed, the focus (of ST) is on scientific or theory development, the approach is more scientific, the roots of knowledge, its history, and developing the knowledge much further,” he said.

Strategy and Growth, as Asnan stated, is more directed at contributing to the improvement of strategic management practices. “So that in the industrial world there can be many new, innovative practices based on scientific research. It’s (like) a BBA track.”

Another difference between them is that ST has several concentrations or AoKI (Area of Knowledge Inquiry): Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Marketing Science & Analytic, Human Capital, and Business Information System—the latter is in the process of further development towards digital business.

Meanwhile, SG does not have a concentration because its focus is not on a specific line of science, but on the best practices of strategic management. “Like an independent concentration that consists of marketing, human capital, finance, and other aspects. Since managing a business is cross-disciplinary. The direction is to improve organizational competence, competitiveness, and company sustainability,” Asnan explained.

With this in mind, the two tracks attract a different kind of market segment. Asnan stated that the interests of prospective doctoral students might vary. For example, they would take ST because they have been pursuing careers as lecturers, academics, or researchers from the start. However, it could also be that they are practitioners who are interested in pursuing certain disciplines.

“Not that ST is specific only for academics. We also have alumni, although not the majority of them, who in fact are practitioners but they took ST because they wanted to study certain areas of knowledge further,” Asnan revealed.

Most of the DRM students who choose SG are practitioners or experienced professionals. They, according to Asnan, want to contribute to the industrial world that they have experience in. Their competencies are more directed and strengthened so that they can combine practical experience and knowledge of scientific principles in order to produce insightful and applicable research.

However, it is possible for academics to take the SG track. For example, if they want to become a management consultant or plan to open their own company, it requires knowledge and legitimacy related to business practice competencies.

“But (ST and SG) quality is on par, the learning process is also more or less the same. They have to learn the theory first, then take data, analyze, and test the model. The differences lay on the starting point, emphasis, and focus,” Asnan stated.

In fact, DRM is also open to all professionals, including foreigners since all lecture materials are in English. Most importantly, as Asnan continued, these foreign students can understand Indonesian passively because lectures still use a mixture of Indonesian and English in their verbal communication.

“In DRM, there are expatriate students. Two graduates are from Pakistan. One student is from China. They have worked in Indonesia for a long time, so they can speak Indonesian passively. The foreign students can understand Indonesian, though when they want to ask questions, they can ask the lecturers in English. The lecturers can certainly answer them in English,” said Asnan.

Easier Than Most

BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL ensures that the DRM program is equipped with an ecosystem that supports students to complete their doctoral studies on time. This ecosystem is known as the Integrated Academic Support System (Intacts).

“Based on our own experience, there are numerous doctoral students who experience problems in their studies that are more non-substantive, so they tend to be more operational,” Asnan said.

For example, he continued, students generally find it difficult to find time to meet with a team of promoters or lecturers. In fact, according to Asnan, this difficulty is an operational technical problem that is not related to the substance of the student’s research or dissertation.

“Now, we want our students to focus on substance. Even if there is an obstacle, it should be related to data availability, the analysis in their dissertation is yet to be accurate, or its substance has not met the expectations from the promoter team,” said Asnan.

In Intacts, there are many important elements that support convenience for DRM students. First, students receive academic advisors from the first semester, so that they can get mentoring support and can brainstorm a dissertation topic.

Second, DRM provides three sessions of Supervisory Plenary Forum during the proposal stage. “A kind of compulsory integrated guidance between students and a complete team of promoters coordinated and scheduled by the DRM secretariat. So students don’t have to bother managing their schedule,” Asnan explained.

In addition, there is an internal regular colloquium—like a mini conference—where all BBS lecturers will act as examiners. So, students have the opportunity to get broader input regarding their draft proposals.

“In BBS, there is also a Publication Unit who helps students find the right journal for their paper. Sometimes the students already have a paper but as to where they want to publish it, they have no idea. So students are only required to write a paper and submit it to the Publication Unit,” Asnan also emphasized that this advantage was difficult to find elsewhere.

Fifth, there is a BINUS Doctoral Preparation Program, matriculation at the beginning of lectures. Students can relearn from a refresher on basic management sciences, statistics, and so on.

DRM students will later gain access to the Dissertation Monitoring App (currently in development) which is a comprehensive platform for communication and lecture information. They can check proposal submission deadlines, course grades, a list of available publications, and so on.

The support from well-established information technology has also made lectures during the Covid-19 pandemic undisturbed. Moreover, DRM has begun to adapt to the conditions, for example, exams have been conducted online.

More than that, Asnan admitted that DRM had solid alumni ties. At any time, they may be willing to help during the sharing session. One prime example of this session is on the BINUS Doctoral Progress Review (BDPR) forum.

“BDPR facilitates the entire DRM academic community in one forum. So like a seminar, there are presentations, there are speakers from outside the campus, there is a competition called the Five-minute Dissertation,” continued Asnan.

So far, these seminars have been held in various cities such as Malang, Jakarta, and Bandung. After the pandemic, the events will still be held virtually.

“Joining DRM is the same as joining a big family, an ecosystem. They have access to resources throughout BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL,” said Asnan.