NOFI Årsmötet 2018
Gästtalare / Vieraspuhuja
Tanja Leppäaho
Professor Tanja Leppäaho Villmanstrands tekniska universitet /
Professori Lappeenrannan teknillinen yliopisto
Tanja works as Academy of Finland Research Fellow (Professor) at Lappeenranta University of Technology. Her five-year project is about the internationalization strategies of family-owned SMEs. Tanja’s previous employment was Professor of Entrepreneurship and International Business (tenure track) at Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics. Tanja’s areas of interest are international entrepreneurship, networking, process, family entrepreneurship, and qualitative methodology. According to Pukall and Calabro (2014), Tanja is currently is the leading expert of the area on a global scale. She is most interested in how SMEs can at best form social networks and manage foreign cultures.
Tanja entered academia in 2008 and graduated as PhD (economics) from the University of Jyväskylä in 2011. On completing her PhD she was recruited as an Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh Business School, where she gained important experience and extensive research networks within the UK. Tanja’s current endeavour is to make internationalization of family enterprises an even stronger area for specialization and a centre of excellence in Finland and Lappeenranta.
Tanja has published in various journals including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Family Business Review, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Small Business Management, International Marketing Review, and International Business Review. She has received several awards. Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC) awarded Tanja and her coauthor Professor Sarah Jack from University of Lancaster School of Management the Bertarelli Family Best Paper Award for their 2016 joint study on international networking among family enterprises. Tanja’s article on qualitative case studies in Family Business Review was the most cited article in 2016.