The Marketing specialisation

What is marketing?

Marketing is the study of how organisations interact with customers (and vice versa). As such it focuses on how organisations create value for customers and capture value from customers in return. The Marketing specialisation of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing and Operations is part of the Marketing PhD pathway. It is divided into 3 broad areas: marketing strategy, marketing modelling, and consumer behaviour.

Marketing strategy

Marketing strategy research views the firm’s interaction with its customers (and external stakeholders more generally) from the perspective of the firm’s managers. Chiefly through quantitative analysis of empirical data, researchers in marketing strategy address questions linking the actions of the firm and its managers vis-à-vis external stakeholders with the firm’s performance.

Marketing modelling

Marketing modelling research involves economic analysis of the interactions among firms and consumers. Researchers in marketing modelling address their research questions by means of analytical modelling with a game theory approach, econometric analysis of empirical data, or experimental economics methods.

Consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour research investigates the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different marketplace alternatives. Researchers in consumer behaviour draw heavily upon the theories and methodologies of experimental psychology, particularly experimental social psychology.

Learn more about our supervising faculty’s research interests

Ahmed Khwaja

Professor of Marketing, Business & Public Enterprise

Head of the Marketing Subject Group

About Ahmed’s research

On the substantive side, Ahmed has investigated topics related to experience spillovers in market entry, retail chain expansion and size dynamics, long run and short run effects of collaboration in pharmaceutical innovation, effect of employee engagement on customer satisfaction, and moral hazard & adverse selection in health care markets.

Dominique Lauga

Professor of Marketing

Fellow of Emmanuel College

About Dominique’s research

Dominique’s research interests are in marketing modelling and behavioural economics. In particular, her research focuses on strategic interactions between firms and consumers, with a special interest in product development, pricing, advertising and product reviews.

Shasha Lu

Associate Professor in Marketing

About Shasha’s research

Shasha’s research interests mainly lie in developing quantitative tools that combine state-of-the-art video analytics and machine learning techniques from computer science with current marketing models to improve business practices in areas such as retailing, advertising, fashion and entertainment marketing, among others.

Vincent Mak

Professor of Marketing & Decision Sciences

About Vincent’s research

Vincent’s research lies in how people and firms make strategic decisions as they interact with each other, and what economic and psychological factors influence those decisions. The topics of his research include pricing, search behaviour, decisions in networks, and competitive strategies. He typically employs the insights and methods of experimental economics, game theory, and psychology to investigate his research questions.

Jaideep Prahbu

Professor of Marketing

Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business & Enterprise

About Jaideep’s research

Jaideep’s research interests are in marketing, innovation, strategy and international business. In particular, he studies various cross-national issues concerning the antecedents and consequences of innovation. His current research is mainly on innovation in emerging markets and innovation by, for or with low income communities worldwide.

Eden Yin

Associate Professor in Marketing

Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management

About Eden’s research

Eden’s research interests include innovation and new product growth in technology industries, and internationalisation strategies for firms from emerging markets.

Curriculum

Each student must write a dissertation and take 6 modules, or take 9 modules in total (one of which must be the Individual Research Project).

Core modules

The core modules for the Marketing Strategy/Marketing Modelling specialisation of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing and Operations are:

This module enables you to understand how linear regression and associated statistical techniques are used to examine causal relationships from primarily cross-sectional, observational data. By the end of the module you will be able to  specify, estimate, test, interpret and critically evaluate single equation regression models, with applications in subject areas of management, finance and business economics.

To carry out empirical research that has the potential to make an original contribution to knowledge in management, finance, business economics and similar fields, it is necessary to exploit the richness and structure of longitudinal as well as cross-sectional, individual-level data. It is necessary to become competent in an array of micro-econometric techniques that help researchers to build into the design of their studies, a variety of complexities (in decision-making, for example) and also compensate for partial observability that is inherent in available data.

This module introduces you to research-level micro-econometric methods. It provides the background required to confidently choose techniques and methods suited to different types of data-sources and models. The focus is on how techniques relate to theory, on the insights that can be drawn from their application, and critical interpretation and appraisal of results.

