B Schools & what they teach

I was part of an interview panel for an upcoming business school couple of weeks back. This was a mock interview session before they actually go in for their placement in the next few weeks. This interview was for the students who were majoring in Marketing and had come from diverse background. The interview panel consisted of a HR professional, a Personality Development Expert and a Marketing Professional (that’s me)

When the first 2 candidates came for in the interview, we started talking about the projects they have undertaken, key learning from such projects and how have they applied their marketing knowledge and learning into this project. Seeing them fumbling with answers, I decided to check their basic understanding of the discipline. Therefore, when the 3rd candidate came in, I asked him what’s the difference between Marketing & Sales? And that’s where the trouble started. No one, not a single student, can tell me the simple difference. It was a shocking experience for me and for the other two panelists. And we were at a loss at how we should continue with the interview.

Back home, when I started analyzing the situation, I understood, that the students have failed to answer even the most basic questions, because they have not been told at the beginning of the course what is expected of them at the end of such course. Also, the curriculum was not in tune and the exams merely tired to test their memories. Therefore, the fundamentals of a business school were challenged. As an aspiring business school from Bangalore, I was expecting that these would be the main concern area of the school and they would have spent most of their time and energy in planning the courses and its teaching methods.
I called up the dean of the school, discussed about my observation and talked about my suggestions.
The big dilemma that I faced post this experience is :
1. What is the future of these students, who have spent lacs of rupees?
2. Should we have a qualification process for a business school who wants to set up a shop here? At the end of the day, they are not delivering what they are supposed to do.

I asked almost all these students why they want to do MBA in Marketing. Everyone, without exception, said that because they like to interact with people! An answer which could be acceptable before someone joins an MBA school, and definitely not when he / she is graduating from one.

Personal Branding

Do you think, apart from Corporate, Product/Services branding you need a Personal Branding as well?

If you think yes, what are the reasons for that?

The Marketing Challenges of the China Olympics

From Harvard Business School professor John Quelch’s blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How

Normally, the Olympic Games are a positive force in marketing. Worldwide marketing expenditures increase as official sponsors and unofficial free-riders attach themselves to the Olympic logo, to particular sports, national teams, or individual athletes. Global brands, in particular, see the Olympics and World Cup soccer as the two most important international sporting events; brand linkage to these events can boost brand awareness, preference, and sales over competitors who cannot afford the global sponsorship prices set by the International Olympic Committee.

Lenovo hardly wishes to be known as the Chinese PC company that consumers find convenient to boycott.
This year, however, concerns over the Chinese government's role in Tibet, Sudan, and other alleged human rights abuses threaten to derail its plans to stage the Olympics as China's coming out party. Tight security in Beijing may take some of the fun out of the Games, not just for the sports fans and athletes but also for the sponsors.

Take Lenovo, for example. The fourth largest personal computer manufacturer in the world is the first and only Chinese company to be a global sponsor of an Olympics. Lenovo's investment in the Games is around $100 million. The company paid millions, along with Samsung and Coca-Cola, to sponsor the torch relay. Lenovo's sponsorship will doubtless reinforce its brand preference rankings in China. However, around the world, Lenovo hardly wishes to be known as the Chinese PC company that consumers find convenient to boycott.

Here are some trends I'm seeing among sponsoring companies:

First-time sponsors have a lot more to lose than long-term investors.
Lenovo, as a first-time global sponsor whose future depends heavily on success this year, has much more at stake than veteran Olympics sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa, and McDonald's. These companies are long-term investors in the Olympics; if Beijing fails to realize earlier commercial expectations, London in 2012 can make up for it.

Around the world, the veteran sponsors may be careful not to over-identify with Beijing. They will emphasize sponsorships of national athletes and national teams rather than focus on the Olympic rings. But, in China, the Western multinationals will pursue a much more aggressive strategy. They will build goodwill for their brands by creating China-specific advertising and promotion programs that tap Chinese pride in hosting the Games.

"Two-faced" approaches.
Those companies that are not global sponsors of the Games will also take a two-faced approach, supporting the Games in China while being disinclined to associate with them in North American and European markets. Given the prominence of China as a supplier and customer, it is unlikely that we will witness grandstanding boycotts of the Games by any company. Most consumers around the world do not let their political views affect their purchase decisions. However, we are likely to see Web sites promoting boycotts of Chinese brands such as Haier, TCL, and Lenovo.

Late campaign purchasing as a safety hedge.
The International Olympic Committee continues to argue that the Games and the aspirations and achievements of individual athletes should be independent of politics. The reality is that the Chinese government has always intended to use the Games to its political advantage and that further escalations of violence in Tibet could diminish public support and lead to national team and individual athlete boycotts, as occurred in Moscow following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. As a result, marketers are not over-committing funds to Olympics-related brand advertising and promotions, and the normal Olympics year advertising boost may be less than expected. Instead of long-term preset media advertising buys, many companies are planning short-term promotional bursts that they can activate as late as July and August if all appears to be in place for a successful, trouble-free Games.