Mature student reaps handsome dividends with DBA studies

Not many people commit to pursuing a DBA (doctor of business administration) after the age of 50, but for Lewis Rutherfurd there were two compelling reasons.

Firstly, he wanted to get to the bottom of a specific, business-related problem. That was to understand, if possible, why certain investments in emerging markets had underperformed consistently over an extended period, when judged against initial expectations and against comparative results in more established markets.    

And, thinking ahead, he also saw that completing the qualification would open up all kinds of new opportunities to teach university classes in the United States once his current business career in Hong Kong draws to a close.

Having effectively achieved both objectives by graduating in June last year, he is in no doubt that the part-time DBA programme at City University (CityU) was the right choice. With its focus on research and analysis of issues relevant to real-world decisions, it was an engrossing academic challenge with a practical goal. And the foundation courses, seminars and expert supervision, leading towards a 50,000-word thesis, provided a structure which gave experienced executives new insights on the broader business world and the skills needed to conduct research, test theories and draw meaningful conclusions.

“Essentially, I wanted to solve a problem that my industry has struggled with and felt I had an approach that was possibly unique,” says Rutherfurd who, as managing director of Inter-Asia Venture Management, works as a general partner helping venture capital and private equity investors identify and back likely enterprises.

The problem was that investors generally assumed returns in Asia would outpace those in the US – and were disappointed if they did not. But there was little consensus as to why that kept happening.