Finding Your Ideal Marketing MBA in Denver
Earning an MBA degree is one of the best things a professional can do at any level of their career to develop a rock solid foundation of business knowledge. This generalized education not only provides students with the facts and figures they need to start or run a business, but also with the ability to be effective managers and leaders.
While many students pursuing an MBA can appreciate the open-ended nature of the degree as it keeps a number of postgraduate opportunities open to them, others may look for a more focused direction. Luckily, many MBA programs offer concentrations or majors for the degree, providing students with industry-specific training without sacrificing the strong foundational knowledge offered by an MBA.
With a strong local economy and average salary significantly above the national average, the Denver metro area has been rated the fourth best city in the country for starting a new business. Whether you are an executive looking to expand their leadership opportunities or still early in your career, Denver could be the perfect place to earn a degree and grow in your career. And with the many specialization opportunities available at Denver business schools, students with interest in a field like marketing have numerous opportunities to expand their education.
Colorado State University College of Business
The Colorado State University College of Business offers an online graduate certificate in Marketing Management for students enrolled in any of the school’s MBA programs. In addition to earning an MBA and the core courses for the degree, CSU students can pursue an additional nine credits with a particular focus in marketing.
All of the courses are taught by faculty at the College of Business’ Department of Marketing and are offered online to offer students full flexibility. The curriculum for the certificate includes courses such as: marketing Strategy and Planning, Marketing Management, Consumer Behavior, and Strategic Selling for Business Customers.
University of Colorado – Denver Business School
Students at the University of Colorado Denver Business School can use their elective credits of their MBA degree to specialize in marketing. At UC Denver, the Marketing specialization provides students with the necessary skills and ability to manage a firm and build profitable, long-term relationships. And although marketing may seem a broad focus for a degree, students can consult with the university’s marketing faculty to help narrow their focus and select the electives best suited to their career goals.
Students will take their MBA core courses in addition to 12 elective credits for Marketing specialization courses. Subjects in the marketing specialization may include topics like: Marketing Management, Buyer Behavior, Customer Relationship Management, Services Marketing, and more.
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University of Colorado, Boulder – Leeds School of Business
At the UC Boulder Leeds School of Business, students can choose marketing as an area of expertise for their MBA degree. This program will help students prepare for a role in an ever-changing global marketplace, allowing MBA graduates to better navigate the unique challenges of markets and entrepreneurship throughout the world. By focusing their MBA in marketing, UC Boulder students will develop the necessary skills to serve in a variety of ways within the industry, from marketing management to new product development, or consulting.
The UC Boulder Marketing MBA offers a number of elective options that can help students further customize their focus in marketing, from courses like Market Intelligence, Pricing Strategy & Tactics, Integrated Marketing Communications, and Entrepreneurial Marketing.
University of Denver – Daniels College of Business
The Daniels College of Business MBA, ranked among the top 10 most innovative MBA programs in the country by Inc. Magazine earlier this year, is uniquely structured around four core business challenges. Categorized as an enterprise, social good, corporate and global challenge, students simultaneously take classes and work on the challenges, having the chance to apply immediately what they’ve learned.
Included in the Denver MBA’s structure are six electives, four of which can be focused in a particular area to comprise a concentration. For those interested in concentrating in marketing, Daniels provides the hands-on learning in subjects like Digital Marketing and Brand Management that will give students the skills they need to achieve success in the industry.
What are the Best Marketing MBA Programs in Baltimore?
The Baltimore metro is home to over 2.7 million people, making it the 20th largest metropolitan area in the United States and the economic center of the state of Maryland. Best known for its top colleges and universities, hospitals, sports, and professional and financial services, Baltimore is also a popular meeting and convention destination, according to Visit Baltimore. Continue reading…
D’Amore-McKim Marketing Study Says Let Customers Do The Talking on Social Media
According to Northeastern professor Koen Pauwels’ recent Journal of Marketing paper, there are “three consumer mindset metrics” within social media that affect stock performance and shareholder value. D’Amore-McKim recently explored his research.
How An MBA Degree Can Land You a Job at Pfizer
MBA grads looking to make headway in an ever-expanding field with massive growth potential should look no further than healthcare and pharmaceuticals. There’s a reason more and more business school graduates have begun to pursue pharma over more tried-and-true post-MBA paths like real estate, consulting, and finance: the pharma industry offers a myriad of opportunities. There’s an almost inexhaustible supply of interesting problems to solve while earning boast-worthy salaries.
When it comes to major industry players, Pfizer is one of the undisputed global pharmaceutical leaders. Many of its products have burrowed their way into popular consciousness—both figuratively and literally. Lipitor, Viagra, Zoloft, Xanax, Advil, ChapStick, Preparation H, and Robitussin are iconic brands unto themselves.
