
Visiting Faculty
Ajay Kohli |
Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair, College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology |

What is Marketing?
Marketing is at the heart of every enterprise, whether big or small, for profit or not-for-profit, local or international, in the public or private sectors. Marketing begins by defining the target consumers of an organization, and understanding their needs. Marketing involves creating products and services that meet the needs of those consumers, and then communicating about and delivering these products and services. Consumers compare the value inherent in the offering and contrast it against the price (another marketing decision), and offerings of competing firms and make their choice. Great marketers are able to convert these sales into long-term sustainable relationships with their customers, by constantly innovating, researching consumer and environmental trends, following up with consumers post-purchase, and staying several steps ahead of the competition. The central philosophy of the marketing discipline is that consumers are the only reason that organizations exist. As an academic discipline, Marketing is the multi-disciplinary study of exchanges, and the players involved – buyers and sellers.
Why pursue a major in Marketing?
Marketing straddles many different disciplines (economics, psychology, statistics, sociology to name a few) and brings together theories and methods from all these areas to help organizations to understand, influence and predict consumer behaviour. Marketing activities touch every aspect of our lives and are vital to the very survival of organizations. From the marketing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs), durable goods, services (such as airlines, banks, telecommunication companies), people, places and ideas (such as celebrities, or Singapore, or the idea of giving ex-prisoners a second chance) to marketing research, advertising, and consulting, there is a wide range of applicability of these theories and methods. The marketing major prepares you for an entry level job in a wide variety of industries world-wide. Across these industries and careers, marketing jobs can potentially can make good use of almost every different kind of aptitude - quantitative, creative, people oriented, communication and research/analysis. Marketing fits well, academically, as well as career-wise, with a wide variety of other SMU majors (but perhaps especially finance, operations, strategy, corporate communications, information systems, economics and psychology).
The requirements of the Marketing Major
Completing a marketing major at SMU involves taking six courses.
Core course:
- MKTG 101: Marketing - an introduction to the marketing discipline
Required courses:
- MKTG 102: Consumer Behaviour - the study of how marketing activities affect consumer perception, attention, learning, memory, attitudes and decision making, at both a micro and macro level.
- MKTG 103: Marketing Research – understanding how to conduct research on consumers, especially focused on survey research methods, from defining research problems, to designing questionnaires, sampling schemes, coding and analyzing data, and reporting
These courses must be taken at SMU (i.e. not on exchange) and can be completed anytime over your SMU tenure.
Elective courses (any four based on current requirements):
A variety of elective courses such as Strategic Brand Management, Advertising, Marketing Channels and New Retail , Pricing, Marketing Strategy, New Product Development, Services Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, Digital Marketing and Marketing Analytics are offered regularly. Any three of them need to be taken to complete the marketing elective. Most electives only require MKTG 101 as a pre-requisite, but please check course outlines for specific exclusions or requirements. Elective courses may also be taken on exchange, as long as the Office of Global Learning approves your chosen course as a marketing elective. The matrix below suggests electives appropriate for various marketing career choices.
(Note that this is a representative listing of electives; not all courses listed are currently offered)
Industry | |||||||
Marketing (FMCG) | Marketing (Services) | Sales/Business Development | Marketing Research | Advertising | Retailing | Consultancy | |
Core courses | |||||||
Marketing 101 | |||||||
Marketing Research | |||||||
Consumer Behaviour | |||||||
Electives | |||||||
New Product Development | |||||||
Services Marketing | |||||||
Customer Relationship Management | |||||||
Promotions Management | |||||||
Sales Management | |||||||
Strategic Brand Management | |||||||
Global Marketing | |||||||
Service Experience: Design/Management | |||||||
Pricing | |||||||
Advertising | |||||||
Digital Marketing | |||||||
Marketing Analytics | |||||||
Marketing Strategy | |||||||
B2B Marketing | |||||||
Suggested Second Major | Psych | Operations | HR | Applied Stat | Corp Comm | Operations | Economics |
Psych | Psych | Economics | Psych | Law | |||
Pol Science |

