The Importance of Brand Equity in the Business of Marketing Education

Abstract

College graduates earn higher wages than noncollege graduates, but questions remain about the degree to which this wage difference is driven by learning in college or by the signal that the degree sends to employers. Based on a review of the literature, I propose that the value of a marketing degree is much less related to learning marketing than it is to the business school’s brand equity. A business school with strong brand equity can be more selective in admissions decision making, which in turn leads to increased graduate success and further builds the school’s brand equity. This brand-centric perspective resolves several persistent questions including why student evaluations of teaching are so important in business schools, why improvements in learning are underfunded, and why marketing education research is under-emphasized. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.