A group of 12 students and professors from the Armenian Agricultural Academy (AAA) in Yerevan, Armenia were in Fresno recently for three weeks of intensive coursework at California State University, Fresno.

Their instructor, marketing professor Bill Rice, was to provide training in international marketing of agricultural products. Among their key tour stops? Why, Disneyland, of course. But not just to see the Pirates of the Caribbean.

“I took them to Disneyland to see the master marketer on earth – Disney,” Rice said in an interview shortly after the group’s return to Armenia. “The purpose was to show how Walt Disney and the Disney corporation have created icons [like Mickey Mouse] that can be recognized at a glance and elicit a positive response from consumers,” he explained.

The development of icons was just one of many marketing strategies discussed during training the Armenian group received while in the Fresno area, and the short course was just part of a much larger U.S. effort designed to help Armenia strengthen its overall economy.

The project was initiated two years ago by the U.S. Agency for International Development and funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Fresno State, as well as to several other U.S. universities. Local budgeting oversight has been through the Center for Agricultural Business (CAB).

As a former satellite state of the Soviet Union, Armenia has struggled to change its centralized, government-based economy to one based on free enterprise, Rice explained. While the country is not particularly rich agriculturally, some farm products do have international appeal. They include jams, jellies, dried fruits, and fruit confections from the Ararat Valley.

The AAA is a university level institution that focuses on research as well as vocational training. It has about 4,000 students. The primary objectives of the Fresno State project team have been to assist that institution in modernizing its curricula, restructuring administrative policies, and updating strategic plans.

The marketing training is to help them first learn, then teach proven principles of production and distribution. It is a process that will take time.

“Marketing is a very broad, intricate process that has to be learned sequentially,” Rice said.

Included on the Fresno State team are Rice, who is overseeing the program, agricultural economics professor John Shields, Armenian Studies professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, and economics professor Donald Leet. All have made several trips to Armenia during the past two years to teach classes and to help with administrative tasks at AAA, including installing a new computer lab, updating library materials, and establishing an endowment to support research.

Fresno State’s involvement in the project is expected to continue through the next academic year as well, Rice said. For more information, contact him through the Marketing Department at (559) 278-2057.

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CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE - CATI
College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
California State University, Fresno