Strategic Marketing Management

Qualification through the SMM Program

The major challenges faced by corporations today include increasing competition, products which are becoming more and more the same, and the unpredictable reaction of customers. In addition, international customers require special treatment due to their cultural and linguistic differences. To face these challenges, companies have made marketing a central task of management. Along with this, customer orientation is a key factor for a company's competitiveness.

As a result, companies need employees who have analytical as well as creative skills. They must observe dynamic conditions and conclude which position in the market the company should occupy, based on qualitative and quantitative market research. Working with statistical methods is just as important as the ability to interpret the data gathered. The results form the basis for conceptual work; under these conditions, strategies can be developed and operative implementation can be derived. In order to optimally adapt the resulting concepts to the customer, the marketing instruments must be mastered in detail. This is no easy task, since many changes have taken place over the last few years, bringing with them increasing complexity. Today, technological advances allow companies to address customers in a much more detailed fashion. At the same time, speaking to different customers has become a challenge, given the large number of possible communication, price, and distribution elements.

The ISM's Strategic Marketing Management M.A. program qualifies students to recognize complex connections in markets, and to develop successful products and brands. They learn not only to create strategic concepts, but also to implement them, using their solid knowledge of marketing instruments.