Freek Vermeulen

Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship

MA PhD (Tilburg)

I am a professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School. My research and teaching cover topics such as strategic management, managing innovation, corporate transformation, and entrepreneurship. I have served on London Business School’s Management Board, was a member of its Board of Governors, the Chair of the Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department, and the Director of Strategy of the School.

In addition, I am a regular keynote speaker on company and industry conferences, having worked with firms such as Bosch, BP, GE, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Lufthansa, Maersk, Novartis, Roche, Sara Lee, Toshiba, Vodafone, and many others. At the London Business School, I was the first-ever recipient of the School’s “Excellence in Teaching Award”. I also received the “Best Teacher Award”, particularly for my course on Strategies for Growth and Transformation. The Financial Times wrote about me: “The London Business School professor is a rising star, and his pithy observations are both accessible and authoritative”. Separately, the same newspaper described me as a new management guru.

My book “Business Exposed: The naked truth about what really goes on in the world of business”, published by FT Prentice-Hall, was WHSmith’s Business Book of the Month and – to my own surprise – received much praise in the business press—for example, the Financial Times described it as “ornery and entertaining: a rigorous challenge to many business assumptions” where the Economist labeled it “punchy and readable”. Particularly in Japan, it became a best-seller and was temporarily the highest-selling business book on Kindle. My most recent book was published by the Harvard Business Review Press and is titled “Breaking Bad Habits: Defy industry norms and reinvigorate your business”. My books have been translated into various languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Russian.

My research has been published in various prominent academic journals in the field of Management, such as the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. As a result, I received the prestigious “Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award”, particularly for my research on international expansion, and the INFORMS/ISA Best Paper Award for my work on organizational learning.

In addition, I enjoy communicating my views on strategic management in the popular press, including newspapers, magazines, and using online media. For example, I regularly contribute to Harvard Business Review, and I have written articles for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Strategy+Business, Marketing Magazine, HR Magazine, and many others. The Vienna University of Economics and Business honoured me with their inaugural “Theory-to-Practice Award”. Much to my surprise, the website Best-online-universities placed me number 1 in their global ranking of “Top 100 Web-savvy Professors”. More importantly, I won my department’s geese herding competition (after which I was elected as department chair) and the “best solo performance” at the karaoke competition during our Christmas party.

Freek talks about his research on management speak

Freek talks about his research on strategy visualisation

Research Awards

2014 INFORMS/ISA 2013 Best Paper Prize
2012 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2011-2012
2009 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2008-2009
2008 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2007-2008
2007 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2006-2007
2006 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2005-2006
2005 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2004-2005
2004 Outstanding Reviewer Award, the Editorial Board of the Academy of Management Journal, 2003-2004
2000 Honourable Mention, Royal Dutch Society of Political Economy, as one of the four best dissertations in the Social Sciences in The Netherlands, 1998-2000
1999 Academy of Management Journal 1998 Best Paper Award
1999 Ph.D. awarded Cum Laude, Tilburg University

Teaching Awards

2008 London Business School Excellence in Teaching Award
2005 London Business School Junior Faculty Teaching Award
2000 Runner-up Innovation in Learning Teaching Award (Edward Jones Programme)
1998 Best Teacher, International Business Programme, Tilburg University
1997 Best Teacher Nominee, School of Business Administration, Tilburg University

Recognitions

2012 Voted nr 1 in the Global Top 100 Web-Savvy Professors by Best Online Universities

Corporate strategy
Profitable growth
Innovation

2023

Disability as a Source of Competitive Advantage

Alemany L; Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review 2023 Vol 101:7-8 p 106-115

Have companies become too specialized?

Markides C; Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 2023 14 February

2021

High risk, low return (and vice versa): the effect of product innovation on firm performance in a transition economy

Li X; Vermeulen F

Academy of Management Journal 2021 Vol 64:5 p 1383-1418

2020

Who gets punished most for challenging the status quo?

