It is an honor being invited to write this tribute to ProfessorJuha Na¨si (1949–2008), one of our esteemed members ofthe profession whose life ended prematurely due to cancer.In particular, this tribute to Juha Na¨si is in honor of the2008 Stakeholder Mini-Conference that he organized andhosted in Tampere, Finland. However, this event was justone of many for which Juha will be remembered. Juha wasa sociable, innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial indi-vidual. He reached out to many and made numerous pro-fessional and personal friends. Of all the professionalcontacts I have made with professors in other countries,Juha has stood out as a leader in international collabora-tions. He was constantly looking for new ways to bringscholars to his beloved country of Finland and he was anactive participant in conferences and appointments heldelsewhere in the world. Juha was truly a worldwide citizenwho moved freely, frequently, and proficiently amongdifference cultures. He will be deeply missed by his manyprofessional contacts that had come to know and care forhim in many ways over the years.Background and AchievementsJuha Mikael Na¨si was born and educated in Finland.According to his Curriculum Vitae, provided to me by hisdear wife, Salme, Juha was born on February 22, 1949 inTampere, Finland. His education included B. Sc. (1971),M. Sc. (1972), Lic. Sc. (1977), and Ph.D. University ofTampere (1979). His major degree disciplines were Man-agement and Marketing. He was married to Salme EliseNa¨si, also a well-known and respected professor, and hadthree children: Ella (1976), Altti (1979), and Anni (1982).His academic career began in 1971 when he was anAssistant of Marketing at the University of Tampere. Laterpositions took him to University of Vaasa, University ofTampere, again, University of Jyva¨skyla¨, and finally toTampere University of Technology. At the Tampere Uni-versity of Technology, he was Professor of IndustrialManagement (Strategy) and Director of the GeneralExecutive MBA Program at the University of Tampere T visiting professor of management (as amember of Prof. Henry Mintzberg’s team), 1990–1991,McGill University, Montreal, Canada; and, visiting pro-fessor of management at WPI, Worcester, MA, USA,1995–1996.Juha was an exceptionally important person in the livesof graduate students who studied with him and under hissupervision. He was a responsible supervisor of 18 com-pleted dissertations, 13 licentiate theses, and assumed othervital roles during the period of 1980–2008. He acted as apre-reviewer in 21 doctoral dissertations and as an officialopponent in 15 dissertations in the management and strat-egy areas. He also evaluated applicants for about 30 pro-fessorships or docent positions at several universities inFinland. His own research and publications were numerousand varied. His total number of publications was 236. Hepublished 21 international refereed journal articles or
