phd in marketing course outline

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MKTG9400 - Meas Data Analys Mktg A (Course Syllabus)

MKTG 9400 and MKTG 9410 provide an understanding and working knowledge of statistical data analysis for assessing how one variable is predicted (and possibly caused) by other variables. The courses focus on "funny Y's and messy X's" and extend the students' tool kit beyond classic linear regression and ANOVA in two directions. (1) Analyzing binary data, ordered response data, choice data, count data, truncated or censored data, and duration data; (2) Identifying and tackling causal identification challenges when analyzing non-experimental data. All assignments can be completed using R, SAS, or Stata.

MKTG9410 - Meas Data Analys Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9420 - research methods mktg a (course syllabus).

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental methodological issues that arise in experimental and quasi-experimental research. Illustrative examples are drawn from the behavioral sciences with a focus on the behavior of consumers and managers. Topics that are covered include: the development of research ideas; data collection and reliable measurement procedures; threats to validity; control procedures and experimental designs; and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on attaining a working knowledge of the use of regression methods for non-experimental and quasi-experimental data and analysis of variance methods for experimental data. The primary deliverable for this course is a meta-analysis of a research problem of the students choosing that investigates the effects of research methods on empirical results.

MKTG9430 - Research Methods Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9500 - jdgmnt & dec making cb a (course syllabus).

The purpose of this course is to provide a solid foundation for critical thinking and research on the judgment, decision-making and choice aspects of consumer behavior. There is a focus on how people process information when making judgments and choices and how the processes of judgment and choice might be improved. Topics of discussion include rationality, judgment under uncertainty, judgment heuristics and biases, risk taking, dealing with conflicting values, framing effects, prospect theory, inter-temporal choice, preference formation, and the psychology of utility. The focus will be on the individual decision-maker, although the topics will also have some applicability to group and organizational decision-making and behavioral research methodologies.

MKTG9510 - Judmnt & Dec Making Cb B (Course Syllabus)

The purpose of this course is to build off MKTG 950, "Judgment and Decision Making Perspectives on Consumer Behavior - Part A" with a more specialized focus that will vary from year to year. This course is intended for those interested in deepening their study of Judgment and Decision Making beyond the basics.

MKTG9520 - Consumer Research Topics - A (Course Syllabus)

The purpose of this seminar is to provide graduate students with an overview of contemporary topics in consumer research. Depending on faculty, areas addressed may include basic research on consumer knowledge (learning and memory), goals, persuasion, and emotions, with applications to branding. consumer finance, human-technology interaction, and social influence. The course draws from the literature in marketing, psychology and economics. The course will enable students to conceptualize, operationalize, and develop research ideas. Therefore, the focus is on understanding theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base.

MKTG9530 - Consumer Research Topics - B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9540 - econ/or models in mktg a (course syllabus).

This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.

MKTG9550 - Econ/Or Models in Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

This is a continuation of MKTG 954. This doctoral seminar reviews analytical models relevant to improving various aspects of marketing decisions such as new product launch, product line design, pricing strategy, advertising decisions, sales force organization and compensation, distribution channel design and promotion decisions. The primary focus will be on analytical models. The seminar will introduce the students to various types of analytical models used in research in marketing, including game theory models for competitive analysis, agency theory models for improving organization design and incentives within organizations, and optimization methods to improve decision making and resource allocation. The course will enable students to become familiar with applications of these techniques in the marketing literature and prepare the students to apply these and other analytical approaches to research problems that are of interest to the students.

MKTG9560 - Empirical Models Mktg A (Course Syllabus)

This course is designed to generate knowledge of the use of quantitative statistical, econometric, and Machine Learning methods and their application to Marketing problems. A strong emphasis is also placed on the applied nature of applying these methods in terms of data requirements, exogenous versus endogenous variation, and computational challenges when using complex models. Students outside of Marketing are welcome, and we discuss how these models can be applied to other disciplines. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key issues and approaches in empirical marketing modeling.

MKTG9570 - Empirical Models Mktg B (Course Syllabus)

This course is designed to generate awareness and appreciation of the way several substantive topics in marketing have been studied empirically using quantitative models. This seminar reviews empirical models of marketing phenomena including consumer choice, adoption of new products, sales response to marketing mix elements, and competitive interaction. Applies methods and concepts developed in econometrics and statistics but focuses on substantive issues of model structure and interpretation, rather than on estimation techniques. Ultimately, the goals are a) to prepare students to read and understand the literature and b) to stimulate new research interests. By the end of the course, students should be familiar with the key issues and approaches in empirical marketing modeling.

MKTG9710 - Adv Topics Mktg Part A (Course Syllabus)

Taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department, this course investigates advanced topics in marketing. It is organized in a way that allows students to 1) gain depth in important areas of research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance their own research interests.

MKTG9720 - Adv Topics Mktg Part B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9730 - research sem mktg part a (course syllabus).

This course is taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department. It is designed to expose Doctoral students to the cutting-edge research in marketing models in order to help them to define and advance their research interests. This course will offer: in-depth discussions on some important topics in marketing by experts in respective areas; tools, and methodologies required for conducting research in those areas; broad exposure to our faculty members and their proven research styles.

MKTG9740 - Research Sem Mktg Part B (Course Syllabus)

Mktg9950 - dissertation (course syllabus), mktg9990 - independent study (course syllabus).

Requires written permission of instructor and the department graduate adviser.

Descriptions of all active courses are listed. To see a summary of the active titles, as well as discontinued or renumbered courses, see the Ph.D. Course List.

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Course info.

• Prof. Natalie Mizik

Departments

• Sloan School of Management

As Taught In

Learning resource types, marketing management, course meeting times.

Lectures: 1.5 hours / session, 2 sessions / week

Course Description

Marketing is the core of an operating business. It is an organizational philosophy and a set of guiding principles for interfacing with customers, competitors, collaborators, and the environment. Marketing entails planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services. It starts with identifying and measuring consumers’ needs and wants, assessing the competitive environment, selecting the most appropriate customer targets and developing marketing strategy and implementation program for an offering that satisfies consumers’ needs better than the competition. Marketing is the art and science of creating customer value and market place exchanges that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Course Objectives

15.810 is the core marketing course in the MBA program at the Sloan School of Management. It is designed to serve as an introduction to the theory and practice of marketing. We will explore the theory and applications of marketing concepts through a mix of cases, discussions, lectures, guest speakers, individual assignments, and group projects. We will draw materials from a variety of sources and settings including services, consumer and business-to-business products.

The main objectives of this course are to improve your ability to:

• Assess market opportunities by analyzing customers, competitors, collaborators, context, and the strengths and weaknesses of a company.
• Develop effective marketing strategies to achieve organizational objectives.
• Design a strategy implementation program to maximize its chance of success.
• Communicate and defend your recommendations and critically examine and build upon the recommendations of your classmates both quantitatively and qualitatively.

This course is appropriate for majors in all functional areas of business. While marketing managers develop and implement marketing strategy, managers in other functional areas (finance, management, accounting, and operations) need to understand how marketing strategies impact their own operations. Entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups rarely succeed without an excellent marketing strategy. It is impossible to value a firm and its stocks and bonds, to plan its financial needs, or to establish its credit rating without understanding its revenue sources. Revenues largely come from customers and are a direct consequence of firm marketing strategy.

Course Organization

The first part of the course focuses on situation analysis (5Cs: company, customers, competitors, collaborators, and context), market opportunity identification, and formulating marketing strategy. It introduces the key constructs such as value of products, customers and brands, customer segmentation, and product positioning. Key learnings include a general structure for analyzing marketing problems and some specific quantitative tools. The second part of the course examines how to use these ideas to make specific decisions about the marketing mix (4Ps: product, price, promotion, and place). The course provides the skills needed to design a marketing strategy and its implementation plan.

