How To Enter the Competition

The Marketing Science Institute is pleased to announce the 2009 Alden G. Clayton competition for the best doctoral dissertation proposals on important marketing subjects. This annual competition is named in honor of former MSI president Alden G. Clayton, who retired in 1986 after more than a decade of leadership at the Institute.

To be eligible, students must be working toward a doctorate in marketing or a related field (e.g., organizational behavior, psychology, economics, strategy, management, finance etc.) at an accredited university, and the dissertation must be no more than fifty percent completed at the time of submission. A letter from the primary thesis advisor approving the submission and certifying that the dissertation is no more than fifty percent completed must be received by the end of August. Participation in other grant or award programs does not preclude being considered for the MSI AGC award. The competition is open to qualified doctoral students worldwide.

Submissions received after Sunday, August 1, 2010, will not be considered. E-mail submission materials to Rizley@MSI.org. For blind reviewing purposes, please omit any identifying information from the proposal itself. Include a separate document containing your name and contact information, the title of your dissertation, and contact information for your thesis advisor/chair.

The maximum length of proposals is 25 double-spaced pages including tables, exhibits, and references. The first page should be a one-page, self-contained summary of the proposal. Proposals must include a brief statement of the problem area to be researched, relevant theory addressing that problem, hypotheses to be tested, methodology to be employed, analysis to be performed, and an indicative bibliography.

Selecting the Winner
Proposals will be judged by prominent marketing academics on their importance and potential contribution to business and academia; quality of conceptual development; feasibility and appropriateness of methodology; and creativity. Research design aspects will play a particularly important role in the evaluation process.

The winner(s) will be announced in early November. There will be a maximum of five winners. Each winner will receive an unrestricted cash prize of $5,000 designed to aid in the completion of the dissertation.

Proposals and inquiries should be addressed to:

Ross Rizley, Research Director
Marketing Science Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138-5396
Phone: (617) 491-2060
Email: Rizley@MSI.org