Kaj Storbacka – new Hanken Foundation Professor – will start collaboration with innovative enterprises

Storbacka joins Hanken from New Zealand, where he was a professor at the University of Auckland Business School. In his new position at Hanken, he is going to start collaboration with enterprises that are interested in new ways of thinking to influence and shape markets. He also hopes that enterprises will be contacting him.

- I am going to cooperate with enterprises whose objects are to contribute to shaping the markets instead of merely reacting to them. The goal is to start a consortium project with enterprises which are not competitors so they will be more likely to share their experiences.

According to Storbacka, times of crisis offer unusual new opportunities to enterprises to take a market-leading role.

- Both enterprises and consumers are usually rather conservative, but during the covid pandemic, everyone is being forced to rethink. Crises also start changes that should have taken place a long time ago. An example is the digital acceleration that we have seen over the past months.

Before the time spent in New Zealand, Storbacka was a professor at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands and professor of marketing strategy at Hanken. During his entire career, Storbacka has combined academic and applied research, and he has more than 30 years of experience as a strategy consultant for European and global enterprises.

Kim Karhu, chairman of Stiftelsen Svenska handelshögskolen (the foundation of the Swedish School of Economics), is very pleased with the new recruitment.

- Close collaboration with the business sector is one of the cornerstones of Hanken’s strategy, and we are very pleased that Professor Storbacka is with us here at the School of Economics. Therefore, the Foundation has decided to finance Kaj Storbacka’s position as the new Hanken Foundation Professor, Karhu says.

Kaj Storbacka: phone 0400 645 401