Jan Johanson, a founding IMP member, died on October 31, 90 years old. He is a major, pioneering, contributor to research literature on internationalization of firms, markets and networks. Especially, he was involved in the development of an alternative economic theory of the firm.
He was recruited, aged 24, as an assistant to professor Sune Carlson when in 1958, Uppsala University began education and research in Business Administration. He stayed at Uppsala his entire academic life, as lecturer, professor and professor emeritus. Research on internationalization of Swedish business firms, became early on a profile of Uppsala research. The “Uppsala School” of internationalization, based on organization theory, with Janne as inspirer and co-author of most of the important publications, became very influential. Internationalization was, depending on the structure of Swedish industry, very much an aspect of industrial marketing, leading to discovery of business interaction and industrial networks.
Janne contributed to the two IMP projects. In the 1980s and 1990s, he co-authored a dozen IMP related mostly conceptual articles and book chapters. Co-authoring with Janne was a co-creative, productive, joyful experience. Janne also generously shared research ideas and thoughts with colleagues and PhD students. When Janne participated in a seminar, everyone knew that he would come up with new ideas. Thoughtful unpretentiousness was his hallmark. We miss him and remember him.
Håkan Håkansson
Lars-Gunnar Mattsson
Lars-Erik Gadde