Biography

Hi, I’m William H. Murphy (Will Murphy), and I’m a Professor of Marketing at the Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan. Previously, I had positions at leading institutions including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Babson College, and the University of Auckland.

Committed to Doing Good Work when teaching

I’m passionate about teaching and sharing insights with my students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Beyond the classroom, I lead sales and marketing programs for executive education and engage in research projects spanning areas like sales force management, supply chain management, international business, and Six Sigma/total quality management.

Over the years, I’m grateful to have received several teaching awards, including MBA Professor of the Year Awards (most recently 2024), Favorite Instructor Award, Dean’s Academic Staff Excellence in Teaching Award, and MKT Professor of the Year Award. One of the most rewarding parts of my career has been mentoring my former students as they develop and grow their business ventures.

Committed to Doing Good Work when working with executives

For over two decades, I’ve been deeply involved in executive education at CEIBS (China-Europe International Business School) in China, leading executive programs in sales management and key account management.  I’ve also worked with numerous clients in China, helping them identify opportunities for improvement in their sales and key account management efforts.  I’ve also designed and taught programs in Canada and the USA on value-enhancing topics such as Building a Web-Based Brand Presence, Customer Centricity, Personal Selling, and Marketing. My executive training sessions are known for their energy and practical relevance—something I take pride in delivering. 

In all activities, I strive to provide paths for making businesses better.  I live by the expectation that client time is too valuable to be wasted, so every action I take is in pursuit of providing good value.

Committed to Doing Good Work when Conducting Research and Publishing

I am an eager researcher, always seeking ways to understand phenomenon better so that I can assist business leaders in making their businesses better.  Throughout my career, I have pursued research that fits this purpose.   When I see gaps between ‘what we now know’ and ‘what we need to know’, I dive into projects.

My research and writing have appeared in numerous journals including Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and many more. I’ve also authored a popular sales management case (IVEY Publishing).  I am also an invited reviewer for journals in my field. In 2010, I published a book, Doing Good Work Matters!, a heartfelt reminder that meaningful work always has an impact. I’ve shared my insights as a guest on CBC Radio, CKOM/980 CJME, and CTV, and my book is now available digitally, free of charge at my website.

Committed to an Energized and Devoted Personal Life

I learned long ago that life and how we live our lives matters. I’m excited by learning new things, exploring the places I visit, and finding pleasure in life’s simple joys. 

I passionately love sports (and I really, really love sports).  In fact, I am always seeking to improve, whether playing tennis, badminton, table tennis (yes, racquet sports are a particular pleasure of mine), or kicking around a soccer ball, or tossing a football or a frisbee.  Perhaps somewhat at odds with this passion, I have almost never watched an entire professional sporting event; invariably, when an event is on, I find myself wanting to be out playing the sport rather than watching.  That said, I am insatiable when watching ‘best plays/catches/goals’ in any sport.   Returning to badminton, there was a time when I was fortunate to have competed at the national level as member of the U.S. Badminton National Team.

Most importantly, I am committed to the people I love and to my faith.  I love spending time with my wife and son, taking long walks, snuggling in for a good movie, sharing mealtimes together, or any of a myriad of special moments.  As to my faith, I am a lifetime Christian, and a recent convert to Catholicism.  My path to Catholicism took a long time.  Because of my nature, I explored intellectually finding myself drawn by the richness of the Church’s history and the profound sense of continuity from the early apostles to today.  The logic of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, evolved into an appreciation of the beauty of the sacraments.  The path I took became a journey home.

Teaching

I have taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, in classes ranging from Introduction to Marketing, Marketing Research, Sales Management, Marketing Strategy and International Business.  I have been the recipient of: MBA Student Society Professor of the Year Award (2024, 2011, 2010), Favorite Instructor Award (2006), the Dean's Academic Staff Excellence in Teaching Award (2005) and the MKT Professor of the Year Award (2002). I have also had the great pleasure of working with MSc students on their theses and working with undergraduate students on their honours theses.  I delight in seeing students develop in all of my efforts. My entrepreneurial focus has led to numerous present and former students seeking my advice and ongoing consultation in developing business ventures.  More information on my teaching, including evaluations and comments from students can be found at williamhmurphy.com

Recent Publications

Refereed Publications

Li, N., & W. H. Murphy, (2025), “The Innovation Gap is Closing: Chinese State-Owned Enterprises’ Mechanisms for Developing Innovative Solutions," Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 40 (2), 361 - 373.

