A report received by the Stabroek Business from, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on the outcomes of two recently concluded marketing seminars conducted in Linden and Georgetown by Pace University Marketing Professor Harvey Markovitz has pointed to the timiliness of the intervention given the challenge of shrinking international markets being faced by Guyana’s business community.
The visit to Guyana by the award-winning Markowitz resulted from a joint initiative by the Embassy of the United States of America in Georgetown and the Trade and Investment Committee of the GCCI and enabled the staging of a May 27 all-day seminar attended by approximately 10 small business-owners from the mining community.
Presented under the theme market your small business for greater profitability – hands on marketing tools and insights-making marketing pay in Guyana – the forum focused on ways in which business owners and their marketing teams can build capacity to market their businesses. Additionally, it provided simplified examples of approaches to marketing, including the strategic use of marketing tools. Those business houses in Linden who benefitted from the seminar were drawn from the agro-processing, manufacturing, craft, information technology, tourism, construction and agricultural sectors and their interaction with Professor Markowitz allowed for responses to particular marketing challenges facing these sectors.
While participants in the Linden seminar have welcomed the initiative the view has been expressed that support for small business initiatives ought to reflect itself in more frequent training opportunities. The Linden participants noted particularly the point made by Professor Markowirz regarding the market failure of more than
85 per cent of new products and expressed the view that the competitive nature of the global environment demanded that such fora be held annually to allow for upgrading of marketing skills by businesses that had benefited from previous programmes and for access by emerging businesses.
According to the Linden participants small businesses need support both in the marketing of their products as well as in establishing linkages with other local and overseas businesses.
The May 28th forum held at the Secretariat of the GCCI in Georgetown saw Professor Markowirz address issues pertaining to marketing in the twenty-first century, including core concepts such as analyzing consumer markets and behaviour and the process of decision-making. The visiting University Professor’s presentation also addressed themes such as company orientation towards the market place, market-oriented strategic planning, cultural, social and psychological factors in marketing, coping with competition, identifying market segments and identifying target markets.
Economic Officer in the US Embassy James Flashman told the Georgetown particopants that the seminars, the first of their kind by the Embassy were designed to allow participants to secure a ‘hands on’ perspective on marketing skills which would allow them to create complete marketing plans. He said that such plans could then support the creation and expansion of businesses at both the domestic and external levels.
The US Embassy here has also been involved in assisting local businesses to develop linkages with partners in the United States, including US-based investors through the Guyanese and Ameri-can Business and Professional Council (GABPC).
