Dr. Wim Swaan

Room: A2.15
Tel.: +31 43-3884826;
Fax.: +31 43-3884893;
Email: W.Swaan@OS.unimaas.nl

Wim Swaan was born in 1959, in Wageningen, The Netherlands. His main interest is in diversity (including differences in economic institutions, business systems, political traditions, and communication styles) and the question how to manage this: in business, in education, in international organisations. After completing his MA and PhD at the University of Amsterdam, he lived and worked as a researcher in Budapest, Hungary (1992-1999). He served on the board of the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies (1996-2000) and the Netherlands’ department of SIETAR, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training And Research (2003-2004). He received the 1994 EACES Award for the best European dissertation in comparative economics and the 2003 Senior Award for Excellence in Education of UM Faculty of Economics and Business.

Position: Assistant professor

Specialization: Intercultural communication between Western and Central Eastern Europe;
Organization of markets and firms in post-socialist economies, in particular knowledge transfer and vertical coordination;
Capabilities, institutional change and development: Central and Eastern Europe compared with other emerging market economies.

PhD: University of Amsterdam, 1993, Comparative Economics, "Behaviour and institutions under economic reform. Price regulation and market behaviour in Hungary" (Supervisor: Michael Ellman, János Kornai, John Groenewegen)

Courses: Bachelors: European Business (3016B), Strategic management (3013B)
Masters: Introduction Concentration Strategy (1104M)
Center for European Studies: Intercultural Communication / Dealing with the Dutch
MBA & Postdoc: Strategic Management, Intercultural Communication
DOCPROF (Faculty Development): Managing Diversity in the UM PBL Classroom
External (NATO): Intercultural Communication -- Including The New Members States in Central and Eastern Europe

Postal address

Visiting address

Selected publications:

• Price regulation in Hungary, 1968-87. A behavioural-institutional explanation. Cambridge Journal of Economics 14(3), p.247-265, September 1990.

• Capabilities, routines and East European economic reform. Hungary and Poland before and after the 1989 revolutions. Journal of Economic Issues 30(4), p.1031‑1056, December 1996 (co-authored by Maria Lissowska).

• Knowledge, transaction costs and the creation of markets in post-socialist economies. In: Horst Brezinski and Michael Fritsch (eds.), The Emergence and Evolution of Markets, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, p.115-132, October 1997.

• Tacit Knowledge and Post-Socialist Transformation. Results of a Comparative Study. Economic Systems 21(4), p.375-379, December 1997.

• The surprising success of gradual price liberalization in Hungary. In: Eric Maskin and András Simonovits (eds.), Planning, Shortage and Transformation. Essays in Honor of János Kornai, Cambridge: Massachusetts, MIT Press, p.413-434, April 2000.