Salari, Toktam & William H. Murphy (2022), “Light at the End of a Very Dark Tunnel: An examination of the Survival and Recovery Strategies of Iranian tourist accommodation businesses during the Covid-19 Pandemic,” Tourism and Hospitality Research, 23 (2), 184 – 199.

Li, N., & W. H. Murphy (2021), "Making Better Foreign Friendships: The Effects of Increased Culturally Diversity in Alliance Portfolios and Portfolio Configuration Decisions on Firm Performance
", Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Issue Pending.

Murphy, W. H. & G. Wilson (2021), "Dynamic Capabilities and Stakeholder Theory Explanation of Superior Performance Among Award-Winning Hospitals," International Journal of Healthcare Management, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2020.1870356] .

Farrag, D. A. R., Murphy, W. H., & Hassan, M. (2020), "Influence of category attitudes on the relationship between SERVQUAL and satisfaction in Islamic banks; the role of disruptive societal-level events," Journal of Islamic Marketing. ISSN: 1759-0833.

Gao, R. (Chuang Rang), W. H. Murphy, & R. Anderson (2020), "Transformational Leadership Effects on Salespeople's Attitudes, Striving, and Performance," Journal of Business Research, 110, 237-245.

Murphy, W. H., I. Golgeci, & D. A.
Johnston (2019), "Power-based behaviors between supply chain partners of diverse national and organizational cultures: The crucial role of boundary spanners’ cultural intelligence on choosing superior behaviors,"
_Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 35, (2), 204 – 218.

Ning Li and William H. Murphy (2018), "Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Academic Performance of University Students: Campus Life Implications for U.S. Universities," Religion & Education, accepted for publication October 26, 2017.

Gölgeci, Ismail, William H. Murphy, and David A. Johnston (2017), "Power-based behaviors in supply chains and their effects on relational satisfaction: A fresh perspective and directions for research." European Management Journal, available online April.

Murphy, William H., and Denis Leonard (2016), "Quality management (QM) Leads to Healthier Small Businesses," Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 23, 4, 1104 – 1119.  Note: Since Q4 2016 publication, this paper has been downloaded over 3,500 times and discussed at length in the official Baldrige blog of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Murphy, William H. (2016), “Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Quality Management (QM) Research (1990–2014): A Revealing Look at QM’s Vital Role in Making SMEs Stronger,” Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 1 -16 |DOI: 10.1080/08276331.2016.1166554

Online

Murphy, William H. (2007 - Present), williamhmurphy.com launched and maintained, with resources added regularly for marketing students and marketing professionals.

Research

I am actively involved in research projects spanning the areas of sales force management, ethics, international business, six sigma/total quality management, among others.  I have published in a number of journals including Journal of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Force Management, Marketing Research, Quality World, and the Journal of Higher Education for Business and I have written cases for a leading sales force management textbook. 

As a way to stay at the leading edge on a variety of research streams and to provide service to the field, I also serve on the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management and Industrial Marketing Management and I am a member of the AMA (American Marketing Association) and the EMA (European Marketing Academy).

More information on my research, including pdfs of some recent work can be found at williamhmurphy.com

Consulting

I frequently conduct executive training courses in Personal Selling, Sales Management and Key Account Management and I have co-taught programs in Marketing Strategy and Brand Building on the Web. Across my experiences I have provided both open programs and in-house programs for select clients. My clients have included major insurance carriers in China, companies in high technology sectors, and pharmaceuticals, among others. In my sales and marketing executive training sessions, I have always received 6+ scores on 7 point evaluations.

More information on my consulting activities can be found at williamhmurphy.com