Antti Tenhiala

Antti Tenhiälä is a Professor of Operations Management at IE Business School. Before joining IE, he earned his doctorate at Helsinki University of Technology and was a Fulbright scholar at the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota.

Antti’s research is focused on the planning, coordination, and communication practices that firms use to overcome unexpected events in their processes. The overarching theme in his findings is that universally superior practices do not exist, and practices that are effective in some environments often cause havoc in others. His studies, which have received awards from the Academy of Management, Decision Sciences Institute, and the European Foundation for Management Development, have disclosed factors that critically influence the effectiveness of different planning, coordination, and communication practices.

Prior to joining the academia, Antti worked first as a process developer in electronics manufacturing and in the telecommunications infrastructure industry. He then became an independent SAP consultant and instructor, in which position he worked with a number of multinational corporations and educational institutions. In addition, Antti is a reservist in the Finnish Army where he holds the rank of First Lieutenant in an airborne ranger regiment.

“In my experience, practicing managers vary greatly in their understanding of how their processes actually work and why their processes behave the way they do. Consequently, the managers either succeed or fail to choose effective management practices. I have witnessed too many ‘best practice’ implementations that have gone awry because of their contextual unfitness. In my view, business education should create awareness of the pitfalls in the one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead of teaching ‘best practices’, we should give the future managers the tools to analyze any given process and choose the management practices that best fit its context-specific requirements”, Antti summarizes his objectives in teaching.

Academic Background

• D.Sc. (industrial engineering), Helsinki University of Technology (Finland)

• M.Sc. (industrial engineering), Helsinki University of Technology (Finland)

Academic Experience

• Professor, IE Business School (Spain) 2010 - present

• Lecturer, Helsinki University of Technology (Finland) 2005 - 2010

• Lecturer, Tampere University of Technology (Finland) 2007 - 2010

• Researcher, BIT Research Center (Finland)2005 - 2010

• Fulbright scholar, University of Minnesota (USA) 2008 - 2009

Corporate Experience

• Independent SAP consultant and instructor, 2005 - 2010

• Process development engineer, YIT Telecom Network Services (Finland) 2003 - 2004

• Process development engineer, VTI Technologies (Finland) 2002 - 2003

Selected Publications

• Choo, A., Srinivasan, R., Narayanan, S., Sarkar, S., Tenhiälä, A. (2021). “Knowledge sources, innovation objectives and their impact on innovation performance: Quasi-Replication of Leiponen and Helfat (2010)”. Strategic Management Journal

• Tenhiälä, A., Salvador, F. (2018). “When Communication should be formal”.  MIT Sloan Management Review

• Tenhiälä, A., Rungtusanatham, M., Miller, J. W.(2018). “ERP System versus Standalone Enterprise Applications in the Mitigation of Operational Glitches”. Decision Sciences, Vol. 49(3): 407-444

• Tenhiälä, A., Helkiö, P. (2015). “Performance Effects of Using an ERP System for Manufacturing Planning and Control under Dynamic Market Requirements”. Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 36: 147-164