Teaching concept

„Doing the right things“ and “doing things right” are the secrets of successful management. This often means choosing from a multitude of possibilities with consequences only observable in the future. We offer the know-how for solving managerial decision problems in the area of market-based management by imparting specific knowledge (e.g., theories on consumer behavior, communication theory, decision theory) as well as by teaching how to apply quantitative methods and interpret the results.

“Doing the right things” requires the knowledge and understanding of available management tools. An outline of such tools is provided in modules I-IV of the bachelor's degree program where students are introduced to principles of marketing and the St. Gallen concept of management. That way, our students become familiar with the main actions applicable after the second term.

Besides the knowledge of effective tools (successful) management requires information on KPIs. In the bachelor's degree program, we cover information gathering in the course “market analysis”, which introduces students to important techniques and methods of market research (from AID to Two-sample tests, from Conjoint Measurement to ANOVA). In combination with an additional course in data mining, our students become specialists in the areas of data collection, data analysis, and data interpretation, being able to choose the “right” actions based on relevant information.

What is most important for us is not to overwhelm students with information but rather to enable them to make good use of the acquired knowledge. Mandatory exercises that take place in the computer lab help participants to apply the techniques presented in the lectures, using the appropriate software (e.g. SPSS, SAS-Enterprise Miner, Clementine, Sawtooth Software, AMOS, AnswerTree).

The master's degree program deepens the theoretical knowledge of our students. Participants of the lecture “Convincing Stakeholders” study the principles of corporate as well as personal communication (e.g. negotiation skills). Complementary, graduate students gain insights into theories of consumer behavior provided in the lecture “Consumer Insights”. Altogether, they become enabled to adequately address every corporate stakeholder group that they will get in contact with during their professional life.

In order to train our students´ practical skills we offer “project seminars” for undergraduates and “project courses” for graduate students. Both are carried out in cooperation with industry partners, giving students the chance to work on real-life problems for three to six months. The scope of possible topics ranges from market research to industry structure analyses and employee satisfaction studies to the development of market-based business unit strategies. The benefits for our industry partners include - among others - the possibility of getting a cost-saving but nevertheless detailed analysis of a specific problem. Industry cooperations are also possible for bachelor and master theses comprising two respectively five months.

Our teaching concept in all degree programs is completed by seminars for theoretical deepening of selected learning areas – often carried out together with other institutes.