Marketing courses differ in an important way from most other courses by emphasizing both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Qualitative analysis is important because marketing is, in the end, concerned with behavior of people — consumers, competitors, partners such as salespeople and distributors — that is often difficult to capture in quantitative terms. At the same time, quantitative analysis is invaluable for estimating the expected impact of marketing decisions on customers and firm performance and is critical for communicating with those outside marketing.

This dual nature of marketing makes it complicated as it involves many sources of uncertainty and judgment. You will need to balance both types of analyses when you justify your decisions in class discussion and assignments.

Group Formation

To get the most out of 15.810, you should form teams to prepare for the cases and to work on group projects. The target size is five (5) people. Group sizes of four and six are viable, but more than six or less than four are strongly discouraged. The basic ideas of marketing transcend national borders: it is essential to be able to analyze and adapt to new environments. To explore these issues and to learn from your fellow classmates, I encourage you to form multinational teams. You will be better able to understand the issues in the cases if your team is drawn from a variety of regions and a variety of experiences.

Class Participation

A significant portion of class time will be devoted to analyzing assigned cases. The case method is one of the most effective means of sharpening your decision-making skills. A successful case discussion requires you to be an active participant. You should read and analyze these cases carefully and come to class prepared to provide your qualitative and quantitative assessments of the situation and arguments for the proposed solution. The situations in the cases are complex. It is likely that your classmates will have different views and opinions about how to deal with the case problem. Real learning takes place when you see how others address a problem about which you have thought carefully. The better you are prepared, the more you learn.

The assigned cases are intended to give you practice in assembling data to support your decision and recommendation. The case discussion format provides an opportunity to argue your position and to learn from others by listening to their comments, analysis, and criticism. You all have different experiences, insights and opinions, and a great deal of what you will learn from the cases will be from each other. It is therefore essential that you be fully prepared for all the cases.

The best way to prepare is to discuss the case within your study group. You will benefit from defending your ideas and you will learn by discussing other group members’ approaches. In each session, students will be randomly selected to start the case discussion. Thereafter, the discussion will be open to the entire class. Come prepared with quantitative as well as qualitative analyses of the cases.

Several criteria will be considered when evaluating your class participation:

• Quality of the class participation is most important. Sheer quantity is neither sufficient nor necessarily desirable.
• High quality class participation is thoughtful and includes comments that add to our understanding of a situation and help move class discussion forward. It goes beyond mere repetition of case facts or simple truisms.
• High quality class participation is supported with qualitative and/or quantitative analyses.
• Your comments should take into account and build on the comments and analyses of your classmates and be relevant to the topic under discussion.
• You need to be present in class in order to receive a strong class participation score. Tardiness is a hindrance to class discussion and a distraction for your colleagues. Please be on time.

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Effective solutions for complex business problems.

The Marketing PhD focuses on the demand and supply of products and services. Our students acquire a powerful skillset based in economics, econometrics, statistics, machine learning, and causal inference. These skills allow our students to answer substantive questions in marketing by applying or developing new empirical approaches. 

Our faculty engage with PhD students in a close mentoring relationship that allows students to develop both the technical and independent research skills needed for a successful academic career. Recent research by our faculty and PhD students studies broad areas including digital, online, retail competition, pricing, platform competition, word-of-mouth, and advertising.

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Program outline: marketing, the first year each.

PhD Marketing student's schedule of courses is customized to address his or her background and interests. Classes occur in the Simon Business School and also in closely related areas including the University of Rochester Economics Department and the Computer Science Department. First year students are required to pass Preliminary Requirements by demonstrating proficiency in specific courses. A research oriented first-year paper is due by October 15 of the second year.

The Second Year

In the second year, student participation in marketing seminars is required as well as continuation in courses. This training rounds out the toolkit and continues to deepen exposure to the literature and is chosen in consultation with faculty to ensure the courses provide the appropriate training. The Qualifying Exam consists of passing an examination of the second-year research paper. This paper is due by September 15 of the third year and should be an original contribution to the marketing literature. The paper will be presented in a Marketing Workshop the fall of the students third year.

The Third Year and Beyond

In the third year, students move from course work to active research. In addition, continued participation in all Marketing seminars is required.

Required Courses.

The Course Catalog contains degree requirements and course descriptions. Please refer the Simon Registrar's website for the current Course Catalog. Classes occur in the Simon Business School and also in closely related areas including the University of Rochester Economics Department and the Computer Science Department.

Simon Registrar

Course Catalog

PhD Marketing Courses

This class is intended to provide PhD students with an advanced treatment of causal inference as well as a gentle introduction to frontier machine learning techniques that are useful in economic applications. From the machine learning toolkit, we will cover Lasso and Random Forests in detail, along with recent approaches to inference with HD nuisance parameters. Deep Learning will be covered only briefly. R packages for implementation of Lasso and Forests will be introduced. We will then consider the three canonical approaches to causal inference: the Rubin framework, the Pearl framework and the Heckman synthesis. Randomized control trials and associated methods of inference (Fisher exact p-values and randomization inference) will be covered briefly. We will then consider recent approaches based on synthetic control and matrix completion. We next turn to methods based on selective choice, including Roy models and control functions. Finally, we will consider some issues related to IV approaches, including problems of weak or many instruments (and a Lasso-based solution) and the local/selected nature of resulting estimands (LATE and MTE).

This course introduces students to canonical modeling approaches for analyzing decision making by both firms and consumers, focusing on static environments. Central topics include demand estimation, models of strategic interaction, networks and platforms and auctions. Applications include firm pricing decisions, new product introductions, strategic entry and vertical relationships. The course generally includes coding assignments and student presentations, in addition to the weekly lectures on methods and applications.

This course examines consumer and firm behaviors that involve inter-temporal trade-offs and as a result involve dynamic optimization on the part of both consumers and firms. It begins with an overview of dynamic programming methods, in both single and multi-agent settings, emphasizing methods that link estimation with computation. Single agent topics include models of capital replacement, dynamic demand, inventory models and salesforce management. Multi-agent topics include strategic innovation, learning by doing, demand smoothing, and product repositioning. A strong emphasis is placed on recent methods and frontier topics. The course generally includes coding assignments and several student presentations, in addition to weekly lectures.

This workshop provides a forum for the presentation of research ideas and completed research by students. The course includes discussion of current job market papers and job market presentations, journal reviewing, and generating new research ideas. In addition, some topics are covered to illustrate current research areas of interest for the faculty. All marketing PhD students who are not on the job market are expected to participate actively.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor

This course is designed for first, second, and third year students to provide exposure to the literature related to core research methods used in quantitative marketing research and to build student appreciation of what goes into conducting research in quantitative marketing. The content of the course varies by year with similar core topics, but rotating papers, and some rotating topics. The core topics include choice models, aggregate demand models, Bayesian models, consumer heterogeneity, and state dependence. Rotating topics have included structural model identification, experimentation, causal inference, search, learning, advertising effects, and conjoint analysis, and rotate each year. In addition, the course provides exposures to other perspectives on quantitative research. Course evaluation includes coding assignments and homework’s, and the final exam has both coding and conceptual parts to it. In addition, students are expected to submit a paper and present their own research.

This course covers advanced topics in quantitative marketing research. The topics rotate each time offered and are selected based on current topical areas in the marketing, economics, and related fields as well as student and faculty research interests. Part of the evaluation in the course is to submit a paper and present their own research. All marketing PhD students who are not on the job market are expected to participate actively.

Tepper School of Business

Ph.D. Program in Marketing

Studies include brand-choice models, analytical and structural models, marketing/operations interface, marketing/it interface, and theories of consumer behavior..

The Tepper School's doctoral program in marketing has a reputation of producing highly skilled and innovative researchers who are well grounded in the basic disciplines underlying marketing thought and who practice and create the state-of-the-art in marketing. Most go on to become faculty members at premier academic institutions throughout the world.

