You emerge with the hands-on, concrete capabilities and the strategic framework as a complete package that really makes it work. I left the programme with what I need to create value.
The B2B Marketing Strategies programme is “simply a must”
Anyone looking to build strategic understanding and frameworks together with the concrete tools to create value need look no further than INSEAD, says Frulact Executive Director, Paulo Leal.
In the food industry, things change rapidly.
When you are a major supplier with diverse B2C clients, keeping pace with change and evolving customer needs can be a major challenge. How do you maintain a nuanced understanding of your customers’ strategic priorities and objectives? When you’re managing a breadth of client business functions, from R&D to finance or marketing, how do you keep on track of their decision-making processes? Add the strong role that innovation continues to play in reshaping the food industry globally, and you have a recipe for complexity that can be difficult to navigate.
These are some of the challenges that brought Paulo Leal to INSEAD’s B2B Marketing Strategies programme in 2019. Executive Director at multinational food supplier, Frulact, Leal was looking for the kind of leading-edge thinking and actionable insights that would help him better understand the needs of his clients and capture greater value.
“I’ve worked in marketing a long time, but with my level of experience also comes the understanding that things change very rapidly – nowhere more so than in the food business. You’re supplying to a real diversity of clients with different ‘personalities’ and strategies, so keeping on top of that while negotiating the kind of fast-paced innovation that is recalibrating the food industry all over the world, I felt it was time to refresh my understanding and build new knowledge.”
INSEAD was a natural choice, he says. With plenty of personal expertise and real-world experience under his belt, he wanted exposure to the kind of world-class education that only “the best business school” could deliver.
“I have more than two decades’ experience as a leader in marketing, sales and purchasing. So I was looking to INSEAD not only to give me a critical update in terms of strategic thinking, but also for a truly first-class learning experience. I’m also a very practical person which meant I expected tangible and concrete outcomes from the programme. I guess you could say I arrived with very high expectations.”
What Leal discovered at INSEAD was, he says, “fantastic.”
The balance between theory and practice within the programme design and the class sessions with faculty provided not only the practical tools he had been looking for, but also the strategic guidelines to implement them effectively.
“It’s just a fantastic programme. From the work sessions with professors and colleagues through to the guest lectures with different industry experts, there’s so much to learn and absorb. The programme really takes you out of your comfort zone and exposes you to a whole range of new ideas, theories and approaches that challenge your own modus operandi.”
Leal found the classroom dynamic particularly powerful in terms of the exchange of perspectives and experience – exchanges that he says made him “better as a leader.” “We were a very diverse group with colleagues from industries like finance, education, food and more. This kind of diversity and the challenge to reframe things and explore different approaches really make you better as a leader and as a person. It’s building that key ability to know different cultures and different industries and to expand your own mindset that makes the learning so rich and powerful.”
The impact of the programme has translated into new skills and a new “more structured” approach that he now deploys in his role, he says.
“I’ve gained tangible, actionable insights around things like monetisation of information and customer management. These are real-world tools that I am applying and implementing every day.”
But the “real beauty” of the programme is the combination of tools with strategic vision to drive impact.
“Again, it’s that expert balance between theory and practice that elevates this programme. You emerge with the hands-on, concrete capabilities and the strategic framework as a complete package that really makes it work. I left the programme with what I need to create value.”
Leal describes the INSEAD experience as “the perfect offering;” one that he would repeat and one that he would recommend to friends and colleagues without hesitation.
“I’d take the programme again in a heartbeat. And I think that for anyone looking for a world-class education experience, INSEAD is simply a must.”
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