You’ve spent years making decisions with incomplete information. You’ve managed budgets, teams, vendors, and change. A doctorate asks a sharper question: which problem do you want to study in depth? Exploring our list of DBA programs can help you identify the right concentration or specialization to align your doctoral studies with your professional experience and career goals.
Your answer points to a concentration. DBA concentrations let you keep a shared foundation in business research while you focus on one field. That field might be global strategy, new ventures, healthcare, or enterprise systems.
This guide lists the four Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) concentrations at Crestmont University (CU). It shows the courses in each, explains the two research paths, and offers a framework for comparing DBA programs at any university. Every Crestmont University concentration can be completed 100% online.
What are DBA Concentrations?
A DBA is a doctoral degree built for practice. Its research starts with a problem inside an organization and ends with recommendations leaders can act on.
A concentration is the field where you apply that research. At Crestmont University, the term used is “specialization.” Each specialization adds five courses to a shared business core. The research method stays the same across all four. The context changes.
That structure matters when you read any list of DBA programs. Two programs can share a name and differ in how much of the degree belongs to the concentration. At Crestmont University, the specialization carries 15 of the 60 credits. Your research project or dissertation can sit within that field too, extending its reach into the final stage of the degree.
How DBA programs are structured
All four specializations share the same framework. The degree requires 60 semester credits across four parts:
- Business core: 30 credits, 10 courses. Global economy, global business finance, leadership theory, organizational change, international business, entrepreneurship, and e-commerce.
- Specialization: 15 credits, 5 courses. The courses that define your concentration.
- Comprehensive Competency Assessment: 0 credits. A checkpoint that confirms readiness before the research stage.
- Research Project or Dissertation: 15 credits, 5 courses. Your applied doctoral research.
Two core courses prepare you for doctoral work directly. GRC 600 – Doctoral Academic Study and Writing builds scholarly writing habits. GRC 605 – Business Research Methodology and Quantitative Statistics covers the methods your research will use.
The program has 20 courses. You take one at a time, and each runs six weeks. The degree is designed to be completed in about 2.5 years, with no campus residency. Live seminars and recorded lectures fit around a working week.
List of DBA concentrations
Each specialization in our list of DBA programs includes five courses, and you choose one specialization that aligns with your professional interests and career goals.
An accredited university. Programs offered 100% online, on your schedule.
8 terms a year. Start when you’re ready.
Global Business and Leadership
This specialization is built for leaders who manage across markets, borders, and supply chains. Its courses address the decisions that grow harder at international scale:
- MGT 620 – Risk Management
- MGT 630 – Business Logistics
- MGT 645 – Strategic Management: A Global Approach
- MGT 650 – Project Management
- MGT 657 – Case Studies in Global Entrepreneurship
The program is designed to prepare you to create strategic plans for complex global business problems with quantitative reasoning. It also asks you to assess the ethical obligations of business for responsible management.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that management analysts recommend ways to improve an organization’s efficiency. Risk, logistics, and project decisions sit at the center of that work.
Entrepreneurship and Business Management
This specialization is built for founders, owners, and executives who build or scale organizations. It studies how new ventures are financed, planned, and grown:
- MGT 645 – Strategic Management: A Global Approach
- MGT 655 – Financial Entrepreneurial Ventures
- MGT 657 – Case Studies in Global Entrepreneurship
- MGT 660 – Strategic Entrepreneurship
- MGT 665 – Exploring Entrepreneurship and Economics
Its business core includes ACC 601 – Advanced Accounting. The program is designed to prepare you to apply research to data collection, then create and implement a strategic plan tied to entrepreneurial practice.
For a closer look at this field, read the program overview on the Doctor of Business Administration.
Healthcare Management and Leadership
This specialization is built for administrators, practice managers, and clinical leaders who carry business responsibility. Its courses focus on the operational and financial side of care delivery:
- HCM 603 – Strategies for Healthcare Leadership
- HCM 612 – Economic Evaluation and Healthcare: Merging Theory with Practice
- HCM 620 – Managing Disaster: Perspective for Healthcare Leaders
- HCM 625 – Healthcare Marketing: Tools and Techniques
- HCM 630 – Quality Management in Healthcare: A Systems Approach
The program is designed to prepare you to apply research to organizational change and continuous improvement in a healthcare setting. It also asks you to evaluate ethical behavior in healthcare planning.
