GSOM students who have taken Professor Lin Boldt’s Marketing Research class agree: there’s no better course for hands-on, practical experience in marketing. The course teaches students current, real-world marketing research skills and is highlighted by a semester-long project for a well-known, multi-national sports company.
Marketing Research teaches students how to make sound business decisions and solve problems with regards to marketing. Playing the role of consultant to the multi-national sports company “client,” the class is introduced to three different stages of market research. In the first stage, students visit sports retail stores to do some exploratory research – identifying questions, issues, and determining factors that help a brand to stand out in a wholesale store. In the second stage, students meet with approximately 10 potential customers to do a qualitative survey to get their perceptions about brands and marketing techniques – focusing on the sports company brand for whom they’re working.
The final stage is a quantitative survey involving 300 target customers, which includes designing and launching the survey, and analyzing the results. Both the qualitative and quantitative marketing research reveals data and insight into the client’s branding, market segmentation, target audience and future positioning. A final presentation to not only their classmates, but the sports company representatives, finishes out the semester.
There’s no doubt among students, Marketing Research is certainly a rigorous course; but it’s also one of the most popular. Professor Boldt sees her students’ confidence grow throughout the semester, as they hone their marketing research skills and become project leaders.
“I hope that my students will walk away from the class with analytical, communication, project management, and problem-solving skills that allow them to be a thoughtful manager and business leader in the future,” Professor Bolt said.
Dr. Lin Boldt is an assistant professor of marketing for the Graduate School of Management at Clark University. She earned her MBA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (’06, ‘13).
Contributed by Hayley Gao, MSF ’16