Leading International sales experts to gather in Milan

Around 100 academics and managers, arriving from over 15 countries of all continents, will gather in Milan on June 22-24 in occasion of the fifth edition of the Global Sales Science Institute Conference to debate on thethemes of sales and sales management, with particular regard to the aspects of internationalization and globalization of sales. This year's appointment is organized by SDA Bocconi in collaboration with Kelley School of Business, of Indiana University, and the Marketing Science Institute.

"The originality of this annual conference is to build a bridge between the scientific and the business world, allowing the most influential international academics and managers to share research results and to confront each other on ideas and best practices through debates and roundtables," explains Paolo Guenzi, marketing professor at SDA Bocconi and conference chair. "'Meet, share, learn and be inspired' are in fact the key concepts which characterize the spirit of this appointment."

The GSSI (Global Sales Science Institute) is an international network of academics, managers and professionals specialized in sales and sales management. Among the companies present in the management panels this year are General Electric, Philips, Lavazza, Ultradent, Whirlpool and Fiat. During the conference will also be presented the 2011 Global Sales Barometer, the report which monitors sales practices and competences in over 1,000 companies worldwide, conducted by GSSI and whose Italian chapter was supervised by Guenzi.

During the three days 16 academic papers will be presented including 'Emotions, Expectations and Sales Performance: A Longitudinal Study' and 'Solving the paradox of Machiavellianism: Machiavellianism may make for productive sales but poor team spirit' by Guenzi and Isabella Soscia, of Bocconi's Marketing Department, with Richard P. Bagozzi, and 'The Dark Side of Adaptive Selling' byGuenzi, Luigi de Luca and Rosanna Spiro.