WDI has been selected by Higher Education for Development (HED) to develop a marketing center at the International Academy of Business (IAB) in Kazakhstan with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Institute was one of 10 educational institutions in the U.S. to win one of the “New IDEAS Partnership Program” awards.
The 18-month WDI project, called the Marketing Education & Research Center Partnership, will build bridges between the private sector and the International Academy of Business. The goals of the project are to: identify the marketing knowledge needs of the business community; give students real-world training; bring the IAB’s marketing curriculum up to international standards, and provide relevant courses to address the challenges and issues facing marketers today.
The marketing center project grew out of WDI’s involvement in the Central Asia Business and Economics Education (B&EE) program, financed by USAID and implemented by CARANA Corp.
“The CARANA project was instrumental in getting the marketing center started but the project didn’t have enough funding to help the center develop its resources or program offerings,” said WDI Technical Assistance Director Aaron Bornstein.
Under the CARANA project, Aaron Ahuvia, Associate Professor of Management Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn School of Management, went to Almaty, Kazakhstan to assist in the development of the center in March 2006.
“Aaron did a consultancy around what needs to take place to make the center a viable entity that will stand on its own over time,” Bornstein said.
Dr. Ahuvia helped IAB craft a more focused strategy for the marketing center by narrowing their focus to providing continuing education workshops for professionals, and creating internship opportunities for IAB students to apply their skills in a real-world setting.
In addition, a budget was outlined, job descriptions were created and a more formal definition of the relationship between the center and IAB was negotiated.
Dr. Ahuvia also reviewed existing marketing curriculum, delivered a business seminar to marketing professionals, and conducted a training session with IAB marketing faculty. Based on the foundation for the center that we developed, WDI applied to USAID, under the “New IDEAS Partnership Program” for a stand-alone grant to assist the IAB marketing center develop its programs and linkages to the Kazak business community.
The launch date of the marketing center project has not been set, but likely will be sometime in early fall. Soon after the start of the project, the marketing center director will visit Ann Arbor to develop a business plan and financial model.
Also during the first phase of the project, about 100 Kazakhstan businesses will be surveyed about their marketing needs,; and their interest in having market research done, participating in executive education marketing courses, and employing an intern through the marketing center and IAB.
The marketing center will have up-to-date textbooks and teaching cases for professors. Also, mentoring relationships will be developed between IAB faculty and those at UM’s Ross School of Business and UM-Dearborn’s School of Management.
In the second year of the project, two IAB faculty will visit UM for two weeks to observe marketing classes and talk face-to-face with their Michigan faculty mentors.
“I am extremely pleased by this new grant, which recognizes the good work we have already done through the CARANA project, and allows us to expand WDI’s activities in Kazakhstan, the fastest growing economy in Central Asia,” Bornstein said.