The IMI Diploma in Marketing Strategy, with Digital Marketing aims to bridge the gap between how to best harness new media and channel opportunities and how best to serve the needs of a changing customer and marketplace.

“Many feel that good marketing requires a big budget,” commented Siobhan McAleer, IMI Senior Specialist in Marketing & Sales Management. “It doesn’t – it requires creativity, time and decisions based on asking the right questions.“ This newley revised programme develops the analytical thinking skills required by strategists. It then explores the process of developing marketing strategies, highlighting the role of digital marketing strategies and asking key questions such as “is there a role for it in the type of business we are in?”

Many companies are devoting a greater percentage of their budgets to digital marketing channel, as it gives direct contact with customers and allows for a better analysis of its effectiveness than traditional media. They want to know how it will work for them.

“The social media revolution is integrated throughout the course,” McAleer continues. “This revised programme explores how digital marketing and social media grows awareness, engagement, sales and loyalty for cutting edge businesses today – from large to small businesses."

In some cases it is not the right approach for a company – say for example the company has a limited number of customers or if their decision makers spend their time behind a highly secure firewall. So the Diploma in Marketing Strategy, with Digital Marketing gives the participants the frameworks for considering the company’s place in the market, its positioning and how best to grow business.

The programme is structured in such a way that all the content is directly related to the participants own business. They complete a marketing plan – be it for a product, service, the complete business or via a channel. The common denominator is that they step back from the business and analyse it, using market research, in some cases direct customer interviews, to help inform the subsequent marketing decisions.

Applications are currently being taken for this programme.

For further information

Email: Siobhan.mcaleer@imi.ie  or Programmeadvisors@imi.ie 

Freefone:  1 800 22 33 88.

The Irish Management Institute and University College Cork are delighted to announce a significant milestone in the developing relationship between the two institutions.

From the start of the 2010-11 academic year, IMI’s Master of Business suite of Diploma Programmes and the MSc in Management Practice will be accredited and awarded by University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork.

The full list of programmes which will be covered under this arrangement are:

• MSc in Management Practice

• IMI Diploma in Management

• IMI Diploma in Executive Coaching

• IMI Diploma in Strategic Human Resources Management

• IMI Diploma in Strategic Marketing Management

• IMI Diploma in Leadership

• IMI Diploma in Strategy and Innovation

• IMI Business Research Project

• IMI Master of Business

The IMI Conference Centre has been short-listed for The Aviva Event Industry Awards 2010 in the category Best Conference Events Venue.

This award is for the conference venue that, “in the opinion of the judges, takes a spectacular event space and marries it with a great team - front of house, catering, support - to deliver outstanding results on a regular basis”.

Venues are judged on their scope and size as well as the type of events catered for and how each venue accommodates the unique requirements of their client's events.

The IMI Conference Centre was short-listed in this category with five other venues. Published in the Irish Independent on Thursday, 20th June the shortlist can be viewed on the awards website here.

There was an increase in both the number of entrants and the quality of entries this year, the second year of the awards, according to the organisers. The winners will be announced on June 17th.

The IMI Conference Centre in Sandyford is a bright, spacious and contemporarily designed venue, which can accommodate up to 300 people, while the glass fronted Atrium and exhibition area is specially designed for sponsor stands and networking.

Our facilities include 15 training/meeting rooms, 3 boardrooms as well as numerous smaller breakout areas. These come with state of the art audiovisual equipment and the support of our in-house AV technician.

The Irish Management Institute (IMI) has climbed six places in this year’s Financial Times (FT) Executive Education Rankings.

The rankings published on Monday, May 10th place IMI in the top 60 providers of Customised Executive Education globally.

IMI remains the only Irish business school to be ranked as a top global provider of Customised Executive Education.

IMI’s programmes in this area have a strong international flavour and this is reflected in this year’s rankings, with the Institute being ranked 35th for Overseas Programme provision. The Institute draws upon a wide network of leading international faculty. Programmes have been delivered not only in Ireland but also in the US, Europe and most recently in North Africa and this is reflected in the survey results relating to international participation and international clients.

Customised Executive Education programmes are tailored to develop the capability of managers to address the unique challenges facing their organisation. “We partner with clients to build programmes that improve their business performance. This is achieved by ensuring their management processes and people follow best international practice,” said Justin Kinnear, Head of Customised Executive Education at the IMI.

“It is encouraging that the organisations that are surviving and thriving through the recession are the organisations that are continuing to invest in improving their management capability,” added Kinnear.

In 2009 the IMI became the first Irish business school to be ranked in the area of Customised Executive Education. Having risen up the rankings in 2010 IMI remains the only Irish business school ranked by the FT in this area.

