While the School endeavors to offer as many of the courses as possible, not all courses are offered every semester. It is important to check with individual departments prior to scheduling classes to determine the availability of courses for any given semester.
The Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania reserves the right to make changes affecting policies, fees, curricula, or any other matters announced here.
MKTG 960: Judgment and Decision Making Perspectives on Consumer Behavior
Fall (Alternates years with MKTG 963)
The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students with a solid foundation for critical thinking and research on the judgment, decision-making and choice aspects of consumer behavior. In particular, we will focus on how people process information when making judgments and choices. We will also discuss 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.
MKTG 961: Economic/OR Models in Marketing
(Alternates years with MKTG 964)
This 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. As the title suggests, 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.
MKTG 963: Information Processing Perspectives on Consumer Behavior
Fall. (Alternates years with MKTG 960)
The purpose of this seminar is to provide graduate students with a solid foundation for critical thinking and research in psychology and marketing on information processing related topics. Topics of discussion include consumer knowledge (learning, memory and categorization), attitude theory, persuasion, affect 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 current 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.
MKTG 964: Empirical Models in Marketing
Spring. (Alternates years with MKTG 961)
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 this 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.
MKTG 966: Measurement Data Analysis in Marketing
Spring.
In this course we consider models for binary, count, and continuous data including contingency table models, logistic and probit regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA, conjoint analysis, and OLS. In addition we cover multidimensional techniques such as MDS, cluster analysis, principal components analysis, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis.
MKTG 967: Research Methods in Marketing
Fall.
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.
MKTG 968 Advanced Topics in Marketing Research: Models
Fall and Spring.
This course is taught collectively by the faculty members from the Marketing Department. It is designed to expose advanced Ph.D. students (2nd year and up) to the cutting-edge research in marketing models in order to help them to define and advance their research interests (an equivalent course is also offered on behavior research). 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.
MKTG 969: Advanced Topics in Marketing Research: Consumer Behavior
Fall and Spring.
The purpose of this course is to investigate advanced topics in consumer behavior. The class will be organized in a way that allows you to 1) gain depth in important areas of consumer behavior research identified by faculty; 2) gain exposure to various faculty in marketing and their research values and styles; and 3) develop and advance your own research interests.
MKTG 970: PhD Seminar in Marketing Strategy
Spring.
This PhD seminar is designed to help students understand the role of marketing within the organization, its business strategy, and its success. It exposes students to the main issues in marketing strategy and marketing strategy research, and helps them critically evaluate both fundamental ideas and more recent developments. This course is intended for second year students and above.
The course follows a weekly seminar discussion format requiring each participant to be actively involved in each session. Participants will be assigned readings to present or critique, but all participants will be expected to have read every paper. Students will be assessed based on class contributions (20%), three short response papers (20%), and a term paper (60%).
The term paper will address an important issue in marketing strategy. It will comprise a research question that is grounded in the relevant literature, a motivation for studying the question, and a proposal for researching it. The proposed research could take the form of an analytical model with a well-specified structure or an empirical study involving an experiment, quasi-experiment, survey, analysis of secondary data, or meta-analysis. The paper will be due on the last day of the exam period. During the last class, each student will make a 10 minute presentation (followed by minutes of Q&A) of their proposed study and share what they have learned so far with the class.