Overview

The Consumer Products Leadership Program is designed to provide the unique knowledge and skills of the world's best practice leaders to drive business results in the quickly evolving, fast moving consumer good environment.

Leading retailers and their suppliers are striving for ways to create incremental value for their shoppers and consumers to gain marketplace advantage. The search is elusive and challenging. While advances in information technology are providing new opportunities, the data mining capabilities of even the finest retail and manufacturing companies are being challenged. New business processes have emerged that fly in the face of traditional trading practices. Winners consistently leverage shopper insights, innovative category management, new supply chain capabilities and new organization designs that are measured in enhanced loyalty at a lower cost - a true competitive advantage.

The Consumer Products Leadership Program builds skills to best practice levels in five module areas efficiently and effectively. The practical "real life" based program is designed to supplement existing in-house training and development programs with a broad range of highly targeted, concentrated, instructor-led and online courses.

Program Delivery & Structure

The Program employs a "blended" approach to learning, consistent with the best practices in adult education today. We recognize that the majority of our participants have significant demands on their time from their jobs, family, and community. We strive to deliver to you with the optimal return on your training time investment by providing you the most efficient possible mix of learning tools, including the following:

• Interactive Courseware - Course content is provided online so you can access it from any location and at your convenience.
• Expert Instructor-Led Workshops - While online learning can provide a great deal of important knowledge, it cannot replace human interaction. Therefore, workshops are integrated into the program to allow participants the opportunity to complete projects and exercises with others in similar positions and to receive feedback from industry expert instructors.
• On-the-Job Projects - For those desiring to achieve Mastery Certification, a select group of courses include facilitated, on-the-job projects. These projects offer the advantages of combining academic learning with on-the-job performance, and are designed to address the business needs of the participants while fulfilling the requirements of the particular competency.

Learning Objectives

CURRICULUM - A comprehensive program of numerous courses five different modules - Shopper and Category Development, Supply Chain Excellence, Marketing, Organization Development, and Leadership.

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COMPETENCIES - Each module includes a number of specific competencies that best practice organizations have identified as characteristics of top performers.

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CERTIFICATION - A rigorous certification process that validates the learning process for individuals and their employees. Three levels of certification exist for each module - Foundation, Advanced, and Mastery

• The Consumer Products Leadership Program has a broad curriculum that encompasses Shopper and Category Development, Shopper Marketing, Supply Chain, Organizational Development and Marketing and Leadership. The initial focus and course offerings will be on Shopper and Category Development.
• These courses are categorized as Foundation, Advanced, or Mastery level. Participants are expected to progress through these levels of competency consistent with their responsibilities and career development goals. Courses at each level are designated as either core or elective.
• The Foundation curriculum is designed to deliver the competencies necessary to understand the intent, key processes, and initial applications of Shopper and Category Development.
• The Advanced curriculum is for Shopper and Category Development practitioners who work for both retailing and manufacturing companies, primarily in consumer products businesses. The curriculum deals with all of the "how tos" of Shopper and Category Development. Participants in these courses can expect to develop the competencies necessary to create and manage a Category Plan consistent with the best in the industry.
• The Mastery curriculum is for the few individuals who wish to perform at the pinnacle of Shopper and Category Development practices globally. The curriculum addresses the leading edge of Shopper and Category Development: analytical, strategic, tactical, and innovative thoughts and practices today.

Faculty

The faculty for the Consumer Products Leadership Program comes from a variety of sources that will deliver the best possible learning experience for participants. This includes:

• Industry practitioners from leading consumer products retailers and suppliers
• Faculty from the University of Arkansas
• Qualified instructors from The Partnering Group
• Other qualified trainers from leading-edge organizations
  

Who Should Attend

We have designed all of our courses to leverage the wealth of knowledge and experience of our course participants. Therefore, it is important that we ensure a participant mix that maximizes peer-to-peer learning. We accomplish this by requiring course registrants to first complete all required prerequisites and/or to achieve required certification levels. Our commitment to a quality participant mix assures that everyone will have the opportunity to maximize their learning experience, not only from the quality course content and expert instructors, but also from their industry peers.

Location

Workshops are held at the state-of-the-art Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus, unless otherwise specified.

Other courses are administered online and may be taken at the participant's convenience.