Below, we’ll take a deeper look into exactly how MBAs can gain a foothold at Pfizer.
Why Do MBAs Love Pfizer?
Pfizer’s name brand recognition just so happens to correlate with a stellar internal reputation among employees, both past and present. Forbes, Fortune, LinkedIn, CareerBliss all consistently rank Pfizer as one of the happiest, most employee-centric, and/or most in-demand employers in the American pharma space.
In an interview with the Stevens Institute of Technology blog, Pfizer Senior QA Manager Bill Mestrandrea, a Stevens MBA alum, spoke of the deep camaraderie that he has with his fellow MBAs at Pfizer, comparing it to a “band of brothers.”
He elaborates: “We’re all in it together. I’ve met people from other departments who my work influences, and they’ve influenced my work as well. It gave me a better understanding of the network within Pfizer, and how it all comes together to form one company, always working in support of our patients.”
An anonymous former Pfizer employee took to Glassdoor to extol the company’s virtues: “If you can keep up with the fast pace and are not overly sensitive, Pfizer is a great to work. Everyday is an adventure and the benefits are excellent.” An anonymous Technical Specialist in the New York branch lauded Pfizer’s “great gym, clinic, cafeteria, and day care” in a Forbes profile.
Payscale reports that MBAs earn an average starting salary of around $121,000. Pfizer prides itself on a competitive compensation and benefits package that rewards employees “based on the contributions they make to [the] business.”
The company offers a number of in-house health and wellness programs, including health and disability insurance, medical screening, free or reduced-cost vaccinations, discounts on Pfizer products, and nutrition and fitness counseling. As part of the benefits package, Pfizer also offers access to colleague-directed retirement funds, company contributions to retirement financial vehicles, life insurance, and financial planning education.
Working at Pfizer
If there’s a common thread that runs through day-to-day life for all MBA grads at Pfizer, no matter their function, it’s that they’re all expected to move quickly and keep up with the constant demand. Pfizer is sympathetic and has sought out solutions to help acclimate first-year MBAs—namely, its Summer Associate Program, which has placed alum in full-time roles for the past 15 years.
Pfizer’s 10-12 week Summer Associate Program recruits and provides “first-year MBA students from top-ranked business schools … with a variety of unique experiences that will serve to develop and broaden critical skill sets and competencies as they progress their development towards leadership roles within Pfizer.”
Students are assigned challenging projects within Consumer Marketing, Corporate Audit, Corporate Finance, Global Procurement, Pfizer Consulting & Execution, and Pharmaceutical Marketing. By the end, Summer Associates “gain a wealth of valuable industry knowledge, networking opportunities, and life experiences.”
According to Pfizer, “MBA Summer Associates receive an industry competitive salary, housing support options and the prospect of conversion to a full-time opportunity upon the completion of their MBA degree.”
Jane Scholl (Columbia Business School ’12), whose healthcare resume stemmed from a desire to “improve the lives of others,” discussed the way her 2012 internship led to a position with the Marketing Rotational Program the following year:
“Though I only spent three months with Pfizer during the summer, I was treated as a valued member of the team rather than an intern. I was encouraged to share my thoughts and ideas even if they differed from those of other colleagues. I worked on meaningful projects that contributed to the business, and some of my recommendations were implemented before the end of the summer.”
Oindrila Sardar (Chicago Booth ’11), a Senior Manager at Pfizer’s Established Products Marketing Platform, discussed the relationship she had with the rotation managers during her Summer Associate internship:
“My rotation managers have played a critical role in my development with weekly one-on-one meetings and their insightful project guidance. They have been receptive to my interests and have matched them with meaningful assignments Throughout my rotations I have worked with cross-functional colleagues from many areas of the company which has helped me further understand Pfizer and its structure. I have been surprised by the high level of trust and responsibility given from the very beginning.”
Landing a Job at Pfizer
It’s pretty straightforward: Pfizer’s Summer Associate Internship is a surefire way for MBAs to get hired. In fact, 16 out of its recent 25 summer associates were extended full-time offers. That said, there’s plenty of recruitment that takes place outside the sacred intern space.
In the fall, Pfizer aggressively targets top MBA programs, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast close to its New York HQ. The company is interested in drawing from a pool of diverse and competitive first-year applicants, especially those with a taste for finance, marketing, global supply, and general management. Although previous pharma experience will make your application more competitive, Pfizer is equally interested in applicants with compelling reasons for a career change.
Interviews begin in January and run until March. Pfizer sometimes conducts group interview sessions in which four or five applicants discuss issues with staff members. This process is designed to understand which folks will make a meaningful contribution to a Pfizer culture with many distinct and occasionally contentious points-of-view.
