The topic of his Doctoral Thesis: "Knowledge Transfer in International Joint Ventures-Effect of the Cultural Distance on the Degree of Knowledge Transferred". Members of the committee included: Kakha Shengelia, President of Caucasus University, Gogi Turkia, One of the founders of Caucasus University; Shalva Machavariani, Vice President for Research; Boris (Buba) Lezhava, Dean of Caucasus University's School of Business.

Akaki Kheladze's PhD defense was highly informative and proved successful.