MBA students build Belfast brand in case study to be presented to city council
October 27, 2009
When Rutgers Business School Professor Elizabeth Hirschman, PhD touched down in the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast to attend a conference in September, she couldn’t believe she was in the same city she had visited just four years earlier. Gone were the crumbling facades of a deserted downtown riverfront, desolate dining options and drab hotels. In its place was a brand new city, reconstructed, shiny and new with bustling cafes, beautifully restored buildings, and a vibrant city atmosphere. “The transformation was stunning,” said Dr. Hirschman, Professor of Marketing at RBS, who came back to New Jersey inspired to use her experience in Belfast in the classroom. “Here’s this incredible city in Europe reemerging from a troubled past, that nobody knows about,” she said. “This is a classic question of how to promote tourism and create a new brand for the city. So I created a ‘Promoting the Belfast Brand’ case study for my class.”The final 15 minutes of every class, professor Hirschman takes the concepts learned from that day’s lecture and asks the students to apply it to the Belfast case study. The part-time MBA students in her advertising and promotions class have enthusiastically taken on the project.“It’s exciting and a privilege that our class is able to be a part of this unique opportunity where we can use our growing knowledge of advertising and marketing to benefit another culture that we might never have been a part of otherwise,” said Katie Howard.The students feel part of something special. “We have an exciting opportunity to apply our classroom learning to a real life situation,” said April Cardone. “Applying what we’ve learned will help us retain the knowledge and use it once we graduate,” she said.“I am very excited to be a part of this project, which will enable us to reach out and truly demonstrate Rutgers University striving towards ‘Jersey Roots, Global Reach,’” said Tricia Musto.Belfast was the scene of horrendous sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants for most of the 20th century. Nearly 1,500 people died in clashes in Belfast since 1969. But since 1998 when the “Good Friday Agreement” was signed as a roadmap for peace, the people of Belfast have steadily worked together on major redevelopment projects to rebuild the city’s landmarks.Two of Dr. Hirschman’s colleagues in the United Kingdom and natives of Belfast, Lorna Stevens, PhD, Professor of Marketing, University of Ulster, and Pauline Maclaran, Professor of Marketing & Consumer Research, University of London, are advising her on the “Promoting the Belfast Brand” project. “They are very personally as well as professionally motivated to help make Belfast's transformation successful and permanent,” said Dr. Hirschman. “We are intending to create a new brand image for the city that overcomes its conflict-filled past and embraces the new spirit of peace and cooperation among the city's residents,” said Dr. Hirschman.” The three professors will present the class findings to the Belfast City Council in June 2010.Dr. Hirschman, named one of the “Most Cited Researchers in Economics and Business” by the Institute for Scientific Information in 2009, believes this project can help Rutgers Business School play a role on the world stage to help stimulate economic growth.The finished construction of Victoria Square in Belfast 2009.Belfast center in the 1970s.The “Promoting the Belfast Brand” case study is another example of the real-world experiences MBA students are a part of at Rutgers Business School, the only business school that delivers the business, science, and technology credentials to succeed in local, national and global markets.Daniel J. Stolldstoll@business.rutgers.edu
