Better Business — Better Society Seminar: What Management Practices Best Help Firms to be Innovative: Insights From Finland and China

Follow the online stream of the seminar below:

To start the video, click 'Play'.

During the seminar, we have reserved time for questions from the live and online audience. You can send your questions to the speakers via this platform: https://presemo.aalto.fi/bbbs19052022.

Or follow the online stream via this Youtube link:

https://youtu.be/1NtkC0h0zas

Schedule

17:00-17:05 Welcome to the School of Business!
Timo Korkeamäki, Dean, Aalto University School of Business

17:05-17:30 What Management Practices Help Firms to be Innovative? A comparison of Finland and China. Practical insights from a research project involving over 300 firms in Finland and China.
Carl F. Fey, Professor of International Business, Aalto University School of Business

17:30-18:30 Panel Discussion: What Management Practices Best Facilitate Innovation?

Amy Chen, Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President, Kone
Ari Kynäslahti, Vice President, CTO, Head of Strategy and Technology, Mobile Networks, Nokia
Erkki Ormala, Senior Fellow, Aalto University School of Business
Teija Sarajärvi, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Wärtsilä
Carl F. Fey, Moderator, Professor, Aalto University School of Business

Concluding comment by Maija Lönnqvist, Industrial Counsellor and Director of Unit, Skills, Innovation and Renewal, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland

Questions

You can send your online questions to the speakers via this platform (before and during the seminar): https://presemo.aalto.fi/bbbs19052022.

About the seminar

Carl F. Fey, Professor of International Business at Aalto University School of Business, will lead a discussion on ‘What Management Practices Best Help Firms to be Innovative: Insights From Finland and China’. Innovation is a key way for firms to achieve competitive advantage and superior performance and thus a key goal for most firms. However, innovation is a complex process where higher input, if not correctly designed, does not necessarily lead to higher output. Further, what works best to facilitate innovation in one country may not work best in another country due to cultural and institutional differences. Thus, there is a great need to explore drivers of innovation in more detail.

Join us for a seminar on May 19th where we will explore what management practices best facilitate innovation in Finland and China drawing on insights from a panel of experienced senior executives and findings from a research project led by Professor Carl Fey from Aalto University involving over 300 firms in the Nordics (Finland and Sweden) and China. The project is funded by the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation. Innovation has long been a key driver of business success in Finland. Now, as people in China are gaining greater skills in innovation and China is placing greater focus on innovation, an increasing number of foreign firms are starting to conduct some innovation in China, so understanding the differences between how innovation works in Finland and China is critical for Finnish manager’s future success.

There will be an opportunity for people in the audience to ask questions during the panel discussion. The formal part of the event will end with some concluding comments by Maija Lönnqvist, Industrial Counsellor and Director of Unit, Skills, Innovation and Renewal, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, and one of the key architects of Finland’s current innovation policy, about what the Finnish government can learn about drivers of innovation from today’s discussion, and what the government is about to do to enhance innovation policy and research funding.

Invitation to the live event has been sent to collaborators, supporters, and to all alumni of the School of Business. The online stream is open for everyone.

Speakers

Dr. Carl F. Fey, Professor of International Business, Aalto University School of Business 
Carl Fey is a Professor of International Business at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki, Finland and an expert on innovation. From 2011-2015 he was Dean of Nottingham University Business School China. Prior to joining Nottingham China, Fey was a Professor at Stockholm School of Economics. Much of Fey’s research explores how cultural and institutional differences affect what management practices work best in a given country with special focus on innovation, knowledge transfer, organizational culture, strategic HRM, M&A, and leadership. Fey has a special interest in understanding which management practices work best in China and the Nordics. An experienced executive educator and consultant, Fey is the recipient of the 2013 Journal of International Business Studies Decade Award and active in working with firms on executive education and consulting projects.  

Amy (Bing) Chen, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Kone
Amy Chen is a Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at KONE, part of the KONE Technology and Innovation unit, located in Finland since January 2021. Prior to joining KONE, Amy gained extensive experience in corporate and startup entrepreneurship in the automotive industry, from CEO of car2go China, founder of Car2share within Daimler, COO of a startup joint venture between Didi and Li Auto, and most recently as Head of Strategy for Volkswagen China’s software and digital services arm. Amy’s other professional experience includes Director of M&A with AES in China, and Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Germany, while she started her career with Motorola in the US. She holds an MBA degree from RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and a BA degree in International Finance from Renmin University of China. 

Ari Kynäslahti, Vice President, CTO, Head of Strategy and Technology, Mobile Networks, Nokia
Ari Kynäslahti has worked at Nokia since 1995 and is Vice President Strategy & Technology and Chief Technology officer (CTO). As CTO he is responsible for creating business, technology and partnership strategies for mobile networks (MN) and contributing to Nokia level strategy. He is responsible for MN portfolio and investment management as well as roadmaps, product decisions, and product leadership plans for MN. In addition, he manages the co-operation with key interface partners, i.e., R&D, sales, standardization, research, chipset vendors and device vendors. Mr. Kynäslahti has M.Sc in Radio Technology with two minors: Corporate Strategy & international business and Economy from Helsinki University of Technology (now part of Aalto University).  

Dr. Erkki Ormala, Senior Fellow, Aalto University School of Business
Erkki Ormala (M.Eng and PhD from Helsinki University of Technology—now Aalto University) is a Senior Fellow in Innovation Management at Aalto University School of Business (since 2013). He has led a number of research projects including a 2020 Horizon project on Industrial Innovation. He has also consulted many governments including Finland (in 2018) on how to improve innovation performance. From 1987-1999 he was Secretary of the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland and the main architect of the Finnish innovation system. From 1996-1999 he was Chairman of the OECD working group on Innovation and Technology Policy. From 1999-2013 he was a Vice President at Nokia. In 2004 he chaired the evaluation of the EU R&D Framework. He was also the President of DigitalEurope 2008-2012 and Chairman of the Research and Innovation Committee of the Confederation of Finnish Industries from 2011-2012. 

Teija Sarajärvi, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Wärtsilä
Teija Sarajärvi is Executive Vice President of Human Resources and a member of the Management Board of Wärtsilä. Ms Sarajärvi joins Wärtsilä from the packaging group Huhtamaki, where she has worked as EVP, Human Resources and Safety from 2015-2021. Prior to that, she has held key HR positions in OP Financial Group, Metso, and Nokia. Ms. Sarajärvi has extensive experience of leading global HR organisations and championing international transformation programs.