Luc Wathieu
Full Professor, Ferrero Chair in International Marketing, and Associate Dean of Faculty
Luc Wathieu joined ESMT European School of Management and Technology in September 2007 and three months later was appointed Associate Dean of Faculty. In July 2009 the Ferrero Chair in International Marketing was inaugurated with Luc being named its first chairholder. He joined ESMT after ten years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. A native of Belgium, he obtained his PhD from INSEAD and holds a MSc in Economics from the University of Namur.
Luc’s field of specialization is marketing, with emphasis in customer behavior and marketing strategy. His research combines mathematical models, experiments, and case studies, and covers topics such as pricing, differentiation, interactive marketing, adaptive behavior, and consumer empowerment. In general, his research seeks to understand how firms can attract customers and maintain a high state of customer engagement and willingness to pay for quality. His scholarly papers have been published in leading journals such as Management Science, Marketing Science, and the Journal of Consumer Research. He was an Associate Editor for Management Science and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Recherche et Applications en Marketing.
His course on “Understanding Customers” was among the most popular electives in the MBA curriculum at Harvard, and his current teaching at ESMT focuses on contemporary issues in the commercialization of "higher" consumer needs (such as wellness, philanthropy, traveling, friendship, and personal improvement). He extensively consulted and taught in executive education programs in the USA, Asia, and Europe.
