What's in it for me if I take this course?
There are many courses available on marketing – across a wide spectrum of treatments of the practice, from many universities.
But…Business-to-business marketing is a whole other story. There are only a few truly excellent courses in B-to-B Marketing. Students choosing to take this course will have landed on a unique opportunity: the chance to learn about Business-to-Business marketing directly from Dr. Gary Lilien. Dr. Lilien is widely regarded as the “Phil Kotler” of business-to-business marketing. His research in this area is seminal, his expertise broad and deep, and his work developing desktop tools for business marketers – “Marketing Engineering” – has been heralded by practitioners and researchers alike as a significant breakthrough.
Students taking this course will learn practical tools and techniques enabling them to “take charge” of business marketing strategy, planning, tactics, and implementation. In addition to learning new ways of thinking about marketing for Business-to-Business (as opposed to business-to-consumer) situations, students will learn step-by-step approaches, practical tools and techniques, and see – from real world cases – how these elements of practice can be profitably applied in a broad variety of situations.
Team teaching this course with Dr. Lilien is Dr. Ralph Oliva, who brings 30 years of Business-to-Business marketing experience to the course. In several sections Dr. Oliva will add “color” to the material provided by Dr. Lilien, and flesh out application scenarios.
In short: Taking this course will arm you to profitable manage business marketing planning, strategy and tactics – and enable you to put on your resume that you have learned the elements of segmentation, targeting and positioning from one of the world’s true masters. You will have tools at your disposal that very few other MBA programs can provide, and insights – and connections – which will enable you to build profitable business marketing practices in your career.
A Special Note: This course is “sponsored” by the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State. Direct insights from the world’s largest research institute in business-to-business marketing are brought into the class, and the ISBM provides all student textbooks and materials – as well as ongoing contacts with 60 B-to-B firms for students who attend. Students will receive regular opportunities to network with executives from these firms – an important plus for anyone attending this course who might chose to work in a B-to-B or Industrial firm.
This site is for educational purposes and for the advancement of Business to Business Practices. © Ralph Oliva, 2003