Customer-Focused Innovation and Marketing
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Innovate With Your Customers’ Needs in Mind
This course is designed for young professionals and junior managers seeking insights in marketing and innovation from a strategic customer-focused perspective. You will dive into business model innovation and value propositions and get to know concrete tools to conduct customer-driven innovation. By the end of the program, you will understand the intersection between marketing and strategy, as well as how to align strategic decisions with customer needs and drive impactful change.
Key Facts
Program Structure
One on-site module
Program Duration
3 days, November 12-14, 2025
Location
On campus, Mannheim, Germany
Language
English
Course Fee
€2,900
Early-bird offer €2,400
Prerequisites
Either 5 years of work experience or a first academic degree plus at least 3 years of work experience, good English language skills
Credits
Certificate of attendance awarded by Mannheim Business School
Reputation
MBA-level teaching at Germany’s #1 business school
Course Content
Customer-Focused Marketing (2 days)
- When is marketing strategy? The role of customer focus
- Segmentation and personas
- Value proposition canvas
- Business modelling with a customer focus
- Customer centricity through customer journey mapping and customer experience management
- Essential marketing tools: brand management, communication, and pricing strategies
Customer-Focused Innovation (1 day)
- Definition of innovation and innovation strategy
- Exploring the innovation process
- Open innovation and customer integration
- Customer-driven approaches to innovation
- Specifics on innovation marketing
Special Offer
Enjoy the Full General Management Program
This program is an open-enrollment module of our General Management Program, which provides young professionals with fundamental general management knowledge. Participate in all four modules to round off your skills: Embracing Complex Change, Financial Literacy: Steering the Company with Numbers, Customer-Focused Innovation & Marketing, and Master the Future: Current Trends from a Strategic Perspective. Upon completion of the full General Management Program, you will receive our "Certificate of Excellence in General Management," including 8 ECTS credits. If you book the whole program, you also benefit from our bundle price and special introductory discount (30% off for the first run)!
Please note: This Early Bird discount cannot be combined with the Early Bird offer for the full bundle.
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Monika Schuhmacher
Prof. Dr. Monika Schuhmacher is chair of Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, where she is also director of the Entrepreneurship Cluster Mittelhessen and spokesperson for the research cluster “Managing Dissolving Boundaries in a Digital Era” at the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies. In the past, Monika Schuhmacher lectured at the University of Mannheim, Mannheim Business School, Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and ESSEC Graduate School in France.
Monika Schuhmacher studied at the University of Mannheim (Dipl.-Kffr.) and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (MBA). Upon returning to Germany, she obtained her doctoral and post-doctoral qualifications at the University of Mannheim.
Her research focuses mainly on technology and innovation management and marketing, open innovation, reverse innovation, business model innovation, digitization and the Internet of Things, and entrepreneurial marketing. Prof. Schuhmacher is also a consultant in technology management, innovation management and marketing for international companies, and cooperates in research and teaching with well-known companies such as Daimler, BASF, Bosch, Grohe and Roche. Additionally, she is a member of various juries that award entrepreneur and founder prizes.
Prof. Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach
Prof. Dr. Elisa Konya-Baumbach is Professor of Consumer Psychology & Behavior at the Institute of Marketing & Global Management, Bern University of Applied Sciences. Before, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Mannheim. She held visiting positions at NYU Stern and Cornell University and holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Mannheim and an M.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Vienna. Konya-Baumbach's work has appeared in peer-reviewed international journals such as the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Computers in Human Behavior, the Journal of Business Research, and International Marketing Review.
Her research focus lies at the intersection of consumer psychology & behavior, marketing of innovations, and digital innovations & technologies. She is particularly interested in consumers' adoption of artificial intelligence, the improvement of human-AI-interactions, and in helping companies to leverage the potential of artificial intelligence. Prof. Konya-Baumbach furthermore is AI startup mentor at hessian.AI and Start2Group as well as co-founder of humest GmbH.
Registration and Course Fees
- The course fee is €2,900. Register by September 3 to profit from our early-bird price of €2,400!
- The final registration deadline is October 15, 2025.
- Good to know: Tax offices usually recognize costs for your further education if they are job-related. Depending on your tax status in Germany, you may claim up to 50% of the tuition fee and related travel expenses on your annual tax return. Outside of Germany, please check details with a tax advisor in your country of residence. Please note: Each federal state in Germany has regulations on educational leave. Check here to see which regulations apply in your federal state and get in touch with us to discuss your individual situation.
If you have any questions about the Customer-Focused Innovation and Marketing course, our MBS Open Courses & Certificates Team will be happy to answer them.
Contact
Downloads
- Brochure General Management Program
- Registration Form Customer-Focused Innovation and Marketing
- Registration Form General Management Program
- Brochure Customer-Focused Innovation and Marketing
MANNHEIM BUSINESS SCHOOL (MBS)
Located in the heart of the German and European economy, Mannheim Business School (MBS), the umbrella organization for management education at the University of Mannheim, is considered to be one of the leading institutions of its kind in Germany and is continuously ranked as Germany’s #1.
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