Pekka Töytäri appointed as Professor of Practice of product-service systems sales
Aalto University has established a professorship in sales and management of product-service systems. The professorship develops teaching based on sales management research and addresses the challenges of sales management in the technology industry.
The professorship is based at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at the School of Science and the Department of Marketing at the School of Business. The professorship is established with donations from the Weisell Foundation, Valmet and Wärtsilä.
Pekka Töytäri, who holds a doctorate in technology from Aalto University School of Science, will start the five-year-long professorship in October 2019. The Department of Industrial Engineering and Management approved his doctoral dissertation in 2015.
Töytäri has published numerous articles on sales and management processes in the technology industry such as 'Value-based selling: An organisational capability perspective', which was published in the Industrial Marketing Management journal and has risen to the top of the journal's most cited articles.
‘Understanding, evaluating, presenting and developing customer value in product-service systems will be the cornerstones of ever-increasing customer value-driven sales,’ Töytäri says.
The professorship is important for the technology industry
Risto Rajala, Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, has thanked the donors and emphasised the importance of the professorship for the technology industry. ‘When developing teaching based on research into sales of product-service systems, the professorship enables teaching content to be designed in collaboration with Aalto University's industrial and commercial sciences, as well as the arts and industrial design in particular. This teaching is especially aimed at students studying for master’s degrees in science, engineering and economics.’
Arto Lindblom, Head of the Marketing Department, wholeheartedly agrees with Rajala. ‘This significant donation enables the development of multidisciplinary sales management expertise.’
‘The solutions and services of growth companies in the technology sector are becoming increasingly complex entities, and their business success requires a new kind of sales expertise’, says Mikko Voipio, Chairman of the Board, Weisell Foundation.
The professorship offers opportunities for companies interested in sales development to engage in R&D and student assignments. It will also enhance Aalto University's capacity to provide lifelong learning opportunities to those interested in sales management.
‘The professorship will increase the capacity of Finnish technology companies to develop their expertise and tackle shared challenges together with Aalto University,’ adds Pasi Laine, CEO of Valmet.
‘A professorship focused on sales management is significant to the entire technology industry and contributes to student success in sales positions where products and solutions are built in ever closer interaction with customers,’ Jaakko Eskola, CEO of Wärtsilä, concludes.
Further information:
Risto Rajala
Head of department, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Aalto University
risto.rajala@aalto.fi
tel. +358 40 358 8140
Arto Lindblom
Head of department, Department of Marketing, Aalto University
arto.lindblom@aalto.fi
tel. +358 50 312 0929
Pekka Töytäri
Professor of Practice, Aalto University
pekka.toytari@aalto.fi
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