Schreuder published eight books and many articles in the fields of
business economics,
strategic management and (economic)
organization theory. Recently, he published (with J.P. Jeannet) "From Coal to Biotech", a strategic perspective on the transformation of
DSM from a commodity chemicals company to a Life Science & Materials Science company.
Economic Approaches to Organizations, 1991, 2017 Schreuder's best-known book "Economic Approaches to Organizations" (with
Sytse Douma) was first published in 1991 (6th edition in 2017) and is translated into six languages. Schreuder and Douma believe, that "economics has an important contribution to make to the understanding of organizations." In their opinion "economic approaches to organization focus specially on the economic problem of optimal allocation of scarce resources." and "the economic contribution to our understanding of an organizational problem increases when the economic problem forms a greater part of the organizational problem that we are trying to understand." The book systemically compares markets and organizations as coordination mechanisms for conducting transactions. It covers the behavioral
theory of the firm,
game theory,
agency theory,
transaction cost economics,
the economics of strategy,
evolutionary approaches to organizations and
complexity economics in a non-technical way. In the sixth edition (2017) the authors explain the impact of
digitization on organizations and the business model of
digital platforms (like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber). There is now also a separate chapter on
Behavioral Economics.
From Coal to Biotech, 2015 With Jean-Pierre Jeannet, Schreuder published "From Coal to Biotech: The transformation of DSM with business school support". The book provides a strategic perspective on the remarkable transformation of DSM, first from a coal mining company to a commodity chemicals company, then to a life sciences and materials sciences firm with a strong biotechnology focus. The authors use the concept of 'strategic learning cycles' to discuss how DSM achieved this double transformation in an evolutionary way. It also discusses the company traits that have contributed to its ability to adapt, grow and prosper. Renowned business schools such as IMD and Babson have accompanied the second transformation of DSM through their executive education programs. The book documents this support and draws lessons for long-term collaboration between companies and the business school world.
People, Planet, Profit and Purpose: from PhD to DSM Practice, 2022 In this essay Schreuder takes the reader along his journey of the past 45 years seeking answers to the questions (a) what the role is of business in society, (b) which responsibility the business firm has and (c) how a corporation may account for the way it has discharged this responsibility. His journey started in the academic world with a PhD titled 'Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Reporting' in a quest for theoretically sound standpoints. These are the starting points of this essay. After 15 years in academia Schreuder's journey was continued for 20 years in the world of practice. He became responsible for corporate strategy at
DSM, a large Dutch multinational. As such he was involved in formulating the specific answers that DSM has given to these questions in the course of two decades. During this time the answers have evolved and it is interesting to read how and why, because DSM is often regarded as a frontrunner in this respect. Schreuder's more recent perspective is that CSR / Do No Harm has become the minimum we expect of the business firm. A Net Positive or, preferably, a Max Positive societal contribution has become the new aspiration. To achieve this the firm has to clearly articulate its purpose and set in motion 'positive welfare spirals', using its capabilities to make the highest possible contribution to fulfill a societal need, alone or (preferably) in an ‘ecosystem’ in collaboration with other entities. Companies like DSM that are able to achieve this exemplify that it is possible to combine Doing Well with Doing Good. It is Schreuder's expectation that this will increasingly become the new societal norm(al). == Publications ==