International Business/University of Vaasa

23/08/2024

🌍 Exciting News from the McGill International Entrepreneurship Conference 2024! 🌍

Exciting developments from the International Business & Marketing Strategies, Vaasan yliopisto! Associate Professor Dr. Anisur R. Faroque recently attended and presented at the prestigious McGill International Entrepreneurship (IE) Conference 2024, held at LUT University in Lappeenranta, Finland, from August 15th to 17th, 2024.

Professor Faroque presented groundbreaking research on entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial implications of market orientation, and cross-cultural adaptation among entrepreneurs. This research was conducted in collaboration with
Assistant Professor Arafat Rahman from Hanken School of Economics Finland,
Professor Jashim U. Ahmed from North South University, Bangladesh, and
Shovon Barua (MSc) from LUT University, Finland.

Additionally, Doctoral student Mehran Aslaniyan presented a paper on the emergence of sustainability practices in internationalizing SMEs coauthored with Professor Peter Gabrielsson from the research group. Doctoral Student, Imtiaz Ahmed from the same research group, also presented a paper on the fear of failure among international entrepreneurs, coauthored with Professor Peter and Anisur, adding further depth to the discussions.

The insights shared during the conference have sparked engaging discussions with fellow academics and practitioners from around the world, contributing to the global conversation in international entrepreneurship.

Representing the University of Vaasa, it was a great opportunity to engage with such a dynamic community and share research that will help shape the future of international business/entrepreneurship studies.

A big thank you to everyone who participated, and there is much anticipation for the continued research journey with such an incredible team. Stay tuned for more updates on the work presented.

19/08/2024

Congratulations to Arto Ojala, Professor of International Business at the Vaasan yliopisto, on being elected as a Finnish Academy of Technical Sciences member!

➡️Read more: https://www.uwasa.fi/en/newshub/news/professor-arto-ojala-elected-member-finnish-academy-technical-sciences

Arto Ojala, Professor of International Business at the University of Vaasa, has been elected a member of the Finnish Academy of Technical Sciences.

19/08/2024

The International Business and Marketing Strategies -research group participated at the Nordic Academy of Management (NFF) Conference 2024 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Professor Peter Gabrielsson presented a paper about Innovative marketing strategies co-authored with Lecturer Minnie Kontkanen and Professor Arto Ojala. Digitalization and sustainability were discussed in many tracks in addition to the so interesting keynote on coordinating responses to volcanic unrest. Many new interesting connections and acquaintances were made.

09/07/2024

Our research group’s Professors, Arto Ojala and Peter Gabrielsson, participated at the AIB 2024 Seoul Annual Conference. Keynote speeches opened the by Ban Ki-moon, 8th United Nations Secretary-General, and Hyeon-Joo Park, Chairman, Mirae Asset.
Professor Ojala, Gabrielsson, and /or their co-authors presented several papers at the main conference or the associated Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) paper development workshop. In addition, Ojala acted as a in two sessions.

A record number of around 1500 members participated in the conference. Valuable feedback was received that will help to develop the papers forward. It was great to meet many friends and new colleagues. The delegates also familiarized themselves with the demilitarized zone between the divided Korea.

04/06/2024

Professor Arto Ojala will start as an Associate Editor at the Scandinavian Journal of Management in August 2024. His area of expertise is strategy and international management. Elsevier publishes the journal with a 40-year history and global reach. 🎉

The journal's aim is stated as follows on its website: “The Scandinavian Journal of Management (SJM) provides an international forum for innovative and carefully crafted research on different aspects of management. We promote dialogue and new thinking around theory and practice, based on conceptual creativity, reasoned reflexivity, and contextual awareness.”

Link to the journal: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/scandinavian-journal-of-management

31/05/2024

Professor Arto Ojala, doctoral students Eldrige De Melo, and Mikko Punnala participated in the 22nd Nordic Conference on Small Business Research in Turku, Finland, from May 29-31. The conference focused on several interesting topics related to Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship.

