80 Tales of DBA Impact / 80 Récits d’Impact du DBA 2013-2023. Frédéric Branger, Aline Closse, Michel Kalika & Stephen Platt. EMS éditions, Paris, September 2023. 403 pages

Outside Anglo-Saxon counties, the Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) is an emerging qualification. According to providers, it is designed to transform managers into manager-researchers through a combination of rigorous academic research and practical business relevance. They add that this makes the DBA an attractive option for practitioners seeking to deepen their management understanding and contribute to their field through the ‘translation’ of tacit knowledge acquired over the years into something more tangible for others (Mitchell et al., 2021). Indeed, as more and more managers from across the globe seek to find new purpose and meaning in their practice, the demand for the DBA would appear to be growing. This can be illustrated, for example, by the recent publication of the FNEGE’s annual Observatory of Doctoral studies, in which we learn that 205 DBA theses were defended in France alone in 2023 (FNEGE, 2024) compared to 80 in 2019 when data first started to be collected (FNEGE, 2020). “80 Tales of DBA Impact” encapsulates the experiences of alumni who have completed their DBA at the Business Science Institute, a program run in collaboration with iaelyon University School of Management in France. According to the authors, who are all members of the Institute’s team, the book’s genesis lies in the recognition of the transformative power of the DBA and its profound impact on individuals, companies, sectors of activity, and even wider society. The book is structured around 80 concise profiles of DBA graduates from interviews conducted over a period of 12 months in 2022-23. The reader is therefore able to dip into these tales, in no particular order, to discover types of impact that are as varied as they are highly personal. The profiles are preceded by a thorough and informative introduction presenting the methodology used, the respondents, and the main impacts resulting from the interviews. This section sets the stage for the rest of the book, providing readers with an understanding of the research process and the context in which the DBA graduates’ experiences are situated. Each of the 80 profiles is one-page long written in both French and English to cater for an international audience. The profiles provide a snapshot of the graduate’s current situation, key words that encapsulate their experience, a title that captures the essence of their journey, and key verbatim extracts from their interviews. By focusing on the first-hand accounts of manager-researchers, the book succeeds in providing a rich tapestry of experiences, insights, and impacts, offering readers a unique window into the transformative journey of a DBA graduate across different cultures. The book offers a wealth of insights into the transformative power of the DBA. The profiles of the DBA graduates highlight how implementing doctoral research has enhanced their professional practice, driven change within their organizations, and contributed to their sectors. The book thus serves as a valuable resource for practitioners who are considering embarking on a DBA journey or who are interested in understanding the potential impacts of the program. For academics, the book provides a rich source of empirical data on the impact of doctoral education in business and management. The experiences and insights of the DBA graduates provides a potentially solid foundation for further research in this area. The book thus contributes to the body of knowledge on the value and impact of the DBA. Readers of this special issue dedicated to responsibility and international management, will also be interested by the highly cosmopolitan nature of the DBA interviewees, who represent 27 countries (Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Guinea, Hungary, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, …