sombaner

This topic has been discussed before. For example, see http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/136898-marketing-modeling-vs-marketing-strategy.html. I must add that both empirical modeling and empirical marketing strategy require understanding of statistics and econometrics. In case of empirical modeling one needs a bit more training in micro economic theory and IO. Synthesis is right. Marketing strategy is doing pretty well.

This is a good advise for many reasons. Firstly, multi-method research studies are generally not popular because it is very difficult to publish such research. Often reviewers with different beliefs and different paradigms drive the review process and it is very difficult to please them all at the same time. Secondly, academic research is a lot about specialization and depth, and not breadth. Often it is very difficult to master one set of tools and it is not possible for researchers to master multiple methods at the same time. Hence, even when multi-method studies are conducted they require collaboration from researchers with different methodological backgrounds. Thirdly, it may show a lack of focus on the applicant's side which need not be a good thing.

Hi Argha, Thanks for the questions. You can check general information about the UCF PhD program at the linkhttp://www.bus.ucf.edu/documents%5Cmarketing%5CPhD_Program_Policies.pdf (the earlier file and our college website is not fully functional because the college website is undergoing some renovation). As per the file, GMAT scores for our program tend to vary between 600 and 750 with a mean of around 650. I had the following profile when I applied to UCF. http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/118230-2010-applicant-profiiles.html#post783148 . It needs to be noted that GMAT is only one of the components of the application and the admission committee generally considers other factors like strong academic performance, superior communication skills, relevant coursework, and previous research experience during the selection process. We currently have two faculty members who do empirical research in the area of marketing strategy. You can find more information about the research being done by faculty members at UCF College of Business Administration. (As I said before, some of the links are temporarily down because of ongoing work on the website.) I hope that the above information is useful. Regards

I too would go with A in that case.

What was your grade in A's course? Did you have a term paper in the course that you can send back to him to help him remember you and say good things about you?

Hi Evergreen, Thank you for the queries. Firstly, I must mention that everything that I say here is based on my personal experience and opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the official policy of the school. In order to get an official response to your queries I would suggest that you get in touch with the program coordinator at the school. In my personal opinion the school primarily looks at the strength of a student’s profile at the time of admission and only in cases where potential candidates are equally strong the department looks for an even mix in research interests across the three broad research streams viz. Marketing Strategy, Analytical Modeling and CB. (Note that the department has four faculty members who do research using analytical modeling methods and therefore, the department is also interested in students who plan to do research in this area) As far as assistantships are concerned, I have never seen any PhD student being assigned teaching responsibilities (i.e. as Instructor) in their first one and a half year in the program. For example, in normal circumstances I do not expect that those entering the program in Fall 2014 will be assigned teaching responsibilities before Spring 2016 (note that students will go through majority of coursework during this time). However, students generally have to work for 20 hours per week as teaching assistants or research assistants throughout their stay in the program. Once the teaching responsibilities (i.e. as Instructor) start, students are required to teach only one course in a semester except during summer semesters when sometimes students have an option to opt for two courses in order to get a higher stipend (i.e. 5k instead of 3k for summer). Recently, the university has started a competitive research fellowship that includes waiver of teaching responsibilities for students in their last two years in the program so that the students can focus more on dissertation and research.

Hi Everyone, The PhD admission season has started and some of you may be searching for PhD programs that match your interests and profiles. One program that you can consider is the PhD program in Marketing offered by the University of Central Florida. The program will be recruiting around 4-6 students this year and you can find more information on the program at the link given below. http://web.bus.ucf.edu/faculty/pbhardwaj/file.axd?file=2012%2f7%2fWeb+Info+on+marketing_phd_program.pdf In addition, you can also search for information about research being done by its faculty members on the school faculty directory at UCF College of Business Administration. The UCF marketing department ranks 62 in terms of research productivity in the top four marketing journals (JMR, JM, MS and JCR) and it ranks 32 in terms of research productivity in Marketing Science, for the period 2010 to 2013 as per the UTD research rankings for North America. For further questions about the PhD program I would suggest that you contact the PhD program coordinator listed in the above link. However, if you need my personal opinion about any aspect of the program then send me a personal message. I am currently a student at the department and I am quite happy with the support that I have received here.

