BIO

Operations research and business analytics are disciplines related to applying data-driven analytical and mathematical methods to assist in making better decisions. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and knowledge from data, and transforming this knowledge into better business decisions. It is based on a broad set of well-known methodologies such as statistics, management science, operations research and artificial intelligence. Successful applications of operations research and business analytics are abundant in industries such as transportation, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing and service companies, along with public and private organizations, etc. Business analytics and operations research extract high-value business insights from the immense amount of available data, and in today’s highly complex business environment these tools can provide an outstanding competitive advantage.

Helena holds a B.A., a master’s degree in Statistics and Operations Research from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University, New York, USA. She has been involved in different research projects and consulting for firms in the area of operations research, transportation and logistics. Helena has published several articles in prestigious international scientific journals and has presented her work at international congresses and conferences. Helena teaches in various undergraduate, master’s and PhD programs in several European universities. She is currently the director of the Business Analytics Research Group and a researcher at the Center for Operational Research at the University of Lisbon. Her research interests include operations research, business analytics, scheduling, combinatorial optimization, metaheuristics, iterated local search, heuristic search optimization, vehicle routing, job-shop scheduling, supply chain management, logistics, production and operations management.

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Research

Research Interests
Operations research, logistics, metaheuristics, iterated local search, combinatorial optimization, scheduling, supply chain management

Main Research Project
2014-2016 – Business Analytics Models for Horizontal Cooperation in Transportation and Logistics. Research Project: TRA2013-48180-C3-2-P, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia, Spain. Research Director (IP: Helena Ramalhinho Lourenço).

Relevant publications
See complete list: Publications and CV

Grasas A. And Ramalhinho-Lourenço H. (2015), Teaching Distribution Planning: A problem-based learning approach. International Journal of Logistics Management (accepted for publication).

Grasas A., Juan, A.A. and Lourenço H.R. (2014), SimILS: A Simulation-based extension of the Iterated Local Search metaheuristic for Stochastic Combinatorial Optimization, Journal of Simulation (advance online publication 3 October 2014) doi:10.1057/jos.2014.25.

Grasas A., Ramalhinho H., Pessoa L.S., Resende M.G.C., Caballé I. and Barba N. (2014), On the Improvement of Blood Sample Collection at Clinical Laboratories, BMC Health Services Research 14:12.  DOI:10.1186/1472-6963-14-12.

Martins P., Ladrón A. and Ramalhinho H. (2014), Maximum Cut-Clique Problem: ILS Heuristics and a Data Analysis Application, International Transactions in Operational Research (accepted for publication July 25, 2014; published online September 5, 2014). doi: 10.1111/itor.12120.

Lourenço H.R., Martin O. and Stützle T. (2010), Iterated Local Search: Framework and Applications. In Handbook of Metaheuristics, 2nd. Edition. Vol.146.  M. Gendreau and J.Y. Potvin (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, pp. 363-397.

Juan, A. A., Faulin, J., Ferrer, A., Lourenco H.R., and Barros, B. (2013), MIRHA: Multi-start biased randomization of heuristics with adaptive local search for solving non-smooth routing problem. TOP: Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages 109-132. doi10.1007/s11750-011-0245-1.

Giménez C. and Lourenço H.R. (2008), e-SCM: Internet’s impact on Supply Chain Processes. International Journal of Logistics Management 19(3): 309-343.

Lourenço H.R., Paixão J.P. and Portugal R. (2009), Driver Scheduling Problem Modelling. Public Transport: Planning and Operations. 1(2):103-120, doi: 10.1007/s12469-008-0007-0.

Research Centers

BAR GROUP – Business Analytics Research Group (Director)
CRES -Research Center on Economics and Health
CIO – Operations Research Center. University of Lisbon, Portugal

Societies

Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS)
The Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO)
Portuguese Association of Operations Research (ApdiON-LINE)

Editorial Activity

Journal of Metaheuristics: Methods and Applications, Editorial Advisory Board.
Journal of Applied Operational Research (JAOR),Editorial Board
Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, Editorial Board (Production, Logistics, Quality, and Operational Research)

Authors

BIO

Assistant professor at the Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and affiliated professor at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the Barcelona School of Management. He has a PhD in Business Economics and Administration from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (2010). Prior to joining UPF, he was a visiting lecturer at Växjö University in Sweden and the IESEG School of Management in France. He has also taught at Toulouse Business School.

