Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Business Administration - Marketing

The PhD Program in Business Administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business prepares candidates for research and teaching careers at leading educational institutions and for careers where advanced research and analytical capabilities are required. The PhD program places major emphasis on independent inquiry, on the development of competence in research methodology, and on the communication of research results. Students are introduced at the outset of the program not only to rigorous coursework, but also to the research activities of the faculty and of other students. A ratio of doctoral students-in-residence to faculty of less than one-to-one facilitates this opportunity to work closely with faculty. The PhD program usually requires four to six years of work, with an average of roughly five years. The student and the faculty in his/her area determine the specific program of study in accordance with each student's goals and interests. Each student is required to gain expertise in an area of special interest via coursework or independent study and to take a comprehensive exam in this area, usually during the second or third year of residence. The final requirement is the presentation of a dissertation. The PhD program offers programs of research and training in the areas of accounting, decision sciences, finance, marketing, management, operations management, and strategy. Marketing is the process whereby demands for products, services and ideas are anticipated, managed and satisfied. This broad area of study has generated research at three levels. The first, or macro level, examines factors affecting the structure and efficiency of markets and the profitability of firms within markets. Often such explorations use economic theory. One example is the study of the effect of product differentiation on the optimal channel structure and profitability for the firms within an industry. A second level of research is at the managerial level. The emphasis at this level is on improving the decision making abilities of managers. The methodology used is very diverse. It includes compiling descriptive information on how managers now go about making decisions, developing heuristics to augment current practices and building normative models of how managers should make decisions. Work at this level can be useful to both the public and business sectors. For example, one can develop new methods for testing advertising copy, examine the effects on purchase behavior of providing nutritional information in a grocery store or build an expert system which makes an individual manager’s expertise available throughout the firm. The third, or micro, level is concerned with understanding the factors that influence buyer behavior. Often the theoretical base for these studies is psychological. Examples of studies at this level are determining the differential effect of a verbal or pictorial advertising message on the consumer’s brand preferences, testing the effects of Internet search agents on consumer choice, or examining emotionally difficult consumer choices. The Ph.D. Program in Marketing at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is designed to provide students with the training necessary for a successful research and teaching career in any of the above areas. This training is done by having students take courses selected to meet their individual needs and interests, work with faculty members on joint research, conduct a series of original research projects which ultimately lead to a dissertation, and assist in the teaching of marketing courses.