Marketing – (Ph.D.)

Hanken offers advanced research-based doctoral education to students aiming for a career requiring analytical thinking and research skills, be it in academia, the corporate world or the public sector. The studies leading to a PhD degree require four years of full-time study, of which approximately one year consists of course work. The thesis project constitutes the remaining part of the degree and is carried out under active supervision. Hanken is a member of several Finnish Researcher Schools and is involved in active collaboration within international networks and with other universities. This guarantees the availability of a wide range of courses and other academic activities for its students.

The Department of Marketing has an ambitious doctoral studies programme that aims to provide students with in-depth knowledge of their own research area, knowledge of a variety of research methods and the ability to apply them to their own research problem, and create new scholarly knowledge. The focus of the programme is to prepare the graduates for a career as researchers.

The research focus is on service and relationship marketing, and primarily on theory development. Use of a wide variety of methods is encouraged, including traditional quantitative methods analyzed with modern programmes (SPSS, Lisrel, PLS), and qualitative methods, such as interview data, observation, narratives, or critical incident studies. Students can choose between writing a traditional monograph (well suited for theory development) or doing an essay thesis. All students are encouraged to publish their work in well renowned international scientific journals. All doctoral students are strongly encouraged to spend at least one term as a visiting student at a foreign university.

Doctoral students do their research within our research and knowledge center, Center for Relationship Marketing and Service Management CERS, which was founded in 1994. The center offers facilities (desk and computer in a shared office) to about 20 full time doctoral students and post doctoral researchers. CERS is financed partly by business partners, and organizes workshops for academia and practitioners.