The Graduate Degree in Food Marketing and Commercial Strategies aims to meet this need by developing appropriate entrepreneurial and managerial competences relating to:

• the analysis of purchasing and consumption patterns, in order to fully understand the processes that shape brand loyalty and store loyalty;
• the planning, management and protection of brand policies;
• the assessment of the configuration of sales channel selection processes for company products;
• the design of product/channel/customer business plans, including the definition of the related marketing investment mix;
• the creation and management of marketing and sales organisations;
• the measurement of the effectiveness of different communication media and promotional–advertising policies;
• the mechanisms underlying product/brand/store price formation;
• the functioning of agricultural and food markets;
• European economic policies in the field of food markets;
• the principles of food education and quality economics;
• the implementation of merchandising, shopper marketing and experiential marketing policies;
• the management of negotiation and contractual relationships in supply agreements between producers and distributors;
• the processes involved in formalising and managing commercial relationships in international markets.

To develop these competences, the Graduate Degree in Food Marketing and Commercial Strategies follows a teaching approach based on strong integration between theory and managerial practice.

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...

Within the teaching activities of the Graduate Degree in Food Marketing and Commercial Strategies, a learning approach is developed that strongly integrates theory with business practice.

To this end, the lectures delivered by professors are supported and enriched by contributions from leading managers working in national and international companies.

This teaching approach, centred on engagement with top corporate managers, is essential for acquiring competences, gaining inspiration, understanding business logics, and deepening up‑to‑date topics in marketing, trade marketing and retailing.