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Doctoral student comments:
Yogesh Joshi
Jeffrey Larson
I chose Wharton because it was the largest, most productive, most diverse and reputed department for research in marketing
--Yogesh Joshi
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Marketing is fundamentally concerned with the description and prediction of decision outcomes involving all aspects of the firm that relate to its customers, competitors, distributors, and business regulators. Interest in description and prediction, in turn, is associated with the improvement of marketing decision making.
Marketing is an interdisciplinary field that draws upon theory and methodology from a wide variety of sources, including psychology, sociology, mathematics, statistics, and economics. Recent developments in the field include new methods and theories for understanding buyers' perceptions and preferences, probabilistic choice models, models for allocating marketing resources, econometric analysis of large data bases, and micro-economic models for marketing strategy.
The Wharton School's Marketing Department has had a long tradition in the development of new research methodologies and the successful implementation of new decision models and techniques in the practice of marketing.
Members of the Department tend to be very active in cutting-edge research. Each of the seminars offered by the Department reflects a combination of technical expertise and field-level experience. Graduates of the program have received offers of faculty positions at leading business schools, including Cornell, Duke, University of Chicago, Northwestern, NYU, LBS, Columbia, Emory, Harvard, USC, and UCLA.
Selected faculty and graduate student research topics include: cognitive processes of consumers, consumer preference measurement, marketing decision support systems, design and adoption of new products, marketing and competitive strategy, and international marketing.
The Wharton Doctoral Programs are part of the Graduate Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania and as such they operate within the general framework of degree requirements and financial regulations stated in detail in the University's graduate academic bulletins, available from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Admissions Office, 16 College Hall, phone (215) 898-7444.
Program of Study
The Ph.D. program in marketing is based on a minimum of sixteen* graduate level courses: seven marketing seminars, two statistics courses, an economics course, two to three courses in a related field, and three to four electives - as well as the dissertation. These courses assume that the student has a basic knowledge of various business areas, computer programming, calculus, and matrix algebra. Of the sixteen courses, a maximum of four* can consist of transfer courses for graduate work at other universities. To transfer credits from another University, a student needs to submit a written request to the Department PhD Coordinator during his/her first year. In addition, only two of the sixteen courses can be independent study courses..
* For students entering Fall 2006 and later.
Objectives
The program's specific objectives are:
- To provide an interdisciplinary environment for the generation of creative ideas in marketing;
- To provide sufficient analytic skills for evaluation (and implementation) of these ideas, i.e., critical insight;
- To provide training in the communication of these ideas to others; and
- To encourage a type of cumulative contribution to the marketing field by a process of learning how to learn, i.e., the strategy of scholarly inquiry.
We implement these objectives by means of a varied program of seminars, joint research projects, and colloquia.
Marketing Advanced Topics Seminars (MKTG 968 and MKTG 969)
All students, except those on the job market, are required to attend, serve as leaders for, and be active participants in the Advanced Ph.D. seminars (MKTG 968 and 969) held Fridays at lunchtime. This will expose the students to a wide variety of advanced topics in Marketing. In addition, students should enroll in these courses for credit at least once (as electives).
Student Involvement with the Department Colloquia
In addition to the Advanced Topics Seminars, all Ph.D. students are expected to participate actively in the Department's colloquia, which feature presentation of research in progress by department faculty members, Ph.D. students, other schools, and guests. Lists of colloquia speakers and topics are posted on Marketing Colloquia and Decision Processes Colloquia throughout the fall and spring semesters.
Basic Courses
- Economics Requirement
Students are required to take one of the following three Economics sequences: 701 and 703, OR ECON 681 and 682, OR BPUB 250 (which students register to take as BPUB 999)
- Statistics Requirement
A one-year graduate level sequence in statistics or in probability and statistics is required. Any of the following sample sequences can be used. Students may substitute other graduate level courses upon approval of the graduate director of the Statistics Department.
