Publications for
Executives
In my writing for managers, I mainly address issues of strategic transformation, change management, and growth through innovation.
Magazine Articles
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Salvado, J. & Vermeulen, F. 2025. You should be able to boil your strategy down to a single clear visualization. Harvard Business Review. (July-August issue)
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Alemany, L. & Vermeulen, F. 2023. Disability as a source of competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review. (July-August issue)
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Markides, C. & Vermeulen, F. 2023. Have companies become too specialized? Harvard Business Review, online article
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Vermeulen, F. & Ody-Brasier, A. 2020. Which firms are allowed to be disruptors? Harvard Business Review, online article.
Books
Breaking Bad Habits (2017)
Vermeulen, F. 2017. Breaking Bad Habits: Defy industry norms and reinvigorate your business. Harvard Business Review Press (November)
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Paperback published in 2018
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Audiobook
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Translations in Arabic, Dutch, Indonesian, Russian
Business Exposed (2010)
Vermeulen, F. 2010. Business Exposed: The naked truth about what really goes on in the world of business. FT Prentice Hall.
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Translated in Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Russian
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Business Book of the Month, WHSmith
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Nominated for Business Book of the Year (the Netherlands)
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Reviewed in Business Strategy Review, the Economist, Director Magazine, People Matters, TopMBA, Meuse-Rhine Journal, Educators’ Digest, Management & Literatuur (in Dutch), Intermediair (in Dutch), among others
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Best-seller and fastest-selling book on Kindle in Japan
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Paperback in Japanese, 2018
Practitioner Outlets
Vermeulen, F. 2019. Companies don’t always need a purpose beyond profit. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2018. How Capitec became South Africa’s biggest bank. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Cable, D & Vermeulen, F. 2018. Making work meaningful: A leader’s guide. McKinsey Quarterly, (October issue).
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Vermeulen, F. 2018. Many strategies fail because they’re not actually strategies. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. & Sivanathan, N. 2017. Stop doubling down on your failing strategy. Harvard Business Review, (November issue).
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Vermeulen, F. 2017. What so many strategists get wrong about digital disruption. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2016. Stop comparing management to sports. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Cable D. & Vermeulen, F. 2016. Stop paying executives for performance. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2015. Five strategy questions every leader should make time for. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2015. Three reasons why managers don’t know what they’re doing. Business Strategy Review.
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Vermeulen, F. 2015. Three steps to break out in a tired industry. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2014. What happens when all employees work when they feel like it? Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2014. Take the bias out of strategy decisions. Harvard Business Review, online article.
Reprinted in HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy HBR Press, 2025
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Vermeulen, F. 2014. The two questions every manager must ask. Harvard Business Review, online article.
Vermeulen, F. 2013. You can win without differentiation. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2013. How to let 999 flowers die. Strategy+Business, Autumn issue.
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Vermeulen, F. 2013. Beware the sirens of management pseudo-science. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2013. How would you define ‘a great company’? Strategy+Business, online article.
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Vermeulen, F., Zaman, A. 2013. Big acquisitions can fall apart over tiny details. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2013. Corporate strategy is a fool's errand. Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2012. Which best practice is ruining your business? Harvard Business Review, online article.
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Vermeulen, F. 2012. Strategy is the story. Business Strategy Review. July issue.
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Vermeulen, F. 2012. So, you think you have a strategy? European Business Review. January issue.
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Vermeulen, F. 2011. Cutting business myths down to size. Business Strategy Review. January issue.
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Vermeulen, F. 2010. The case for work/life programs. Harvard Business Review in point, May issue.
Vermeulen, F., Puranam, P., & Gulati, R. 2010. Change for change’s sake. Harvard Business Review, June issue.
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Vermeulen, F. 2007. Bad deals: Eight warning signs that an acquisition may not pay off. Wall Street Journal.
Vermeulen, F. 2005. How acquisitions can revitalize companies. Sloan Management Review, 46: 45-51. Reprinted in PKU Business Review (in Chinese)