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Research

His research focuses on the areas of management and accounting in economic organisations. He is particularly interested in firm governance and performance, and related issues in business administration and managerial economics. He frequently adopts a management accounting perspective to study strategic decision-making, strategic groups or entrepreneurship in regional contexts.

Currently, he is working on (1) the corporate governance determinants of corporate social performance, (2) how corporate social performance measures can be employed as signals by auditing firms, (3) scrutinizing the characteristics and performance of start-ups, and (4) benchmarking approaches to management control. He mostly employs quantitative econometric approaches that aim to achieve useful generalizations for the (research) community. Perhaps more important for broader society, his work can help policy makers and regulators in their quest to develop new business models.

Output
Several of his articles have been published in leading journals such as Regional Studies, European Journal of Operational Research, Omega, Journal of Productivity Analysis and Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. Moreover, he regularly  acts as an adhoc reviewer for international journals in his field. His works in progress have regularly been presented at internationally-renowned conferences and workshops including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, the Strategic Management Society Conference, the North American Productivity Workshop, the Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association and the European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis.

Teaching
In parallel with his research activities, he has taught courses in Business Economics, Economic Organizations and Markets, and Management Accounting. As a part of his teaching work, he has also co-authored a series of applied business cases that were published in a textbook.

Journal Publications
Epure, M., and E. Lafuente. 2014. Monitoring Bank Performance in the Presence of Risk. Journal of Productivity Analysis, forthcoming. Publisher SSRN

Epure, M., D. Prior., and C. Serarols. 2014. Assessing Technology-based Spin-offs from University Support Units. Regional Studies, forthcoming. Publisher SSRN

Epure, M., K. Kerstens, and D. Prior. 2011. Technology-Based Total Factor Productivity and Benchmarking: New Proposals and an Application.  Omega – The International Journal of Management Science 39(6), 608–619. Publisher SSRN

Epure, M., K. Kerstens, and D. Prior. 2011. Bank Productivity and Performance Groups: A Decomposition Approach Based upon the Luenberger Productivity Indicator. European Journal of Operational Research 211(3), 630–641. Publisher SSRN

Johannisson, B., Centeno Caffarena, L., Discua Cruz, A.F., Epure. M., Hormiga Pérez, E., Kapelko, M., Murdock, K., Nanka-Bruce, D., Olejárová M., Sanchez Lopez, A., Sekki, A., Stoian, M.C., Tötterman H., and Bisignano, A. 2007. Interstanding the Industrial District: Contrasting Conceptual Images as a Road to Insight. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development 19(6), 527–554. Publisher 

Working Papers and Researchi in Progress (seletion)
“Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Performance”, with Desender, K. Barcelona GSE WP
“Benchmarking for Routines and Organizational Knowledge”, Barcelona GSE WP
“Corporate Social Performance and External Audit Fees”, with Desender, K. and Lopezpuertas-Lamy, M.
“Attracting Early Stage Investors: Is Debt a Deterrent or an Incentive?”, with Guasch, M.
“Predicting Outcomes of Soccer Knock-out Ties: Evidence from the UEFA Cup Competition”, with Desender, K.

Authors

BIO

The world around us is essentially multidimensional, consisting of the interaction between many factors that make up our environment, our physical beings and our social processes. Nothing is more complex than the natural world of which we are a part, where different components combine in intricate ways to produce life in all its forms.  Whether one studies biology, ecology or sociology, the underlying issues are the same, and the area of statistics called multivariate analysis plays an important part in describing, interpreting, modelling and understanding these phenomena.

Michael Greenacre has more than 40 years’experience in the field of multivariate analysis, and is especially focused on the application of this advanced statistical field to solve real-world problems. He teaches a course in UPF’s management program, “Methods of Marketing Research”, which deals with multivariate data analysis in marketing, including consumer product perception, consumer sociology, predicting consumer behaviour and issues regarding big data. He is currently professor of the Masters of Science at the UPF Barcelona School of Management.