You must have taken the Econometrics I course to take this course.

You are introduced to the foundations necessary to conduct research in the three areas of marketing, operations & technology management, and finance, with a view to developing your own skills as researchers in these areas and in business in general. This course covers standard models of:

  • individual choice under certainty and uncertainty
  • production theory
  • general equilibrium
  • monopoly pricing, price discrimination
  • information economics
  • behavioural economics

The course gives you some fundamental knowledge of competitive markets, enabling you to leverage your course knowledge to do original research and write papers in your chosen field of research in a business school.

This course is a survey of three distinct yet related areas: marketing, innovation and emerging economies. Marketing is the study of the interaction between organisations and markets. Innovation is the study of the commercial exploitation by organisations of new ideas. Emerging economies, such as India and China, are the big economic phenomenon of the contemporary global scene and the theatre in which new opportunities for marketing and innovation are unfolding in real time. This course takes a strategic perspective on these topics, viewing them all from the perspective of the firm and its performance.

One of the following 2 courses, depending on year:

This seminar-based module is an overview of quantitative modelling approaches to research on marketing problems. Three major areas are covered:

  • Empirical modelling (econometrics)
  • Analytical modelling (game theory/industrial organisation)
  • Experimental economics/behavioural game theory

In each session you’re required to read, analyse and comment on selected papers surrounding the key themes of that session. At least half of every session will be devoted to student presentations and group discussion. Having completed the module, you’ll possess some basic knowledge of quantitative modelling in marketing. You’ll also be able to leverage your course experience to develop an in-depth understanding of relevant topics for a research career at a business school.

This seminar-based module is an overview of issues related to consumer behaviour research in marketing. The module includes readings on marketing research as well as cognate home disciplines such as psychology and behavioural economics. Two major areas are covered:

  • The information processing perspective
  • The behavioural decision perspective

In each session you’re required to read, analyse and comment on selected papers surrounding the key themes of that session. At least half of every session will be devoted to student presentations and group discussion. Having completed the module, you’ll possess some basic knowledge that will help you appreciate and conduct consumer behaviour research. You’ll also be able to leverage your learning experience to develop an in-depth understanding of relevant topics for a research career at a business school.

Offered biennially:

This course is for students who wish to pursue a research career in a business school and consists of a mix of lectures and seminar-based sessions in which you read, analyse and comment on selected papers. Following the course, you’ll be able to leverage your course knowledge to do original research and write papers in your chosen field of research.

Topics covered include:

  • Static games of complete information (normal form games)
    • Modelling strategic interactions
    • Iterated dominance and rationalisability
    • Nash equilibrium
    • Application: imperfect competition
    • Mixed strategies
  • Dynamic games of complete information (extensive form games)
    • Extensive form and Nash equilibrium
    • Subgame perfect equilibrium
    • Application: product differentiation
    • Repeated games and one-step deviation
  • Static games of incomplete information
    • Motivation
    • Bayesian Nash equilibrium
  • Dynamic games of incomplete information
    • Perfect Bayesian equilibrium
    • Signalling

Electives

The elective modules for the Marketing Strategy/Marketing Modelling specialisation of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing and Operations are:

This course helps you understand a variety of predominantly quantitative research methods, as well as their embeddedness within various research designs. The course is divided into two independent content blocks, parts I and II, and is designed in such a way that part II can be attended without having attended part I previously. Upon completion you’ll have a good understanding of various research methods commonly used in management research, and will have applied this knowledge to your own research project.

Specifically, the course covers the following content areas, among others:

Part I

  • Research design
  • Experimental & quasi-experimental design
  • Survey design & analysis
  • Mediation & moderation

Part II

  • Multilevel design & analysis
  • Social network design & analysis
  • Big data research design & analysis
  • Meta-analysis

The course increases your understanding of organisational research methods and your sensitivity to the practical problems in conducting organisational research, and enables you to apply organisational research methods to your own research projects and interests.