The Ph.D. program offers one of the most complete and solid sequence of Ph.D. courses among leading universities in the world. Students usually take one and a half years of required courses offered by the marketing, economics, psychology and statistics departments. After passing the qualifying exam at the end of one and a half years, they begin the research stage, find advisors according to their own research interests, and start writing their Ph.D. dissertation under the guidance of the advisors. Typically, it takes four to five years to complete the program and obtain the Ph.D. degree. In addition to rigorous course work, students benefit from the weekly seminars in which scholars from all over the world come present their most recent research. Students also have their own workshops in which they present their own research work.

The Tepper School boasts excellent faculty, specializing in adopting analytical, empirical and consumer behavior approaches to address fundamental marketing problems. Historically, Tepper School faculty and graduates have made fundamental contributions to marketing theory in the areas of brand-choice models, analytical models for marketing strategy, empirical structural models, conjoint analysis, marketing and operations management interface, marketing and information systems interface and theories of consumer behavior.

A few examples of research topics that students and faculty members have recently worked on are:

• How a manager allocates marketing resources to various alternatives such as promotion, advertising and sales force. By developing decision support systems to aid managers, we hope to understand better the allocation problem and to improve marketing efficiency.
• How to design new products while simultaneously considering consumer preferences, engineering constraints and design aesthetics.
• How to understand latent preferences of online customers by statistically analyzing their web browsing patterns.
• Psychological processes that drive consumer choice among alternative products. How we can help them make better decisions.

Starting from 1971, the Tepper School has produced a significant number of leading researchers in marketing, including at least ten chaired professors at top-ten business schools and many other world-renowned marketing researchers (high ratio given the size). Recent students who graduated from the Tepper School marketing program have obtained faculty positions at top research schools such as Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Stanford and New York University. More recent graduates have won dissertation awards from the American Marketing Association, the Association for Consumer Research, and the American Psychological Association.

Given the size of our Ph.D. program, these achievements of our Ph.D. alumni demonstrate the outstanding quality of our Ph.D. program and also win us the reputation as one of the best schools that produce the most promising marketing researchers.

As a Ph.D. student of marketing at the Tepper School, you will notice a few things that distinguish your experience at the Tepper School.

Outstanding Training in Economics, Psychology and Statistics Foundations

As a tradition, our students are required to obtain rigorous training in economics, econometrics, psychology and statistics. The comprehensive and rigorous training equips our students with a solid understanding of economics and psychology, the state-of-the-art research techniques, and cutting-edge approaches for solving fundamental research problems. Historically, this approach has had high payoffs - our students are not only capable of solving ground-breaking research problems using the most cutting-edge techniques, but also demonstrate great endurance in their future academic careers.

Comprehensive Sequence of Marketing Doctoral Courses

We offer the most complete sequence of Ph.D. courses. You will find many Ph.D. courses offered by marketing faculties that cover their research expertise. These marketing Ph.D. courses progressively and comprehensively introduce cutting-edge research methodologies, the development of literature in each discipline, and the most recent research interest of each faculty member. Faculty are almost available 24/7 to work with Ph.D. students. They also spend an enormous amount of time preparing students for their job market. Most students continue working with faculty at CMU even after graduating and enjoy a lifetime of support and friendship from them.

Close and Caring Working Relationship Between Faculty and Students

At the Tepper School, our most important mission is to produce the best Ph.D. students. We treat Ph.D. students as junior faculty and the excellent mentoring system guarantees enough time from faculty to each Ph.D. student. The school typically admits only a few students each year. The doctoral program is intentionally kept small in order to increase faculty-student interaction and to take advantage of the business school's resources. They develop, in close conjunction with the faculty members, flexible programs addressing their specific research interests. Our students have access to award-winning faculty - many of whom are leaders in their field. Our faculty works closely with students creating new knowledge on a daily basis with their students.

Inspiring and Innovative Inter-Disciplinary Research Environment

Recognized for our unique interdisciplinary environment, students are often encouraged to work across departmental lines. As a result, our graduates have opportunities to engage in groundbreaking research and sharpen their ability to solve complex problems through leadership and collaboration.

In summary, the marketing group has a strong commitment to research and devotes considerable resources to training future scholars. We emphasize the development of sophisticated, state-of-the-art research skills that are required to solve fundamental research problems and create new knowledge in a chosen area of marketing. The Ph.D. program welcomes applications from candidates from all countries with distinguished academic backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a career in research universities. Admission to the marketing program at the Tepper School offers the student an opportunity to continue in this tradition of high achievement and excellence.

Research Topics

The research focus of our program directly translates in their early involvement in research projects. Our doctoral students work closely with faculty members to produce high quality research in several relevant marketing topics.

• Behavioral and Experimental Economics
• Charitable Giving and Nonprofit Marketing
• Consumer Financial Decision Making
• Consumer Happiness/Satisfaction
• Electronic Commerce
• Hedonic Adaptation
• High Tech Marketing
• Judgment and Decision Making
• Micro-marketing
• Optimal Pricing Strategies
• Service Productivity and Performance Pay
• Sports Marketing and Celebrity Endorsements
• Structural Estimation Methods
• Two-sided Market Pricing

P lease visit our Ph.D. Student Profiles page t o view the profiles of our current doctoral candidates.

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MBA Required Curriculum

The objectives of this course are to demonstrate the role of marketing in the company; to explore the relationship of marketing to other functions; and to show how effective marketing builds on a thorough understanding of buyer behavior to create value for customers.

Students learn how to:

• Make marketing decisions in the context of general management.
• Control the elements of the marketing mix—product policy, channels of distribution, communication, and pricing—to satisfy customer needs profitably.
• Use this knowledge in a brand management simulation.

The course culminates in an examination of the evolution of marketing, particularly focusing on opportunities presented by the Internet.

MBA Elective Curriculum

Doctoral programs, executive education.

School of Business

A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management

Ph.D. in Marketing

The Ph.D. in Marketing program prepares students for an academic career conducting research in and teaching marketing. As a doctoral marketing student, you will be working with faculty who are outstanding researchers, have work published in the field's top journals, and who have extensive experience successfully advising doctoral students.

Our  faculty in marketing  conducts research on a wide variety of marketing issues, using diverse methodologies for modeling consumer and firm behavior, such as statistical, econometric, and machine learning models; models and theories from the behavioral sciences such as psychology, sociology, and behavioral economics; and economic, game-theoretic and industrial organization models.

Application Information

The UCR School of Business is not accepting Ph.D. applications for Fall 2024. The next application cycle will be for Fall 2025 (applications will be open in September 2024).

Program Outline

The following is a brief overview of the Ph.D. in Marketing program and its requirements. More details can be found in the Ph.D. handbook. The average time for completion of the program is five years. A student’s duration in the program will be devoted to research, core curriculum coursework and teaching assistantships, if applicable. 

The program generally follows a three-phase sequence:

1. Beginning research with supervision, core curriculum coursework and a teaching assistantship, if applicable.

2. Continuing research, qualifying examination and advancement to candidacy.

3. Final dissertation research, including data collection, write-up and defense of the dissertation.

Research is an integral part of the entire Ph.D. in Marketing program. All students are required to begin their research by writing a first-year research paper and are expected to be engaged in research throughout the program, culminating in the dissertation research. A distinguishing factor of our Ph.D. program is that students collaborate on research with faculty from the very start.

In their first two years in the program, students are required to:

• Complete five research methods courses listed below
• MGT 288A Behavioral Research in Marketing
• MGT 288B Quantitative Research in Marketing
• MGT 288C Special Topics in Marketing—Behavioral
• MGT 288D Special Topics in Marketing—Quantitative
• Attend weekly research seminars (field colloquia), where students interact with top professors in the field of marketing
• Take a comprehensive exam during the spring quarter of their second year in the program
• Take three basic discipline courses from outside the business school
• Take four elective courses from a list of approved electives

The dissertation culminates the student’s academic endeavors. When all program requirements are completed, students take their oral qualifying exam, which is a defense of the dissertation proposal.

