Chair Prof. Dr. Dr. Tomi Laamanen

The chair of Professor Laamanen engages in research on strategic activity sequences, such as acquisition programs, strategic issue management, strategy processes and practices, management’s cognition, and strategy execution.

The team of Professor Tomi Laamanen examines various dynamic aspects of strategy that are linked to the performance of firms. How do the different activity sequences, such as acquisition programs, contribute to firm performance? What kind of strategic planning processes and practices distinguish superior firms from others? With respect to management’s cognition and strategy execution we try to understand how one can enhance the quality of strategic thinking and strategy execution in companies and what kind of biases are associated with these.

Additionally the chair has also done research on competitive dynamics, the effects of for example mergers on rival firms, acquisitions of emerging market firms, headquarter relocation, and ecosystems. International research projects are conducted with colleagues such as Olivier Bertrand (Skema Business School), Yuval Deutsch (Schulich School of Business), Steven Floyd (Amherst), Thomas Keil, Markku Maula, and Sami Torstila (Aalto University), and Rita McGrath (Columbia Business School). The chair has played an active role in the Strategic Management Society’s Strategy Process Interest Group, Academy of Management’s Strategy-as-Practice Interest Group and Euram’s Strategic Management Interest Group.