Dr. Anu Helkkula is working as Assistant Professor and the Director of Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management (CERS). She is a project leader for Tekes financed Always a Happy Ending? project, which studies user engagement in service innovation. The project is realised together by Hanken School of Economics / CERS and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Before her academic career, she has worked for twenty years in service management and development positions in Finland and internationally.

Positions:

Assistant Professor at Hanken School of Economics 2012-

Adjunct Professor /(Docent) in service management at the University of Naples "Frederico II"  March 2013-

Finnish Service Alliance, member of the board of directors 2012-

Director of Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management (CERS) 2011-

Senior Researcher, Aalto University School of Science 2010-

Project Director, Always a Happy Ending? Who, When and How should Users be engaged in Service Innovation?, a Tekes financed project 2012-Project Manager, INNOPEX, Service Innovation from the Provider Perspective and as a Customer Experience, a Tekes financed project 2010-2012.

Project Researcher, CinSin, Customer Information in Service Innovation, a Tekes financed project 2009-2010.

Project Manager, VALU, Tools for identifying User Needs and Values in designing successful Technology, a Tekes financed project 2008-2009.

She has been involved in lecturing on masters, executive and undergraduate programmes as well as for companies. Her lecturing has focused on marketing, selling, service development, service innovation, leadership and management. She has also supervised PhD students and has been tutoring students at all levels.

Recent courses:

Examiner of Service Innovation - Customers and Service Systems at Hanken School of Economics, Master's level, 8 ECTS credits, 2013

Examiner of Quality and Service Management at the University of Naples "Frederico II", Master's level, 5 ECTS credits, 2013 

Examiner of Qualitative Research Methods, Bachelor, Helsinki University Department of Forest Sciences, Master's and PhD level, 5 ECTS credits, 2012 and 2013

PhD supervision:

PhD Johan Groop, “Theory of Constraints in Field Service: Factors Limiting Productivity in Home Care Operations” , Aalto University School of Science, May 2012

Lic. (Tech), MSc. (Econ.) Karita Reijonsaari, "Co-creating Health - – Examining the Effects of Co-Creation in a Lifestyle Intervention Service Targeting Physical Activity", Aalto University School of Science, defence in May 2013

Her primary research interests include customer and managerial service experience, practices, value, co-creation, and development of innovation practices and Service-Dominant Logic.

Reviewer activities

Journal of Service Research
Journal of Service Management
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Journal of Service Science
Journal of Marketing Management
International Journal of Business and Management
Industrial Marketing Management
Journal of Service Management and Arts Marketing: An International Journal

Peer reviewed journal articles

Guest editor, Co-creating Service Experience, a Special Issue in Journal of Service Management. Estimated publication of the special issue, late 2014.  http://www.emeraldinsight.com.proxy.shh.fi/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=4533&PHPSESSID=5qc6ln74953td2k3pal2upjcu0

Helkkula, A., Kelleher, C. and Pihlström, M. (2012), Practices and Experiences: Challenges and Opportunities for Value Research, Journal of Service Management, Vol.23, No. 4, pp. 554-570. 

Helkkula, A., Kelleher, C. and Pihlström, M. (2012), “Characterizing Value as an Experience – Implications for Researchers and Managers”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 59-75.

Helkkula, A. (2011), "Characterising the Concept of Service Experience", Journal of Service Management, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 367-389.

Helkkula, A. and Pihlström, M. (2010), "Narratives and Metaphors in Service Development", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 354-371.

Gill, L., Helkkula, A., Cobellini, N., White, L. (2010), “How Do Customers and Pharmacists Experience Generic Substitution?  “The International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Health Care Marketing, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 375-395.

Helkkula, A. and Kelleher,C. (2010), Circularity of Customer Service Experience and Customer Perceived Value, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.37-53.

Kelleher, C. and Helkkula, A. (2010), "Virtually Speaking – Customer to Customer Communication in Online Customer Communities", Journal of Applied Management & Entrepreneurship, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.4-17.

Peer reviewed book chapters

Helkkula, A. and Holopainen, M. (2012), “Service Innovation as an Experience: Differences between Employee and User Narratives” in Toivonen, M. and Sundby, J. (Eds), User-Based Innovations in Services, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Kelleher, C., Whalley, A. and Helkkula, A. (2011), “Collaborative Value Co-Creation in Crowd Sourced Online Communities – Acknowledging and Resolving Competing Commercial and Communal Tensions,” Research in Consumer Behavior, Edited by Russell W. Belk, Albert Muñiz, Hope Jensen Schau and Kent Grayson, Emerald Publishing, UK.

PhD

Helkkula, A. (2010), Service Experience in an Innovation Context, doctoral dissertation, Hanken School of Economics, Ekonomi och Samhälle, Helsinki, Finland.
https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/1022/63/213-978-952-232-090-2.pdf?sequence=3