Dr. Ferry Koster, Professor of Innovative Partnerships
January 20, 2015 | 1 min read
As per 1 February 2015, Dr. Ferry Koster will hold the endowed chair for Innovative Partnerships by TIAS School for Business & Society and Van Spaendonck. With this chair, both parties underline the importance of cooperation as the key to successful entrepreneurship.
For many years, diverse forms of cooperation have been the driving force behind innovations and social transitions that would not have gotten off the ground at all, or with great difficulty, on a stand alone basis. The establishment of the Mr Dr BJM Van Spaendonck Chair refers to the founders of the Van Spaendonck philosophy and is a reallyt good fit for TIAS School for Business & Society.
The chair holder Dr. Koster will - in addition to teaching - also be researching forms of cooperation in and between branches, sectors and professions as well as the importance of cooperation for entrepreneurship and effective governance. Koster: "We are talking about cooperation in the broadest sense of the word: formal and informal, long term and short term, between profit, non-profit and government organisations. Research into cooperation - its nature and dynamics, interaction between parties, the advantages and disadvantages for those involved - will offer a better understanding of how our economy functions.For example, it is still often thought that entrepreneurs follow rational strategies and view competitors solely as rivals. This idea is outdated. It is cooperative partnerships that form the very heart of our economy." Dr. Koster is also associate professor at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Van Spaendonck and TIAS School for Business & Society both have a strong economic-social focus and the basis for sustainability is generally found in cooperation. This cooperation develops at lightning speed in all kinds of forms: co-creation, network organisations and shared R&D, which allows knowledge to flow more quickly and reinforces support for innovation. This constantly offers new impulses that increasingly benefit from broader support in a society that strives for sustainability.
About Van Spaendonck
Van Spaendonck started bringing entrepreneurs together in 1919 and is a prominent player in terms of support for entrepreneurs in their successful business practices. With a turnover of ca. EUR18 million, it focuses on cooperation partnerships among entrepreneurs and on service providers that support entrepreneurs such as branches and accounting offices. In the Collectivities and Services divisions Van Spaendonck works with independently operating groups of companies on the same organisational philosophy: 'As a result of cooperation small things develop into great things', or striving for contributions that improve the connection between enterprise and its surroundings, customers, employees, chain and the environment and that contribute to sustainable and future-proof solutions. Entrepreneurship, cooperation and connections, cost-effective and innovative solutions are key in this respect.