USC Marshall School of Business

Program

It is essential for executives in the food industry to continue to elevate their personal leadership and management skills in order to effectively lead their organizations. With technology changes, challenges of maintaining customer loyalty, and globalization altering the playing field, it is important to learn various strategies to sustain growth and business expansion.

This four day program conducted by faculty from USC's Marshall School of Business and Food Industry Subject Matter Experts will enhance the business mindset of executives, managers, and high potentials while providing useful knowledge and engaging discussion and activities. Focusing on leadership development, team management, marketing strategy, and economic theory, attendees will complete the program inspired and equipped to lead their organizations.

Topics

• Understand the role and accountability for personal development and how to address organizational challenges
• Learn the characteristics of executive leadership: Integrity, Vision, Innovation, Interpersonal Relations
• Examine the leader's role in supporting creative thinking and generating new ideas
• Identify different management styles and when and how to use them
• Learn the key factors for effective teams in the food industry
• Walk away with practical techniques and tools for immediate application

• Understand business models in the context of assumptions, capabilities and resources
• Differentiate between value creation and value capture
• Examine how to make strategic choices in an analytical and integrative way

• Understand the historical perspective of the food retailing industry
• Hear a snapshot of where the industry is now and where it is going
• Social Networking and its Benefit to the Food Industry
• Recognize the benefits and challenges of organizational networks
• Identify key networks within your organization
• Understand the dramatic changes taking place in traditional marketing techniques

• Utilize financial analysis in management decisions
• Evaluate the financial impact and value of strategic decisions
• Understand how managers impact the bottom line and other key performance indicators

• Identify clear value propositions for target market segments
• Gain insights into successful strategic marketing
• Create a customer-driven marketing strategy

• Understand loyalty marketing and how to truly engage your customer
• Discuss the impact of customer service
• Learn effective tactics for developing lifelong customers

• Learn the effects of globalization, management priorities, technology and leadership in the food industry
• Understand methods on how to make the concepts practical

Fee

$3,250 per person includes tuition, course materials and parking.

Schedule and Sessions

Who Should Attend

The program is geared to food industry executives, managers and high potentials seeking to grow and strengthen their leadership and strategic thinking skills.

Faculty

Diane M. Badame is the Assistant Dean for the Marshall MBA Program and Professor of Clinical Marketing at the University of Southern California. She is widely known for her research on organization behavior and marketing, particularly in the areas of total quality management, advertising and promotion management, and service and product management.Diane M. Badame received her PhD in Physical Education in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin with a minor in Educational Psychology Statistics. She later received her MBA from the University of Minnesota in Finance. For more detailed background information on Professor Badame please click here.

Merle W. Hopkins is a Professor of Clinical Accounting at the Leventhal School of Accounting at the University of Southern California. Since 2000, Dr. Hopkins has been teaching financial accounting, managerial accounting as well as entrepreneurial finance in the USC Master of Medical Management program. Dr. Hopkins received his Ph. D. in Business Administration (Accounting) from Michigan State University, a M.S. in Accountancy from Western Michigan University, and a B.A. in History from Western Michigan University. For more detailed background information on Professor Hopkins please click here.

Dave Logan is a Lecturer in the Management & Organization department, best selling author and management consultant. From 2001-2004, he served as Associate Dean/Executive Director of Corporate Programs. He has taught in the Marshall MBA since 1996, including courses in Management Consulting, Negotiation, and Organizational Design. Currently, he teaches in the Leadership and Management in the Executive MBA, which is ranked #1 in this area by the Wall Street Journal.

Dave has written four books, including Tribal Leadership (2008, HarperCollins) and The Three Laws of Performance (2009, Jossey-Bass). Three Laws, endorsed by Nobel Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week best seller.

Dave is co-founder of CultureSync, a management consulting firm specializing in cultural change, executive coaching, and strategy. CultureSync's clients include Amgen, Intel, Charles Schwab, American Express, Southern California Edison, and Health Net.

Dave has a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the Annenberg School at USC.

James J. Owens is an Assistant Professor in the Center of Management Communication at the USC Marshall School of Business. He is an expert in professional management communication, including oral, written, negotiation and interpersonal skills, as well as career- related communication such as interviewing, resumes, and networking. He has authored more than 100 articles published in local, national, and international magazines and newspapers. James received a BA from Bates College, an MBA from Columbia University and an MPW from USC. For more detailed background information on Professor Owens please click here

Industry Experts

Robert P. Hermanns is the Director of Food Industry Management Programs at USC; he received his bachelor's degree in Food Marketing from Western Michigan University and his MBA from Marshall School of Business at USC.

He was President & Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Associated Grocers, Inc. in Seattle, from 2002 through 2005. Prior to joining Associated Grocers, Inc., he was Chief Operating Officer of Weis Markets. Hermanns had a 30-year career with American Stores Company, an $18 billion food and drug retailer, where he held a number of executive management positions, including Chief Operating Officer for Procurement and Logistics. Hermanns began his career with Jewel Food Stores, serving in a variety of management positions from store manager to grocery merchandising manager.

Hermanns served on the Board of Directors of Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the Board of Directors of the Western Association of Food Chains and the Board of Directors of Western Family Foods.

Executive in Residence, Greg Longstreet, president of Farmer John (owned by Hormel Foods Corp.), brings more than 20 years of food industry experience and is also a USC Marshall Food Industry Management (FIM) alumnus. Longstreet has experience expanding sales and distribution, driving operational efficiency, improving supply chain management, increasing portfolio innovation as well as marketing Ethnic Foods portfolios. He is an active board member on the California Chamber of Commerce and North American Meat Association.