Areas of expertise
Biography
Dr Sc (Eng) Satu Teerikangas is Professor of Management and Organization at Turku School of Economics as well as Honorary Professor at University College London. Satu bears a cosmopolitan background cutting across three continents. Before an academic career, Satu worked with Shell in the Netherlands and the UK in management consulting and HR roles. After defending her PhD at Aalto University in 2006, Satu was Assistant Professor, before she was tenured to Associate Professor in Management at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London.
In 2021-2026, she is co-leading the Strategic Research Council funded research project BIODIFUL - Biodiversity respectful leadership, while also involved as one of the co-PIs in the Finnish Academy's Profilation 6 (2021-2026)-funded BIODIFORM consortium connecting Biodiversity & business in an interdisciplinary setting across University of Turku. In parallel, Satu is responsible for the work package on Ecosystems & Agency in the Finnish Academy's Strategic Research Council funded project CICAT2025 - Accelerating transitions toward circular economy 2019-2023. Previously, she has been responsible for the Work Environment Fund funded research project TYÖ2 studying colleagueship 2018-2019, the Turku City's Strategic Urban Development Program funded research project on Urban Strategic Planning 2018-2019.
Teaching
In terms of teaching, her experience spans the domain of management and organizations, at undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, and executive levels. Within this remit, she has instructed courses on organizational management, leadership, the management of change, the management of inter-firm partnerships, international management, and research methods. In terms of highlights, the undergraduate program that she contributed to was voted among the five best undergraduate programs at University College London in 2014, receiving a full 100% satisfaction score in the National Student Satisfaction Survey published by Times Higher Education. In September 2015, the Times Higher Education scored the program the United Kingdom’s best undergraduate program in its disciplinary area. In 2020, she was awarded the executive teacher of the year award by University of Turku's Executive education.
Satu is co/instructor of seven PhD candidates graduated from e.g. University College London, University of Turku, and Aalto University. She has acted as external examiner of PhD theses completed at HEC Montreal, University of London, University of Oxford, University of Leeds, Vaasa University & Aalto University.
She currently teaches on the following courses:
- JOS4 Managing Change
- JOS8 Advanced Strategic Management in the Digital Era
- JOS9 Readings in Strategic Management
- JOS15 Readings in Responsible Business
- JOPG1 Master's Thesis Seminar in Management & Organization
- YLJ7 Qualitative research methods (for PhD students)
- JOJ14 Advanced Readings in Management & Organization (for PhD students)
- EMBA and executive programs
Research
Satu’s research centers on the management of strategic change, a research theme set at the frontiers of strategic management, organization theory and organization development. Her focus in the study of strategic change centers on the management of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and sustainability transitions. Within this remit, Satu’s empirical and conceptual contributions relate to the sociocultural dynamics of strategic change, change agents, and research methods. She has authored over 120 publications, including academic articles, special issues, books, book chapters, managerial articles and international conference papers. Her international academic journal publications appear in e.g. Journal of Management, British Journal of Management, Human Resource Management, International Business Review, European Management Review, European Journal of Management, Management International Review, and Sustainability.
As an academic, her approach to scientific inquiry is collaborative and interdisciplinary. She is lead editor of the Research Handbook of Sustainability Agency (2021) published by Edward Elgar, and co-editor of the Handbook of Mergers and Acquisitions (2012) published by Oxford University Press. She presently co-edits special issues in International Journal of Project Management, European Management Journal, and Sustainability, while she has published special issues in Scandinavian Journal of Management, and European Journal of International Management. Together with international colleagues, she initiated and chaired the M&A track at the annual conference of the European Academy of Management (2008-2014), and regularly co-chairs the M&A track at the annual conference of the European Group of Organization Studies. She is member of the editorial review boards of Journal of Management Studies, International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, and section editor of Sustainability. In 2014, she was awarded the Emerald Publishing Outstanding Contributor Award, while she has also received reviewer and international conference best paper awards. Her review of the cultural challenges in M&As featured in Forbes (2016). Her research has featured on BBC Radio4, Sweden's radio, and various Finnish media outlets. In 2020, she received the societal impact award of Turku School of Economics.
Satu’s research engagement is closely tied to industry and the daily practice of work, in particular as regards Nordic multinationals and public sector organizations. She is principal investigator in research project grants awarded e.g. the Finnish Academy's Strategic Research Council 2019-2021, by the Finnish Work Environment Fund 2018-19, Mercuri Urval Global, City of Turku 2018-2019, and co-investigator in research project grants previously awarded e.g. by the Finnish National Technology Agency, and Finnish Ministry of Education. Paralleling teaching and research engagements, she is actively involved in community service roles at department, faculty and university levels.