Portsmouth Business School

Profile

John Willis  MA, MCIM, Chartered Marketer, PGCTLH

John joined the University of Portsmouth in 1989 as a visiting lecturer, whilst following a commercial career in marketing and management consultancy. 

Now full-time, he teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in most marketing subjects, particularly international marketing, global marketing and marketing strategy. He heads and co-ordinates two units – on the European Business Programme – International Marketing and on the Foundation degree – Marketing.

He has taught across most marketing subjects for CIM, and has been a CIM examiner.

He has taught in several universities in the UK, in Western and Eastern Europe and off shore Europe. He has taught also in Malaysia and Hong Kong teaching on MBA programmes. He is deputy manager for the collaborative partnership – Informatics, Singapore and Hong Kong for under-graduate business programme degrees. John sat on Informatics’, Hong Kong’s International Academic Board.

He has been a personal, business coach to a Singapore-resident, Indian business man for a number of years.

Commercial and research interests:

John is especially interested in marketing and business developments in People’s Republic of China, (PR of C). He has visited some twenty cities in PR of C and has advised a number of manufactures and Chinese business people on the adaptation of marketing and business ‘best practice’.

His particular interest is how China could move up the value chain from – made in China, designed in China, branded in China to finally bought in China. This assumes the move to more Chinese-involvement and autonomy, greater profitability especially with the development of a home market.

John was responsible for the Chinese version of www.marketingteacher.com.cn  website offering free marketing lessons in Mandarin. He developed a specification and commissioned a Shanghai-based web-designer and sourced a Shanghai-based Chinese-English translator. This was developed for the Greater China Region.

He is fluent in everyday, conversational French and has enough spoken Mandarin / Puthonghua to get by alone and when travelling around in PR of C for everyday survival.

His research interests cover how Western businesses must ‘adapt’ to Chinese business practices especially guanxi and also how Chinese business practices need to evolve to ‘world class standards’ by using, unique, as yet unknown – ‘best of the West, best of Chinese’, business practices.