A center designed to improve marketing expertise in Kazakhstan has opened, the result of a partnership between the International Academy of Business (IAB) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute (WDI). The project was under the administration of Higher Development for Education (HED) and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Under the leadership of Olga Kuznetsova, and Alyona Penchukova, the president and director of IAB, respectively, the center forms a bridge between the academy and business community. It provides opportunities for IAB students and faculty members to develop professionally. IAB, a leading management school, has more than 2,000 students across its undergraduate, MBA, and DBA degrees.
The marketing center has already conducted a multi-week marketing research project for an Almaty-based computer company. Ten undergraduate students were involved, all of whom were then placed in summer marketing internships.
Also, John Branch, a marketing professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business and director of educational outreach at WDI, and Tom Baker, a WDI consultant, conducted several marketing seminars in May in Almaty, both for students and professors. A marketing textbook is currently being translated, which will then be used internally as well as sold by the marketing center.
Planned activities at the center include marketing internships in top international and local companies, a mentoring program, marketing seminars and conferences, and marketing competitions.
“These kinds of activities will allow students to gain practical skills for the marketplace and, additionally, will enable professors to make their materials more interesting, localized, and current,” Baker said.
Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has grown at a fast pace. Almaty, the one-time capital and current cultural, educational, and commercial center of Kazakhstan, is brimming with upscale restaurants, luxury clothing shops and Western-style malls.
“This rapid development, however, is not matched in business training,” Branch said. “And consequently, there is a sort of vacuum for well-educated, professional young managers, especially in the field of marketing which, during the Soviet period, was taboo.”
“It is exciting to see the marketing center take shape,” said another WDI consultant, Max Yutsis. “Its impact can be seen almost immediately.”