Mai Anttila in memoriam

Born on 29 January 1946, Mai Anttila was a long-standing member of the business school community whose career spanned more than four decades. From the early 1970s onwards, she worked at the Helsinki School of Economics and later at Aalto University School of Business as a researcher, teacher, professor, and active builder of the academic community. From 1998 onwards, Anttila served as an assistant professor and professor at the School of Business until her retirement. Her passing marks the loss of one of the key contributors to Finnish marketing research.

We, her colleagues, remember Mai as an active, friendly, and engaged researcher and teacher who was involved in many aspects of academic life. As a young student, she participated, among other things, in the unique Finnfocus-68 export promotion project, in which Finnish products were taken to London for an exhibition aboard the car ferry M/S Finnpartner.

Anttila’s doctoral thesis focused on the significance of pricing in consumer choice behaviour. During doctoral courses at EIASM (European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management) in Brussels, she became acquainted with conjoint analysis, which she subsequently applied to measuring consumers’ price perceptions and perceived value. At the time, this represented pioneering research in Finland and, indeed, internationally.

Another major research interest for Anttila was the marketing capabilities and market orientation of Finnish companies. Together with Kristian Möller, she conducted advanced research in this area as early as the late 1980s. This line of research soon expanded to encompass companies’ marketing strategy, innovativeness, and performance, and led to a series of international publications together with Matti Tuominen, Arto Rajala, and Kristian Möller.

Anttila also played a significant role in conceiving and implementing several nationally and internationally important research projects. Through these projects, the School of Business obtained substantial external funding. They also helped shape the direction of research in the field and fostered collaboration with companies and other stakeholders for decades to come. Anttila continued to study these themes until the latter part of the first decade of the 2000s.

Anttila was among the first Finnish marketing researchers of her generation to seek to conduct internationally significant research and to communicate her findings at leading marketing conferences and in international publications. Active international engagement – including long-term participation in the activities and conferences of the European Marketing Academy and the Academy of Marketing Science – was by no means self-evident in the 1970s and 1980s, or even in the 1990s.

Naturally sociable and an enthusiastic photographer, Mai probably had one of the most extensive photo collections of Europe’s leading marketing scholars of her time. She was networking long before “networking” became a buzzword.

In addition to her research, Professor Anttila was an inspiring teacher and supervisor. With a gentle twinkle in her eye, she challenged her students to think independently and innovatively, influencing numerous generations of students and colleagues.

All of us who were Mai’s collaborators, colleagues, and students are privileged to have worked with her. Her influence will remain visible in our work and in our memories for a long time to come.

Kristian Möller
Uolevi Lehtinen
Pirjo-Liisa Johansson
Arto Rajala
Matti Tuominen

Colleagues and co-workers of Mai Anttila

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Esa Ahonen, who served as Director of Administration of the School of Business from 1996 to 2009, interviewed his former colleagues, including Emerita Professor Mai Anttila, a few years ago. You can watch the video below.