This course focuses on some key theories and central debates that help us conceptualise the relationship between information systems, innovation, and strategic change. The main texts will draw from information systems, sociology, sociology of technology, and organisation theory. The course examines three key themes:

  • The role of new information technologies in processes of innovation and strategic change within and between industries
  • The role of information systems in enabling innovative work practices and the organisational issues involved in implementing and using technological innovations
  • The relationship between information technology and processes of globalisation

This course covers key theories in the field of strategy, innovation and organisations. We discuss the foundational theories, central debates and key readings that help us understand organisations and their strategies to survive and innovate through both technological and managerial innovations. Discussions include why managers adopt particular courses of action, how innovation is fostered, how are new markets created and how is strategy formulated. The field of innovation, strategy and organisations is inherently interdisciplinary, and so is this course. Accordingly, we not only discuss the underpinnings of research in innovation, strategy and organisations but also a host of related questions that have since become significant to understanding this body of research. The course is based around intensive seminar-based sessions. The format is group debates around contrasting perspectives related to the readings. The course enables you to critically interpret, analyse and problematise scholarly material and develop an understanding of how to make theoretical contributions in the field.

This course focuses on the foundational theories, central debates and key texts that help us conceptualise organisational dynamics. It provides you with advanced reading, writing and interpretation skills relating to, for example, organisational identity, organisational control and theories of entrepreneurship. It is based around intensive seminar-based sessions in which key articles are closely read and discussed. Having completed the course, you will be equipped to interpret and problematise scholarly material relating to the organisation of innovation in a creative and critical manner.

In a large number of empirical contexts in finance and management, data are temporarily ordered in the form of time series. The Time Series Econometrics module introduces you to concepts and methods that are appropriate for empirical research in such settings, covering methods for exploratory time series analysis, estimation of dynamic causal effects and forecasting.

This research seminar helps you understand a variety of cutting-edge topics in organisational behaviour (OB). The overarching question we try to address is how these topics relate to individual, group and organisational effectiveness. Specifically, the course covers the following content areas:

  • making a theoretical contribution to OB
  • personality and values
  • creativity
  • culture
  • leadership
  • ethics
  • affects and cognition
  • artificial intelligence and its applications to organisational behaviour

The objectives of this course are to familiarise you with classic and current articles that have shaped the field of organisational behaviour, and to prepare you to develop and conduct organisational behaviour research yourself.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

An introduction to the behavioural approach to economics, we cover behavioural game theory, intertemporal decision-making, neuroeconomics, cognitive biases, decision-making heuristics and addiction. The course includes both theoretical and empirical material, but a recurring theme is the importance of experimental findings both in the laboratory and in the field.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

The course introduces you to the economics of networks. This area of research has emerged in the last 2 decades and it has introduced a set of tools for economists to incorporate network structure in the analysis of individual behaviour and economic outcomes. Topics covered include the formation of networks, the provision of local public goods, coordination, learning, trading, and financial networks. A central focus of the course is the interplay between theory and experiments.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

The Industrial Organisation course provides a rigorous treatment of the main concepts in industrial organisation. The course covers both theory and applications.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

This course is on development economics and deals with the economic problems of poor countries. It considers some of the main theoretical and analytical issues in development economics as well as the historical development process of now-developed countries. The topics covered are growth, development, poverty, inequality, education, technology, innovation, mutual insurance, finance, savings, weather, climate, health, pandemics, representative democracy, religion, social capital and conflict.

One of the following 2 courses, depending on year:

This course surveys the major theoretical perspectives and empirical studies in strategic management research, particularly as it relates to the underlying strategic and organisational processes.

Strategic management is currently one of the liveliest areas in all of the social sciences, in part because of the importance of understanding how to best position organisations and get ahead of competition and in part because of the challenges to traditional theory that have emerged over the past 20 years. Strategy deals with charting the future directions of the firm and implementing these directions to maximise the long-term profits. Accordingly, strategic management and processes address the resources, capabilities and strategic positioning of the firm to create and sustain competitive advantage as well as the psychological and social challenges in implementing organisations’ strategies.

