Marketing Program To Begin In Turkey
Friday, March 21, 2008
Fifteen managers will participate in WDI’s Big Picture Marketing executive education program beginning on March 24 in Istanbul, Turkey. The two-day program is an integrated framework that emphasizes the dynamic nature of marketing by presenting key marketing topics as a set of interrelated modules as opposed to separate “chapters” representing topics independently.
The program will be held on the campus of WDI’s partner, Sabanci University. The 15 participants are from Sabanci Holding Ltd., a conglomeration of 70 companies in 3 main areas: HR, Finances, and Strategic Planning and Business Development. Sabanci Holding was also key in establishing Sabanci University, which they use to train employees.
Christie L. Nordhielm, a Clinical Associate Professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business, is teaching the program.
The program materials and approach are designed to reflect the multidimensional nature of marketing problems and problem-solving. The messy nature of marketing problems calls for a disciplined approach provided by a framework; at the same time, the ability to pursue a topic in greater depth opens up the possibility of discovery which is so critical to problem solving.
Properly applied, the framework will enable the managers to reduce the uncertainty associated with marketing decisions, thereby increasing their ability to generate a wider range of potent solutions to the specific problem. More importantly, the framework enables the manager to assess his or her decisions on an ongoing basis, thereby engaging in a process of continuous learning in the area of marketing.
It has been used by a variety of companies to extract transformational value from their marketing and commercial activities. The framework functions as a common lens across the company’s functions and creates value by increasing the efficiency of marketing decision-making, adding analytical rigor to marketing planning and revenue forecasting activities, and by unifying the organization around a common vocabulary and goals.
The value of the framework lies in its simplicity and interrelatedness. The framework has helped clients in a variety of industries grow their top line sales while also realizing substantial bottom-line efficiencies.
