As part of the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management, the training activities will be carried out through the combined use of different teaching tools. Especially:

• Interactive lectures
• group work aimed at preparing students for team work activities
• managerial/entrepreneurial lessons by leading business operators
• Operational problem-solving exercises
• Business Game / Case Histories
• project work

The aim is to encourage comparison and integration between business theory and practice.

To this end, the various courses include specific initiatives of experimentation and didactic innovation with the active involvement of students and important national and international companies with which the professors of the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management have consolidated strong collaborative relationships.

As part of the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management, there are Applied Marketing Workshops on specific topics of great interest and relevance for those who want to enter managerial and business contexts.

These applied marketing workshops will be carried out in close collaboration with managers, entrepreneurs and professional operators who, within their own work context, have gained excellent and distinctive experiences that can be transferred in the context of interactive and experimental teaching projects.

The participation of students in these Applied Marketing Workshops is optional in order to encourage a selective involvement that concerns only motivated people interested in the contents of the Laboratories themselves.

The main Applied Marketing Workshops are related to:

• Commercial Negotiation Techniques
• Start-up management (new business models)
• Social Media Marketing and Brand Reputation
• New communication models

Università Cattolica in Piacenza hosts an important research center on Retailing and Trade Marketing (REM Lab) that collaborates with some of the most important national and international companies.

The presence of this reality represents an important added value for the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management as it allows the results of research activities to be quickly transferred into teaching, allowing a strong coherence between the contents of the courses and the most topical issues in marketing and management.

In recent years, several opportunities to visit companies and production sites have been organised in order to promote a better understanding of the entrepreneurial realities and greater contact with the business community.

The last visits were made to Barilla, Bonduelle, Campari, Danone, Ferrero, Finiper, Fontanafredda, l'Oréal, Lavazza, Lindt, etc.

As part of the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management at Università Cattolica in Piacenza, the Marketing Student Lab (MSL) has been activated and students can join on a voluntary basis.

The Marketing Student Lab aims to:

• involve students in meetings for debate and discussion with managers and entrepreneurs;
• stimulate the best students to carry out study and research activities on current issues in collaboration with partner companies;
• to facilitate the entry of graduates into the world of work through a CV collection and reporting service to companies;
• organise meeting days between graduates/undergraduates and companies aimed at professional recruitment;
• propose participation in both university and corporate marketing awards;
• stimulate participation in national and international conferences on marketing and sales management;
• promote periodic meetings between graduate degree students and graduates.

As part of the Marketing Student Lab, students were involved, on a voluntary basis, in the organization and implementation of events at Università Cattolica in Piacenza.
The following are worth mentioning:

• Orientation Conventions
• Christmas Dinners at Università Cattolica
• meetings with personalities from the world of culture, entertainment and sport.

In the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management, students are offered the opportunity to "put themselves to the test" by participating in various business cases/corporate projects with the aim of dealing with the management of important companies.

Among others, in the last year, business games have been organized with Ferrero, Bonduelle, Star, Danone, Carrefour, l'Oréal, Lindt, Nestlé, Henkel, Esselunga, Barilla, Heineken, Carlsberg, Aldi, Coop Italia, Conad, Calzedonia, Veronesi-
Aia, Adidas, etc...

As part of the teaching of the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management, the teaching is strongly integrated between business theory and practice.

To this end, teachers are also important managers working in national and international companies. To name just a few, in the last year the graduate degree programme in Food Marketing and Sales Management has involved, as teachers, the following managers/experts:

Silvia BAGLIANI General Manager Osella, Gruppo KRAFT MONDELEZ		Valentina BARONE Unit Manager PROCTER&GAMBLE
Evita BARRA Direttore Retail & Marketing Channel MICROSOFT Italia		Michele BONDANI Fondatore PACKAGING IN ITALY
Davide COLOMBANO National Account Manager FERRERO		Lorenzo COMASCHI Direttore Commerciale MIELE ITALIA
Giusto CURTI Direttore Vendite STAR		Valerio DI BUSSOLO Corporate PR Manager IKEA Italia
Barbara DONELLI Direttore Marketing EXPERT		Oscar FARINETTI Presidente e Fondatore EATALY
Paolo FERRARINI Senior Trend Researcher FUTURE CONCEPT LAB		Flavio FERRETTI Direttore Business Unit LAVAZZA
Mario FRANZINO Amministratore Delegato BOSCH-BSH Italia		Andrea GUARALDO Direttore Risorse Umane L’ORÉAL
Matteo IAMMARINO International Key Account Manager BARILLA		Paolo ISOLATI Direttore Marketing, GRUPPO BAULI
Paolo LATTUADA Direttore Vendite HENKEL		Stefano MAGNI Corporate Retail Manager, SAMSUNG
Roberto MONTORFANI Direttore Vendite BEIERSDORF		Francesco MORACE Presidente e Fondatore FUTURE CONCEPT LAB
Giuseppe MORICI Presidente Europa BARILLA		Maurizio MOSCATELLI Direttore Commerciale PARMAREGGIO
Andrea NASI Direttore Risorse Umane MONDELEZ-KRAFT		Alberto NOE’ Presidente SHISEIDO
Giovanni PANZERI Responsabile Acquisti Prodotti freschi CARREFOUR		Carmine PAOLANTONIO Responsabile Marketing Privati CARIPARMA-CRÈDIT AGRICOLE
Fabrizio PELLEGRINI Trade Marketing Director BARILLA		Francesco POTENZA Marketing Services & Digital Manager PARMALAT
Gabriele PRIMAVERA Direttore Vendite DANONE		Paolo RUBBIATI E-commerce & Digital Manager GENIALLOYD
Sonia SECCHI E-Commerce Specialist BORMIOLI ROCCO		Giulio SERRA International Trade Marketing Manager RED BULL
Nicola SOMENZI Project Leader THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP		Marco TITI Direttore Marketing UNIEURO
Federica USBERTI National Account manager STAR		Luca VIRGINIO Direttore Comunicazione e Relazioni Esterne, GRUPPO BARILLA
Marco ZANCHI Direttore Marketing NESTLÈ Divisione Gelati		Giuseppe ZULIANI Direttore Marketing e Comunicazione CONAD