[1] Prior to that, he was the Dean at Ahmedabad (1998–2001) and a professor in Economics[2][3] He was also the Director General of International Management Institute, New Delhi.

[7][8][9] He has guided 20 PhD students specialising in Economics, Finance, Business Policy and Public Systems at IIM A.

During his time at IIM Ahmedabad, Dholakia occupied the Reserve Bank of India Chair from 1992 to 1999, served as the Dean from 1998 to 2001 and as the Director of the institute from 2002 to 2007.

[1][15] During his tenure, the one-year programme for management executives was started, and students in the very first batch got the highest salaries offered that year.

[15] Dholakia was pivotal in ensuring that the image of IIM-A did not suffer when, in November 2003, the Common Admission Test (CAT) papers got leaked for the first time in the 43-year history of the IIMs.

He has also served as External Director on the boards of several public and private sector companies, including ONGC,[16] Shipping Commission,[17] Torrent Power, RNRL and Mahanagar Gas.

The Competition Commission of India had appointed Dholakia as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group (EPAG).

Dholakia was associated with the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Government of India, where he was one of the three members responsible for the restructuring of the ICSSR.

[20] In 2006, he was honoured by the Association of Indian Americans in North America (AIANA) at the World Gujarati Conference in New Jersey for his Visionary Leadership and Achievements in business education.

[21] Global Associations of Business Schools have honoured Dholakia for his sterling contribution in the field of management education.

Their younger daughter Purvi has also moved to Canada recently and completed a Post-Graduate Management Program from University of the Fraser Valley.

Dholakia is the author of 12 books, 25 monographs and more than 50 research papers and over 30 case notes published in professional journals in India and abroad.