This paper considers the educational needs of market researchers and how they can best be employed to further the growth and prosperity of the profession as a whole,. It starts from the premise that market research is a practical business discipline which will be judged or condemned according to the extent to which it gives manifest aid in decision making to businessmen. It is agreed that from this point of view there are two major educational needs: 1. The need to educate market research practitioners in the technicalities of their profession; 2. The need to educate market research practitioners in the nature of business decision making and of business problems so that they can employ their technical expertise more relevantly in these areas. The idea of educating business decision makers in market research is rejected as being unnecessary and possibly counter productive.
The function of marketing education for managers is to bridge the gap which exists between theoretical concepts and practical application/implementation. In this connection, the didactic structure of the educational process is of much importance and deserves careful consideration. The increasing complexity of organizations and their environment asks for a multidisciplinary approach, also in the field of marketing. The marketing educator of the future will no longer be the traditional mono-disciplinary marketing specialist, but should become the "marketing development expert". This means that a fundamental change in attitude and approach is needed. This trend could also have a considerable impact on the development of marketing theory.
The author is responsible for marketing research courses which form part of Marketing degree and other courses in the University of Strathclyde at Glasgow in the U.K. The objectives of these research courses have to be decided in the light of the probable career patterns of undergraduate and postgraduate students, together with the limits and advantages of an academic course. The paper discusses these limits and advantages, then the needs of marketing enterprises in general. Discussion of individual topics in the subjects follows. A complication is the needs of the specialist marketing research 'producer' organization, and the need of the marketing organization to maintain an interface with these specialists. Examples are given of the practice and aspirations of the Strathclyde courses.
The Market Research Society has regarded education as one of its major responsibilities ever since it was founded, and each year a major program of activities is organised which range from basic introductory courses in market research generally through to advanced seminars bringing together specialists in particular fields. A second strand of development which has proceeded more slowly has been concerned with the establishment of some form of professional qualification in market research, awarded on the basis of an examination following an appropriate course of study. The scheme which has now been developed, and which is in its third year is unique in bringing together academic institutions teaching marketing and market research, and the Society as a professional body, so that students taking courses approved by the Society, and satisfying the Society's assessors in their normal academic examinations, become eligible not only for their academic award but also for the Diploma of the Society. The main part of this paper reviews the Diploma Scheme as it is now, and considers some possible lines of development.
The paper examines some of the problems involved in teaching consumer behavior in management education programs in Europe. These stem in large measure from the current embryonic stage of research in consumer behavior in Europe, which make it extremely difficult to develop a course directly relevant to the European context. Course content and organization is frequently based on U.S. experience. This gives unsatisfactory results from a teaching standpoint in terms of arousing student interest and involvement as well as posing a number of issues in relation to course content and relevance. Some steps towards improving this situation are suggested. Improved collaboration between management and academics is urged as critical in accomplishing this, and some possible formulas for collaboration are outlined. Some ideas for a course outline and for creating "alive" course material, getting students involved in observing behavior, conducting experiments in supermarkets, are discussed.
The following papers describe two experiences in the field of marketing education. Both programs were initiated by the Center for Productivity and Research from the University of Ghent. The first paper comments the program in which public officers have been confronted with the marketing philosophy and the marketing-management approach. The second paper provides information and program principally conceived for top-managers. Both papers have the same structure. They start with a description of the underlying ideas and philosophies from which the programs were built up. Objectives, target groups and methods are commented next. The promotion and the programs are described as detailed as possible. Finally, the evaluation of the program and the possible (or already executed) follow-up initiatives are presented.
The purpose of this paper is to describe an experiment in Marketing Education for undergraduate and graduate students. The paper deals basically with an attempt to inject some of the flavour of the real business world into the Marketing curriculum, thus making the course more practical and more alive to the students.
In this paper a study will be described which attempts to investigate certain behavioral dimensions of decision making. The study consists in part of an experimental design employing a problem- solving and decision-making marketing task within the framework of a concept termed cognitive style. Out of several current research efforts both in Europe and the U.S.A. a strong relationship between cognitive style and characteristics of problem-solving behavior have been found. If the findings appear to have direct relevance to management practice, they should provide useful insights into marketing education.
The use of case-studies does not substitute the solving of real problems in management education. There is a great difference between the situation confronting the student in a case-study, and a real problem situation. In case-studies real world problems are replaced by problems appearing real to the student, but which are most atypical in the sense that they clearly correspond to one or more theories, the student knowing that this correspondence has been checked by the teacher beforehand; thus the real problem situation holding no guarantee whatsoever that the problem will show any correspondence with any theory at all is a situation the student has never learnt to work with when solving cases. The conclusion is, that cases must be used in order to learn theories. The case-studies are seen as nothing but well-behaved examples. Working with practical problems that are not well- behaved from a theoretical point of view is necessary in management education as a supplement to case-studies.
After a brief description of the Philips organization the marketing concept is discussed as in use with the Philips concern. On the basis of this concept a wide range of marketing training activities is employed. Of each course a brief description follows. At the end a stand point is given concerning the task of outside education centres. They should not only provide services to enterprises but especially develop a wide range of marketing education services, also at secondary school level and for everybody and thus not only for those studying economics. Marketing is in fact a matter of an attitude to provide personal service to other persons and hence also a matter of a good communication between people of different disciplines.
The paper starts with a description of the developments leading to an increasing spread of staff functions in the multi- national corporations and hence of marketing research and consultancy services. The Philips training activities in marketing research started 6 years after those in the field of marketing. A brief description is given of the corresponding course developed since 1974 concerning a basic training in marketing research. After that some considerations are given concerning the idea to enlarge the activity to a system providing elementary up to and including advanced training in marketing planning, business economic research, and marketing research.
It is paradoxical that while the introduction of Marketing into formal educational courses in the U.K. was at the sub-degree level, the present emphasis is now upon postgraduate and post experience courses. Indeed, many Marketing educators consider that Marketing is not a suitable subject for inclusion in the undergraduate curriculum. However, since the foundation of the Chair of Marketing at Strathclyde in 1971 a major emphasis has been upon the development of a full undergraduate programme, leading ultimately to a single Honours specialisation. In this paper, the thinking underlying this countervailing trend is outlined and a description is provided of the course structure and content. Finally, conclusions on the experience to date are drawn which lead to the view that the experiment has been justified and merits replication.