UCLA Anderson Introduces New Online Journal
UCLA’s Anderson School of Management recently debuted the UCLA Anderson Review, an online journal that features the research from its faculty. The journal will showcase the vast business and economic research that the UCLA faculty spearheads.
“The faculty of Anderson (School of Management) is doing cutting-edge research that can have an important impact and elevate national discussion on crucial issues, and so the review is a way to put spotlight on that,” Rebecca Trounson, Director of Executive and Brand Communications, said.
The publication is written and assembled by Anderson’s Marketing and Communications department and a team of freelance writers.
“Our writers are top journalists from places like the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and they are very sufficient to understand these research papers and explain them in an acceptable way for a wide audience,” Trounson said.
UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian expressed her own enthusiasm about the journal’s debut.
“A key priority for all of us at Anderson is to showcase the impact of our faculty’s wide-ranging research, and make it accessible to students, alumni, business professionals, the media and others. We are please to share the inaugural edition of the UCLA Anderson Review, offering important and practical insights derived from the rigorous scholarship of our faculty,” Olian said in a recent release.
As of now, the review is publishing two articles per week that feature topics like retirement savings, healthcare, and workplace behavior.
UCLA Anderson Review Editor-in-Chief Jeff Bailey meets with both the faculty and the writers to determine what content will be included each week. Bailey does some preliminary investigating to learn what faculty members are working on, and then meets with them to find out more about their research.
The review’s articles can be found on their website, or readers can subscribe to the journal to receive monthly emails that include new articles.
Deciding Which Seattle Marketing MBA Is Right for You
Seattle is, easily, one of America’s fastest growing cities. Just in one year, from 2015 to 2016, the city’s population increased by 21,000 people, according to The Seattle Times. That’s 57 people a day, on average.
It’s no surprise people are flocking to Seattle. Amazon, Nordstrom, and Starbucks have headquarters there—and Amazon has been busy hiring like crazy. Companies like Microsoft and Boeing are only contributing to this growth too. But beyond the economic and population growth, Seattle is beautiful. Famous for its lush mountains, Seattle provides a view of Mount Rainier from just about any point in the city.
Its progressive policies—like providing a $15 minimum wage and legalizing the use and sale of cannabis—also make the city appealing for young people who are curious about where to start their family or career.
It’s the perfect place to build a life—after that MBA you’ve been thinking about. Three programs, in particular, offer competitive marketing MBA programs. Perhaps they’ll land candidates a job in the tech industry where Seattle employees are the “second-best paid techies,” in the U.S, according to The Seattle Times.
Seattle MBA Programs with a Focus in Marketing
Albers School of Business and Economics — Seattle University
The Albers School of Business and Economics dates back to 1976 when the school was renamed to honor the contribution of Eva and George Albers. Since then, it’s garnered a number of accolades. Most recently, The Princeton Review included the school in its 2017 “Best Business Schools” publication. Albers offers different MBA programs, including an Early Career MBA, a Professional MBA, and a Leadership Executive MBA.
The Professional MBA program can be customized to meet a student’s needs. Two thirds of the required 54 credits consist of electives, so candidates can choose the classes they need to meet their career goals. Candidates can make marketing their discipline. The school offers 12 marketing electives. This program allows students to take two of the school’s 10 graduate certificates as part of their electives. Marketing is on that list.
The business school also gives specialized master degrees for accounting, business analytics, and finance. Its Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) can give marketing candidates a competitive edge in learning data skills.
Foster School of Business — University of Washington
The Foster School of Business at the University of Washington has been around for 100 years. Yep, since 1917. In 2007, it took up the Foster name in honor of Michael G. Foster, who donated $36.5 million through his foundation.
This money went toward building the campus’ state-of-the-art facilities, a major perk for a public university. And this devotion the school has for its students has proven successful: Nearly 3,000 alumni have founded companies. U.S. News World & Report ranked its full-time MBA program number one overall in the Northwest and number nine overall among public universities.
The curriculum ensures candidates understand every facet to business: accounting, finance, strategy, and, of course, marketing. But the second year of the full-time program allows students to hone in on their chosen skill. For marketing MBAs, the program offers 12 electives, including one exclusively on data.
Seattle Pacific University School of Business, Government and Economics
The Seattle Pacific University School of Business, Government and Economics started teaching business in 1977. Its Christian background influences the way the school teaches business. Ethics and service are major themes.
The MBA program features seven emphases: cybersecurity, data analytics, finance, human resources management, information systems management, management, and social and sustainable enterprise. Marketing is a required skill in the curriculum. Marketing is included in the pre-MBA courses required to obtain the degree. For advanced courses, marketing analysis is required. The data analytics emphasis is a good place for those interested in marketing to look into. Data is key in marketing. Numbers tell a bigger story than one might imagine.
