Meet MSM's faculty members: introducing Vincent Feltkamp

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 Vincent Feltkamp.

Let me introduce myself…
I’ am Vincent Feltkamp, and I am Assistant professor in Management Information Systems (MIS). After studying mathematics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (BE) and finishing my PhD on Game Theory at Tilburg University (NL) I started my career as math lecturer for economists in Alicante (Spain), subsequently I did research into Data Collection and Analysis Methods (a.o. of the transport survey and Optical Character Recognition) for Statistics at the Statistics Netherlands and into e-Organizations at the University Maastricht Institute of Infonomics.

The research area I am interested in….
For a lending institution I am analyzing the non-performing loans of SME’s which will help them assess and minimize the risks and to survive. This analysis will lead not only to minimizing the portfolio of bad creditors, we are also interested to find drivers of the nonperforming loans, particularly in China. Another topic I am working on is related to the Internet of Things (IoT)/Big Data: given the fact that buildings now come with sensors that measures temperature, gas or electricity usage every 10 minutes, how can a building owner or operator use this sensor data to minimize energy usage, what are the right settings, and what data is useful?

Hans Rösling opened the eyes of public officials about the importance and need of disclosing data…
In my job as Assistant Professor I lecture on several subjects. One of these subjects is “Decision making tools”, which is one of the courses our students need for doing quantitative analysis as part of their thesis. This same knowledge is valuable for market assessments or strategic decisions. Even though the subject might not be the most agreeable among the students it becomes more and more important in the future looking at the advent of Big Data and the (IoT). Other topics I lecture are Supply Chain Management, Operations, Digital Transformation and E-Commerce. One of the person I admire is Hans Rösling(R.I.P). He was a famous health data scientist who opened the eyes of public officials and NGO’s about the needs to disclose data and actually use the data rather than continue with preconceived ideas.

My two latest publications are….

If you want to manage your organization’s ability to create value from data, then you need to understand the basics of data-analytics..
As mentioned, Big Data is enabling institutions and companies to make better decisions. From the fast growth of AlibabaUberAirBNBAmazonGoogle and Facebook, and the struggling or demise of their competitors, it can be seen that organizations need to make faster and better decisions based on data management and analysis. That is why we have launched an executive 5-day course Turn Big data into Competitive Advantage last year in which I am one of the lead trainers. If you want to manage your organization’s ability to create value from data, then you need to understand the basics of data-analytics and that is exactly what is taught in this executive program. In case you are interested? The next course will run from 8 – 12 April 2019

In my spare time you can often find me…
Reading books, Teaching people to use gravity data and become equilibrists and wave board experts. It keeps people fit and supple!

Closing remark…
Even though MSM is located in a very quiet part of the earth, we meet people from all corners of the world at MSM. I am really passionate about being able to make a difference in people’s lives through my students. My advice for future MSM students? Choose Digital Economy as specialization!

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