Advances in International Marketing

My doctoral adventure started in 2002 as a graduate student. However, getting there was not quite straightforward; it was the result of a trial and error process. When I was a college student studying Economics, I wanted to know what to do when I graduated. Thus, I started looking into different types of jobs via internships. First, I gave the government sector a try and worked at the Turkish Republic Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade, in Ankara. I decided that I did not like working for the government, so I decided to pursue the private sector. Next, I tried finance. After my internship at the Istanbul Stock Exchange of Turkey, I decided that I did not like that either. Then came the marketing experience at the Cenajans/Grey Advertising Agency in Istanbul. I did not quite like the agency side of it, but I realized that I liked what clients were doing. I liked the strategy formulation and owning the brand and being responsible for all the decisions related with the brand. Therefore, after graduation, I started a job in marketing in the headquarters of a major bank in Istanbul.