Latest SHARP hire already knows what you want

Harald van Heerde is coming to UNSW Business School as a global expert in understanding why people wanr to buy particular goods and services.  

Esteemed academic Professor Harald van Heerde has been recruited by the UNSW Business School and will take up an appointment in the School of Marketing. 

“I am delighted at the appointment of Professor Van Heerde as part of UNSW 2025,” says Professor Chris Styles, Dean of UNSW Business School. “He is an outstanding addition to our group of globally recognised marketing scholars.” 

Native to the Netherlands, Professor Van Heerde comes to UNSW Business School from New Zealand’s Massey University, where he is Research Professor and MSA Charitable Trust Chair in Marketing. 

Professor Van Heerde is one of the world’s leading experts in marketing, and he is ranked among the top 10 marketing scholars globally. He is the recipient of eight best paper awards from the premier marketing journals. 

He will become the third appointment at the Business School and the first at the School of Marketing under the SHARP (Strategic Hires and Retention Pathways) program, an initiative under the UNSW 2025 Strategy to attract the world’s best scholars to UNSW and position it as 'Australia's Global University'. 

Professor Van Heerde specialises in econometric models and analytics that measure the effects of marketing on performance. He is a recognised world leader in examining the effectiveness of sales promotion and works on such core topics in marketing management as loyalty program effectiveness; national brand price premiums; advertising; brand-building; and electronic word of mouth. His work spans industries from supermarket retailing and fast-moving consumer goods to consumer services and entertainment. 

Professor Van Heerde says he is “excited and honoured to be part of UNSW. It is a world-class university with a great Business faculty and the ability to attract the brightest students. I am very much looking forward to contributing to the new taught PhD program in Business and to help foster the research climate in the School.” 

He is also keen on building up partnerships with Sydney-based firms and organisations who are interested in using marketing analytics to improve decision making. 

He earned his PhD at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and has attracted significant research grants for projects in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. He also serves as the only non-US based co-editor of the Journal of Marketing, the premier journal in the field.