Industrial Organization & Markets

Purdue is noted for its program in marketing, price analysis, and food system organization.  This area includes microeconomic studies of:

• evaluation of the competitive environment for marketing strategies
• quantitative analysis of food and agricultural product prices
• organization of vertically-linked food marketing systems
• alternative approaches to assessing market performance
• assessment of antitrust policies

The department is especially well staffed to prepare students for teaching, research, regulatory, consulting, and staff analysis positions in the above areas.  In addition, students may select marketing, industrial organization or strategic management courses in the Krannert Graduate School of Management.  Continuing research activities include:

• quantitative analysis of market power in the food industries
• analysis of micro data sets of grocery products
• analysis of advertising and other selling efforts by food marketing companies
• evaluation of national policies affecting competition
• price analysis of future markets
• the performance of alternative commodity marketing systems
• commodity price forecasting
• private strategies, public policies, and food system performance
• designing procurement, logistical, and merchandising plans

This option is designed to prepare a graduate for a job in business, government, or for continued graduate study.  Persons with a master's degree in marketing and price analysis may move directly to a staff position with a private firm, as a technical analyst with the U.S. Department of Agriculture or other public agencies, or one of several other positions.  The M.S. degree program attempts to develop a student's economic intuition and broaden the set of tools available for economic analysis.

Suggested Courses for the Master of Science Program:
AGEC 506	Marketing and Prices
AGEC 530	Strategic Agribusiness Management
AGEC 596I	Intl Food and Agribusiness Marketing
AGEC 605	Agricultural Price Analysis
AGEC 612	Agricultural Production Economics I
AGEC 613	Introduction to Economics of Risk
AGEC 640	Agricultural Policy
AGEC 644	International Agricultural Trade
MGMT 614	Investments and Capital Markets

This Ph.D. specialty area is designed to prepare a student for a research-oriented career in industrial organization and markets.  Typically, student who specialize in this area, take positions in academia (research, teaching and/or extension), government (USDA and other agencies), or as staff economists with major agricultural firms.