Michael obtained his doctorate in Paris in the 1970s and specialized in the area of correspondence analysis, a central technique in the visualization of large data sets.  Since then he has written five books and co-edited four, the most recent being Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data, available for free online at www.multivariatestatistics.org.    He has also published 55 articles in various international journals, and is very much in demand as a short course presenter, having given courses and workshops in more than 15 countries, from northern Norway to Canada, South Africa to Australia.

Michael is also a keen musician and composer, has published two CDs of his own compositions, and has also written several satirical songs about statistics, which are available at youtube.com/StatisticalSongs.

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Research

RESEARCH THEMES

Correspondence analysis: Analysis of categorical data; data coding; distance-based multivariate analysis.
Data visualization: Visualization of high-dimensional data; communicating complex data to non-specialists; big data.
Ecology: Multivariate analysis in ecology; modelling biological-environmental relationships; growth models.
Sociology and marketing research: Survey data analysis; cross-national research; consumer product perception.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Blasius, J. & Greenacre, M. (eds): “Visualization and Verbalization of Data”, Chapman & Hall/ CRC Press, 2014.
Greenacre, M. and Primicerio, R.: “Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data”, BBVA Foundation, Bilbao, free download at www.multivariatestatistics.org
Greenacre, M.: “Contribution biplots”, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 22(1), 107–122, 2013.
Greenacre, M.: “The contribution of rare objects in correspondence analysis”, Ecology, 94(1), 241–249, 2013
Greenacre, M.: “Fuzzy coding in constrained ordinations”, Ecology, 94(2), 280–286, 2013.

Authors

BIO

Is it possible to imagine organising a business, service, company or enterprise without considering business logistics? Any expert in Economics and Business knows that the answer is no. And one of the people who has dominated and dedicated most time to studying and researching new challenges, technologies and formulas in the area of business logistics, using different methods, from macro to micrologistics, is Daniel Serra de la Figuera.

Daniel Serra de la Figuera holds an undergraduate degree in Economic and Business Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Master in Systems Analysis for Decision Making, and a Doctorate in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in the USA. He is currently professor of Business Organization in the Department of Economics and Business at Pompeu Fabra University and Academic Director of UPF Barcelona School of Management and UPF-IDEC, the master and postgraduate study centres of Pompeu Fabra University.

He has researched and worked in many positions in both public and private sectors in the field of decision making and improving management. He managed projects in the field of Business Research for the Directorate General of Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology from 2001 to 2004. He also served as President of the scientific committee of the European Regional Science Association Conference in Barcelona in 2010.

He has published books and some 30 articles in prestigious international scientific journals and also teaches on the Master of Science in Business Analytics programme at the Barcelona School of Management, involving quantitative decision-making methods in complex environments.
Daniel Serra was the director of the Institute for Territorial Studies (1994-2011), vice-rector of UPF (2001-2013) and is currently the director of the Business Analytics Research Group at UPF, focused on developing new knowledge and understanding business results according to analytical methodologies, statistics and data analysis.

His main strength is the use of quantitative models in solving management problems, and administration of complex systems, a fundamental requirement for decision making. Or in other words, applying mathematics to management in order to make better decisions.

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Research

RESEARCH THEMES

Logística empresarial:
Modelos de Localización y de Transporte. Gestión de flotas. Gestión de la cadena logística. Logística inversa. Sistemas de información geográfica (SIG).
Métodos cuantitativos para la toma de decisiones:
Programación lineal, entera y multicriterio. Algoritmos metaheurísticos. Modelos de redes. Programación y Gestión de Proyectos.
Gestión Sanitaria:
Sistemas de emergencia. Gestión de colas. Localización de servicios sanitarios. Transporte sanitario.
Economía regional y urbana:
Análisis coste-beneficio. Impacto económico de grandes infraestructuras. Financiación de infraestructuras. Sistemas de peaje.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Serra, D.: “Implementing Turf analysis through Binary Linear Programming”, Food Quality and Preference, 28(1), 382-386, 2013.