This course provides a foundational survey of the key theories, puzzles, and empirical contributions in strategic management. These include the relationship between different strategies and the resource and capability bundles firms develop, strategic positions they create, and their financial performance and competitive advantage. The course gives attention to how decision makers operate at the upper echelons, such CEOs, executive teams, and boards of directors, and how they shape the firm’s strategic choices. The course also covers substantive research on the changes to competitive and corporate strategies undertaken by firms in connection with the disruptions in the environment.  The course involves active student participation and discussions in a stimulating class environment and the critiques of seminal classic contributions and latest research in key strategy topics. It also involves you developing your own research ideas and learning to communicate them effectively. The focus of the module is on developing you for a scholarly research career.

One of the following 2 courses, depending on year:

This course critically examines research that has been conducted in unconventional contexts and that investigates grand challenges, eg poverty, inequality, conflict and climate change. The major themes that are explored include gaining access to novel and unconventional research sites, field-level ethical and moral issues when investigating grand challenges, novel research methods, eg online/digital ethnography, the researcher-practitioner interface, theorising from data gathered from unconventional contexts, and publishing research conducted in novel and unconventional contexts and that investigates grand challenges.

This course examines critical issues concerning digital and social innovation for organisations and the wider society. The module focuses on theories from organisation theory, IS, innovation and management to conceptualise digital and social innovation. Their role in enabling opportunities is discussed as well as the unexpected consequences of innovation for different industries and societies.

This module is designed for you to conduct individual research under the supervision of SMO faculty members. Research projects can consist of a thorough literature review related to a specific research question, an in-depth critique of published papers, or a specific application of a research methodology (such as a pilot study on the basis of limited data). Our goal is to familiarise you with the faculty members’ current research and bring you closer to the frontier of knowledge. The module can prepare you for the individual research that you will undertake in PhD studies, and can indeed become the starting point of future PhD research.

Please note the IRP can only be chosen as one of 9 modules if the dissertation option was not chosen.

It may be possible that your elective coursework modules can include modules from other research courses offered by Cambridge Judge Business School or other University of Cambridge departments that are not in the above list, upon approval by the Degree Committee.

Core modules

The core modules for the Consumer Behaviour specialisation of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing and Operations are:

This module enables you to understand how linear regression and associated statistical techniques are used to estimate causal relationships from primarily cross-sectional, observational data. You are introduced to the principles and methods in data analysis, and their application. By the end of the course you should understand how linear regression and associated statistical techniques are used to estimate causal relationships from cross-sectional data. You will be also able to specify, estimate, test, interpret and critically evaluate single equation regression models, with applications in a variety of subject areas of management, finance and business economics. It is expected that students will be equipped to read and critically evaluate empirical papers in research journals in management.

The module runs twice per week. All Technology Policy students are required to pass a qualifying test based on a summer reading list at the beginning of Michaelmas Term.

To carry out empirical research that has the potential to make an original contribution to knowledge in management, finance, business economics and similar fields, it is necessary to exploit the richness and structure of longitudinal as well as cross-sectional, individual-level data. It is necessary to become competent in an array of micro-econometric techniques that help researchers to build into the design of their studies, a variety of complexities (in decision-making, for example) and also compensate for partial observability that is inherent in available data.

This module introduces you to research-level micro-econometric methods. It provides the background required to confidently choose techniques and methods suited to different types of data-sources and models. The focus is on how applied techniques relate to theory, on the insights that can be drawn from their application, and critical interpretation and appraisal of results.

You must have taken the Econometrics I course to take this course. A further module on Time Series Econometrics is offered as an elective in Easter term.

This course is a survey of 3 distinct yet related areas: marketing, innovation and emerging economies. Marketing is the study of the interaction between organisations and markets. Innovation is the study of the commercial exploitation by organisations of new ideas. Emerging economies, such as India and China, are the big economic phenomenon of the contemporary global scene and the theatre in which new opportunities for marketing and innovation are unfolding in real time. This course takes a strategic perspective on these topics, viewing them all from the perspective of the firm and its performance.

