Dr Björn Claes

Professional biography

Björn is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and is currently the Teaching Director for the Masters Programmes in The Open University Business School. He joined the faculty in January 2012 from Cranfield School of Management. He holds a Ph.D. and an International MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

Björn's research interests are in the human factors in Operations and Supply Chain Management and business processes in general. Beyond this, he researches social evaluations underlying legitimacy judgment formation processes. His work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Management Studies, Human Resource Management, Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Production Economics, Prometheus, and Supply Chain Forum, among others.

In his teaching Björn maintains a pragmatic approach to supply chain management issues, emphasizing the need for a cross-functional approach to optimizing companies’ supply chains. He is keen advocate of experiential learning through the use of simulations. His industry experience, acquired in supply chain management, international sales and marketing, and over a period of nearly a decade, allows him to illustrate the cases and examples discussed in class from different perspectives.

Currently living in the UK, Björn is originally from The Netherlands but has also lived and worked in Spain, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. He speaks Dutch, English, Spanish, and German.

Research interests

Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Behavior, Legitimacy, Social Evaluations, Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Teaching interests

Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Simulations & Experiental Learning

External collaborations

Björn regularly teaches Operations and Supply Chain Management at IE Business School in Madrid in Spain, and at the Kedge Business School in Bordeaux and Marseille in France