Bosch, J. et al.: “El peso económico del deporte en Catalunya 2006”. Estudios de Economía Aplicada 30, 655-682, 2012

Marianov, V. and D. Serra: “Location of Multiple-Server Common Service Centers or Public Facilities, for Minimizing General Congestion and Travel Cost Functions”. International Regional Science Review, 34(3), 323-338, 2011.

Marianov, V. and D. Serra: “Median problems in networks””. H.A, Eiselt and V. Marianov (eds): Foundations of Location Theory. Springer. 39-70, 2011.

Silva, F. and D. Serra: “Locating emergency services with priority rules: The Priority Queuing Covering Location Problem”, Journal of the Operational Research Society 59, 2008, 1229-1238

Authors

BIO

Rarely is the work of an academic as extensive as it is essential. Xavier Freixas is above all a theoretician in the financial sector, as can be seen in his prominent international academic curriculum and his significant contribution to banking supervision and regulation.

Xavier Freixas is an Economics graduate and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Toulouse (1978). He is currently the Head of Department of Economics and Business at Pompeu Fabra University and a financial economics professor and director of the MBA in Finance programme at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, the MBA in Banking and Finance programme and the MBA in Financial Markets programme at the Barcelona School of Management (UPF).

He combines his work as a teacher with his responsibilities as a consultant. He thus chaired the “Risk Based Regulation” programme for the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), a non-profit organisation that is internationally renowned by risk managers. GARPs objective is to help to create a culture of awareness of the risks within organisations and promote best practices in managing risk and supporting the continued professional development and careers of risk managers.

He is also chairman of the Social Sciences section of the Commission for Science Evaluation.

As a professional in the world of science, Freixas has been an advisor to the World Bank (Washington), the national Energy Commission (Madrid), the Inter-American Development Bank (Washington), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Central European Bank. He was also Chairman of the European Finance Association (EFA), whose objective is to provide a professional society for academics and professionals with an interest in financial management, financial theory and its application. The EFA serves as a focal point for communication for members who reside in Europe and abroad. It also provides a framework for improved information dissemination and research at an international level.

His work as a researcher is focused on economic analysis in banking and finance. His work addresses banking theory, bank and financial markets regulation and financial crises, using rigorous analysis and updating financial intermediation microeconomic theories.

Xavier Freixas is published in prestigious international journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, Econometrica, Review of Financial Studies and Journal of Financial Economics. He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation and the Journal of Financial Services Research, and a member of the editorial board for the Spanish Economic Review.

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Research

RECENT RESEARCH THESES
“Asymmetric information and allocating resources in financial markets”. Pompeu Fabra University, 2011-2014. Main researcher.
“Institutions and financial assets in asymmetric information”. Pompeu Fabra University, 2005-2008.
“Financial decisions with imperfect information”. Pompeu Fabra University, 2002-2005. Main researcher.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1- The Credit Ratings Game. Patrick Boltom, Xavier Freixas and Joel Shapiro. May 2010. The Journal of Finance, Volume 67, Issue 1, February 2012, Pages: 85-112
2- Banking, finance, and the role of the state. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Autumn 2011; 27: 397-410. (with Colin Mayer)
3- Bank resolution: a framework for the assessment of regulatory intervention (with Mathias Dewatripont) Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Autumn 2011; 27: 411-436.
4- Bank Liquidity, Interbank Markets and Monetary Policy. Xavier Freixas, Antoine Martin and David Skeie. The Review of Financial Studies, 24 (8): 2656-2692.
5- Post-crisis challenges to bank regulation, Economic Policy. (62), p. 375-399, 2010.
6- Monetary Policy in a Systemic Crisis, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol 25 (4), p. 630-653, 2010.

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

Award from the Catalonia Institut d’Estudis Financers (IEF) for Financial Excellence in the Academic Career (2013)

Barclays Global Investors (BGI) Michael Brennan Award for the best article published in The Review of Financial Studies (2006)

Distinction from the Catalonia Regional Government for promoting university research (2002)

Jacobs Prize for the best research document (1998) in the Journal of Financial Intermediation.

Authors