Aiming to introduce marketing strategies and cultures from the United States to the School of Management and Information Technology (SMIT) students of the College, Marketing professor from Lewis University (also a LaSallian school) in Chicago Mr. Marvin Bates had a talk on the Overview of the American Culture organized by the Export Management Society (EMS) at the 5th floor Duerr Auditorium last March 3.
Bates, who arrived last week in Manila for a business conference at De La Salle University (DLSU), volunteered to do the talk for the College to help the students learn about a few aspects of business. Some of the topics he discussed were about brand loyalty and value, English as a language and its different types, and the differences of the American culture vis-a-vis the Philippines’.
“What makes a customer come back to a brand is it’s value. It’s important to give them value, to give them their money’s worth and make them feel that what they’re getting is good or even more value of what they’re paying for,” Bates said.
Also, the marketing professor shared the importance of body language and gestures in business, such as handshakes and personal space, and gifts versus briberies, when to give tokens of appreciation and not make them seem like a bribe.
“[This] was conceptualized about a week [prior to the talk] but our adviser Mr. Glenn Cabacang, Chairperson of the Export Management Program, [only] announced it [the day before] during our General Assembly that Mr. Marvin Bates will be arriving. So far, this was very fulfilling as we were able to successfully do the seminar in less than 24 hours. Sir Bates was such an amazing speaker.” shared 114 student Michael Joseph Tan, the incoming Publicity Head for EMS.
Currently, Bates is working on a collaborative research with one of the marketing researchers from DLSU, specifically Ms. Claire Ganac from the business department, and with other Lasallian institutions. He will be focusing on doing some work and data collection on brand loyalty.
Mr. Ericson Daton, a 113 Export Management (EM) student shared that Bates’ talk was very helpful for him as a business student as someday he plans to put up his own business and transact with people of other nationalities especially Americans.
Aside from being a marketing professor, Bates also teaches in Lewis University’s Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program. He’s been with Lewis University for 12 years and is currently the Director of Accreditation of the institution. Previous companies he worked for include International Business Machines (IBM) and Accenture. He had his own marketing business in Chicago for six years.
by Beatrice Mendoza, Timothy Santos and David Joshua Tongol
Photos by Yves Publico
