Part I -- Choosing a Dissertation Title towards the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration

In my experience,  I had to undergo a dissertation title defense for two times.  During my first title defense, I presented for approval:  "The Development of Future Labor Force: A Blueprint for Ethical Practices in Managing Selected Tertiary Level Business Schools."  The panel of evaluators had to disapprove the title because it does not appear to be business related.  Worse, I had a hard time defending the title which made me look unprepared.  I was advised to go back to the drawing board and think of a title which would be business related.  A member of the panel, however, suggested that I think of a research title involving an early retirement program.  Being a trusting soldier and an obedient student,  I readily obliged and started thinking of a title related to an early retirement program.

During my second title defense, my confidence level rose a little bit to 10%.  I was hopeful but still felt that I would still walk through a needle's hole. However, God was already on my side that day.  One of the members of the panel of evaluators was helpful to neophytes like me by providing a suggested title which eventually was unanimously approved by the panel of evaluators.  The approved title is:  "Benchmarked Framework Towards Strengthening the Early Retirement Program for the Hotel Industry in the Philippines." 

That being said, what lessons can be derived from such experience?  Allow me to share with you some tips in choosing a title for your dissertation towards the degree of Doctor of Business Administration:

• Choose a title which is business related.  You can choose any topic as long as it is business related.  Examples of business related topics may refer to: accounting, human resource management, strategic management, enterprise analysis, economics, business enterprise analysis, business industry analysis, etc.
•  Choose a topic which is related to your field of expertise.  While thinking of a title for your dissertation, you must have a mind map on how to implement the research output.  It will be easy for you to think of a mind map on how to go about the implementation process if you are an expert in the field.  By way of illustration, you cannot devise a topic regarding an accounting framework if you are not an accountant and with no expertise in the field of accounting.   But a topic relating to a human resource management framework can be easily devised by a person who has 15 years of human resource management experience because the topic is within the level of his expertise.  If you choose a topic which you are passionate about and within your level of expertise, you can easily create a mind map for the implementation process.  Moreover, you will save a lot of time and effort during the implementation process and data gathering if your selected topic is something which you are passionate about and within your level of expertise.  
• Make sure your proposed title would coincide with business related issues that is reflected in your Statement of the Problem / Objectives.  Objectives of your dissertation must be clear when presenting a title for approval.  Moreover, your Statement of the Problem must also relate to business-oriented issues, otherwise your title can be completely changed during the protocol defense (for the Approval of Chapter 1, 2 and 3 of the Dissertation) and a possibility that you will create new set of Statement of the Problem / Objectives, which will eventually constrain you to undergo a second protocol defense. 

Other Topics:

Conceptualizing the Objectives of the Dissertation

Writing Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in preparation for the Protocol Defense

Protocol Defense

My Data Gathering Experience

Final Defense and Writing the Final Manuscript