Hein Schreuder (24 December 1951 – 28 May 2023) was a Dutch economist and business executive, executive vice-president corporate strategy & acquisitions at DSM and professor at the University of Maastricht,[1] especially known for his work on "Economic approaches to organizations" with Sytse Douma[2][3] and for his role in the (second) transformation of DSM.
[6] In 1991 Schreuder went into business life when he was recruited by Royal DSM as member of the management team of the division Polymers.
[8][9] Schreuder was Fellow at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM)[10] and at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS),[11] visiting professor at the Harvard Business School as well as distinguished visiting professor at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).
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.
With Jean-Pierre Jeannet, Schreuder published "From Coal to Biotech: The transformation of DSM with business school support".
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.
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.