Jussi V. Koivisto

Jussi V. Koivisto
Born	Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Fields	Economics, International Business, Cross-Cultural Management
Alma mater	Helsinki School of Economics
Doctoral advisor	Reijo Luostarinen, Lawrence Welch, James March, and Masao Yamaguchi
Known for	Cultural Crossing model of international organizations

Jussi V. Koivisto is a Finnish born economist and educator, who has also been active in business life.

Biography

Koivisto obtained his D-Exam in Orchestral Conducting in 1990 from the Sibelius Academy, and his Master of Philosophy in 1989 from University of Helsinki. In 1999 he obtained his PhD in Economics and Business Administration from the Helsinki School of Economics with the thesis, entitled "Cultural Heritages and Cross-Cultural Management."

Koivisto lectured at the Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology, University of Vaasa, University of Tampere, and the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. He was Visiting Professor and/or Visiting Scholar Stanford University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, University of Klagenfurt, Canada China Institute, University of Alberta, and Korea Institute of Industrial Policy Studies.

In business life, Koivisto held positions in Datex-Ohmeda Corporation (now GE Medical Devices); Nokia Corporation, with responsibility for international corporate mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic alliances; Via Group as director and strategy consultant; and TeliaSonera Corporation, with responsibility for designing the architecture for major organisational and mode of operation changes.

Work

Koivisto's research interests are in the fields of corporate mergers and acquisitions, cross-cultural management and organisation, international law in e-business, technology strategy, business in China and Japan, and the internationalisation of higher education. He has also produced a series of television documentaries on the internationalisation strategies and processes of Finnish enterprises.

Cultural Crossing

In his research, Koivisto has done groundbreaking conceptualisation on the structure of cross-cultural organisations by creating the concept of cultural crossing. It describes the structure how the cross-cultural divide in an organisation is structured in terms of its

• Locus - i.e. where in the organisation the cultural interfacing takes place
• Modus - i.e. how the cultural interfacing is set up as to
  • Interpersonal dimension, and
  • Organisational dimension
• Focus - i.e. what is the equilibrium of influence directions in the interface

With these dimensions, the concept of cultural crossing has been used to analyse cross-cultural organisations as to their

• Present state and structure and
• Longitudinal or historical development and evolution over time.

The concept has also been used to analyse interfacing between organisational cultures in the context of integration of corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Selected publications

• Koivisto, Jussi V. Dual management: a semiotic study on duality in Japanese culture and its manifestations in Japanese business management. Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, 1993.
• Koivisto, Jussi V. Cultural heritages and cross-cultural management: cross-cultural synergy and friction in Finno-Japanese management. Helsingin Kauppakorkeakoulu, 1998.
• Koivisto, Jussi V. and Pia Naarajärvi. "Which Law, Which Forum? Jurisdiction and Applicable Law," in: International Electronic Commerce, 2002

Television and Broadcast Productions

• Internationalisation Strategies and Processes of Finnish Firms, a series of four television documentaries, produced by Jussi V. Koivisto, directed by Petri Männistö, 1997–1998, in co-operation with Finnish national TV YLE-2