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13 July 1952, Wychen, The Netherlands
PhD history 2004
BA psychology 1977
In progress:
A political biography of the Royal Dutch Shell Group.
Working title: Running Royal Dutch Shell.
To be published in 2010. details
Earlier books:
Farewell to a Negligent Élite. Essays, interviews, reports and contemplations about the curious mix of bureaucracy and corporate thinking in the Dutch public sector, and about the necessity of responsible, historically conscious and unifying leaderschip. By John Balm and Marcel Metze. Published December 2009 (in Dutch).
Anton Philips (1874-1951), They shall know who they're dealing with, a biograpy of the co-founder of Philips Electronics and the driving force behind the international expansion of this company in the first half of the twentieth century.
Published October 15, 2004, as a doctoral thesis (in Dutch, English summary).
Let´s talk Dutch now (1999).
A book about the historic, cultural and political roots of the Dutch Model, and a description of the economic history of The Netherlands and of the way the Dutch make their country work.
XXL. The power, the network, the performance and the world of Dutch top-managers (1998).
A co-production with researcher Jos van Hezewijk, in which we revealed the top-101 most influential directors in the major Dutch corporations, and analyzed the performance of the top-100 Dutch corporations between 1982 and 1997.
Let´s make things better (1997).
An investigative book about Philips Electronics in the years 1991-1997, describing how the company narrowly escaped bankrupcy, and then entered a period of strategic indecision, resulting in a succession drama (review in English on my website). The title refers to Philips's central advertising theme.
Stranded (1995).
About the problems of the Dutch christian-democratic party CDA, which had suffered a dramatic loss in the parliamentary elections of 1994, after having been in power since the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Smell of Money (1993).
About a wave of mergers, scandals and conflicts of interest in the Dutch banking sector in the beginning of the nineties.
Short Circuit (1991).
A description and analysis of the disastrous condition of Philips Electronics in 1990. The first serious corporate biography published in The Nederlands (reviews in English on my website).
In 2000 both Short Circuit and Let's make things better turned up in the all-time (i.e. after World War II) top-10 of non fiction bestsellers in The Netherlands.
I started working as a freelance journalist in 1979, first at a regional newspaper and a university weekly, then for the national media. Between 1981 and 1988 I made radio documentaries for the public station VPRO. From 1984 on I wrote for Intermediair (a weekly for academics) and NRC Handelsblad (a quality newspaper), specializing in economic issues.
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