PhD in Marketing

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In the broadest sense, marketing encompasses the entire system for bringing goods and services to actual and potential users. It includes understanding customer desires and then designing, distributing and informing potential customers of the means to satisfy these desires. Research in marketing may examine how a market operates from a socioeconomic viewpoint, or it may look at how consumers (either individual or institutional) respond to the marketing activities of suppliers. This leads to questions of how to manage these activities and better serve suppliers or the community.

Niusha Safarpour

"I found it interesting that [the faculty members] were so open and so welcoming. They let you do whatever it is your curiosity drives you to do."

The study of consumer behaviour includes modeling individual and group perceptions, preferences, judgments and choices. Research in marketing management may focus on product and service design, sales response function modeling, marketing strategy, pricing, measuring the effectiveness of communications efforts, and incentive and control mechanisms for managing channel relationships. Marketing research methods seek to improve study design as well as data collection and analysis to further organizational objectives.

Members of the Marketing Department serve on the editorial boards and/or are also regular reviewers for numerous prestigious journals:

Marketing Science
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Marketing Research
Journal of Consumer Research
Journal of Consumer Psychology
Management Science
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Journal of Retailing

Specialization Course Requirements

The following doctoral level marketing courses are normally taken by all students.

MARK 720: Consumer Behaviour

This course exposes students to various theoretical and substantive areas of consumer research. The overall objective of the course is for students to develop a depth of understanding that will enable them to identify interesting, novel research questions concerning consumption-related phenomena, thus establishing a foundation for conducting rigorous research in the domain of consumer behaviour.

Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students. Students may not receive credit for both MARK 702 and 720.

MARK 725: Human Judgment and Decision Making

This course will familiarize students with theories of cognitive information processing and affective processes as they relate to consumer judgments and decisions. More specifically, the cognitive component of this course will provide an intensive examination of memory, perception, attitude formation, and behavioural decision theory. The affect component of the course will deal with factors influencing affect formation as well as the impact of affect on attitudes and decision making. Research methods underlying each of these streams of information will be examined.

Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

MARK 740: Marketing Models

This course describes theoretical and empirical models used to analyze marketing management issues in the areas of product introduction and positioning, pricing, advertising, and distribution channels. The theoretical structure in the course comes from microeconomics of firm and consumer decision making, with special consideration of competitive issues analyzed with game theory and some applications of control theory. The empirical work draws from conjoint analysis, choice modeling, and multivariate techniques.

Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

MARK 750: Marketing Theory

Recent and classic contributions to marketing theory development. The course addresses conceptual development and current practice in marketing decision-making. Topics critically examined include marketing orientation, competitive interaction, product development and introduction, channel relationship management, customer relationship management, advertising and promotion, pricing and revenues, and sales, service and quality.

Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

MARK 799: Individual Research

Special studies for advanced students.

Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

Note: A second year paper and presentation is required in the marketing specialization.

Research Methods (3 Courses)

BUS 715 Experimental Design for Behavioural Science

The objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the essential principles and techniques for conducting scientific experiments on human behaviour. It is tailored for individuals with an interest in doing research using experimental methods in areas such as psychology, judgement and decision making, consumer behaviour, behavioural economics and finance, organizational behaviour, and human performance. Classes are conducted in an interactive seminar format, with extensive discussion of concrete examples, challenges, and solutions. Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students.

MARK 710 Research Methodology in Marketing

The nature of scientific inquiry and its relevance and application to research in marketing. The development and testing of marketing theory. Marketing measurement methodology. Prerequisites: Registration in the Business PhD Program or permission of instructor. Approval of the Associate Dean, PhD Program is also required for non-PhD students. Students may not receive credit for both MARK 701 and 710.

AND one other course with the approval of the supervisor.

Cognate Discipline Elective Courses (4 Courses)

Most students choose one of the following as their cognate discipline: (1) behavioural science, (2) judgment and decision making, (3) psychology, (4) microeconomics, or (5) statistics. However, it is possible to construct, in consultation with a student's committee and the Marketing PhD Coordinator, a personalized study plan that matches the student's interests.

updated May 9, 2022