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In her dissertation, "Receiving by Giving: The Examining of Cross-Border Diasporic and Bi-cultural Philanthropy", ERIM's Malika Ouacha zoomed into the context of the Netherlands to examine the cross-border diasporic and bi-cultural philanthropy. Morocco was taken as an example of a homeland of diaspora and bi-cultural groups and as representative of one side of the spectrum of Western and non-Western countries, cultures, religions and civilizations. Malika's research showed that diasporic philanthropy is about much more than mere support of the homeland. Instead, the dissertation underscored the impact of cultural identity, intercultural traditions of giving behaviour, and multi-cultural civil society in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. As a result, Malika's work concluded that voluntary and philanthropic energy through diaspora and bi-cultural groups can form invaluable bridges for international business. However, businesses and practitioners must first understand what drives these groups constantly towards the homeland and the Global South as a whole in order to form successful collaborations with them.

In his dissertation, "Vehicle Routing with Varying Levels of Demand Information", ERIM's Ymro Hoogendoorn studied the vehicle routing problem, for which he centred the exact methodology in three different levels of demand information: deterministic, stochastic and sensor-driven. The vehicle routing problem encompasses the challenge of efficiently serving a set of customers with a fleet of vehicles while minimising the travel costs and ensuring each vehicle starts and ends at a central depot. Ymro enhanced the branch-price-and-cut algorithm, introducing resource-robust cuts for the capacitated vehicle routing problem with deterministic demands, resulting in speedups for specific instances. Additionally, he pioneered an advanced integer L-shaped method for optimal solutions in stochastic demand situations. Applied to waste collection with sensors, the algorithm recommended optimal sensor placement for locations with variable waste. Overall, Ymro’s research significantly contributes to improving routing efficiency, showcasing potential cost savings and environmental benefits.