From Marketing Education in a Developing Country to a U.S. Master's and/or Doctoral Degree in Marketing

Abstract

This chapter outlines the pathway to advanced marketing education by students in a developing country. We begin by contrasting the similarities and differences in undergraduate marketing education in Saudi Arabia versus the U.S. The analysis includes the typical markers of language and access to secondary sources, and culture-specific differences in the perception of time and various cultural influences using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. This is followed with a description of the pathway students from Saudi Arabia take to pursue a Master's and/or Doctorate in marketing in the U.S. The chapter concludes with the unique insight - unlike a sizeable number of foreign students in the U.S., most students from Saudi Arabia return to Saudi Arabia and in so doing stem the ‘brain drain' so many other countries face when their brightest head to the U.S. for advanced study.