Of substantial magnitude, the dissertation should make a significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge in marketing. It should be of sufficient originality and quality to merit publication, either in whole or in part, in top-tier professional journals. A candidate for the Ph.D. degree will defend his/her dissertation in a public, oral presentation at a time announced to members of the UCR community. Upon the candidate’s successful defense of the dissertation, the Ph.D. Dissertation Committee will make a recommendation to the Graduate Division that the Ph.D. degree be conferred.

Ph.D. students are requested to serve as Teacher Assistants for 1-2 quarters each year, starting in their second year. In this role, they work with faculty members in the undergraduate classes by reading and grading assignments, preparing examinations and conducting laboratory sessions. Students are usually not assigned TA duties during first year studies. Students supported by fellowships are not assigned TA duties until they terminate their fellowship.

The Science of Selling

PhD in Marketing Science or Consumer Behavior

At Olin, the marketing discipline is distinguished by a demand for innovative ideas, critical thinking and an emphasis on quantitative abilities.

PhD students in marketing typically choose one of the two areas of study: Marketing Science and Consumer Behavior. Some choose to analyze the intersection of the two areas seeking to improve understanding and predict marketing phenomena.

• Marketing Science

Marketing Science focuses on the quantitative—economic fundamentals that include microeconomic theory and econometrics. Using this methodology, you examine mathematical modeling of buyer-seller interactions, consumer choices, purchase behavior, resource allocation, components of the marketing mix and new product development.

The methods below help you determine the best way to allocate marketing resources.

• Conduct empirical tests on the implications of these models
• Quantify the effectiveness of different strategies
• Explore the profit implications of using alternative strategies

In Marketing Science, we conduct empirical tests on the implications of these models, quantify the effectiveness of different strategies and explore the profit implications of using alternative strategies. We identify important drivers that should govern strategic decisions and, consequently, the allocation of marketing resources.

Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior concentrates on psychology fundamentals and understanding how people make decisions, including cognitive psychology, social psychology and behavioral decision theory. These areas provide a strong foundation as you study and research consumer judgment and decision-making, cognition, culture, emotions, motivation, individual differences, perception and social influence.

Faculty members work on a variety of topics related to judgment and decision-making. Current and recent research topics include biases in judgment and choice, choice assortments, prosocial behavior, financial decision making, branding, intertemporal choice, morality and consumption, preferences for natural products, gift giving and metacognition.

Marketing Faculty and Research

Olin’s marketing faculty pursue research focused on building frameworks and models to understand and evaluate marketing strategies and their impact on customers, consumers and competitors. This research provides decision makers the ability to think beyond current practices and offers answers to significant "what if" questions.

Research papers by faculty members have recently been published in well-respected journals such as:

• Journal of Consumer Research
• Journal of Marketing Research
• Journal of Marketing
• Marketing Letters

Read about collaborative research by Marketing faculty and PhD students.

Olin Doctoral Series | PhD Marketing

At WashU Olin, marketing is distinguished by a demand for innovative ideas, critical thinking and a strong emphasis on quantitative abilities.

Center for Analytics and Business Insights

The Center for Analytics and Business Insights is a hub for research and ideas, with opportunities for faculty, students and companies to collaborate.

Consumer Behavior Curriculum

Begin research collaborations with faculty

First-year summer paper

• Focuses on research completed in year 1
• Brief publication-style research paper with data/results
• In August after the first year, students must attend an RA/TA training offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning

First Semester Classes

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods I (Psych 5066, 3 credits)
• Seminar in Consumer Behavior I (MKT 601, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Social Psychology Seminar or other social science elective (e.g., Social Cognition, 3 credits)
• Social Science Elective (e.g., seminar in psychology, OB, social work or experimental economics)  
• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods II (Psych 5067, 3 credits)
• Behavioral and Experimental Research Methods I (MKT 600A, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Judgment and Decision Making I (MKT 674, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Organizational Research Methods (OB 630, 3 credits)

The order of classes may change due to availability, and classes may be substituted with approval. A communications course that focuses on oral communication is also recommended during the first two years. When the student takes the course is determined by the student and their advisor.

• Research—developing toward publication

Paper from 1st year presented in fall or spring semester (ideally fall)

Comprehensive Exams due summer after 2nd year

• Breadth—Open book essays based on extensive reading list
• Depth—Original research proposal
• Review—Write a journal article review

Third Semester

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods (e.g., Research Designs and Methods, Psych 5011, 3 credits)
• Seminar in Marketing Management (MKT 670, 1.5-3 credits)
• Seminar in Consumer Behavior II (MKT 601, mini course, 1.5 credits)

Fourth Semester

• Tools Course: Quantitative Methods (e.g., Applied Multivariate Analysis, Psych 516, 3 credits)
• Behavioral and Experimental Research Methods II (MKT 600B, mini course, 1.5 credits)
• Social Science Elective (e.g., seminar in psychology, OB, social work or experimental economics)

Second year paper due and presented at the end of fall semester

• Paper should focus on research completed in year 2
• Publication-style research paper with data/results
• extension of 1st year paper, if substantially different
• extension of depth exam
• new project
• B53 660 Seminar in Presentation Skills (fall semester, required)
• Improvisation Course
• Research—developing toward publication, academic job market and dissertation

Dissertation Proposal—Students must assemble a Research Advisory Committee for the proposal of their dissertation and submit a Title, Scope and Procedure Form at the committee’s approval of the proposed dissertation by September 30 after the fourth year.

• Ideally, the dissertation proposal will be submitted and presented by end of spring semester of the fourth year. September 30 after the fourth year is the final deadline.
• The dissertation proposal and dissertation must propose/describe a substantial and novel body of research that is significantly different from previous milestone submissions.
• The dissertation may incorporate previous milestone research, but must go well beyond it.

Research—Developing toward publication, job market and dissertation

• Intent to Graduate (complete form online)
• Job market and placement
• Oral defense of dissertation
• Submission of Examination Approval form which signifies committee’s approval
• Upload of final, approved Dissertation to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
• Submission of Documented Teaching Requirements to PhD office
• Attend all marketing department research seminars, lab meetings, journal club meetings, proseminar meetings and speaker meetings.
• Be collegial.
• All milestones will be evaluated by ≥ 2 faculty who will grade and provide comments.
• A Passing grade (or higher) must be received on each milestone.
• Grading scale: High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, Fail
• By August 1 each year, review progress annually with Faculty/PhD Program Staff. 

Download Marketing Consumer Behavior PhD course descriptions

Marketing Science Curriculum

Prior to the first year—mandatory attendance at math camp (offered through the Economics department)

Recommended Course Sequence

First semester.

• MEC 610 Microeconomics I (3 credits)
• Econometrics Course* (3 credits)
• MKT680 or 681 Machine Learning for Business Applications (3 credits)
• B53 620 Empirical Methods in Business** (3 credits)
• Olin PhD Marketing courses (variable)  

Second Semester

• MEC 611 Microeconomics II (3 credits)
• L11 Quantitative Methods II (3 credits)
• Olin PhD Marketing Courses (variable)
• L11 5161 Applied Econometrics
• B54 670 Seminar in Econometrics

The order of classes may change due to availability, and classes may be substituted with approval. A communications course that focuses on oral communication is also recommended during the first two year. When the student takes the course is determined by the student and his/her advisor.

• Attend Marketing seminars
• Begin research collaborations
• In the summer after the first year, students must meet with the faculty coordinator to discuss progress and complete a progress report to be submitted to the PhD Office by August 1 after the first year.
• Micro Prelim Exam is offered in June. Students must receive a “Distinction/Honors” or “PhD pass” to continue in the PhD program. One retake of the exam is permitted. Exemptions: Students do not need to take the exam if they obtain an average A- grade or above for the two Microeconomics courses in the first year, or obtain an average A- grade or above for all courses taken in the first year.
• In August after the first year, students must attend an RA/TA orientation offered by The Teaching Center.
• First-year research paper: Students are required to finish the paper and present to the marketing faculty before the end of the fall semester in the second year.
• Olin PhD Marketing Courses
• Electives (directed readings, independent studies)  
• Qualifying field exam: Students are required to pass the exam by the end of September. One retake of the exam is permitted.
• Second-year research paper: Students are required to finish the paper and present to the marketing faculty before the end of the fall semester in the second year.
• In the summer, students must meet with the faculty coordinator to discuss progress and complete a progress report to be submitted to the PhD Office by August 1.

