Opportunities During Depressions

Foi dez vezes capa de revistas na área de negócios (Business Digest, Marketeer, etc.), apresenta o programa de televisão “Economia do Mês” (RTP2, RTPN e RTP Internacional) e tem uma coluna periódica de opinião no jornal Vida Económica.

Jorge Vasconcellos e Sá estudou com Peter F. Drucker na Drucker Graduate School of Management, onde obteve o seu mestrado. Licenciou-se em Economia (Universidade Técnica de Lisboa) e em Gestão de Empresas (Universidade Católica).

Possui uma pós-graduação em Macroeconomia pela Fundação Gulbenkian, um MBA pela Claremont Graduate School e fez o doutoramento em Gestão de Empresas (PhD) pela Columbia University, de Nova Iorque.

Actualmente é professor catedrático na Universidade Técnica de Lisboa.

Em 1997 foi-lhe conferida a Cátedra Jean Monnet (o mais alto título académico europeu) pela Jean Monnet Foundation em Bruxelas.

Além da actividade de docente tem exercido funções de Consultor Privado, Administrador não Executivo em múltiplas organizações, nacionais e multinacionais de reconhecido mérito, inclusive para o Estado Português.

1. Jorge Vasconcellos e Sá is of brazilian, french and portuguese ascendancy. He has a master’s degree from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management in California, where he studied with Peter Drucker. He received his doctorate (PhD) in Business Administration, from Columbia University, in New York where he was a student and research and teaching assistant. He was always in the Dean’s list.

2. In 1997 he was awarded the Jean Monnet Chair (by the Jean Monnet Foundation at Brussels), the highest European academic award, and has in the past received several distinctions including Fulbright, and Beta, Gamma and Sigma fellowships.

3. He also has two undergraduate degrees one in Economics (Technical University) and one in Business Administration (Catholic University) and a graduate degree in macroeconomics from Gulbenkian Foundation.

4. He is currently a full professor (life tenure) and teaches at AESE (associated with Harvard linked IESE of Barcelona).

5. Vasconcellos e Sá is also President of the Portuguese Institute for Economic Freedom and the european editor of the USA magazine Paper Money.

6. His books have been translated into eleven languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, Ukrainian, German, Lithuanian, Thai, Korean and Norwegian and have received endorsements, among others, from Peter F. Drucker, Philip Kotler, Al Ries (author of the bestsellers Marketing Warfare and Positioning), Don Hambrick (Professor at Columbia University and The Pennsylvania State University), Karl Moore (Professor at Oxford and McGill University), Luiz Moutinho (Professor at Glasgow University) and so on.

7. He has addressed conferences and given seminars at several universities including London Business School, IESE (Navarra University, Spain), Glasgow Business School, A.E.S.E, ESSEC (France) and ESSAM (European Consortium of Business Schools), Oxford, Manchester Business School, George Washington University and Drucker School. He also addressed conferences and presented articles in several academic meetings, namely Academy of Management, Western Economic Association, etc.

8. He has worked as a private consultant, has been a non-executive director and has taught in the executive programmes for:

8.1. multinational companies such as: Coca-Cola, SHELL, Unisys, IBM, Price Waterhouse, Klynveld Peat Main Goerdeler, Glaxo, British Petroleum – BP, Dun & Bradstreet, Deloitte & Touche, Makro (Metro group), Systéme U, I.F.A, Intermarché, Mini Prix Bonjours,

Accenture, Watson Wyatt and Cap Gemini, Cesce, Scottish & Newcastle, Sara Lee, Microsoft, Total, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Logica, etc.;

8.2. the permanent commission of the EU in Brussels and the Phare and Tacis programs for the former Soviet Union countries and Eastern Europe and International Labour Organization (I.L.O.);

8.3. trade associations such as the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, the American Association of Suppliers to the Paper Industry, the European Power Transmission Distributors Association, the Peter Drucker Society of Austria, etc.

9. He has developed professional activities in several countries, namely: United States, Switzerland, England, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Macao, Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Hungary, Bulgaria and Paraguay.

10. His hobbies are history, tennis and soccer. On the latter Vasconcellos e Sá holds a degree as a professional soccer coach (Level 1: first in his class among 97 candidates).

11. Jorge Vasconcellos speaks and writes Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and English.

He is married and has three children. He lives near Lisbon (Cascais).

The book Opportunities During Depressions provides managers with examples and a methodology to find resilient businesses during economic crisis. Whatever their cause.
During both the subprime and Covid crisis there were some highly resilient businesses: while some kept on growing, others even accelerated their growth. Thus within any industry there are some activities which constitute safe heavens companies should move into.
And that happened across the economy: for instance, games and toys went from ± zero growth (in pre-crisis) to a +6% growth rate during crisis; the sports goods growth rate improved by +5%; and the production of protein crops including seeds accelerated by 11%. Furthermore, the empirical data confirms that the resilient industries and segments (among 615 in the economy) are similar between the Covid crisis (2020) and the subprime years (2008-2014).
Thus, during recessions it is possible for any firm, in any industry to find safe heavens: resilient businesses to move into benefiting from marketing or/and technical synergies.