BLS describes medical and health services managers as professionals who plan, direct, and coordinate the business activities of healthcare providers. It projects 24 percent employment growth for the occupation from 2025 to 2035. That figure describes the occupation nationally. CU does not represent that any degree leads to a specific role, placement, or salary.
Related post: DBA Healthcare Management
Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Management
This specialization is built for technology leaders who answer to the business. It treats systems as a leadership question as much as a technical one:
- IST 630 – Information Technology in Organizations
- IST 635 – Managing IT Projects
- IST 638 – Knowledge Management: Concepts and Practices
- IST 639 – Enterprise Resource Planning and Management
- IST 655 – Effective Security Management
The program is designed to prepare you to apply computational thinking to technology decisions. It also asks you to evaluate ethical practices in the information systems field.
For a deeper guide, read Doctorate in Information Systems: PhD and DBA in IS.
The four concentrations side by side
| Concentration | Designed for | Specialization focus |
| Global Business and Leadership | Leaders working across markets and borders | Risk, logistics, global strategy, projects |
| Entrepreneurship and Business Management | Founders, owners, and growth-stage executives | Venture finance, strategic entrepreneurship, economics |
| Healthcare Management and Leadership | Healthcare administrators and clinical leaders | Healthcare strategy, economics, quality, disaster planning |
| Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Management | Technology and operations leaders | IT projects, ERP, knowledge management, security |
All four share the same 60-credit structure, pacing, and two research paths.
Research project or dissertation
After the Comprehensive Competency Assessment, you choose one of two research paths. Each takes five courses and 15 credits.
The Research Project path (DRP 801–805) builds an applied study. You define a problem, review the literature, design a methodology, report findings, and make recommendations. It suits professionals who want to study a problem inside their own organization.
The Dissertation path (GRC 641–645) follows the five-chapter dissertation model. It ends with a dissertation presentation and oral defense. It suits anyone planning to teach or move into research-focused roles.
Both paths require doctoral-level research. Both lead to the same degree. Your concentration shapes the problem you study, and your research path shapes how you report it.
Related post: Doctorate degree online with no dissertation
What the DBA credential means
The DBA credential is a terminal degree. That means it’s the highest academic degree in its field. It signals that you can frame a complex problem, gather evidence, and defend a conclusion in writing.
For professionals, the credential also formalizes experience. Many students arrive with decades of leadership behind them. Some are Millennials stepping into their first executive role. Others are Generation X and Baby Boomer leaders who want doctoral research to match the responsibility they already carry. The credential means the same thing for each of them: proven research ability applied to real organizations.
The DBA credential and the PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in business also produces a doctorate. Its research aims to build theory for other scholars, and it usually prepares graduates for full-time academic careers.
The time commitment differs. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) reports that 2024 business research doctorate recipients took a median of 5.0 years from program start to degree. A DBA built for working professionals, one course at a time, follows a different model.
Neither degree outranks the other. For the full comparison, read our guide to the DBA vs. PhD degree.
How to choose your DBA concentration
Three questions can help you choose the right DBA concentration. Consider your professional goals, industry experience, and the challenges you want to solve to find the specialization that best supports your leadership development and long-term career growth.
Where is the problem you want to solve?
Pick the concentration that matches the setting of your research. A hospital quality problem belongs in healthcare. An ERP rollout belongs in information systems.
Where do you want your next role to be?
A concentration signals your field to boards, employers, and clients. Choose the one that matches the direction you’re heading, not only where you’ve been.
Which courses would you use at work next month?
Read the five course titles in each list. The right concentration is usually the one with courses you’d apply right away.
Your next step
You already have the experience. A concentration gives it a field, and doctoral research gives it a method. Review all four specializations and both research paths on Crestmont University’s Doctor of Business Administration. Then schedule a conversation with an Executive Enrollment Advisor about the problem you want to study.
