I write this short blog to share with you a few of my experiences as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, California, USA. My time at Stanford was rather short (3 months), but it was indeed intellectually invigorating! I came here during the summer quarter, which is a much more quiet time of the year in Stanford University just like in Finland. However, as a very large University as Stanford is, the place is always full of different types of seminars, conferences, executive training programs, and other activities. In fact, I seized the opportunity to also participate in some of these activities for free (once I showed my Stanford ID card).
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The interplay of economics and politics has shaped our modern world for as long as we know it. Historically, international business has gone through many nationalization and liberalization cycles. Lately, in the face of recent global political changes such as Brexit and conservative governments around the world, debate around international business and policy matters has been initiated again. This is one of the few examples where Nordic Research School of International Business (#NORD-IB) comes into play. Continue reading
“It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.”
– Alfred Whitehead, An Introduction to Mathematics, 1911
It is one of the more undisputed facts of human and social sciences that we humans make most of our decisions unwittingly. First of all, we make decisions we don’t even acknowledge as such – like which foot to put forward first, when walking towards the door. Secondly, even when we do bracket out a moment of our existence and identify ourselves as making a Decision, we are swayed by biases, heuristics, emotions, intuitions to a degree where the instant of deciding is more or less just retrospectively justifying to ourselves the outcome we had already reached. Continue reading
Nadine, a receptionist, greets tourists in Singapore: “Hello, nice to see you!”. Nadine remembers all of your past conversations with her, and utilizes that knowledge to improve your service experience. But Nadine is not a super human; she is an android. New machine learning methods and faster computers enable robots to develop artificial intelligence. As a result, they can already remind patients of medication, coach patients and communicate with healthcare professionals. The rise of autonomous devices and other emerging technologies is not only fascinating but relevant. For instance, programmatic advertising is already a US 15 billion dollar market in which software decides which advertisement is shown to whom without ever speaking to a human being. This is no longer science fiction. Yet, business and management scholars have not paid attention to what robotization means for theories of marketing or international business. Continue reading
In autumn 2017 I stumbled upon an interesting question from a student: “Is there anything fun in the course?” Usually the question is about is there anything interesting in the course, but this question about ‘fun’ stayed lingering in my mind. Continue reading
This statement by Sir Karl Popper (Book Preface: In Search of a Better World, 1984) is one of the countless wisdoms he produced during his life. One devoted to understanding how problem solving and the correction of errors are two of the most important human activities for survival and progress. These behaviors are leading on one side to democracy (def., ‘government which can be removed without violence’) and on the other side to scientific progress, in that we remain doubtful about the theories we have, refute them when they turn out wrong, and critically adopt better ones when we conceive them. Continue reading
Emotion skills in the workplace have recently risen to be a topic of interest in the Finnish media. Just this month YLE reported that empathy and interaction are crucial skills called for in recruitment. Similarly, Helsingin Sanomat stated that in the future emotion skills will be the key to professional success. But when and how do these skills appear in practice? One instance where they can play a major role is during organizational change – for example following a cross-border acquisition. Continue reading
The purpose of this blog-article is to warmly welcome our exchange and master programs’ students. We are proud that you have chosen Finland as the destination of your foreign studies. As you might know, last year Finland celebrated her 100 years’ independence. Continue reading
It is that time of year once again when many of us drop whatever we are doing, pack our bags, and fly off to see those whom we have often not seen since the last long, cold nights of December. Together we overindulge in fine food and wine, and engage in vigorous and sometimes heated discussion on many subjects from politics and religion, to the state of the economy. Of course, I am talking about the annual conference of the European International Business Academy, or EIBA for short. Continue reading
Sting, the musician and father of six once defined: “You can only be as happy as your unhappiest child”. This thought encapsulates the very essence of our being and wellbeing; our existence is in constant interaction with our social surroundings and our wellbeing is in relation with the wellbeing of others around us. Our lives are intertwined with the lives of others. Continue reading
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