Argha, I am an Indian PhD student with two children and spouse. I get a stipend of around 23-25k along with a fellowship of 4k (the fellowship was based on my profile at the time I joined the program and I suspect that my GMAT score played a role in me getting it.). Till now everything has been fine and I have 0 debt and a reasonable balance. I think a lot depends on the cost of living of the location. For example, my stipend would not have been sufficient in a place like New York or California.

Sounds like self reference bias. Economic assumptions related to human preference are often formulated on basis of psychology research. For economics that is how psychology plays a complementary role. For example, loss aversion a type of behavioral anomaly as per older economics research (often highlighted in psychology) is now often considered when economic models are built.

The statement is based on the very definition of Micro Economics. For more on this topic I would suggest that you speak to an Economics Professor in your University. (E.g. "Microeconomics examines the behavior of basic elements in the economy, including individual agents (such as households and firms or as buyers and sellers) and markets, and their interactions." as per Wikipedia. ) In addition, note that I was talking about psychology and not social psychology or sociology.

Further, I think it is also important to stress that psychology and Economics are not at odds with each other as many think. Psychology research tells us how people come up with certain preferences and Economics research help us understand how people interact based on their own preferences.

Loss aversion is part of bounded rationality and has been considered in detail in Economics research. It is all together a sub-field in Economics. E.g. Loss Aversion : Bounded Rationality and Industrial Organization Oxford Scholarship Online. http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/hoteck/papers/jmr-review1.pdf http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~camerer/ribe239.pdf Irrationality on the other hand may be characterized as preference reversal which also has been studied in Economics. For example check the following paper. “Tversky A. and R.H. Thaler (1990) “Preference Reversals,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 193-205. I think what many do not appreciate is that Micro Economics has evolved into a methodology and is not same as what it was 30 or 40 year ago.

I took the Measure and Probability course in Spring. I found the course to be too abstract at times. Before I took the Measure and Probability course I did attend a session on Stochastic Processes and Applied Probability Theory. While I found the course to be useful I did not like the instructor, and so I switched to Measure and Probability.

I would differ from the rest. Xlri and ISI are good names. A Masters in Eco along with an MBA is a very good foundation for a Quant. Marketing PhD. Most of the schools you have named are good choices for Quant Marketing and all have at least one or more Indian faculty members who will know about xlri and isi. The 50 is Quant is good but the GMAT score of less than 700 may be a hindrance (at least psychologically). Read more about research in Quant Marketing at Marketing Science, Management Science or JMR and figure out your research interests. If you want to add a few very good schools to your list of Quant Marketing programs add UC Berkley, CMU, U Toronto, USC, Cornell. UTD, Purdue also have very good programs. However, do apply to at least a few (e.g 5 out of 15) programs below top 30. All other candidates in this area are very competitive.

Is morality a matter of taste or a decision variable/strategy?

Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics and Consumer Behavior are different sub areas in Marketing. The first two are much closer to quantitative marketing models than the last one. Of course some researchers borrow theories from CB to create models. For more on such models one can read the following article. The main difference between CB and Behavioral Econ models is that the theory part of research generally involves analytical models in Behavioral Econ type of models. Ho, Teck H., Noah Lim and Colin F. Camerer (2006), "Modeling the Psychology of Consumers and Firms Using Behavioral Economics," Journal of Marketing Research, 43 (3), 307-331. A good foundation in Micro Econ/ Econometrics is important for doing Behavioral Econ research even in Marketing. I am sure that faculty in the Econ and Marketing will help you learn Econ from a book at par with Mas Collel if you ask them. Publishing in good Econ journals is regarded highly in Marketing (at least as much as I know), as long as the research is related to marketing. That should not be a problem.

I thought that there is not much difference. But anyway....matrix algebra is a must if you plan to do econometrics

Very nice question raised... I started teaching last semester and found to my surprise that having gone through research papers makes me a much better teacher. This was particularly because my course was based on HBR cases and many times the cases or the inherent problem in the cases had also served as motivations for research. Moreover, at an EMBA or MBA level research focus of a professor becomes very important. (For example) There are choice model based courses in some of the universities which bring the latest research to class room settings. Of course, research is generally much more advanced compared to actual practice, because what we research today will be taught at least 5 years from now. However, research improves the reputation of a department which has an impact on reputation of business school and prospective students too. Students are ready to pay a much higher premium for a knowledgeable faculty as compared to a lesser knowledgeable one even if the extra knowledge is o not much use to them......

Is anybody going to the Marketing Science Conference in Boston?

Decision analysis course offered by the IE dept. (i.e. multi-criteria decision making, Bayesian stats, expected utility theory, etc.) and IO could be good courses. Real Analysis and Measure Theory will be useful only if you plan to do a lot of theory. Of course, I am assuming that you will take mathematical economics, micro theory 1 & 2, and econometrics 1. Try to do well in these courses.

A blog could be a good way to build reputation among students and practioners, but it has not value as far as research is concerned. If one has something substantive in terms of knowledge then it should get published. Anything that is not published and not peer reviewed has little value as far as academics is concerned.

I think the matter of having good friends is hyped.......While one should certainly have good friends in the program, a happy family is extremely important. Think of it this way....The more friends you have, the less individual homework you will do in your course and more you will depend on others.....also, you will end up spending a lot of time discussing things which may not take you too far.......However, when you have happy family, the less time they will need from you....and more you can invest in studies. Also you will have mental peace, which is very very important for research.......In a PhD program, I think it is better to look for good co workers and co authors than college buddy type of friends.

At UCF the stipend is $ 23-25K including summer support. One can also get a fellowship on top of the stipend depending on ones profile and scores.

I think that you may be a good candidate for a (Quant) Marketing PhD. Is there any stigma associated with changing discipline? I do not think there is stigma attached to changing discipline from Econ to Mktg. You would have anyway taken the same course sequence had you been in Mktg Quant. However, I think you should have letters from your Econ department supporting your credentials. I know quite a few successful Marketing researchers have actually done their PhD in Econ and not in Marketing. E.g. PROFILE: J.Miguel Villas-Boas How much marketing background is required for entering a marketing phd program? To enter a Marketing PhD program you do not need a Marketing background. A lot of Quant Marketing is about IO, Choice Models/Econometrics, Agency Theory etc, which are essentially part of Economics. However, the research that you do should have application in a Marketing context, which requires some amount of informal knowledge of marketing subjects (4Ps, STP etc). If you do not have a Marketing background, then PhD programs will probably require you to attend some of the MBA level courses to gain understanding of Marketing. If any of you on this forum has successful story changing disciplines, would you mind sharing with me? I know of some, but cannot share their details for privacy reasons. I also heard that you could still do an economics phd but write your dissertation on a marketing related topic. Would you recommend me to stay at my economics program and follow this path or apply next year to a Marketing program? It may be possible, but I do not have any information on this. I think it would be better to directly contact the department.

The broad areas (CB or Quant) themselves define which substantive area (Product, Pricing etc. ) you can research. For example, I do research only on sales force and channel management, and I am mostly into analytical and to some extent into empirical modeling. In my view you can only do research in these areas using quant tools. I have not seen a paper in JCR that looks into such issues. Similarly, Branding is something that has largely been researched using CB tools, though there is some analytical and empirical research on branding. Competition is something which one cannot analyze without game theory and NEIO type of research, which again fall in the realm of quantitative marketing. Product level strategy can be studied from both quant and CB perspectives. For example, if you are interested in finding whether you should give a customer an option to add a feature at additional cost or decrease a product feature at additional cost (things related to prospect theory) then CB is more suited. However, if you are interested in whether an increase in bargaining power of retailers lead to lower product quality then quant is the right research tool. The idea is that, the broad areas Quant and CB themselves will determine which research questions and areas you can study. Initially, it might looks strange, but it makes a lot of sense, once you start reading research in these areas. Choose the areas (CB/Quant) carefully, because a lot depends on what you choose. I would suggest that you go through three journals to understand these research areas viz. JCR (CB), Marketing Science ( Analytical and Empirical Modeling), JM (Marketing Strategy and Empirical Modeling).