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Eric Leininger
Eric Leininger

MARKETING
Senior Lecturer of Marketing
Associate Director, Center for Market Leadership

Print Overview

Eric Leininger joined the Kellogg School faculty full time in September 2010, coming from McDonald’s Corporation, where he was corporate senior vice president since 2004. He has been an affiliated faculty member at Kellogg since 2007.

Eric’s teaching assignment includes the courses “Global Marketing” and “Global Initiatives in Management-China” across the full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs. Eric is also a regular contributor to other courses in the school’s executive programs, including “Customer Insight Tools” and “Kellogg on Branding.”

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Eric is associate director of the Center for Market Leadership. There, he is building the center’s long-range plan, including developing executive education and establishing an annual Marketing Leadership Conference.

Eric was a member of McDonald’s Senior Leadership Team, comprised of the business unit leaders and the global, C-suite functional leaders. His primary responsibility was consumer and business insights; additionally, he was responsible for McDonald’s marketing training and global marketing planning. Jim Skinner, McDonald’s CEO, says “connecting with our customers is the essence of what we do at McDonald’s, and Eric’s leadership and innovative work were invaluable in making that happen.”

Eric joined McDonald’s from Kraft Foods, where he had held a variety of marketing services and information positions for 11 years, including senior vice-president of marketing services, vice-president of consumer insights and strategy, and director of sales information and technology for the Kraft Foods sales organization. Prior to Kraft, he held leadership positions at ACNielsen and Quaker Oats.

He is a member of the Marketing Advisory Board for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Eric was a long-term member of the board of directors of the Association of National Advertisers, and served as treasurer and chair of its Finance Committee. He was also a long-term member of the National 4-H Council where he was vice-chair and a member of the Executive Committee.

Eric received his MBA from the University of Michigan, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma. He also holds a master’s degree from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric and Claire Leininger are the proud parents of two adult daughters.



Areas of Expertise
International Marketing
Marketing Research
Marketing Strategy/Planning/Policy
Measurement Techniques
New Product Development
Print Vita
 
Print Research
Articles
Schieffer, Robert and Eric Leininger. 2008. Customers at the Core. Marketing Management.
Read
Leininger, Eric. 2007. Create a Culture of Insights. The Advertiser.
Read

 
Print Teaching
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Global Marketing (INTL-467-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: International Business

Company survival and growth in the coming years will require a move toward global marketing and its many potential rewards and risks. This course examines the challenge of entering and operating effectively in foreign markets. Decisions must be made regarding international marketing objectives, strategies and policies, foreign market selection, adaptation of products, distribution channels of communications to fit each foreign market, and systems of international marketing organization, information gathering, planning and control. These topics, along with exploration of cultural issues, are examined through reading, case discussion, class presentations and a term project. Marketing reports for major countries will be prepared to offer valuable insights, as well as tips and techniques for marketing products and services in a specific country. The term project calls for each student or student team to develop a marketing plan for the successful marketing of a specific product to a specific foreign country chosen by the student(s).

Effective Fall 2011, this class will only count towards International Business only

Marketing-Led Innovation (MKTG-465-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Management

Innovating new products and services (and new product and service features) is among the most complex challenges faced by managers. How can one generate potentially breakthrough new product and service concepts? Given an infinite world of possibilities, how does one decide which products and feature concepts to pursue? How does one get customer feedback for products and features that do not yet exist? What marketing strategy & tactics should one employ to convince customers to purchase products they might not yet know they want? How does one reconcile the introduction of new products with an existing product portfolio? The goal of this course is to introduce students to marketing principles and concepts that they can use to tackle these questions and to develop their own approach to innovating new products and services.

Executive MBA
Global Initiatives in Management (INTLX-473-0)
Global Initiatives in Management combines classroom study with a 12-day research trip abroad to observe overseas business operations firsthand and to meet with industry executives and political leaders.