Professor José F.P. dos (Joe) Santos started an academic career in engineering in the early seventies in his home town of Porto, but soon after moved into the managerial world. Twenty years later, Joe decided to retire from an intense and successful executive career after he held for ten years the position of MD of an Italian multinational group. Since 1995, Joe moved from Italy to INSEAD and devoted himself again to scholarly work, a dream from his youth.

Joe’s research and teaching focus on the management of the multinational enterprise, particularly on the management of global integration and global innovation. Joe is Affiliated Professor of Practice in Global Management at INSEAD, France; Visiting Scholar at MIT Sloan, USA; and “Professor Catedratico Convidado” at UCP, Portugal. He regularly presents in conferences around the world and works with top management teams of multinational corporations from Europe, Americas, and Japan.

The book From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy, , co-authored with colleagues Yves Doz and Peter Williamson, was published by Harvard Business School Press. Here are some of Joe’s remarks about his research:“ “Many of my research interests share an implicit motive. I had a rather successful career as an executive, namely as MD of a multinational corporation. However, during those ten years until my ‘retirement’ in 94, I only recall a couple of instances of having slept a full week in the same bed.

Flying around and living in hotels was the norm. Comfortable and luxurious as those planes and hotels may have been, I feel that it should be unacceptable that both professional and corporate success be achieved with so much of an uncivilized way of life (and mind you, I do love to travel – but too much is too much). I hope I can help future generations of successful international executives live a more civilized life in a global World.”