Yanping Chen
MSc Advanced Marketing Management, 2010
Country of origin: China
Employer: Eli Lilly
Before I came to Lancaster University as a postgraduate student in Advanced Marketing Management I had 4.5 years’ professional experience in strategy consultancy and event management across FMCG, life sciences, and legal service sectors in Shanghai, China.
After trying different jobs I had a better understanding of my potential and of the future career I’d like to pursue – a marketing/branding professional in the healthcare industry. However, having a Bachelors degree in Economics from Donghua University in Shanghai, I had limited knowledge of marketing. In order to achieve my ultimate career goals, I needed to know and understand marketing theories and then practise them in my daily work.
The reason why Lancaster was on my list was because of its reputation for marketing research, and its unique advanced marketing course which promises a smaller class with experienced students and provides various opportunities to apply marketing theories to practice. In addition, located in a quiet and beautiful area, Lancaster University was perfect for me as I was keen to escape from a big, crowded and noisy city.
I found the team-based assessment was the most fascinating part of the AMM programme. Nearly all of the modules have a teamwork element, and I particularly loved the process of searching for a company-based topic, identifying the problems of the selected companies, and designing solutions for them.
We were given great flexibility in selecting topics. I was always excited about the brain storming sessions with my excellent team mates. I had absolute freedom to do my favourite dissertation topic - cross-cultural consumer behaviour in relation to herbal medicine. There is no doubt that my supervisor was brilliant. She was always there to help me whenever I encountered major barriers, and she was enthusiastic about every little improvement that I made. With her great encouragement, I eventually finished a random street survey with 90 valid samples and conducted seven in-depth interviews and one focus group to compile my thesis.
I am now working as a brand professional for a top pharmaceutical company in its UK office. I am finding that most topics we discussed in class are exactly the trends across many industrial sectors. The knowledge that I gained on the AMM programme prepared me well for the challenges of the real business world.
