Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Step #1 is to figure out what you want to do after you get your Ph.D. Use the thesis to give you a solid credential in that field. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time and emotional energy on something that, in the end, will be meaningless to you.

How will your earning a Ph. D benefit you, or an employer? Who is your qualification for? If you need advice on which aspects of marketing to study and research, your first port of call is probably whoever your advisor is. This person knows you, your strengths and weaknesses, and is in a better position to advise you than anyone on this forum. By asking how you ought to begin working on your Ph. D, to my mind you present a disconnect (for which read huge red flag) between worth and value, and against the notion of any gain.

When you say "product life cycle management, disposable product management" - find three products that fit this description. All totally different, and look at the life-cycle of the marketing that went along with the development and retirement of those products. You should find at least one commonality between all three that intrigue you (and that hasn't been studied either!) Don't spend more than a day on researching each - and if you don't get any meaningful conclusions by the end of the day, scrub that item and choose another. By the end of the week you should have three worthwhile studies and a PhD topic.