The potential value of a PhD holder to the prosperity of an employing company and, by extension, to the country in which the firm is located, is recognized in principle. Yet this recognition does not always translate into practice. Interviews with managers from private companies, journalists specializing in higher education, young PhD graduates, institutional members, and researchers from the public sector in France highlight some of the reasons why this might be so. Corporate recruitment practices, universities’ resistance to change, and the ambitions of the PhD students themselves are identified as impediments to the hiring of PhDs in the private sector. Developing a professional doctorate program, improving the dissemination of information about the value of a PhD degree, and developing and leveraging PhD graduates’ networks may help boost the number of PhDs in the business arena.
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