The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, has urged government to insist on marketing training for all Public Sector Organizations (PSOs) and has further called for future recruitments to be tied to marketing literacy.

This according to him will improve their and efficiency and effectiveness and change the mindset of the staff towards their clients.

He added that meeting customer needs was key to organisational growth in the 21^st century hence the need for PSOs to adopt contemporary marketing practices to improve service quality and also ensure effective client service delivery.

 Speaking at a Public Lecture on Friday, November 8, under the theme: “Public sector marketing: A catalyst for national development”, the Vice-Chancellor said PSOs must recognise the fact that they no more enjoyed a monopoly, for which reason they must sit up and face intense global competition.

The government, on the other hand, he said, “must insist on marketing training for all Public Sector Organizations and further recruitment into the Public Service must be tied to Marketing literacy.”

The 2018 Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIMG) Marketing Man of the Yea further urged government to create and empower marketing departments within the various public organisations to enable them to function effectively.

He said beyond the restructuring, public sector firms would need to adopt a marketing mindset, build brand identity and engage in strategic partnerships with one another to be able to stay afloat of the competition.

“In our contemporary world, cooperation is a required response to intensified competition, and collaboration is the current business practice. Public Sector Organisations must, therefore, form strategic partnerships with themselves and even with private sector firms for effectiveness,” he said

Citing the UPSA story to buttress his point, Prof Amartey said the application of marketing philosophy was the panacea to repositioning the University”ˆto gain public and international recognition.  

He said the transition from a relatively unknown public sector institute into a fully-fledged marketing-oriented, nationally competitive and globally recognised university, was largely hinged on a marketing philosophy.

“Today UPSA is the university of the moment, having successfully applied a marketing philosophy to gain a positive reputation and international recognition, and currently jointly ranked as number one in Ghana by a Times higher education university impact ranking, which assesses the social and economic impact of universities based on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The previous IPS [Institute of Professional Studies], was as public as any other institution, but the question is what changed along the line; the application of the marketing philosophy was the game-changer,” he said.

Prof Amartey said the University was prepared to partner government to effect the needed transformation in the public sector.

"Having successfully transformed our university from a young and less known public sector university to a leading university in Africa using marketing, we can assist other public sector organisations to achieve same," he said.

Dr Kasser Tee

The President of CIMG, Dr Kasser Tee, said; “The role of Marketing in ensuring business growth and long-term survival cannot be overestimated. This influence is the same, whether in the private sector or public sector and whether we work for profit or not for profit. Evidence exists everywhere, including Ghana, about the power of Marketing in the private sector”.

The success of the impact of Marketing practice in the public sector of Ghana can be seen at the; UPSA and GIMPA where their Chief Executives have been Marketing Professors, he concluded.

Chairperson for the Lecture and Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Prof. Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, also urged organisations and individuals to change their mindset by using marketing as a tool for development.

Prof. Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo

"We need to change our mindset to ensure that all these recommendations work," he added.

The lecture was organised by the UPSA in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG).