Important reflections about higher education in marketing - Essay Example

Important reflections about higher education in marketing This essay offers some important reflections about myself, abut my ambitions for higher education in marketing and plausible reasons which are significantly impact the young students seeking marketing studies in internationally reputed institutions. My name is Jumaa and I belong to the United Arab Emirates. My intention for future studies is to seeking higher degree in Marketing. I believe that it is the demand of the day for the young Arabs to study marketing and contribute their knowledge for the development of their homeland. This importance can be realized due to the fact that with globalization and emergence of multinational organizations, economic survival has become more difficult than ever. At present, with implementation of WTO, no country can remain isolated from the foreign capital influences, nor can any open market survive in the face of international market giants without having proper marketing expertise. So, if the young Arabs are not well versed in marketing, they cannot contribute any significant change and cannot bring any economic development for their homeland. These and some other reasons offered in the preceding paragraphs have urged me to seek marketing education which I believe is the most fundamental requirement of my homeland and I strongly stress for my other colleagues to seek marketing studies so they too can be a better and well equipped workforce to contribute in the economic development of UAE. Although there is a growing trend of use of application of marketing, especially in the UAE, many people in these states are not well aware of the importance and its application in their particular environment. That is why there is an ongoing debate concerning the applicability of marketing in the United Arab Emirate. Considering the importance of marketing on the one hand and the lack of proper awareness among the native people on the other hand, the advocates of marketing studies have been split into two groups. The one group believes that the marketing concept is not applicable in Arabian countries due to the fact that in these countries marketing principles cannot be applied as the supply of goods and services here is much greater than demand. There argument against marketing principle application is based on the assumption that the marketing concept has been essentially a tool of developed countries, a means by which the products of buyers’ market economies are marketed. Thus, they further argue that marketing is not a discipline of globally accepted principles that may be applied to a subset of national economies (Bartels, 1983). Although, the logic offered by this group appeals to some extent and people who are already reluctant for marketing studies take it for granted, there is the other group who favor marketing studies and application in these states. However, although they advocate marketing research and studies in order to apply its principles in the local market to boost its economy, they show their concern for the lack of adequate marketing knowledge and shortage of marketing expertise which are the significant barriers to the applicability of the discipline (Kaynak and Hudanah, 1987). The opinion of this group strongly convince us because the one main problem in economic development of the United Arab Emirates is that unfortunately there has been very little attention placed to study the marketing principles and investigate the shortcomings and opportunities of local market. Indeed it can be said that marketing as carried out in UAE with an emphasis on inducing new needs and wants, may not be of prime concern in the development of our economy because the marketing concept is more than a quest for new needs and wants. It is basically a framework of analyses, tools and skills which provides executives with the ability to match organizational resources and competences to the needs of society (Maholtra, 1986). Thus, from the above arguments given for and against of marketing, it can be concluded that the marketing discipline can be effectively employed in order to enhance and improve the local economy if the market has local economic experts. In the context of debate concerning applicability of marketing in developing counties, various researchers have investigated the extent of utilization of marketing tools in these countries. The researches conducted by Akaah and Riordan’s (1988) reveal that the degree of incidence and regularity of implementation of marketing principles is on the increase, therefore, on the basis of their findings they stress that the marketing concept is applicable in the developing counties. However, they also draw our attention towards the fact that the applicability of marketing concepts and techniques might be dependent on country and corporate specific factors and this requirement can only be met by the native market experts who understand the local economy and are also well aware the native cultural and socio-economic patters. That is why, my studies in marketing would be beneficial for my country as well as it will give me a better opportunity of putting into practice what I learn from well reputed international institutions. When we analyze the slow acceptance of marketing principles in UAE, we come to know that the major problems in marketing applicability are associated with the socio-cultural, governmental, legal, political and economic environments. Besides, factors such as rigid trade barriers, political influence and stronghold on the open market, inadequate communications, sub-standard infrastructure and high political risk serve as barriers to the economic development of the Arab Emirates. In such an environment it is indeed very difficult to implement marketing principles and practices. These are the sole reasons why my colleagues are hesitant and reluctant for acquiring marketing skills and seek marketing studies which would ultimately help their state to a great extent. It is believed that promotion and market research activities in the Arab counties are difficult to carry out because at present disclosure of information to the public is rigidly monitored. Finally, so far as my knowledge is concerned, the Arab states usually exhibit a dual economy – a situation where a few cities are characterized by a style of living that is considerably different from the rest of the population. These particular characteristics in the business environments discourage the young people seeking their higher studies in marketing and in return the market value of their degrees and education. In the end I would like to express that my main filed of marketing study would be banking sector. It is because banks are the place where capital is reserved, and the banker can easily analyze capital assets of the state and help formulating proper policies to retain the capital and grow the economy. I would also like to urge my fellows to take the same line of course for their future studies. References Akaah, I. and Riordan, E. (1988), “Applicability of marketing know-how in the Third World”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 41-55. Bartels, R. (1983), “Is marketing defaulting its responsibilities?”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, pp. 32-5. Kaynak, E. and Hudanah, B. (1987), “Operationalising the relationship between marketing and economic development: some insights from less-developed countries”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 48-65 Maholtra, N. (1986), “Why developing countries need marketing technology”, International Marketing Review, Spring, pp. 61-73. Read More