“Improving our management capability is central to addressing Ireland’s productivity deficit and restoring national competitiveness,” commented Dr Tom McCarthy, Chief Executive of IMI. “The IMI has again proven itself as a global player in enabling organisations tackle their current challenges and positioning for future growth.”

The Financial Times survey ranks executive programmes across a range of factors including programme design, faculty, teaching methods, international clients, international participation and facilities. Top ranked schools include Duke, HEC Paris and Harvard Business School.

These rankings are produced after a lengthy and rigorous process of evaluation among the companies involved and benchmarking against those other business schools assessed. In the past other Irish schools have been ranked for their MBA programmes.

Improving management practice in Ireland could add over 1% annually to GDP according to research presented at the Irish Management Institute's National Leadership Forum on April 29th.

The research, carried out by McKinsey and the London School of Economics, highlighted that manufacturing firms in Ireland fall significantly below the global average for management practice. High value manufacturing in Ireland performs very well. However, SMEs engaged in manufacturing in Ireland trail comparative firms in the US by 21%.  Download  report - Management Matters in Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland.

An Taoiseach Brian Cowen T.D. participated in the working sessions of the Forum and delivered a keynote address to the country’s business, political and civic leaders gathered at the IMI in Sandyford, Dublin.

IMI Chairman, Dr Phil Nolan told the forum that an improvement in competitiveness would be required if we are to see a reduction in unemployment and a return to sustainable and balanced wealth creation. "The quality of management in an organization is a driver of productivity which underpins competitiveness. The good news is that we have the scope and opportunity to do something about improving the standard of management" , he added.

The Forum was organised around briefings on best practice and working groups tasked with developing proposals to deliver the competitiveness improvements identified as possible by the research on management practice. There were contributions from Professor Don Sull, London Business School, Gary Keegan, Director Irish Institute of Sport, Rebecca Homkes, London School of Economics and Jim Costello, CEO SouthWestern throughout the day.

The Forum heard that Ireland more than any other country has a very large “tail” of underperforming firms. In Ireland 19% of firms score less that 2 on a 1 to 5 scale. For the US this figure stands at 2%. Britain is itself a poor performer but there the “tail” of poor performers stands at only 7%. If the performance of the “tail” of low performers was brought up to average performance in Ireland this could add over €2billion annually to the value of output.

"While there is some evidence that management practice in services are better than in manufacturing they still trail the international benchmark", according to Dr Tom McCarthy CEO of the IMI. "It is therefore reasonable to suppose that service organizations in Ireland, both in the public and private sectors, are characterized by significant pockets of poor management practices. The true dividend from action to improve management practices is therefore likely to be a multiple of the €2billion that can be realised from manufacturing industry", he added.

The National Leadership Forum was established to identify and bring forward proposals for restoring competitiveness. "The huge dividend that can be delivered from improving management practice will be the centerpiece of the report that the IMI will prepare for government arising from the Forum", according to McCarthy.

The Irish Management Institute is to hold its second National Leadership Forum on April 29th with An Taoiseach Mr Brian Cowen T.D. as guest of honour.

Dr Tom McCarthy, Chief Executive of the IMI, when announcing the Forum said that Irish based leaders of organisations in the public and private sectors had been invited to Sandyford to focus on the task of restoring competitiveness. “It is essential that best practice is identified, shared and supported by government policy.” 

The event will be an intensive 1-day forum with contributions from Professor Don Sull of the London Business School and Rebecca Homkes of the London School of Economics (LSE).

An Taoiseach Mr Brian Cowen T.D. will attend the Forum, which is being held at the IMI’s Conference Centre. He will also participate in the consultations on strategies for enterprise capability, which form part of the practically-focused agenda of the day.

Don Sull, a regular contributor to the Financial Times on best practice management, will present lessons from his research on how organisations cope and thrive in turbulent times. He will explain how firms can seize the “upside of a recession”.

Using techniques developed at McKinsey and the LSE, Rebecca Homkes coordinated a project that evaluated the standard of management in Irish Manufacturing industry. She will present the findings of this study and explain how Irish companies perform relative to international competition.

These presentations will be supported by Irish case studies from Jim Costello, CEO of SouthWestern and Gary Keegan, Director of the Irish Institute of Sport.

Building on the work of the Forum the IMI will submit a report for government identifying priorities to restore competitiveness. Last year the IMI facilitated the Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh and produced a report which was published by government. Many of the actions identified are being followed up as part of the diaspora strategy. The National Leadership Forum will focus on the insights of Irish based organisational leaders.

This forum is part of a wider process of engagement, facilitated by IMI, to support leaders in tackling critical management issues.

At an extraordinary general meeting held on March 30th, Irish Management Institute members unanimously voted in favour of a merger with University College Cork (UCC).

The merger will now be subject to approvals under education legislation.

Dr Tom McCarthy, IMI Chief Executive, welcomed the result and said the merger would pave the way for the IMI to further its core mission to improve the practice of management in Ireland.

