‘Seeing my work come to something….transforming my students into business-savvy, confident people, who can tough it out with the best of them, is why teaching is right for me,’ says Chris Baumann, Lecturer in Commerce in the Department of Accounting and Finance. His passion for both his subject and for supporting international recruitment services for Macquarie University still leaves time for original research. His thesis looks at customer loyalty towards banks in Australia.
If you happen to be one of his students you have a great advantage right there on the starting line. Baumann’s new ‘Brand Management’ course, which commenced last year, is breaking records, with 99 enrolments in only its second offering, including full-time international students and part-time, mostly employed, local students.
‘Students see branding as a “hot” topic, and a bit glamorous…..it’s about what people perceive the brand to be. One of the big challenges is refreshing well-established brands, in other words, how do you keep the brand alive, and get generation after generation to believe that say, Coca-Cola, is still cool. There’s lots of competition out there and huge global changes, like IBM selling their PC section to a Chinese company, and Samsung, once considered a cheap Korean brand, has now been revamped into an upscale, hip brand.’
In 2005 his eclectic teaching approach, care for students and innovative projects earned him a hotly contested ‘Macquarie Excellence in Education Award.’ The word on the street is that his well-deserved nomination was supported not just by his peers but by many current and former students.
As Assistant Director of the Graduate Accounting and Commerce Centre (GACC) he works with Macquarie International (MI) to offer an internship option for postgraduate students, exposing them to the realities of the outside world. This is a feature of the Master of International Business and Master of Commerce degrees, and sets Macquarie University apart from other providers. Chris mentors top students, with a GPA of 3.0, to work on ‘real-world’ projects, such as retail banking in China and marketing the Wiggles, with government, not-for-profit and business placements.
Baumann is just back from a university marketing trip with MI staff, Baris Satar and Natalie Koch, to tertiary study fairs in Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey. The mission was to increase awareness of Macquarie’s courses and cement good relationships with overseas agents. “It’s all about people, spreading the word, making that first connection ……starting with small numbers to position Macquarie as a provider of first choice. I want postgrads to make an informed decision and to understand that international exposure is more marketable than local experience alone. Exposure to other cultures enhances your options.’
He goes on, ‘We’re trying to get a good mix of nationalities and cultural backgrounds in the classroom, students from Europe, the Americas and Asia, targeting some emerging markets like China, Turkey and some South American countries. With Turkey seeking entry to the European Union, we are aiming to reposition it away from its traditional overseas study destination of the U.K. to Australia, and Macquarie.”
Equally as recognised as his teaching is Baumann’s contribution to research, which has been recognised with conference awards, such as ‘Best Paper in Marketing’. Most recently at the Academy of International Business (AIB) Conference in Beijing, he presented a paper titled ‘ Share of Wallet in Retail Banking and its Prediction’, co-authored with Suzan Burton (MGSM) and Greg Elliott (Division of EFS).
“We can conduct research that makes it into highly competitive and long-established bodies. The upside for me is that it is a platform to showcase my work…..that’s what I love, sharing knowledge.’
More information: www.gacc.mq.edu.au/staff/baumann.htm
Contact: Skaidy Gulbis
Phone: +61 2 9850 4774
