Tag Archives: Teaching

The 10 best Marketing cases I have ever taught

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As the new academic year rises on the horizon, I thought about the cases (in Marketing) that I have taught in past few years and listed the top ten. My best teaching experiences – taking into account the best learning experiences of my students – took place while teaching these cases.

The list is slightly inclined towards marketing strategy, and does not include the good old work-your-way-through-it numerical analysis cases as these are required but do become somewhat boring at times. I have listed only the interesting cases, which really connect with students and sometimes even divide the class!

Most of these cases can be taught across programs and years (perhaps a few are not suitable for the first-year basic marketing course, and many are unsuitable for undergraduate courses) with a little flexibility, creativity, and improvisation from the faculty. Then again, you can’t have a course of just these cases – these are best consumed as the laddus in a diet that otherwise consists of good old dal-chawal-roti-subzi, in my view.

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From the gallery to the well: A Wimwian’s reflections on the journey from student to teacher

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© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

This article narrates the story of my academic journey, and my admiration for my teachers at IIM Ahmedabad, and was first published in Writing on the Wall (Issue 5, May 2023, page 53), the annual students’ magazine of IIMA. The full magazine is available at IIM Ahmedabad’s LinkedIn post here.

Caution: The article contains an inordinate number of references to I, me, and my, and is best suited for fans of Priya Narayanan!

Late in the summer of 2009, I officially became a Wimwian by enrolling in the PGP and received the keys to my room in the “dungeon” of Dorm 3, where the sun hesitates to enter and a sweater is needed even at midday in the peak of winter. What followed was a hustle of classes in the gallery seating of b-school classrooms – for the first time ever in my life, I was not on the first bench! – and a life packed with activities and placements. Later, the place felt home enough to return for a second stint, this time for a doctoral degree in a topic that had become my favorite over the years, consumer psychology.

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Towards The CMO’s Playbook – A reflection on teaching and learning marketing strategy

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Two months ago, forty-seven eager young minds started on a quest for “the CMO’s playbook” – a journey to understand strategic decision making in marketing. An equally eager but not so young mind (yours truly) joined them, mainly to prove that fun and learning can go together. It was a tall ask from all of us, but we managed to pull it off!

Finally, it was the student teams that prepared their original playbooks for CMOs, and I might have merely orchestrated the journey – a journey through a mix of simulation, business cases, discussions of real life marketing, and minimal reliance on pre-cooked frameworks.

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To My Students – Soar High and Fly Far!

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© Priya Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IIM Kozhikode. Views are personal.

There’s a glorious joy in standing next to your peers, wearing the black robe, and receiving the degree. There’s a sense of two tumultuous years of struggle, fun, excitement, boredom, stress, success, and learning, all trying to bundle themselves into a few joyous moments.

On this convocation, as my first set of students graduate, it is no exaggeration when I say that I feel the same joy as I did over a decade ago. Of course, this time round, my joy is for all of you, my students, who made me a teacher. Because you created every moment that I have been a teacher.

You made me think, you made me laugh (and cry, believe it or not!). I doubted myself, then conquered those doubts, only to have other doubts come up. I became more empathetic, inclusive, confident, perceptive, all through your relentless training. And by now I have forgotten how I have also been irritated and desperate!

Thank you for everything.

Whatever you did as a student, whether you prepared or not, spoke up or not, turned on your video or not (!), I hope you gave your best. Because to give our best is all we can really do.

Soar high and fly far! The sky awaits with promise.

The sky on convocation eve at god’s own Kampus!

P.S. When you come back to campus, all grown up, do say hi because I fondly remember every one of you!