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PH.D. in Business Administration: Major Field in Marketing

The Ph.D. in business administration program through the Department of Marketing provides intensive study in marketing.  It prepares the student for significant professional contributions in university research and teaching.

The goal of the Marketing Department faculty is to train students to advance the theory and practice of the marketing discipline. This is carried out within the structure of formal course work and through informal individual and small- group research efforts. The OSU program emphasizes personal interaction between faculty and students through activities such as a speaker series, research paper series, joint research, and social gatherings. A learning environment exists in which both students and faculty can achieve intellectual and professional career growth.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Outstanding students from any field of study may apply. It is not necessary that applicants have either an undergraduate degree in Business or an MBA. It is normally expected that the applicant will have obtained a Master's degree in some area prior to the initial enrollment in the program. Students are only admitted on a full-time, in-residence basis. Admittance decisions are based on assessments of intellectual capacity, research potential and motivation, and teaching potential. Factors that may be taken into consideration include:
  • GMAT performance (550 minimum requirement)
    Note: the GRE can be considered in place of the GMAT
  • Undergraduate and Master's GPA
  • Motivation to conduct research
  • Prior teaching experience
  • Business/industry experience
  • If English is a second language, performance on TOEFL (230 minimum for computerized form, 600 minimum for written form) or the IELTS (6.5 minimum)
  • Letters of recommendation

It is not necessary that candidates possess research, teaching, and/or business/industry experience. All selection criteria are considered, and weaknesses in some areas will not necessarily preclude admission to the program.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:
Students admitted to the program begin in the Fall semester. Those interested in applying should begin by following the procedures outlined by the Graduate College. You can obtain an application packet from the Graduate College's website and/or apply online through this link: http://gradcollege.okstate.edu/default.htm.  You may also contact the program coordinator for assistance at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Additional materials that are required for application include the following:
  • GMAT and/or GRE scores (institution code is V0W-5V-52)
  • Resume or academic vita
  • One-page personal statement of motivation to pursue the Ph.D.
  • 3 letters of recommendation

Letters can be provided by professors, workplace supervisors, or anyone else in a position to comment on a candidate's intellectual capacity, motivation, or other personal qualifications relevant to the successful pursuit of a Ph.D.

For full consideration, applications must be received by March 1 prior to the Fall semester you wish to be considered for admission. Applications received after that date may still be considered on a space-available basis.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
The main form of financial support comes through Assistantship positions. In most cases, a student is only admitted if there is an assistantship position available for him/her. Assistantships require assignments as either a course instructor or a research assistant each semester. These assistantships are provided for four years, assuming acceptable performance in both the assistantship position and the Ph.D. program. The assistantships provide for tuition waivers and a monthly stipend. Other financial resources are available on a competitive basis from both the Graduate College and the Department of Marketing for exceptionally qualified applicants. For information on specific financial aspects of graduate study, please visit the Graduate College website.

 

PROGRAM CONTENT:
Students must complete 90 credit hours of graduate work, including the doctoral dissertation; 60 hours must come from beyond the masters level (if applicable). For students entering the program with an MBA, this usually works out to a four-year program with two years of course work and an additional one-two years to complete comprehensive exams and to research, write, and defend the dissertation.

Candidates are expected to have or to develop a basic competence in the major functional areas of business and in quantitative methods. Candidates who lack basic competence in any of the areas must take, on a deficiency basis, the necessary courses. The functional areas of business are defined as: marketing, economics, finance, managerial accounting, operations management, and organizational theory. Economics requires six hours of course work. Successful completion of one appropriate graduate course (5000 or 6000 level) in the other areas will normally satisfy this requirement. Students who possess a recent Master’s of Business Administration accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business are likely to meet these requirements. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis for students with degrees from foreign universities. All candidates are expected to have completed appropriate basic courses, or to demonstrate competence by examination, in calculus and intermediate statistics.

As a major field of study, marketing requires a minimum of 15 hours of course work. The following required Ph.D. seminars provide 9 of the 15 hours.

  • Seminar in Marketing Strategy
  • Seminar in Marketing Theory
  • Seminar in Buyer Behavior

The remaining six hours can be taken in a graduate marketing seminar that complements the student’s interests.

The program requires that students complete a nine-hour minor in another discipline such as management, psychology, sociology, or economics. Alternatively, the minor may be earned in an interdisciplinary field such as international business or public policy. The selection of course work requires the consent of the program committee.

All students are required to take 18 hours of course work in quantitative/research methods. Six of these hours may come from previous graduate-level work. Two specific Ph.D. seminars are required as part of the 18 hours:

  • Seminar in Measurement Theory
  • Seminar in Advanced Marketing Research
  • Seminar in Structural Equations Modeling


The remaining hours of quantitative/research methods course work can be selected from various areas such as multivariate methods, survey research, experimental design, econometrics, regression analysis, structural equations modeling, and so forth.

The completed dissertation represents the culmination of a period of intensive research. As such, the first phase of the dissertation involves the development of a formal written dissertation proposal that is defended orally before the dissertation committee in an open meeting. Following approval of the proposal, the research is conducted and the dissertation is written. This second phase is marked by extensive interaction between the Ph.D. candidate, the dissertation chairperson, and the dissertation committee. The final phase involves a defense of the dissertation before the marketing faculty in an open meeting.

 
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