Eldrige Melo presented two research papers co-authored by Arto Ojala, Mikko Punnala, and Sadia Tangem at the conference. The first paper, entitled “A Sustainable Approach for Nordic Small Businesses to Design, Launch, and Operate Earth Observation Satellite Constellations,” focuses on the sustainability activities undertaken by Nordic space firms. The second paper, entitled “Small Business Internationalization in the Nordic Space Industry,” provides an overview of the internationalization process of Nordic space firms and the challenges they face during their internationalization. Both papers received a lot of interest due to the topic's novelty. The group also received a lot of feedback and interesting ideas that will help further develop these papers.

At the conference, Prof. Arto Ojala served as a track chair for the International Entrepreneurship track.

29/05/2024

The International Business & Marketing Strategies, Vaasan yliopisto research group participated at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Global Marketing Special Interest Group Conference in Verona, Italy, May 24-26. The conference gathered international marketing researchers from all over the world to discuss ”Global marketing strategies with as a growth driver”.

Doctoral student mehran aslaniyan and Professor Peter Gabrielsson presented a paper on ‘Boundary-Spanning Infrastructures as Enablers of Sustainability in International Supply Networks.’ They received good feedback that will be beneficial for developing the paper further and had many fruitful conversations with cooperation partners.

They expressed their gratitude for the well-organized conference.

21/03/2024

The project, "International New Ventures: growth and Decision-making", a collaboration between the Vaasan yliopisto, the University of Eastern Finland, and three partner organizations, explored how young health start-ups could successfully grow internationally despite their scarce resources.

Small and new businesses can succeed in international markets even without careful planning, goal setting, or significant resources. In Finland, there aren't enough successful medium-sized companies, and attention is shifting towards young Finnish companies that want to grow internationally.

However, these companies face challenges due to their newness, small size, and lack of experience in international markets. To overcome these challenges, they need resources and skills they don't typically have.

Professor Peter Gabrielsson suggests that creating new markets, working with partners for marketing, and building an emotional connection with customers are particularly important for these companies to succeed.

➡ Read more: https://www.uwasa.fi/en/newshub/articles/young-businesses-succeed-international-markets-through-trial-and-error-success

As the growth of large companies fades and there are not enough successful medium-sized companies in Finland, attention is turning to young Finnish companies that are looking to international markets for growth from the start. However, the challenge of internationalisation for these companies is the...

13/03/2024

Professor Peter Gabrielsson, together with Sylvie Chetty and Mika Gabrielsson, has published a new article titled "Dynamic Improvisation Capabilities as a Learning Mechanism" in the Journal of World Business.

The article discusses how firms internationalize under uncertainty and time pressure and develop improvisation capabilities as a learning mechanism to gain knowledge rapidly.







➡️ Read the article-

01/02/2024

📰Professor Arto Ojala has been appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University in Japan. Congratulations Arto 🎉🎉

➡️ Read more👇

Arto Ojala, Professor of International Business, has been appointed as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Kyoto University. He will begin his appointment in February, when he will travel to Japan to teach a new course. The appointment follows Professor Ojala's long-standing research and teaching....

19/01/2024

This week, our researchers, Professor Arto Ojala, Mikko Punnala, Eldrige De Melo, Sadia Tangem, and Rakibul Hasan, participated and presented their works in the Winter Satellite Workshop 2024, held at Dipoli, Aalto University, Finland.

The convention usually attracts Nordic and multinational space-related firms and technical researchers. However, beyond technological innovation, these space firms face challenges to expand business and navigate into global markets. Therefore, our researchers see the importance of joining such an event and bringing international business dimensions to the New Space Economy.

Being part of the Aurora Space (auroraspace.eu) project and Kvarken Space Center at the Vaasan yliopisto, Prof. Arto Ojala and his team join forces to promote space business in northern Finland, Sweden, and Norway by developing a space innovation ecosystem. The project is partially financed by the EU Interreg Aurora, Lapin liitto, and Nordland fylkeskommune.

20/12/2023

➡️ The International Business and Marketing Strategy research group of the Vaasan yliopisto visited the European International Business Academy ( ) in Lisbon in 2023. Presentations were given by Arto Ojala, Peter Gabrielsson, R. Faroque, Roman Filenko, Imtiaz Ahmed, and Rakibul Hasan. The members received valuable comments that will help to further improve their research. It was also a great opportunity to meet old colleagues from different universities along with learning and networking with new researchers.

The research group would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas🎄 and a Happy New Year! 🎉🎉