About SMARKETING
Is the path of marketing for you?
What marketing positions are out there?
How do I get the career I want?
These are the questions we answer at SMU Marketing Society ("SMARKETING"). Established in 2010, we have since established the society as the go-to platform for you to navigate the marketing industry. We seek to spark engaging conversations, create exciting opportunities, and empower future marketers.
The marketing function spans a long list of industries, and we seek to connect our members with its many different aspects – product and brand management, service design and management, selling and salesforce management, marketing research and analytics, advertising and public relations.
The marketing function is also ever-changing in the digital age, and we at SMARKETING stay on top of new industry buzzwords – like programmatic buy, ZMOT, CPC, etc. – and familiarize our members with them via workshops and case competitions.
Check us out on our Facebook https://m.facebook.com/smarketingsmu and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/smusmarketing/ for what’s on.
Examples of SMARKETING Activities
1) Marketing Networking Night (MNN)
MNN is our signature, biannual event for SMU students to connect with marketing professionals from a wide range of industries on a massive scale. Past companies have included the likes of Google, MasterCard, Expedia, GroupM, Unilever, P&G, Scoot, Ogilvy, BBDO, and many more.
2) Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Mentorship programme
In partnership with the APAC CMO Council, this initiative is a year-long program where students have the rare opportunity to be mentored by Chief Marketing Officer-level executives with an incredible wealth of experience. The objective of the mentorship is to provide the mentee guidance for his career path, pick up the necessary skills, and gain industry connections while still in school.
3) Industry Events
We provide our members with exclusive complimentary invitations to huge industry events, such the Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS)’ APPIES 2015 awards and the Asia’s Customer Festival (ACF) 2015. These industry events attract senior marketers from all over Asia and usually cost up to $2000 to attend. In 2015, we were also honoured to be invited to speak at a millennial panel at the Asia’s Customer Festival.

Marketing Research Seminars 2025
Marketing Research Seminars 2024
Marketing Research Seminars 2023
Marketing Research Seminars 2022
Marketing Research Seminars 2021
Marketing Research Seminars 2020
Marketing Research Seminars 2019
Marketing Research Seminars 2018
Marketing Research Seminars 2017
Marketing Research Seminars 2016
Marketing Research Seminars 2015
Marketing Research Seminars 2014
Marketing Research Seminars 2013
Marketing Research Seminars 2012
Marketing Research Seminars 2011
Marketing Research Seminars 2010

PhD Programme
The marketing area offers a PhD in Business (Marketing) degree that is suitable for those interested in an academic career in marketing. The programme provides the training that is needed to conduct rigorous research in marketing, including an understanding of different methods (statistical, econometric, experimental) and an understanding of key concepts in marketing and related disciplines such as psychology and economics. Students are expected to have strong critical thinking skills and to develop original ideas that make a significant contribution to the marketing literature.
We seek candidates who have a keen mind, are highly motivated, and who have an interest in issues related to consumers and markets. For more information about the programme, please click here.

Thomas ALLARD |
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Associate Professor of Marketing |
Sabine BENOIT |
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Professor of Marketing (Practice) |
Sandeep R. CHANDUKALA (Area Coordinator of Marketing) |
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Associate Professor of Marketing |
Hannah H. CHANG (On Leave) |
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Associate Professor of Marketing & Lee Kong Chian Fellow |
Xin CHEN |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Sai Chand CHINTALA |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Chris DU PLESSIS |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Jin-Kyung HAN (On Leave) |
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Professor of Marketing |
Minju HAN |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Minkwang JANG |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Hulya KARAMAN |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Junghan KIM |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Michelle LEE |
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Associate Professor of Marketing (Education) |
Linyi LI |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Shilpa MADAN |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Patricia LUI |
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Senior Lecturer of Marketing |
MAH Suyun |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |
Ernst C. OSINGA |
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Associate Professor of Marketing |
Seshan RAMASWAMI |
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Associate Professor of Marketing (Education) |
Srinivas K. REDDY |
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Professor Emeritus of Marketing |
Chin Tiong TAN |
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Professor Emeritus of Marketing |
Kapil R. TULI |
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Professor of Marketing |
Qi YU |
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Assistant Professor of Marketing |