Top Lankan marketing guru hails Prof. Kotler’s visit

Marketing expert Prof. Uditha Liyanage yesterday remarked that the impending visit of international marketing guru Prof. Phillip Kotler is an exciting opportunity not just for marketers, but also the entire business community.  

Commenting on Prof. Kotler’s visit on 6 June, Sri Jayewardenepura University Professor or Management and Director Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) Prof. Uditha Liyanage insisted that this was a great opportunity for business professionals to learn new marketing trends.

“We have had many marketing experts coming to Sri Lanka in recent years but now we have the guru par excellence in Sri Lanka. This is a special event for marketers in particular and business leaders by extension. For functional managers Prof. Kotler’s visit is especially relevant since he is a pioneer in marketing concepts and in terms of disseminating knowledge, he is unparalleled.”

Prof. Liyanage added that Prof. Kotler has played two roles, disseminating and creating market knowledge. “For example he has been talking about the marketing concept in different sectors including social marketing. Marketing to further a social cause and taking marketing out of the commercial domain was something that was thought of by him.”

He was also the person who defined good marketers from great ones. “Good marketers are market driven but according to Prof. Kotler, great marketers are market drivers. He insists that great marketers need to anticipate consumer needs and ride the market thus playing a more proactive role.

We can see by how he has continuously reinvented himself and updated his own books and stayed abreast of changes makes his thinking very current.”

Observing that his works are read around the world Prof. Liyanage explained how his books have been kept relevant in a dynamic work. “What is interesting is that in his new books there are adaptations in addition to translation. Concepts in the books have been contextualised according to regions so that they can be used not just in USA but also less developed countries. It is very interesting to see how he has adapted his work and made it relevant to a range of regions and countries.”