B53 660 Seminar in Presentation Skills (fall semester, required) Improvisation Course

• Paper presentations (brown bag seminars and conferences)
• Dissertation research
• Dissertation Proposal – students must be able to assemble a Research Advisory Committee for the proposal of their dissertation and must submit a Title, Scope and Procedure form as the committee’s approval of the proposed dissertation by September 30 after the fourth year.
• Paper presentations (job market paper presentations with faculty and at conferences)

Download Marketing Science PhD course descriptions

Full-Time Marketing Faculty Members

Meet the professors who will be your mentors and research collaborators. See more in our faculty directory.

Elanor Williams

Associate Professor

• [email protected]
• 314.935.8805

Baojun Jiang

Full Professor

• [email protected]
• 314.935.3315

Doctoral Programs

Campus Box 1133-124-05 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

• [email protected]
• 314-935-6340

Office Hours: Monday–Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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Programs & Courses › Specializations

Schulich’s PhD in Marketing centres on research and emphasizes the relationship between theory development and empirical analysis. It offers unprecedented depth in certain areas of specialization, and also offers students a broad background across several of marketing’s core disciplines.

Students will develop the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills that are necessary to become successful, productive researchers, as well as the teaching experience and training to communicate this new knowledge. Graduates of the program have the ability and motivation to conduct meaningful, interesting, and significant research on a variety of marketing-related problems and issues.

Specialization Details by Category

Study options.

Student admission is restricted to full-time study exclusively for the first four years. It is not recommended to be working outside of the PhD program during your studies. Students must be able to participate in the PhD program in Toronto.

Typically, a PhD in marketing will take at least four years to complete. The first two years will be dedicated to graduate-level coursework.

Choose a study option to view its details and requirements

Available delivery options

• Full-time 48 to 72 months

Location(s)

• Keele Campus Toronto

The requirements to successfully complete the program are outlined below in “Curriculum Overview.”

In general, most students focus in one of four areas: consumer culture theory, consumer information processing, marketing strategy or international marketing. The training students receive in consumer culture is anchored in anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, while consumer information processing students focus on cognitive and social psychology and decision making. Students interested in strategic and international marketing often drill down on economic and management theories.

Doctoral students must complete four marketing seminars, two courses in a minor area (typically in an allied discipline such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, management studies, cultural studies, statistics, or economics), and four method (DCAD) courses.

Students must successfully complete the following course requirements:

Required Courses

Consumer research grounded in traditions of sociology, anthropology and cultural studies is reviewed in this course. The course is designed to familiarize students with both the theories that help us to understand the evolution of consumer culture and the key phenomena of interests to culturally oriented consumer researchers.

• MKTG 7981 3.00 CONSUMER RESEARCH B Consumer research grounded in various branches of psychology is studied in this course. The course is designed to familiarize students with theories that provide insight into consumers' attitudes, knowledge, decision making and responses to marketing tactics.

This course covers current topics in the marketing strategy literature, particularly those to which consumer research and consumer culture theorists are making major contributions. This course will facilitate on the design of relevant consumer-behavior oriented research programs that will be relevant to key debates in strategically oriented marketing research.

• MKTG 7985 0.00 RESEARCH PAPER FORMATION This course helps students develop research skills. It requires them to identify scholarly research questions, propose a methodology for answering them, and collect preliminary data (unless the paper is to be purely conceptual). Pre-requisites: DCAD 7100, DCAD 7350, DCAD 7400, and at least one of the following Marketing core courses: MKTG 7980, MKTG 7981, or MKTG 7982.

This course complements MKTG 7985: Research Paper Formation. It exposes students to the process of creating research papers with the potential for high impact. Students learn elements of the craft such as: the importance of engaging storytelling; identifying compelling gaps in theoretical conversations and/or starting an altogether new research conversation; designing a paper’s empirical logic; factoring in managerial and policy implications; and navigating review processes.

Prerequisite: SB/MKTG 7985 0.00. Note: MKTG 7986 may be taken prior to, concurrently with, or after MKTG 7985.

This course focuses on the use of univariate and multivariate statistics as applied to social and behavioural research within the fields of organizational, management, and consumer studies. It covers descriptive statistics, mean difference testing, analysis of variance and covariance, linear and logistic regression, and a priori sample size calculations, as well as power and effect size calculations.

• DCAD 7100 3.00 LOGICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH This examines the major philosophical debates in the social sciences and explores the rationale of different approaches to social research. Students learn how to select and develop appropriate research strategies and how to critically examine the use of various research strategies.
• DCAD 7250 3.00 RESEARCH DESIGN This course introduces students to research design, strengthens their reasoning and theoretical development skills, helps them effectively apply a range of empirical methodologies to their own research and critically review empirical studies done by others. Topics include types of variables, relationships, sampling and measurement, survey and field research designs, experimental designs, and alternative designs, and research design biases and artifacts.
• DCAD 7400 3.00 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS This course provides students with detailed exposure to the qualitative research methodologies that have begun to exert a major influence on management research over the last 10 years.

Two Elective Courses These two courses are chosen, in consultation with the Marketing Area PhD Program Representative or from among the doctoral level courses offered within the program.

Comprehensive Examinations

Students write a comprehensive examination after successfully completing all coursework. This examination is designed to demonstrate knowledge of the Accounting field, the chosen foundation field, and research methodologies. The comprehensive examination is set and administered by Marketing Area faculty members. It is normally administered within 24 months of entry into the PhD program. A second and final attempt at this examination is allowed (within six months of the original exam) if the student is unsuccessful in the first attempt.

The program regards the comprehensive examination as a pivotal point for deciding whether students should be allowed to proceed with their studies or be encouraged to withdraw from the program.

Dissertation Proposal and Oral Defence

Candidates must prepare a written proposal to conduct original dissertation research carried out under the supervision of a supervisory committee, and must defend this to the satisfaction of the thesis supervisor and members of the supervisory committee.

Dissertation and Oral Examination

Candidates must prepare a dissertation based on original research carried out under the supervision of a supervisory committee and submit the results in appropriate dissertation form. After the formal submission of the dissertation, an oral examination is held. It is expected that all or part of the dissertation will be published following professional or scientific review.

We recommend further consultation with your area Ph.D. rep concerning any impending changes to the program requirements and guidance on selecting appropriate optional courses.

Schulich's Marketing faculty actively publishes in the top journals in the world. They develop and promote new research methodologies and work closely with students to define solid research questions, develop a plan of study and identify scholarly publication outlets. Our doctoral program offers students an interdisciplinary environment to generate creative ideas and hypotheses, the analytical skills to assess them, and the training to communicate them.

The following faculty are accredited by the Schulich School of Business and the Faculty of Graduate Studies for the supervision of doctoral students:

Selected faculty members

Professor of Marketing; Kraft Foods Canada Chair in Marketing

Professor of Marketing; Director, PhD Program

Professor of Marketing; Associate Dean, Research; Anne & Max Tanenbaum Chair in Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise

Professor of Marketing

Associate Professor of Marketing

Associate Dean, External Relations; Canada Research Chair (Tier II); Professor of Marketing

Program Director, Master of Marketing; Associate Professor of Marketing

Career Opportunities

Placement of recent graduates, student research.

A critical component to academic scholarship is the dissemination of knowledge through peer-reviewed scholarly journals (e.g., Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, etc.). Faculty and students work closely together from the first year of the program to develop the skills necessary for scholarly success—defining solid research questions, developing a plan of study for the questions, and identifying scholarly outlets for the findings.

