TOPIC: Strengthening the Department Store: Smarter Growth, Seamless Channels, Sharper Operations

This meeting will be the opportunity to continue the conversation that incurred during the 2024 General Assembly in Turkey and gain insight into the thoughts of the guest speakers.

Guest Speaker:Robert Rooderkerk, Associate Professor of Operations Management,

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Robert P. Rooderkerk is Associate Professor of Operations Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He holds an M.Sc. in Econometrics with a specialisation in logistics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Ph.D. in Marketing from Tilburg University – both earned with cum laude distinction.

Robert's research focuses on the intersection of marketing and operations, addressing critical challenges in omnichannel retail and retail analytics. His work has been featured in leading academic journals (FT50 list) and high-impact managerial outlets, including the California Management Review and Harvard Business Review. He is a recipient of the Dutch Marketing Science Award as has been recognised as a finalist for both the Journal of Marketing Research Best Paper Award and the Dutch Insights Scientist of the Year 2019 Award.

His research has garnered broad media attention, with coverage in national and international newspapers such as Algemeen Dagblad, Laatste Nieuws, Standaard, and Volkskrant), as well as on Dutch radio (BNR and VARA Kassa Radio), television (Teleac Hoe?Zo!, RTL Nieuws), the Dutch Consumer Reports magazine, and BBC's Capital blog.

Robert serves on the editorial board of Journal of Retailing and Production and Operations Management.

He brings over two decades of teaching experience across undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs, and has earned multiple teaching awards.

He currently leads the Retail Analytics Expert Practice at the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics and is the founding Academic Director of the MScBA Business Analytics & Management at RSM, recently ranked 19th globally among 160+ analytics programs by the2025 QS rankings.

Robert has held visiting positions at top institutions including the University of Florida, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, UCLA Anderson School of Management, and HEC Paris. He has advised and collaborated with leading companies and institutions such as Coca-Cola, Coolblue, Heineken, Jumbo Supermarkets, Philips, and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Several of the algorithms he developed−particularly in assortment optimization and conjoint analysis−have been successfully implemented in industry

practice.

General information

• Antitrust Guidelines

Timing

Thursday 10 July 2025 2 to 4 pm Paris time