Ody-Brasier A; Vermeulen F

Academy of Management Journal 2020 Vol 63:5 p 1621-1176

2019

Companies don’t always need a purpose beyond profit

Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 2019

2018

2017

2016

Stop comparing management to sports

Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review Digital Articles 2016

Stop paying executives for performance

Cable D; Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review 2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Cutting business myths down to size

Vermeulen F

Business Strategy Review 2011 January

2010

Change for change's sake

Vermeulen F; Puranam P; Gulati R

Harvard Business Review 2010 June Vol 88:6 p 70-76

The case for work/life programs

Vermeulen F

Harvard Business Review 2010 May

2009

When management collapses

Vermeulen F

Business Strategy Review 2009 Summer Vol 20:2 p 42-44

2008

Quick thinking

Vermeulen F

Business Strategy Review 2008 Vol 19:2 p 55-59

Songs of the sirens

Vermeulen F

Business Strategy Review 2008 Vol 19:3 p 22-27

2007

"I shall not remain insignificant": Adding a second loop to matter more

Vermeulen F

Academy of Management Journal 2007 Vol 50 p 754-761

Bad deals: eight warning signs that an acquisition may not pay off

Vermeulen F

Wall Street Journal 2007

2005

How acquisitions can revitalize companies

Vermeulen F

MIT Sloan Management Review 2005 Summer Vol 46:4 p 45-51

On rigor and relevance: fostering dialectic progress in management research

Vermeulen F

Academy of Management Journal 2005 Dec Vol 48:6 p 978-982

2003

A healthy divide: subgroups as a stimulus for team learning behavior

Gibson C; Vermeulen F

Administrative Science Quarterly 2003 Jun Vol 48:2 p 202-239

2002

Pace, rhythm, and scope: process dependence in building a profitable multinational corporation

Vermeulen F; Barkema H G

Strategic Management Journal 2002 Jul Vol 23:7 p 637-653

2001

Controlling international expansion

Vermeulen F

Business Strategy Review 2001 Autumn Vol 12:3 p 29-36

Learning through acquisitions

Vermeulen F; Barkema H G

Academy of Management Journal 2001 Jun Vol 44:3 p 457-476

1998

International expansion through start-up or acquisition: a learning perspective

Barkema H G; Vermeulen F

Academy of Management Journal 1998 Feb Vol 41:1 p 7-26

1997

2022

Teaching portfolio

Our teaching offering is updated annually. Faculty and programme material are subject to change.

Masters Degrees electives

Optional courses providing a deep dive into specialist areas.
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Entrepreneurial Mindset

It is not the intention of this course to analyse precisely what an entrepreneurial mindset is. It is intended to give you one. An entrepreneurial mindset, namely, is not just about being passionate and having a risk appetite, but also about an ability to appropriately analyse situations and understand them at a higher cognitive level than others. It is about judging and seizing opportunities, but also about building a coherent strategic logic to take advantage of them. That is what this course is about: it is intended to shape your thinking.
PROGRAMMES WITH THIS ELECTIVE

Executive MBA Dubai

Executive MBA London

EMBA-Global

Masters in Analytics and Management

MBA

Masters in Financial Analysis

Masters in Finance Full-time

Masters in Finance Part-time

Masters in Management

LBS Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy

Strategies for Growth and Transformation

Get answers to the question that keeps most top executives awake at night: "where should tomorrow's growth come from?" Learn how to create the growing firm, and how growth strategies are not always 'designed' by managers but emerge from within an organisation. Analyse how effective managers organise their companies to achieve continuous, organic growth. Examine the firm's formal strategic choices, its internal organisational environment, the process of growth, and the role of historical accident and the background and personality of the managers involved. You will learn how, as a manager, you can shape your organisation to deliberately manage and control the growth process of the firm.
PROGRAMMES WITH THIS ELECTIVE

Executive MBA Dubai

Executive MBA London

EMBA-Global

MBA

Masters in Management

LBS Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy
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Freek Vermeulen

Research Awards

Teaching Awards

Recognitions

Teaching portfolio

Masters Degrees electives

PROGRAMMES WITH THIS ELECTIVE

PROGRAMMES WITH THIS ELECTIVE