Selected Publications

Mariam Humayun (Forthcoming) “Brand Hive Minds and Bitcoin Resilience,” Carolyn Strong, ed., Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: Consumer Research and Business Insights , Berlin: De Gruyter (with Belk, R)

Gulay Taltekin Guzel (2023), “The case for qualitative research” Journal of Consumer Psychology , 33(1), pp.259-272. (with Fischer, E.)

Mohammad Saeid Kermani (2023), “Getting political: The value-protective effects of expressed outgroup outrage on self-brand connection,” Journal of Consumer Psychology , in press. (with Noseworthy, T., and Darke, P.R.)

Mohammad Saeid Kermani (2023), “Consumer Online (Dis)trust: A Decade Later,” The Digital Consumer (2nd ed), pp. 514-528, Russell Belk & Rosa Llamas (eds.), Routledge: NY. (with Darke, P.R., & Brady, M.K.)

Mohammad Saeid Kermani (2022), “Sorry, not sorry: The effect of social power on transgressors’ apology and non-apology,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied , 28(4), 883–897 (with Guilfoyle, J. R., Struthers, C. W., van Monsjou, E., Shoikhedbrod, A. and Eghbali, N.)

Mariam Humayun (2022), “Money, possessions, and ownership in the Metaverse: NFTs, cryptocurrencies, Web3 and Wild Markets,” Journal of Business Research , 153: 198-205. (with Belk, R. and Brouard)

Mariam Humayun (2022), “How Brand Hive Minds Thrive: Understanding Bitcoin’s Resilience,” Cryptoeconomic Systems , 2(1). (with Belk, R.)

Mariam Humayun (2022), “Bitcoin,” Journal of Customer Behaviour , (In Press).

Andrew Smith (2021), “Pay attention, please! Person brand building in organized online attention economies,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 49 (2), 258-279 (with Fischer, E.)

Mohammad Saeid Kermani (2021), “Cultural differences in psychological reactance: Responding to social media censorship,” Current Psychology , 40, 2804–2813. (with Ng, A.H., & Lalonde, R.N.)

Nükhet Taylor (2021), “Your Fries are Less Fattening than Mine:               How Food Sharing Biases Fattening Judgments Without Biasing Caloric Estimates,” Journal of Consumer Psychology , 31 (October), 773 – 783 (with Noseworthy, T. J.)

Nükhet Taylor (2020), “Compensating for Innovation: Extreme Product Incongruity Encourages Consumers to Affirm Unrelated Consumption Schemas,” Journal of Consumer Psychology , 30 (January), 77 – 95. (with Noseworthy, T. J.)

Sean T. Hingston (2020), “On the Epidemic of Food Waste: Idealized Prototypes and the Aversion to Misshapen Fruits and Vegetables,” Food Quality and Preference , 86 (December), 1 – 10. (with Noseworthy, T. J.)

Mariam Humayun (2020), “Consumer Reception of New Technologies,” International Journal of Business Anthropology , 10 (1), 49-65. (with Belk, R. and Gopaldas, A.)

Mariam Humayun (2020), “The Analogue Diaries of Postdigital Consumption,” Journal of Marketing Management , 36(7-8): 633-659. (with Belk, R.)

Mariam Humayun (2020), “Artificial Life,” Journal of Macromarketing , 40 (2), 221-246. (with Belk, R. and Gopaldas, A.)

Amanda Earley (2019), “A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about International Marketing,” London: Sage

Amanda Earley (2019), “Let’s Get Real: New Continental Philosophy’s Methodological Imperative,” Consumption, Markets, and Culture

Andrew Smith (2019), “Isolation in globalizing academic fields: a collaborative autoethnography of Early Career Researchers,” Academy of Management Learning & Education 18 (2), 261-285 (with Belkhir, M., Brouard, M., Brunk, KH., Dalmoro M., Ferreira, MC., and Figueiredo, B.)

Arundhati Bhattacharyya (2019), “Consumer Resilience and Subservience in Technology Consumption by the Poor,” Consumption, Markets and Culture, 22 (5/6), 489-507. (with R. Belk)

Nükhet Taylor (2019), “Supersize My Chances: Promotional Lotteries Impact Product Size Choices,” Journal of Consumer Psychology , 29 (January), 79 – 88.” (with T. J. Noseworthy, and E. Pancer)

Recent Dissertation Topics

2022: Gulay Taltekin Guzel – Influencing a Field: The Role of Influencers in the Cosmetics Industry

2022: Mohammad Saeid Kermani – When your outrage is not mine: Consumer responses to expressions of online outrage towards brands

2020: Nukhet Agar – Of Snakes, Guns, and Innovative Products: The Impact of Threat Cues on Consumer Preference

2019: Mariam Humayun – Creation and Resilience of Decentralized Brands – Bitcoin & the Blockchain

2018: Sean T. Hingston – Essentialism, Moral Opposition, and the Aversion to Genetically Modified Foods

2017: Leah Schneider – The Activist Tale of Emergent Crowds and Mobilized Communities: Investigating the Interplay Between Consumer Activism and Consumer Collectives

2016: Zhennan (Nicole) Wang – The Internationalization of Emerging Economy Firms: The Impact of Corporate Governance and Political Connections

2016: Arundhati Bhattacharyya – Technology Metaphors at the Base of the Pyramid

2016: Pierre-Yann Dolbec – How Do Mainstream Cultural Market Categories Emerge: A Multi-Level Analysis of the Creation of Electronic Dance Music

2014: Amanda Earley – From Occupy Wall Street to Occupying the Academy: Three Interventions from One Demonstration

2014: Andrew Smith – Sensegiving Word-of-Mouth and Collective Sensemaking About Epistemic Objects

Current PhD students in the Marketing Area:

as of Fall 2023

• Tima Abboud
• Lucas Busani Xavier
• Rowan El-Bialy
• Yi Xuan Jeremy Lee
• Jennifer Sedgewick
• Erik Steiner
• Orcun Turan
• Raisa Tasneem Zaman

Research Seminar Series

“navigating the complexities of tiny spaces”.

Speaker: Marcus Phipps Senior Lecturer in Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne, Australia

Speaker bio: Marcus Phipps is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne. His research interests focus on routines, practices, sustainability and transformative consumer research. He has published his work in a variety of journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the European Journal of Marketing.

Abstract:  From the romance of nature (Canniford and Shankar 2013) to the spectacle of fantasy retail (Kozinet et al. 2004, Maclaran and Brown 2005), a plenitude of space is seen as a way to enhance the overall consumption experience. This presentation investigates consumers who deliberately seek to limit their space. The tiny house movement is a social and architectural trend that advocates living simply in small spaces. Drawing from in-depth interviews with tiny home owners, blogs, and ethnographic notes from meet-ups and festivals, this research explores the unique emotional relationship of living in a very small space. Findings show how spatial constraints lead to a renegotiation of how household practices are traditionally organized. The private can become public, essentials deemed luxuries, and new emotional spaces are often found outside of the household.

Friday, September 6 th , 2019 10:30am to 12:00 noon Room N201

RSVP:     [email protected]

Event open to Faculty and PhD

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Marketing PhD Course Offerings

2018-2019 academic year.

BUSML 8250: Consumer Behavior

Description: This seminar will focus on the study of academic literature in consumer behavior with emphasis on the theoretical and empirical contributions of consumer research.

Instructors: Rebecca Reczek ( [email protected] )

Full Semester, Tuesday 2:15-5:15PM.

BUSML 8253: Recent Advancements in Marketing Research

Description: This seminar will focus on recent developments and applications of Bayesian statistical methods in marketing. The course is targeted to students interested in developing a conceptual understanding of quantitative models, and their operational translation into methods for data analysis.

Instructors: Greg Allenby ( [email protected] )

Full Semester, Time TBD.

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Explore course offerings by core/elective, terms offered, and primary degree program.

Cappo Sales Track

Michigan Ross offers a special track of courses and co-curricular activities for University of Michigan undergraduates interested in a career in the dynamic field of sales. 

The marketing area sponsors a popular seminar series, while additional marketing-related events are offered by the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative and student clubs.                

