Satu Teerikangas
Professor, Management and Organization
satu.teerikangas@utu.fi +358 29 450 3599 +358 40 706 5985 Rehtorinpellonkatu 3 Turku Office: 4th floor, shared offices Offices 4.25-4.28 are shared offices for M&O faculty. |
Leadership for sustainability; Biodiversity and business; Sustainability agency; Change agency; Mergers and acquisitions; Post-merger integration; Cultural change in M&A; Qualitative research; Grounded theory
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.
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.
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.
PhD researchers she has co-instructed have graduated from University College London (4), University of Turku (3), Aalto University (1), and Lappeenranta University of Technology (1), many of whom have continued academic careers.
She has acted as external examiner of PhD theses completed at Toulouse U & Macquarie U (2023), Aalto U (2021, 2023), Vaasa U & Liverpool U (2021), Uppsala U (2018), HEC Montréal (2017), Oxford Brookes U (2015), University College London (2011, 2013, 2019, 2023), University of London (2012), Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki (2012).
She currently is responsible teacher on the following courses:
- JOS4 Managing Change
- JOS9C Readings in Strategic Management (independent study)
- JOS14 Advanced Course on Identification of Sustainable Practices (with Planet Company)
- JOS15 Contemporary Issues in Sustainable Business (independent study)
- JOJ14 Advanced Readings in Management & Organization ((independent study, for PhD students)
- Co-instructor on YLJ7 Qualitative research methods (for PhD students, every 2nd year - next in 2026)
- Co-instructor on UTUGS Leadership in contemporary life (for PhD students)
- EMBA portfolio process
She also teaches on the following courses and programs:
- UTUGS course Qualitative research methods, on grounded theory building
- KATAJA course on Responsible & sustainable business, on sustainability agency
- EMBA, JOKO and executive programs (e.g. Good Academic Leadership programs)
- Project, program and portfolio management as modes of organizing: Theorising at the intersection between mergers and acquisitions and project studies (2022)
- International Journal of Project Management
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Transforming business education for sustainability: the case for paradigm shifts in pedagogy and theory (2022) Teerikangas Satu, Matser Ivo, Painter Mollie
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Transitioning to the circular economy: shifting from a technical to a cultural perspectiveAktiivinen työkaveruus työn arjen voimavarana: TYÖ2 – Yhteistyön työyhteisö-hankkeen loppuraportti (2022) Social and Cultural Aspects of the Circular Economy: toward solidarity and inclusivity Mäkilä Marileena, Onkila Tiina, Teerikangas Satu, Sarja Milla, Valkjärvi Mira, Koistinen Katariina
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Agency in Circular City Ecosystems-A Rationalities Perspective (2021)
- SustainabilityHenry ry: Blogit ja Kuukauden kasvo
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Going the Extra Mile: Circular Economy motivations in pioneering Finnish companies
(Conference abstract: Corporate Responsibility Research Conference CRRC 2021) (2021) Valkjärvi Mira, Koistinen Katariina, Teerikangas Satu, Mäkelä Marileena, Onkila Tiina, Sarja Milla
(Other publication) - Introduction to the Research Handbook of Sustainability Agency (2021) Research Handbook of Sustainability Agency Teerikangas Satu, Koistinen Katariina, Onkila Tiina, Mäkelä Marileena
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Multiple Dimensions of Strategic Spatial Planning: Local Authorities Navigating between Rationalities in Competitive and Collaborative Settings (2021)
- Planning Theory and PracticeAcademy of Management annual meeting proceedings
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Research Handbook of Sustainability Agency Invitation: Join the circular economy celebration! Policy brief of CICAT2025 research project (2021) Teerikangas Satu, Onkila Tiina, Koistinen Katariina, Mäkelä Marileena
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Synthesis and future research directions (2021) Research Handbook of Sustainability Agency Teerikangas Satu, Koistinen Katariina, Onkila Tiina, Mäkelä Marileena
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the LiteratureKutsu: Lähde mukaan kiertotalousjuhlaan! CICAT2025-hankkeen politiikkasuositus (2021)
- Sustainability
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Tieteentekijät kestävää tulevaisuutta luomassa (2021)
- Turun yliopiston blogi
(E1 Popularised article) - Yhdessä kestävää tulevaisuutta luomassa (2021)
- Mercurius
(E1 Popularised article) - Active sustainability actors: A life course approach (2020)
- Sustainable Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - (2020) Maarit Laiho, Arto Ryömä, Suvi Satama, Satu Teerikangas
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Aktiivinen työkaveruus – työyhteisöjen piilevä voimavara (2020)
(E1 Popularised article) - Call for papers: Managing strategic projects and programs in and between organizations (2020)
- International Journal of Project Management
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Colleagueship in the Making: Exploring Tensions of Social Ordering in Collegial Relations
(Presentation at The Annual Meeting of Academy of Management 2020) (2020)
(Other publication) - (2020) Teerikangas S, Onkila T, Koistinen K, Mäkelä M, Niemi L, Valkjärvi M
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Kaupunkikehittäminen strategisena navigointina (2020) Helka Kalliomäki, Kaisa Granqvist, Raine Mäntysalo, Satu Teerikangas, Hanna Mattila, Antero Hirvensalo
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - (2020) Teerikangas S, Onkila T, Koistinen K, Mäkelä M, Niemi L, Valkjärvi M
(D4 Published development or research report or study )