- Stat 520/521
- Stat 520/512
- Stat 510/520
- Stat 550/551
- Stat 500/501
- Econ 705/706
Major Field Requirements
The following courses are currently offered by the Marketing Department, each equal to one c.u. Please see Course Descriptions for more information about the course content, and follow the semester date links in the Quick Links Box for schedules. Students wishing to take any of these courses need permission from the department before they can register for them. After receiving approval from the course instructor, students need to contact the PhD Course Coordinator so a permit can be issued in the registrar's system.
- MKTG 960 Judgment and Decision Making Perspectives on Consumer Behavior (every other year)
- MKTG 961 Economic/OR Models in Marketing (every other year)
- MKTG 963 Information Processing Perspectives on Consumer Behavior (every other year)
- MKTG 964 Empirical Models in Marketing (every other year)
- MKTG 966 Measurement and Data Analysis in Marketing (annual)
- MKTG 967 Research Methods in Marketing (annual)
- MKTG 968 Advanced Topics in Consumer Research (annual)
- MKTG 969 Advanced Topics in Marketing Research (annual)
- MKTG 970 PhD Seminar in Marketing Strategy
- MKTG 999 Independent Study
The Marketing Department requires that students take the following seven Ph.D. seminars: MKTG 960, 961, 963, 964, 966, 967 and 970. These seminars cover those areas of marketing in which all Ph.D. marketing student should have basic competence, not only to understand the contemporary literature, but to contribute to the future of the discipline. All marketing students entering in Fall 2008 or later, must takes these seminars.
The seminars involve in-depth consideration of various aspects of marketing. Ordinarily, a student taking these seminars will have already completed some work in quantitative methods and, perhaps, in behavioral sciences as well. The general objectives of these seminars are to: (1) discuss contemporary research problems and relevant literature, and (2) describe concepts and techniques for handling the research questions, current and future, in each field.
Note: Current syllabi (PDF format) for courses are available only to Wharton users through SPIKE.
Related Fields
Students also complete two to three course units of work in a related field. A partial list of possible related fields includes:
- Communications Research
- Decision Processes
- Econometrics
- Economics
- Information Systems
- Operations Research
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Statistics
Admission to Candidacy
Before admission to candidacy, the student is required to
- Complete the course requirements as described above.
- Take and pass the Marketing preliminary examination offered at the end of the first year.
- Complete a faculty-supervised first year research paper.
- Complete a faculty-supervised summer research paper after completion of Year 1 and before the start of Year 2.
- Complete all forms required by the University. Link to forms.
Sample Program Sequence
Year 1, Fall
MKTG 967; STAT 500 or 510 or 520 or 550 or ECON 705; MKTG 960; ECON 681 or 701 or BPUB 250 (which students register to take as BPUB 999)
Year 1, Spring
MKTG 961; STAT 501 or 512 or 520 or 521 or 551 or ECON 706; MKTG 966; ECON 682 or 703
Year 1, Summer
Marketing Preliminary Exam
Year 2, Fall
MKTG 963, MKTG 968, Electives, Research
Year 2, Spring
MKTG 964, MKTG 969, MKTG 970, Electives, Research
Year 3, Fall and Spring
Electives, Dissertation proposal defense
Year 4, Fall and Spring
Electives, Final dissertation defense
Special Requirements
Degree candidates must take the required basic courses (in statistics and economics) and the seven required marketing core courses . Students are also required to complete a research papers, and to pass preliminary examination in marketing.
Current Faculty and Student Research
An array of research topics have covered areas such as cognitive processes of consumers, consumer preference measurement, marketing decision support systems, design and adoption of new products, marketing and competitive strategy, and international marketing.
Recent projects in the department include: the effects of incentives and goals on the acquisition of expertise in high-motivation environments; the effects of delayed service in the evaluation of medical experiences; improving indicators for consumer response to home video sales; understanding how consumers react to price shocks; the perceived value of human effort on the quality of goods; and models for compensation between vendors on the Internet.
For Further Information:
Graduate School Coordinator
Managerial Sciences and Applied Economics
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
1150 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6302
Phone (215) 898-4877.
Further information is also available on the Doctoral Programs website.
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