The most recent annual report of the Saudi Arabian Committee for Digital Transformation states that digitalization is the key enabler of creating a vibrant society and a thriving economy which is in line with the nation’s leaders’ goal to be at the forefront of the world. In cooperation with different digital transformation partners, Saudi government entities have driven more than 400 digitalization achievements that have a direct impact on Saudi society and economy in two ways: First, digitalization has changed how Saudi consumers procure product information, interact with other consumers, form their purchase decisions, and engage with brands. Second, digitalization has revolutionized the value chains of Saudi companies in particular in how they distribute and market their products and services. Against this background, a competitive MBA Digital Marketing program should account for these developments in several ways, by:

• Adopting a broad and contemporary understanding of the marketing concept
• Focusing on marketing disciplines which have gained in importance due to digitalization such as Multichannel Marketing Management, Marketing Intelligence and Analytics, and emerging industries (e.g., service industry)
• Integrating theoretical, conceptual, and analytical approaches following a “Tell-Show-Do” approach
• Students of the AU MBA Digital Marketing program will learn how to apply the extended marketing mix in this challenging and competitive environment.

Key Benifits

• The AU MBA Digital Marketing program adopts a broad and contemporary understanding of the marketing concept—considering holistic approaches such as market-oriented management, customer-relationship management, and integrated customer journey management—which vastly expands the scope of the limited and traditional understanding of marketing’s main task of selling a company’s products in the market using sales and advertising.
• The AU MBA Digital Marketing program provides a unique value proposition in that it focuses on marketing disciplines that have significantly grown in importance during the recent years; an offer that is so far unmatched by other MBA programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Focus on Multichannel Marketing Management: The AU Marketing program considers that the digital transformation has led to a paradigm shift in marketing and consumer behavior. Thus, the marketing mix is presented in a way that students will learn how to apply it in a multichannel context where customers frequently switch between physical and digital (e.g., online, mobile) channels in the customer journey (e.g., from product information search, through decision-making, to purchase and post purchase stages).
• Focus on Marketing Intelligence and Analytics: The AU Marketing program is designed to consider the fact that in most companies, executives are asked to justify the return on investment for their marketing expenditures; A development that has been further fueled due to the availability of big data from digital channels. Most analytic challenges facing general and marketing managers, consultants, and marketing researchers can be integrated under four principles: All customers are different, all customers change, competitors will react to a firm’s strategic changes, and every firm must allocate their budget to implement efficient and effective strategies. The AU MBA Digital Marketing program will give students the opportunity to learn in a hands-on manner how to measure, for instance, customer preferences, segment markets, identify attractive customers for targeting purposes, determine successful brand positioning strategies, return on investment in a multichannel context, and develop new products that add value to customers.
• Focus on Growing Industry Sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The service sector in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been steadily growing over the past decade and now constitutes more than 50% of the gross domestic product. Among the service sectors that fueled this growth are service industries such as tourism, gastronomy, online food and grocery delivery, online retailing, and professional business-to-business services (e.g., advertising agencies and consulting). Against the background of the digital transformation, consumers’ increased connectedness, and the Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi service providers face a market which is highly competitive due to a high number of competitors and low switching costs for customer and where companies highly depend on marketing to for gaining and keeping customers. Students of the AU MBA Digital Marketing program will learn how to apply the extended marketing mix in this challenging and competitive environment.

Vision Statement

Our aim is to educate market-oriented leaders who will add value to businesses—locally and worldwide—by making sound marketing management decisions based on analytical and theoretical considerations.

Mission Statement

The AU MBA Digital Marketing program equips graduates with the analytical tools, techniques and marketing management skills necessary to make strong business cases for marketing expenditures in order to create value.

Objectives

Aligning theory and practice, we commit to setting the highest possible standards by:

• Developing marketing-specific knowledge and a market- and customer-oriented mindset
• Fostering strategic, analytical, and critical thinking
• Helping students acquire a set of methodological and conceptual skills to manage the sophisticated managerial decisions that are typical for marketing professionals
• Instilling the ability to face intellectual and professional challenges

In all the areas mentioned above, we pledge to demonstrate and establish ambition, mutual respect, and fairness.

Program schedule for MBA- Digital Marketing

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A. Core Regular MBA Courses

B. Core Digital Marketing Courses

In addition to the above required general MBA core courses, the following four Digital Marketing core courses are required: