Princewill Ekwujuru
7 July 2008
Lagos — The long imbroglio pervading the harmonisation of the marketing profession in Nigeria may soon be over as the feuding bodies, Nigeria Institute of Marketing (NIMARK) and Chartered Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (CIMN) are set to settle their differences.
Both bodies penultimate week constituted a reconciliation committee aimed at finding a lasting solution their problems.
Chief. Lugard Aimiuwu, Chairman, Reconciliation\Integration Committee on the inauguration of the committee said since the world was moving to a new order and experiencing a "tsunamic" change, marketing has to move along the same line, particularly in Nigeria.
Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, Chairman, Reconciliation Committee for the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NINM); Chief Sylva Emoekpere, President, NIMARK, chief host; and Mr. Ganiyu Koladoye, President, CIMN at the inauguration of the reconciliation committee in Lagos.
He noted that the world's biggest banks are recording high losses in their history; petroleum price exceeding $140/bbl and projected to exceed $200 in 12-24 months; biofuel-induced global food shortage is aggravating hunger and poverty; the climate change challenge is forcing USA to classify polar bears as endangered. Nigeria appears overwhelmed by challenge of poverty, squalor, disease, Niger Delta tragedy, plus of course, the perennial scourge of corruption.
For these reasons, he said the profession needs be harmonised for effective policing of the running issues in the economy.
Meanwhile, in the world around us, business cycles are accelerating, product design cycles are getting shorter, decision-making cycles are moving faster, action and reaction are getting quicker and smarter, so marketing bodies in Nigeria should forge a common front to counter the new order.
According to him, "those who fail to board the vehicle of change, like the dinosaur, go extinct. "My definition of the new emerging world order is one in which advantage belongs to the strong. The strong then use the advantage to create new strengths, to create new advantage in the manner of a recurring decimal. The future belongs to the strong. Are we strong as a profession? Can a divided house be strong, or as strong as it should be?" he querried
"In charting our new path we require to come to terms with some fundamental principles in strategic transformation," he said, stressing that no organisation moves forward by moving backwards
He noted that an organisation that stands still, in a forward-moving world, is moving backwards, while a forward-moving organisation outpaced by competition is moving backwards
"Whilst marketing squabbled, other institutes moved forward in the fiercer competition of the new globalized market scenario, there is little scope for rule of thumb or 'commonsense,'" Aimiuwu enthused.
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