Dubai: Developing a thorough cultural understanding of the various ethnic groups should be more prominent in post-graduate marketing courses, the Director of Manchester Business School's (MBS) Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) said.
Professor Jikyeong Kang during a recent visit to Dubai said post-graduate students should be alerted to the characteristics of various ethnic groups, as it could have a significant effect on marketing approaches.
"It's important to raise students' awareness to the key issues they need to be thinking about," she said.
"I'm currently teaching a course called marketing communications and branding, which looks at all the international, cultural and global issues."
Professor Kang said recent research had focused on the different purchasing practices of various ethnic groups.
Studies in the US had also examined the media consumption habits of different ethnic groups.
Self-gifts and ethnicity
Professor Kang, who is based in the UK but was visiting MBS' Dubai centre, said she had been investigating the impact of ethnicity and acculturation on consumer behaviour.
One interesting finding about the study she conducted in the UK was the "self-gifting" approaches of various ethnic groups.
Self-gifting is when people reward themselves for their own personal achievements.
"We found that white, Western people tend to buy themselves material gifts or services," she said.
"Asians tend to give themselves experiential gifts such as taking a long walk or inviting family and friends over for a home-cooked meal."
She added that such findings could translate into successful marketing to consumers of different ethnic groups as it provided valuable insight into how they think.
"Even with the same product you have to understand the ideas of the underlying culture and what makes them behave in certain ways," Professor Kang said. As the newly appointed Director of MBS' DBA programme, Professor Kang was in Dubai meeting candidates seeking entry into MBS' elite DBA programme.
The university caps its worldwide intake onto the DBA at 30 candidates per year — five of whom are from the GCC region.
"It is very competitive, but the more potential candidates we bring into the process the better chance we have of selecting top-notch people," she said.
"The Gulf region is a strong area for us right now as it is less impacted by the financial crisis."
Professor Kang said one of her core methods had been to strike the right gender balance — in her current post, and previous post as MBS' MBA director.
Diversity
"For this year's DBA we are trying to recruit a diverse group of people and establish as much gender diversity as possible," she said. "
I always jokingly talk about the fact that I think the world would be a much better place if there were more women in leadership positions."
Professor Kang might be joking but two DBA candidates from the UAE are keen to research this topic.
"On this trip I've interviewed two people interested in the issue of women in leadership," she said.
"The candidates are very keen to systematically research where the issues are and why there is such a low ceiling for women who wish to climb the professional ladder; a lot of women make it to the mid-management level but very few make it right to the top."
