About the Authors

Dr. Suvi Nenonen is Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate School of Management at the University of Auckland Business School. She has previously been an Associate Professor at Hanken School of Economics in Finland. Prior to entering academia full time, she worked for more than 10 years as a strategy consultant to major European companies in several industries such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, utility, telecommunications, fast-moving consumer goods industries, and non-profit organizations.

Suvi is passionate about building bridges over the academia-practice gap. In addition to teaching in the MBA programs, she is also involved in several executive education programs in New Zealand and Europe and is a frequent key note speaker at conference and internal seminars. She has designed and led several large business development programs ranging from applied research consortium projects to executive education programs.

Suvi has published extensively in the top marketing and management journals. In 2013, she received a Marsden Fund grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand together with Professor Kaj Storbacka. In 2015, Suvi received the Research Excellence Award for Research Relevance at the University of Auckland.

Dr. Kaj Storbacka is Professor of Markets and Strategy at the Graduate School of Management at the University of Auckland Business School. He has previously been Professor at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands and at Hanken School of Economics in Finland. Dr. Storbacka has throughout his career worked on the borderline between academic and applied research within marketing and strategic management. He has 30 years of background as a strategy consultant to European and global companies – in finance, media, travel, retail, utility, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Out of this time, he spent 18 years leading Vectia Ltd, a consultancy operating in Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands that he founded in 1994. Since 2004, he is on the board of the Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) in Chicago, IL.

Kaj has a long background in executive education, running MBA, executive MBA, and firm-specific executive education programs in Europe, New Zealand, Singapore, and Shanghai. He is a frequent key note speaker at internal seminars for major global corporations, and at leading management development institutions in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Kaj has published extensively in the top academic marketing and management journals and has published 13 managerial books, some of which have been translated into several languages.