Marketing PhD Program

Marketing is concerned with developing an understanding of how consumers and companies interact in markets. Our approach is inclusive and interdisciplinary, collaborating with researchers in psychology, statistics, economics, and engineering. Marketing at Michigan Ross addresses both theoretical and applied questions.

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Amulya Velaga

Nishika Uppula

Lilyan Zebib

Jeevin Neelam  

Allison Isaac

Maianh Phan

Nia McCarthy

Kristin Ruffe

The club provides students with tools and coaching to excel in networking and interviewing.

The club provides a platform for its members to learn more about the field of marketing and pursue career opportunities.

The club sponsors activities to help its members develop the skills for successful consulting careers. 

Main Content

Rotman PhD Courses

PhD course listing

View the 2023-2024 PhD Course Schedule

Please view the Course Schedule above for the current 2023-2024 course schedule.  

PhD Course Listing

(In some cases course outlines from previous years are provided as a reference)

RSM3001 Research Methods in Strategic Management Winter 2018 M 10am - 1pm, Location:7024

View 2016-2017 Course Outline 

View 2015-2016 Course Outline

Instructor Joel Baum

Course Scope and Mission

This course is designed for doctoral students who wish to understand and publish research in scholarly journals in strategic management and organization theory. The course is organized in terms of stages in the research process beginning with how to frame research questions and the merits of alternative research methods, covering topics and providing examples in areas such as experimental design, survey design, ethnography, case studies, and archival research. By the end of the course, students will be prepared to critically evaluate research method and design choices for their own research and move on to courses in specific research techniques.

RSM3002 Strategy and Organizations: Introduction to Organization Theory Fall 2018 F 9am-12pm, Location: 7024

Instructor anne bowers, course overview and objectives.

The goal of this doctoral course is to familiarize students with major conceptual frameworks, debates, and developments in contemporary organization theory. This is an inter-disciplinary domain of inquiry drawing primarily from sociology, and secondarily from economics, psychology, anthropology, and political science. It seeks to understand intra- and inter-organizational processes, as well as the relationships between organizations and the cultural context in which they are located. This is an introduction to a vast and multifaceted domain of inquiry. Due to time limitations, this course will touch lightly on many important topics, and neglect others entirely; its design resembles more a map than an encyclopedia. Also, given the focus on theoretical matters, methodological issues will move to the background. Empirical material will be used to illustrate how knowledge is produced from a particular standpoint and trying to answer particular questions, leaving the bulk of the discussion on quantitative and qualitative procedures to your methods courses. Further, some topics that might be naturally covered in this syllabus will be omitted because they are the subject of other courses (“Strategy and Economics” for organizational economics; “Economic Sociology” for institutional theory, social networks, social capital and embeddedness) you will take during your doctoral training.

RSM3003 Strategy & Economics Not offered in 2018-2019

View 2017-2018 Course Outline View 2015-2016 Course Outline

The course emphasizes both seminal research and recent developments in the application of economics to strategic management. We will explore theoretical analyses and empirical studies that address fundamental questions in strategy research:  What are the sources of differential firm performance? What are the appropriate boundaries of the firm? What drives innovation in industries? How does market design relate to strategic management? The overarching objectives of the course are:

• To explore the theoretical foundations of alternative models of strategic management;
• To be able to model phenomenon in an empirically relevant manner;

To integrate lines of thought across strategic management, the economics of innovation, the theory of the firm and organizational economics.

RSM3005 Strategy Seminar Fall/Winter 2018 - 2019 T 1pm - 4pm (Fall), T 10am -1pm (Winter), Location: 7024

Instructor Bill McEvily

RSM3010 Special Topics in the Economics of Technology and Innovation Time: TBA, Location: TBA

Instructor Matt Mitchell , April Franco

RSM3011 Advanced Topics in the Theory of Industrial Organization Winter 2018 Time: TBA, Location:TBA

This course has two objectives: i) to introduce students to the game-theoretic models that are the foundation of the modern theory of firm behavior and ii) to take students to the frontier of Industrial Organization Theory by introducing them to the latest research in the Field. The ultimate goal of the course is to help students develop research topics that will form the basis of their PhD thesis research. Instructor Heski Bar-Isaac

RSM3012 Advanced Topics in Urban and Real Estate Economics Not offered in 2018-2019

View 2017-2018 Course Outline  

This course is primarily aimed at PhD students who have completed the first year of a PhD program in Economics or a related field. Second year MA students are also welcome to consider the course, but should discuss with me before registering.

The course covers the following topics: land use theory, demand estimation and hedonic methods, urban transportation, sorting across political jurisdictions, applied econometric methods for spatial data, and housing and real estate. After taking the course, students will have an understanding of standard urban theory and modern empirical methods plus an overview of empirical evidence on various important applied urban topics. In addition, students will develop an understanding of how to manipulate and analyze spatial data sets. This course will prepare students with many of the necessary tools to undertake their own research in urban and real estate economics or related fields. The material in this course is designed to complement the material in Michel Serafinelli’s graduate Urban and Regional Economics course.

Nathaniel Baum Snow

RSM3020 Introduction to Empirical Research in Accounting Fall 2018 T 3pm - 6pm, Location: RTN 570

Ole-Kristian Hope

RSM3021 Managerial Accounting Seminar Fall 2018 F 9am - 11am,  Location: RTN 570

Jeff Callen

RSM3029 Selected Topics in Financial Accounting Research Winter 2019 M,F 2pm-4pm, Location:RTN 570

Partha Mohanram

RSM3030 Financial Theory I Fall 2018 T 1pm - 5pm, Location: RTN 470

View 2016-2017 course outline  , course description.

This course is an introductory PhD level course on the basic theories of asset pricing. It consists of four parts. The first part deals with individual choices under uncertainty, including expected utility theory, risk aversion, stochastic dominance, and two-period consumption portfolio problems. The second part deals with equilibrium pricing theories, including implications of no arbitrage and stochastic discount factor, risk sharing, aggregation, and consumption-based pricing in complete markets, mean-variance efficiency and the Capital Asset Pricing Model, and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory. We also explore the relation between these various pricing theories and extend the treatment of individual consumption/portfolio problems and equilibrium pricing to a multi-period setting. In the third part, we review recent developments in asset pricing by introducing some stylized facts and new theories. The fourth part provides a brief introduction to asymmetric information in financial markets.

RSM3031 Research Topics in Asset Pricing Winter 2019 T 4pm - 6:30pm, Location: RTN 470

Redouane Elkamhi

RSM3032 Corporate Finance I / Empirical Methods Fall 2018 F 3pm - 6pm, Location: RTN 470

View 2017-2018 Course Outline View 2016-2017 Course Outline

This course is intended to (1) introduce students to a number of substantive and, in some cases, specialized topics in the broadly defined area of empirical research in finance; and (2) familiarize students with the connections among the theory underlying the research, the nature of the research question addressed, and the method used to address the research question. Topics to be covered include financial assets returns characteristics, GMM estimation and applications, predictability of financial assets returns, tests of market efficiency, and empirical tests of asset pricing models. There is an extensive reading list of published and unpublished research papers.

RSM3033 Current Topics in Finance Winter 2019 Time: TBA, Location:TBA

Alexander Dyck , Sergei Davydenko

This is an advanced course in corporate finance. It will introduce you to the main issues in corporate finance, identify principle theoretical tools and empirical approaches, force you to read and understand the "greatest hits" in the field, and foster your thinking about current research questions. The objective is to prepare students to critically evaluate and conduct research in corporate finance.

RSM3034 Empirical Asset Pricing Winter 2019 Time:TBA, Location: TBA

Rsm 3045:  advanced topics in operations management: location analysis not offered in 2018-2019.

View 2017-2018 Course Outline Instructor

Opher Baron

RSM3046 Advanced Topis in Operations Management  Winter 2019 M 10am-12pm, Location: RTN 470

Rsm3051 marketing theory i: consumer behaviour fall 2018 f 1pm - 4pm, location:tba.

