Developing students’ knowledge, skills andsocial competences in international marketing research– cooperation of academia and business

Abstract

IntroductionIn regard to the managerial courses there appears a need to include students in real-life managerial processes on the grounds of cooperation between the university and business practice. Only students' participation in actual managerial processes, directed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of operating on the international market, will enable them to gather the necessary wealth of experience. Gathering such experience allows students to consolidate the acquired knowledge, improve the skills and shape social competences.The aim of this paper is to present how students' knowledge, skills and social competences in regard to marketing research are developed within the international business curriculum. Furthermore the aim is to indicate the necessity to apply in the educational process diverse teaching methods oriented at building knowledge, skills and social competences expected by future employees.In the theoretical part of the paper determinants for market decision making by companies, especially those operating in the global market, are presented. Possessing up-to-date knowledge about the market in global scale based on marketing research results is indicated as valid managerial competence. Furthermore, institutional and systemic barriers that are faced by higher education institutions in the CEE region in the process of teaching business programs are discussed.The next part of the paper discusses the meaning of developing knowledge, skills and social competences in the scope of international marketing research among International Business graduates. With information being the key ingredient in developing successful international marketing strategies these areas seem to be a necessary condition to understand and take advantage of the changes occurring in the global environment. Hence the international marketing research course has been characterized, the syllabus of the course being oriented at filling the identified needs of diagnosing and analyzing global environment.The further parts of the paper discuss teaching methods and techniques applied within the course oriented at providing the students with most timely knowledge as well as skills and competences useful when operating on the global market. The exemplification of the teaching routines in the scope of international marketing research in the paper is a course offered by the University of Economics in Katowice within the International Business (IB) degree program. The whole program as well as the international marketing research syllabus has been inspired by the best standards and teaching routines elaborated in higher education institutions offering IB studies all over the world. This is why the challenges and barriers presented in the text may apply to teaching IB in a wider context.1.Theoretical backgroundThe 2011 report prepared by IBM, based on the opinions of more than 1700 marketing directors from all over the world (64 countries) representing 19 economy sectors indicated four key determinants for market decision making by companies [From stretched... 2011]:- exponential growth of data,- growing role of social media,- development of marketing channels and instruments,- change in the demographic structure of the clients.Companies face the challenge of gathering large amounts of information and its quick analysis. It is particularly important for the internationalized firms operating in rapidly changing international conditions, among others the evolution of clients' demographic structure. New markets are created in China and India as a result of increasing significance of younger generations with their specific consumption models and ways of company information search. In the USA and Western Europe companies face the necessity to adapt their offer the aging society of the population boom in the 1970s and 1980s. The changes occur also on the economic level and concern purchasing potential of the dynamically developing Asian countries. …