Overview

Associate Fellow, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.
Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Emeritus Professor, Strathclyde University.

Formerly Professor of General and Strategic Management at Strathclyde, Kees van der Heijden retired in 2002 and is now Emeritus Professor.  In addition he is a co-founder of the Global Business Network (GBN) in the United States.

Kees has worked in developing the context of scenario planning and pioneered the concepts of 'strategic conversation' and the Business Idea which envelop scenario planning. His research focuses on institutional strategic thinking and learning, and on processes for intervention in these areas.

Kees is director of the Centre for Scenario Planning and Future Studies at the University of Strathclyde Business School. Together with the other Principals of the Centre - George Burt, Professor George Wright, Professor George Cairns and Ron Bradfield - he works with private and public sector organisations to enable them to negotiate a successful course for their organisation in the face of uncertainty.

His groundbreaking book on how to use scenarios - 'Scenarios: the Art of Strategic Conversation'- was runner-up for the World Business Book Prize and numerous articles on Kees' work in scenario planning and straegy have been published in a range of books and journals world wide.

Prior to his move into academia at Strathclyde in 1990, Kees was head of the Business Environment Division in Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, London. In this capacity he was responsible for the development and application of Shell's scenario planning, including monitoring and analysing the business environment and communicating with top management on outlook and strategic implications.

Before that, he headed up Shell's Internal Strategy Consultancy Group, assisting management teams in strategy development and implementation.

Kees spent many years with Shell, working in operating companies in Holland, Manila, Singapore and Curacao, mostly in activities concerned with commercial planning, economics, and corporate planning and strategy.