This module is designed for you to conduct individual research under the supervision of SMO faculty members. Research projects can consist of a thorough literature review related to a specific research question, an in-depth critique of published papers, or a specific application of a research methodology (such as a pilot study on the basis of limited data). Our goal is to familiarise you with the faculty members’ current research and bring you closer to the frontier of knowledge. The module can prepare you for the individual research that you will undertake in PhD studies, and can indeed become the starting point of future PhD research.

This research seminar helps you understand a variety of cutting-edge themes and topics in organisational behaviour (OB). The overarching question we address is how these aspects relate to individual, group and organisational effectiveness. Specifically, the course covers the following content areas:

  • Making a theoretical contribution to OB
  • Personality and values
  • Emotion and moods
  • Motivation
  • Work groups and teams
  • Leadership
  • Organisational culture and climate
  • Developing a research focus

The objectives of this course are to familiarise you with classic and current articles that have shaped the field of organisational behaviour, and to prepare you to develop and conduct organisational behaviour research yourself.

One of the following two courses, depending on year:

This seminar-based module is an overview of quantitative modelling approaches to research on marketing problems. Three major areas are covered:

  • Empirical modelling (econometrics)
  • Analytical modelling (game theory/industrial organisation)
  • Experimental economics/behavioural game theory

In each session you’re required to read, analyse and comment on selected papers surrounding the key themes of that session. At least half of every session will be devoted to student presentations and group discussion. Having completed the module, you’ll possess some basic knowledge of quantitative modelling in marketing. You’ll also be able to leverage your course experience to develop an in-depth understanding of relevant topics for a research career at a business school.

This seminar-based module is an overview of issues related to consumer behaviour research in marketing. The module includes readings on marketing research as well as cognate home disciplines such as psychology and behavioural economics. Two major areas are covered:

  • The information processing perspective
  • The behavioural decision perspective

In each session you’re required to read, analyse and comment on selected papers surrounding the key themes of that session. At least half of every session will be devoted to student presentations and group discussion. Having completed the module, you’ll possess some basic knowledge that will help you appreciate and conduct consumer behaviour research. You’ll also be able to leverage your learning experience to develop an in-depth understanding of relevant topics for a research career at a business school.

Electives

The elective modules for the Consumer Behaviour specialisation of the MPhil in Strategy, Marketing & Operations are:

This course helps you understand a variety of predominantly quantitative research methods, as well as their embeddedness within various research designs. The course is divided into two independent content blocks, parts I and II, and is designed in such a way that part II can be attended without having attended part I previously. Upon completion you’ll have a good understanding of various research methods commonly used in management research, and will have applied this knowledge to your own research project.

Specifically, the course covers the following content areas, among others:

Part I

  • Research design
  • Experimental & quasi-experimental design
  • Survey design & analysis
  • Mediation & moderation

Part II

  • Multilevel design & analysis
  • Social network design & analysis
  • Big data research design & analysis
  • Meta-analysis

The course increases your understanding of organisational research methods and your sensitivity to the practical problems in conducting organisational research, and enables you to apply organisational research methods to your own research projects and interests.

This course focuses on some key theories and central debates that help us conceptualise the relationship between information systems, innovation, and strategic change. The main texts will draw from information systems, sociology, sociology of technology, and organisation theory. The course examines three key themes:

  • The role of new information technologies in processes of innovation and strategic change within and between industries
  • The role of information systems in enabling innovative work practices and the organisational issues involved in implementing and using technological innovations
  • The relationship between information technology and processes of globalisation

This course covers key theories in the field of strategy, innovation and organisations. We discuss the foundational theories, central debates and key readings that help us understand organisations and their strategies to survive and innovate through both technological and managerial innovations. Discussions include why managers adopt particular courses of action, how innovation is fostered, how are new markets created and how is strategy formulated. The field of innovation, strategy and organisations is inherently interdisciplinary, and so is this course. Accordingly, we not only discuss the underpinnings of research in innovation, strategy and organisations but also a host of related questions that have since become significant to understanding this body of research. The course is based around intensive seminar-based sessions. The format is group debates around contrasting perspectives related to the readings. The course enables you to critically interpret, analyse and problematise scholarly material and develop an understanding of how to make theoretical contributions in the field.