View 2017-2018 Course Outline View 2016-2017 Course Outline 

Course Scope and Mission 

The purpose of the class is to discuss the major marketing journals, the review process,the relationship between academic marketing and marketing practice and what is required to achieve academic success.

We will also discuss different perspectives on consumer behaviour. The readings provide background of two different approaches to consumer behaviour, social psychology and behavioural economics, and an overview of current research in consumer behaviour.

Pankaj Aggarwal

RSM3052 Marketing Theory II: Strategy Winter 2019 T 9am - 12pm, Location: RTN 570

Avi Goldfarb

RSM3055 Econometric Methods in Marketing Winter 2019 W 1pm-4pm, Location: RTN 570

View 2016-2017 course outline, course description.

This course focuses on recent developments in quantitative marketing and empirical industrial organization, with an emphasis on dynamic structural models.  We will study techniques for developing and estimating models of demand and competition in both static and dynamic settings.  In these types of models, an economic agent’s decision today can have an impact on how he and other players make their decisions in the future.  In many situations, economic agents recognize this relationship and make strategic choices.  Examples of dynamic demand models include consumer learning models, inventory and stockpiling problems, durable goods adoption and replacement decisions.  Examples of dynamic competition models include dynamic price competition, entry-exit, store location and product positioning.  We will emphasize the importance of combining theory, institutional details and econometric techniques to answer these types of questions in marketing, industrial organization and other applied microeconomics areas.  By discussing several empirical applications in detail, we will illustrate how to apply basic modeling techniques to problems at hand.  There is no text.  The course will be a mixture of lecture notes and discussion of specific papers.

Matthew Osborne

RSM3056 Current Topics in Marketing Strategy Fall 2018 W 2pm - 5pm,  Location: RTN 570

David Soberman

This course builds on RSM 3052, and its aim is to expose students to the frontiers of research in theoretical/empirical marketing strategy so that you can start to think about a dissertation topic.  Generally, we will examine papers of recent vintage, some still in working paper form, to expose you to current developments in the field. The aim of the course is to prepare you for a career in research and most immediately in terms of producing a second-year research paper. At least one class per student will be reserved for discussion of his/her second-year paper.

RSM3058 The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making Fall 2018 TH 10am-1pm, Location: RTN 570

View 2016-2017 course outline , rsm3060 human resource management fall 2018 m 1pm-4pm, location: rts 6024.

Gary Latham

RSM3062 Methods & Research in Organizational Behaviour Winter 2019 M 10am-1pm, Location: TBA

Brian Connelly

RSM3064 Organizational  Behaviour Not offered in 2018-2019

Katy DeCelles

RSM3065 Meso Organizational Behaviour Seminar Fall 2020 T 1pm-4pm, Location: online

View 2020-2021 Course Outline

Marlys Christianson

RSM3080 Research Methods in Business Fall/Winter 2018-2019 Time: TBA, Location: TBA

Stéphane Côté

Besides a firm grounding in their core discipline, PhD students in management also benefit from awareness of the multidisciplinary character of research in management, and connections to standards of scientific inquiry across the disciplines. First, this course seeks to complement students’ disciplinary training by providing some basic aspects of the philosophy of science underlying all scholarly research in the management disciplines. Second, it seeks to expose students to the variety of research questions and research methodologies across the topic areas that dominate research and teaching at schools of management.

Course Format

The course will have three basic components: a. A workshop delivered by Professor Anita McGahan focused on research methods. b. A series of visits to regularly scheduled area research workshops, each followed by a debriefing session. The goal is to schedule these roughly once per month. c. A workshop in which PhD students from each area identify and evaluate the character of major research questions in their management discipline.

RSM3090 Advanced Topics in Opertations Management: Matching Markets Fall 2018 T 3pm - 5pm, Location: RTN 470

Instructors.

Azarakhsh Malekian , Phillipp Afeche

RSM3090 Advanced Topics in Management Science 2:  Modeling Interactions on Networks Winter 2021 T 3pm-5pm, Location: Zoom

View 2020-2021 course outline   instructor.

Azarakhsh Malekian

RSM3090 Models & Methods in Strategic Management Winter 2019 T 2pm - 5pm, Location: RTS 7024

2016-2017 Course Outline pending

Course Objectives

This course introduces a “toolkit” of methods for attempting to estimate causal relationships using field data. We will discuss how to establish what relationships exist in the data, when you can interpret these relationships as causal, and how you can convince your audience of your results (without overselling).

Because methods aren’t too useful without interesting questions to answer, we will also spend time developing our “taste” for what constitutes a quality empirical research paper.  The ultimate goal is for you leave prepared to undertake your own empirical research.

We will also think carefully about the interaction between large-sample empirical research, qualitative institutional data, and theory, especially the importance of careful theoretical thinking (in the context of the institutional details) for empirical research.

Preparation and Prerequisites

This course is designed to complement a graduate sequence in econometrics, but it should be accessible to students with basic knowledge of statistics and probability. We will focus on intuition and understanding how statistical models relate to the underlying data (and theory). Still, there will be technical material in readings, discussions, and assignments.  Talk to Prof. Hoffman if you have any questions about whether or not this class is for you.

Mitch Hoffman

RSM3091 Social Cognition Winter 2019 M 3pm - 5pm, Location: 570

Wil Cunningham

RSM3091 Innovation and Technology Winter 2019 F 12:30pm - 3:30pm, Location: RTS 7024

Shannon Liu

RSM3091 Research Topics Finance Fall 2018 Time: TBA, Location:TBA

Sergei Davydenko

RSM3090 Special Topics: Experimental Economics Fall 2018 M 10am - 1pm, Location: RTN 570

Tanjim Hossain

Overview and Objectives

Incentivized laboratory and field experiments have become a major area of research in economics and it is slowly emerging as a very useful tool in quantitative marketing. Its basic premise is that all good economic theories can be testable in a controlled laboratory or field setting. In fact, one may argue that some economic theories (e.g., theories of refinement in games) can only be tested experimentally. This course surveys some classics of experimental economics and discusses some of its recent developments. We will initially focus on laboratory experiments and then move on to field experiments. The objective of this course is to be able to design good economic experiments.

RSM3091 OBHRM Workshop Fall/Winter 2018-2019 W 2pm - 4pm, Location:6024

Course objective.

This course seeks to provide a forum in which to learn the process of doing research.  The goal of this course is to improve your skills in the consumption and production of academic scholarship.

In the invited seminar series you will have the opportunity to hear and network with speakers from a wide variety of universities presenting work on diverse topics.

The workshop will provide a more hands-on opportunity for participants to hone their research skills by presenting their own research and by providing feedback to others.

The course runs in two parts: the seminar series and the class workshop .

RSM3091 Economic Sociology & Strategy Not offered in 2018-2019

Laura Doering

Course Overview

The goal of this course is to expose students to some of the most important theoretical paradigms and empirical findings in the field of economic sociology, a vibrant area of research that applies a distinct sociological perspective to economic phenomena. The course focuses on core themes in economic sociology and also considers their relevance for strategic management research. Some of economic sociology’s insights deeply permeate contemporary strategy scholarship and remain highly influential; other ideas from the field have received less attention from strategy scholars and thus represent important opportunities for enriching strategic management research.

Ph.D in Marketing Management

Programme information.

Required Credits/Units:  360

The Unicaf University PhD in Marketing Management is awarded on the basis of a research dissertation (240 credits) and also incorporates a preparatory taught element (120 credits) that provides students with the necessary tools to undertake their research, appreciate current research issues in the field of marketing management, and assume future leadership roles in their respective institutions. It is the field of focus of the dissertation (67% of total credits), rather than that of the taught modules (33% of total credits) which imparts the name “Marketing Management” to the qualification.

Programme Outline

Foundation courses.

Course Information

Related courses.

Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Management Information System

Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Finance

Doctorate of Education (EdD)

Ph.D in Accounting and Finance