Marketing - PhD in Management

Marketing is one of a business school's broadest areas. It centres on a deep understanding of buyers and consumers, and of how consumers and firms interact in the market. Building on that understanding, marketing covers the design and delivery of products and services, pricing, distribution and promotion, as well as the strategic allocation of resources among product/market combinations.

The INSEAD PhD Marketing area is currently seeking candidates who wish to pursue research in two streams: consumer behaviour and quantitative modelling. Consumer behaviour research draws on psychology and related disciplines to understand how people think, feel and make decisions as buyers and consumers. Quantitative modelling uses economics, statistics and computer science to analyse market data and inform marketing decisions. Candidates with a background in psychology or the social sciences are well placed for consumer behaviour research, while those from engineering, economics, mathematics or computer science are well placed for quantitative modelling. 

The area's wider research interests include branding, B2B marketing, consumer behaviour, customer relationship management, customer/behavioural decision making, customer centricity, distribution channels, e-business, forecasting, innovation, international marketing, advertising, new product development, pharmaceutical marketing, pricing, promotion, retailing, sales force management, service management, strategic marketing and transaction cost analysis. The area also draws on sociology and neuroeconomics, and intersects with other business areas such as strategy and organisational behaviour. 

The Marketing area has resident faculty at INSEAD's Europe and Asia Campuses and welcomes visiting scholars from other institutions. Its faculty have a strong presence on editorial boards, have published hundreds of articles in top marketing journals and have received several renowned international research awards in the last decade. 

Marketing PhD students also benefit from two key resources: MARKSTRAT, INSEAD's marketing simulation, is widely used in teaching and research on how managers make marketing decisions; and the state-of-the-art INSEAD-Sorbonne Behavioural Lab in Paris supports high-quality research on human behaviour, where studies conducted there lead to publications in leading journals, awards, conference presentations, dissertations and press coverage, setting a benchmark for business schools with similar facilities.

   Download the Marketing Course Template

The Marketing area at the INSEAD PhD covers a wide range of disciplines, making it an attractive domain for candidates from various subject areas and industries, recognising the value of diverse perspectives. 

We are particularly interested in candidates with exceptional academic backgrounds that will equip them to excel as researchers. We seek individuals who can design and conduct relevant experiments to enhance our understanding of consumer behaviour. Additionally, we value applicants who can handle intriguing and complex marketing data sets.

By joining the Marketing area, you will have the opportunity to delve into the multifaceted world of the field, leveraging your prior background to make valuable contributions to research and experiment design. We encourage candidates passionate about advancing consumer behaviour knowledge and leveraging data-driven insights to apply and join our dynamic and collaborative community.

Download the Call for Applications 2027 Intake

Here are some of the backgrounds of Marketing PhD students who have joined the programme: 

Bachelor of Economics, MA in Economics
BA Human Resource Management, MSc Social Cognition
Bachelor and Master of Technology, Master in Quantitative Economics
Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Technology, Master in Marketing Research
BS Applied Economics, Master in Economics
BS and Master of Engineering in Operations Research
Bachelor in Business Administration, MS in Business Administration
MSc Social and Cultural Psychology
MA Managerial and Financial Economics
MSc Cognitive and Decision Sciences
MA Marketing
PhD Computer Science

View the current Marketing PhD students' profiles.

The Marketing job market is healthy; it is a prominent subject in business education and is featured heavily in the typical business school curriculum. In addition, the Marketing area at INSEAD has produced PhD graduates who have been well received in the academic job market and have a proven successful career progression in academia.

Here are some of the leading business schools and universities where our graduates are:

Bocconi, CEIBS, Columbia, CUHK, Dartmouth, Emory, Grenoble Ecole de Management, HEC Paris, HK Polytechnic University, IE Business School, IMD Switzerland, Johns Hopkins University, Nanyang Technological University, Southern Methodist University, Tel Aviv University, Tilburg, U. of Colorado Boulder, U. of Pittsburgh, U. of Toronto, University of British Columbia, UC Berkeley, University College Dublin, University of Washington Tacoma and Washington State University Vancouver, among others. 

To learn more about the incredible achievements of our Global PhD Alumni Community, please visit our website.

We are now accepting applications for the 2027 intake. To learn more about the admissions process, please go to:

Admissions and Financing page