 “Subject to final approval, this merger will greatly enhance the future development of the IMI. We have been engaged in a process of transformation and rejuvenation to enhance service to client organisations. The next stage in IMI’s development requires an expansion of its capability in a number of areas to maintain progress and to consolidate and build on its achievements.”

At the EGM members voted to enable the proposed merger to take place. The Governing Body of University College Cork formally adopted a proposal to merge with IMI at its meeting on February 9th 2010.

Under the terms of the proposed merger, the IMI will retain its separate identity and continue to operate as a membership organisation. Subject to final approval, the merger will allow the IMI to enhance its provision to the Irish business community.

As part of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Award Programme Tour America, the holiday specialists on North America and worldwide cruises, was singled out from among the winners to receive a special accolade for exceptional performance in business strategy.

IMI Chief Executive, Dr Tom McCarthy presented a place on the Masters of Business programme to Mary McKenna, Managing Director of Tour America at a syposium held in Dublin on March 5th.

This special award is in recognition of the high standard of management practice that the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards has highlighted within Tour America and their exceptional performance in business strategy.

All 20 Deloitte Best Managed Companies for 2010 along with the 22 re-qualified companies from the 2009 programme also recevied IMI Memebership for 2010.

The winners of this year’s Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme, twenty companies who demonstrated superior business performance were recognised at an awards Gala Dinner in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, which was attended by the Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen T.D., on 5th March 2010.

Tour America, the holiday specialists on North America and worldwide cruises, was singled out from among the winners to receive a special accolade for exceptional performance in business strategy. Given the importance that a company’s strategy has in overcoming the challenges that the current economy brings, this was an area that was of particular focus for the judging panel. A place on the IMI's Masters of Business programme was presented by Dr Tom McCarthy, IMI Chief Executive to Mary McKenna, Managing Director of Tour America.

The winning companies are located throughout the island of Ireland and come from a variety of different industries including the tourism, hospitality, technology, food and beverage, medical, automotive, wholesale, distribution and logistics sectors, among others.

The independent judging panel, chaired by Denis Brosnan, reviewed a broad range of criteria including strategy, capability, commitment, financials and growth potential across all key functions of the business. Given the turbulent economic environment, the judging panel recognised that business and management success can no longer simply be measured by increased sales, profit or turnover.

For that reason, a holistic view of the companies, their performance in relation to their peers, and the industries that they are operating in was considered in order to determine management success.

Speaking at the awards, the Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen T.D., commented:

"In today's challenging business environment, Irish companies and their management teams need to be more entrepreneurial, ambitious, creative and skilled than ever before. Indeed, for our companies competing in global markets, world-class management teams are absolutely critical to achieving success. Awards programmes like this help bring out the best in Irish companies and are hugely beneficial to all participants."

This year’s process found that there were a number of common traits across the winning companies. These included an increased focus on international markets for growth and the recognition that retaining key members of management despite the pressure to reduce headcount was extremely important – it will be these people who will see the company through the period of turbulence. Many of the winning companies are also dedicating much of their time to forecasting and budgeting – recognising that they are working in a fast moving environment and planning needs to be revised on an ongoing basis to ensure a complete understanding of financing needs and key cost drivers in addition to what variables most influence the business and how to control these.

Commenting on the winners of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme, Pat Cullen, Managing Partner, Deloitte said:

“To be recognised as a Best Managed Company is a tremendous achievement, given the challenges that companies in all industries are currently experiencing. Our judging panel takes an in-depth look at each company - therefore to be chosen as a winner is testament to the sound management practices that are being implemented across the entire business. It is this thorough approach that will help these companies to take advantage of the upturn when it arrives.”

The twenty winning companies are:

• Abbey Tours Limited (Dublin)

• Barry Group (Cork)

• CastleCool (Monaghan)

• Designer Group Engineering Contractors (Dublin)

• FreeFlow (Kerry)

• Hodson Bay Group (Galway)

• Jacob Fruitfield Food Group (Dublin)

• Java Republic Roasting Company (Dublin)

• Killarney Telecom Ltd (KTL) (Kildare)

• MW Fuels Co. Ltd (Limerick)

• National Plastic Packaging Group Limited (Dublin)

• Omega Mechanical Services Limited (Derry)

• Qumas Limited (Cork)

• Singularity (Derry)

• Strongline Autoparts Ltd (Dublin)

• Taxback.com (Dublin)

• Tazbell group (Dublin)

• TG Eakin Limited (Down)

• Tour America (Dublin)

• Wilsons Auctions Limited (Antrim)

The Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme is open to companies from all 32 counties on the island of Ireland. It is the only awards programme that considers a business’ performance from every perspective.

Details of entry for the 2010/2011 Awards will be issued in the coming weeks on www.deloittebestmanaged.ie