Prof. Bart Vos
Bart Vos is Professor in Supply Chain Innovation at Maastricht University and Scientific Director of the Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI) in Venlo, the Netherlands.
His work aims to integrate research, education and business practice on contemporary supply chain management issues. His focus area is the alignment of business strategy with sustainable supply chain management. Moreover, his research also focusses on turning innovative supply chain strategies into profitable business cases.
Bart is involved in the MaastrichtMBA programme as instructor in the Online MBA course on Supply Chain Management.
WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION WITH MAASTRICHT?
I am professor of Supply Chain Innovation at the School of Business & Economics. Moreover, I am scientific director of the Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI) and program lead of the Master Global Supply Chain Management & Change we offer at the Venlo Campus of Maastricht University.
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO BECOME A PROFESSOR AT MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY?
I was approached early 2019 to become scientific director of the brand new institute BISCI. Being professionally involved in Supply Chain Management for over thirty years, this was a great opportunity for me to set up a research institute at the interface between practice and theory, focusing on the digitally enabled transition towards sustainable supply chains. Hence, I accepted this challenge, starting in September 2019.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITHIN THE MAASTRICHTMBA PROGRAMME?
I am the coordinator of the brand new Supply Chain Management (SCM) course. I will do this together with my UM colleagues professor Frank Rozemeijer and Ton Geurts. In total, we bring along over 90 years of professional experience in the SCM domain!
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT YOUR LECTURES IN THE PROGRAMME?
In essence, the lectures aim to demonstrate the importance of the SCM domain in terms of improving competitiveness. In doing so, we cover relevant topics like supplier relationship management, supply chain innovation, risk management, and sustainability. When covering these topics, we make extensive use of real-world examples, stimulating our students to apply course concepts to their own work environment.
HOW DO YOU THINK THE WORLD WILL LOOK IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS REGARDING YOUR TEACHING FOCUS AREA?
Sustainability is already important in our SCM domain, but will become even more important in the coming decades. Innovative supply chains are needed to address global challenges like the energy transition, material scarcity, and social issues (e.g. reducing poverty).
WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED DURING THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS?
First of all, it is my strong belief that we learn every day, but the past few years have indeed been quite extreme. The Covid-19 pandemic and regional conflicts (Ukraine, Gaza area) have shown the vulnerability of our society in general and supply chains more specifically. This among others increased the awareness of the strategic importance of SCM.
WHAT ARE YOU PARTICULARLY PROUD OF PROFESSIONALLY?
I am especially proud of the opportunity I have as a teacher to stimulate critical thinking among (your) professionals on relevant topics in the SCM domain. More specifically, I pay a lot of attention to the role and importance of sustainability in the SCM domain, it is great to see that this usually resonates quite well with students.
IF YOU COULD SHARE ONE SILLY THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Well, I don’t know if it is really silly, but I have a serious addition to a Dutch band called De Dijk. They stopped playing end of 2022 after over 40 years and throughout their career I have seen them performing live dozens of times, always a truly entertaining experience! So I miss this what I call my Vitamin D(ijk) :), but fortunately their music legacy is still there!