By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Nov. 10, GNA - Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, Vice-Chancellor, University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has asked public sector organisations (PSOs) to create and empower marketing departments to improve service quality and ensure effective client service.
He noted that these departments should be occupied by trained marketing personnel who would lead the value creation process and develop customer-oriented offerings to meet customer needs whilst returning value.
He said beyond the restructuring, public sector firms would need to adopt a marketing mind-set, which enjoins them to adopt a modern-day marketing practices, improve service quality and ensure effective client service.
Prof Amartey said this when he made a presentation at the UPSA- Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Public Lecture on the theme: “Public Sector Marketing: A Catalyst for National Development”.
The event was organised by UPSA in collaboration with CIMG, and chaired by Prof Kwamina Kwansah-Aidoo, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).
Prof Amartey underscored the need for building brand equity and called for the need to create and maintain desired brand identity, using contemporary branding models to build brand equity and understand the strategic applications of the extended marketing mix elements to support brand building.
He highlighted on the need for strategic partnerships, adding that “In our contemporary world, cooperation is a required response to intensified competition, and collaboration is the current business practice.”
He noted that PSOs must form strategic partnerships with themselves and with private sector firms for effectiveness.
Touching on how the then Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), now UPSA used marketing philosophy as a game changer, Prof Amartey said for many years, UPSA was just another tertiary institution without any recognition or positive image.
Prof Amartey noted that while it produced virtually all the professional Accountants and marketers Ghana needed, it did not commensurate with the kind of public image it enjoyed.
He said today, UPSA is the University of the moment, having successfully applied the marketing philosophy to gain a positive reputation and international recognition, and currently, jointly-ranked as number one in Ghana and number three in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He said these rankings were done by the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings that assessed the social and economic impact of universities based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Prof Amartey, who is also the 2018 CIMG Marketing Man of the Year, recommended that government must insist on marketing training for all PSOs.
He said further recruitment into the public service must be tied to marketing literacy and UPSA, working with CIMG, was available to partner government to deliver strategies aimed at transforming
PSOs into marketing oriented organisations.
“Having successfully transformed our University from a young and less-known public sector University to a leading University in Africa using Marketing, we can assist other PSOs to achieve same”, he added.
Dr Kasser Tee, President, CIMG, said the role of marketing in ensuring business growth and long term survival could not be overemphasised, adding that "this influence is seen in the private sector and the public sector."
GNA
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