This course focuses on the foundational theories, central debates and key texts that help us conceptualise organisational dynamics. It provides you with advanced reading, writing and interpretation skills relating to, for example, organisational identity, organisational control and theories of entrepreneurship. It is based around intensive seminar-based sessions in which key articles are closely read and discussed. Having completed the course, you will be equipped to interpret and problematise scholarly material relating to the organisation of innovation in a creative and critical manner.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

An introduction to the behavioural approach to economics, we cover behavioural game theory, neuroeconomics, cognitive biases, decision-making heuristics, intertemporal decision making, addiction, and applications to labour economics and development. The course includes both theoretical and empirical material, but a recurring theme is the importance of experimental findings both in the laboratory and in the field.

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

An exciting new research programme in economics examines the origins and the implications of networks. The lectures in this course provide a rigorous introduction to this research. To master the material, you’re encouraged to work out problem sets handed out during the course.

Topics covered include:

  • Network formation: strategic and random graph models
  • Games on networks
  • Networks and markets
  • Networks and politics
  • Shocks, contagion and resilience

Taught by the Faculty of Economics.

This course is on development economics and deals with the economic problems of poor countries. It considers some of the main theoretical and analytical issues in development economics as well as the historical development process of now-developed countries. The topics covered are growth, development, poverty, inequality, education, technology, innovation, mutual insurance, finance, savings, weather, climate, health, pandemics, representative democracy, religion, social capital and conflict.

One of the following two courses, depending on year:

This course surveys the major theoretical perspectives andempirical studies in strategic management research, particularly as it relates to the underlying strategic and organisational processes.

Strategic management is currently one of the liveliest areas in all of the social sciences, in part because of the importance of understanding how to best position organisations and get ahead of competition and in part because of the challenges to traditional theory that have emerged over the past 20 years. Strategy deals with charting the future directions of the firm and implementing these directions to maximise the long-term profits. Accordingly, strategic management and processes address the resources, capabilities and strategic positioning of the firm to create and sustain competitive advantage as well as the psychological and social challenges in implementing organisations’ strategies.

This course provides a foundational survey of the key theories, puzzles, and empirical contributions in strategic management. These include the relationship between different strategies and the resource and capability bundles firms develop, strategic positions they create, and their financial performance and competitive advantage. The course gives attention to how decision makers operate at the upper echelons, such CEOs, executive teams, and boards of directors, and how they shape the firm’s strategic choices. The course also covers substantive research on the changes to competitive and corporate strategies undertaken by firms in connection with the disruptions in the environment. The course involves active student participation and discussions in a stimulating class environment and the critiques of seminal classic contributions and latest research in key strategy topics. It also involves students developing their own research ideas and learning to communicate them effectively. The focus of the module is on development of students for a scholarly research career.

One of the following two courses, depending on year:

This course critically examines research that has been conducted in unconventional contexts and that investigates grand challenges, eg poverty, inequality, conflict and climate change. The major themes that are explored include gaining access to novel and unconventional research sites, field-level ethical and moral issues when investigating grand challenges, novel research methods, eg online/digital ethnography, the researcher-practitioner interface, theorising from data gathered from unconventional contexts, and publishing research conducted in novel and unconventional contexts and that investigates grand challenges.

This course examines critical issues concerning digital and social innovation for organisations and the wider society. The module focuses on theories from organisation theory, IS, innovation and management to conceptualise digital and social innovation. Their role in enabling opportunities is discussed as well as the unexpected consequences of innovation for different industries and societies.

It may be possible that your elective coursework modules can include modules from other research courses offered by Cambridge Judge Business School or other University of Cambridge departments that are not in the above list, upon approval by the Degree Committee.

Top