Maurice Murphy

Following in my grandparents footsteps, my parents have been extremely active in their respective communities. My mother has does so through mentoring youth and college students through Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (ΔΣΘ), through her profession as a nurse and nurse educator (in both Seattle, WA and Washington, D.C.), and through her service to her various church communities (one of which was First AME Church in Seattle, WA). In like manner, my dad has served the Seattle community as a librarian at Suzzallo and Odegaard    libraries at the University of Washington, as an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi (ΚΑΨ) Fraternity, Inc., and as a long-time member of First AME Church in Seattle, WA. In sum, since my childhood, the notion of service to one’s community has been inculcated within my very being through the example set by forebearers (i.e. my grandparents and parents). And it is this conviction which I strive and am determined to bequeath to my children. 

As a revert to Islam, service is of the utmost import to me insofar as it is a major component of a Muslim’s fiduciary responsibility as is consistently articulated throughout the Qur’an, as well the teachings of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.). Allah (s.w.t) discusses the significance of serving and adding value to one’s community in many places within the Qur’an. For instance, in Surah Al-Maidah, Verse 2, Allah encourages us to work together to the betterment of society through mutually beneficial engagement. As He says: “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.” Allah further asserts that one can serve their community through precipitating change within themselves and in so doing, instigate substantive change within society. As Allah says, “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Surat Ar-Ra`d, Verse 11).

Finally, as is narrated by Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (r.a), the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) once said: “Whosoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him a grief on the Day of Judgment. Whosoever alleviates [the] lot of a destitute (deprived) person, Allah will alleviate his lot in this world and the next. Whosoever conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and the next. Allah will aid a servant (of His) so long as the servant aids his brother.” Essentially, in this hadith, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) informs us of the great reward that will be apportioned to those of us who both help and serve others within our society/community who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Furthermore, with its focus on spiritual development, Wasat has helped me realize that one’s spiritual growth and their concomitant commitment to improve one’s society are not mutually exclusive, but rather (within the prism of Islam) are in actuality mutually reinforcing when done with pure intention. And finally, Wasat’s focus on spreading the message of Islam through love, has helped me to ascertain that working to the betterment of society helps one to make mercy, compassion, and kindness manifest within society as integral elements of the Islamic experience.

Essentially, the challenge has been to synergize the aspirations of a heterogenous and diverse group of believers from varied denominational, political, racial, cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, into one unified and effective political block. However, with the rise of white supremacy, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, as well as anti-Black, Brown, and immigrant sentiment within the US (as is evident in the policies and actions of the Trump Administration), this task has become ever-more urgent. Given this reality, it is evident that the time has come for the US Muslim Community to reexamine its commitment, approach, and strategy to becoming a formidable sociopolitical force.

My work with the African-American Muslim Leaders Coalition (AAMLC) ant the OAV Muslim Political Council for the State of Washington is dedicate to this communal objective. As a founder of the AAMLC and a member of the OAV Muslim Political Council, I have been working to help the Muslim Community in Washington State strategically develop alliances with racial and ethnic communities (particularly that of the African-American Community) who have been historically dehumanized and disenfranchised within this country, but who have nevertheless found ways to garner substantial amounts of political power at the national, state, and local levels. Essentially, in addition to ethnic and religious otherism, these communities also oftentimes share similar political and socioeconomic goals with that of the Muslim Community. After all, within the US Muslim Community itself there is a substantial and growing number of converts to Islam from the aforementioned racial and ethnic groups. Hence, in my view, developing a strategic and broad-based political coalition with these ethnic communities is natural, rational, and essential to Muslim political ambitions in this country. 

Maurice's academic research interests are in the areas of corporate political strategy, corporate activism, corporate social responsibility, technology startups, and the competitive strategies of multinational firms. He has published in the Journal of Business Ethics, the journal Business & Society, and the Academy of Management Conference's Best Paper Proceedings. Maurice is the recipient of the Academy of Management International Management Division’s Douglas Nigh Best Paper Award, USC’s Diversity, Access, and Inclusion PhD Fellowship, Alfaisal University College of Business’s KPMG Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, Columbia University’s Jason Wachob Student Athlete Award (as the captain of Columbia’s Division I Men’s Basketball Team), and the Seattle Chapter of the Links’s John Stanford Scholarship Award (as a student at O’Dea High School).

Prior to his academic tenure at the USC Marshall School of Business, Maurice was an Instructor of Management at Alfaisal University’s College of Business in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (where he lived and worked for over a decade). During his time in Saudi Arabia, Maurice also served on the Government Relations Committee of the US Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (the largest US chamber of commerce in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf Countries), where he lobbied for US business interests in the Kingdom, as well as within the US Senate and House of Representatives on multilateral trade initiatives, including: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), and the US-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement (during both the Obama and Trump Administrations). Maurice also served as a consultant and strategic advisor for numerous Saudi firms, such as: the Saudi Arabian Public Transport.

Links:

Maurice J. Murphy’s academic page at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Marshall School of Business

Introducing the African-American Muslim Leaders Coalition (AAMLC) during Black History Month at MAPS

Maurice’s Dr. MLK Day Speech at Bishop O’Dea High School (which begins around the 8:23 minute mark)

Strategic Management PhD Students Reflect & Respond to the "Making Theoretical Contributions in Management Research" workshop

Maurice’s Published Academic Research

Murphy, M.J. (2018). Competing for Emerging Markets: A Resource Dependence Model of 

Foreign Market Entry Mode. Academy of Management Conference Best Paper Proceedings. Chicago, IL. 

Winner of the 2018 Douglas Nigh Best Paper Award, Academy of Management Conference, International Management Division

Murphy, M.J., & Smolarski, J. (2018). Religion and CSR: An Islamic “Political” Model of Corporate Governance. Business & Society. DOI: 10.1177/0007650317749222. 

Murphy, M.J., MacDonald, J.B., Antoine, G.A., & Smolarski, J. (2016). Exploring Differences in Muslim Attitudes Towards CSR: Are Saudi Business Students Different? Journal of Business Ethics. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3383-4.