Meet MSM’s faculty members: introducing Aad van Mourik

Maastricht School of Management provides scientific knowledge allowing managers and entrepreneurs to make evidence-based decisions. To achieve our mission we encourage and support our faculty members in a broad range of areas. MSM’s faculty members are passionate about what they do and tenacious in finding solutions to the toughest business challenges. Each month MSM will highlight one of its faculty members and this month the spotlight is on Aad van Mourik.

Let me introduce myself…
My name is Aad van Mourik and I am Professor of Managerial Economics and Academic Coordinator MBA specialization in wine and public management at Maastricht School of Management. Besides this I also act as academic coordinator of MSM’s Master in Management(MM) program. Next to my position at MSM I give guest lectures in economics of EU integration at KU Leuven. I graduated with a distinction in economics at the Free University of Amsterdam and I hold a PhD in economics from Maastricht University.

Before joining MSM I started my career in 1981 at Utrecht Universityas a research assistant. After that I hold several others positions as associate professor the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), academic director at the Maastricht University Center for European studies, dean of the Cologne business School (Germany) and as academic director at Hoge School Zuyd’s Hotel Management School.

The research I am working on…
I am international economist by training and have an interest in European integration and its relationship with labour markets. I have published on the labour market position of females in the Netherlands and on the relationship between international trade and labour markets in Europe. I am now working on a paper that discusses the relationship between real exchange rate movements and the labour market in southern Euroland countries. The idea is that it wasn’t mismanagement of public finances that led to the dismal labour market performance in these countries but that adverse movements in the real exchange rate contributed substantially to their labour market problems.

It’s the student’s experience that help us to further develop and improve our programs…
I love being in a class room and interact with students. They are the most important people in the school. My work as coordinator is important because the new MBA specializations first of all had to be designed. But once a program starts running, it needs maintenance and it is the students’ experience that helps us to further develop and improve our programs.

MSM has enabled me to extend my dream beyond the borders of Europe..
My dream is that our educational activities contribute not only to better understanding of the world, but also to an improvement of it. I am a firm supporter of the EU and international integration process and believe that, despite all criticism one may have on the functioning of the European Union, it has brought us decades of peace and stability. MSM has enabled me to extend my dream beyond the borders of Europe, which I consider a great prerogative.
Ever since I graduated one of the greatest pleasures in my work as an academic have been the contacts with people from other cultures. I have worked internationally starting in 1987 and this has been a great source of joy and I have the feeling that it has made me a better person.

Where will I be speaking in the near future..
In March I will be speaking to an international audience in Brussels on the trade implications of Brexit, which I consider the biggest disaster in the history of the EU. And I have been invited to speak at the annual ACBSP conference in June which will take place in Kansas City, Missouri (USA). The ACBSP conference is a forum where more than 800 people from over 60 countries come together with the aim to improve business education.

A selection of my published books and articles..
Since the beginning of my research career I have published on labour market issues, EU integration and international economic policy problems. I published eight books and some 20+ articles on these issues. Below a selection of books and articles on these issues.

In my spare time you can often find me….
Every Sunday, I try to go hiking in the hills surrounding our beautiful city. It is a very relaxing activity that resets the brain for the next week. I also love going to the opera or classical concerts. That particularly feeds back to my neighboring colleagues, who complain that the bass in my speakers is too loud.