Biographical note

João Leitão is assistant professor at UBI, lecturing on entrepreneurship and economics for undergraduate and graduate economics, engineering, communication sciences, marketing and management students since October 1, 1999. He is associate researcher of the CEG-IST, University of Lisbon. He is co-author of fourteen books on benchmarking, human capital, clusters, cooperation networks, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, firm growth, innovation, competitiveness and quality of life. He won the Best Paper Award of the Interdisciplinary European Conference in Entrepreneurial Research – IECER 2012. His work has been published in several indexed journals, such as, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Service Industries Journal, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, International Journal of Technology Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, International Journal of Entrepreneurship

and Small Business, International Review on Public and non-Profit Marketing, International Journal of Business Excellence, International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialization, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, South African Journal of Information Management, International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, Actual Problems of Economics and Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Regionais. He is member of several editorial boards, namely, Journal of Small Business Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, Revista Portuguesa e Brasileira de Gestão and Revista Portuguesa de Marketing. His research interests include: entrepreneurship; innovation; and public policies. 

Zélia Serrasqueiro is full professor at University of Beira Interior and researcher in CEFAGE (Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics). She is lecturer on corporate finance to graduate and undergraduate and graduate courses. Her research interests are Corporate Finance and Entrepreneurial Finance. She is the author of articles in various journals: Journal of Business Economics and Management, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Research Policy, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Small Business Economics, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Service Management, The Services Industries Journal, Management Research Review, Social Responsibility Journal, Review of Accounting and Finance, and other journals.

Manuel José da Rocha Armada is Professor of Finance at the School of Economics and Management (EEG) of the University of Minho (UMinho) – Portugal, where he was the Scientific Director of one of its Research Centers, Vice-President of the School (two mandates) and, at the moment, its President (reelected - second mandate). At the moment, he is also the Scientific Coordinator, and responsible, for the Finance area there. He got a degree in “Management” from ISEG (Technical University of Lisbon), a Master degree in “Management Science” from the University of Kent - UK and the PhD degree in “Business Administration” from the Manchester Business School (MBS) - UK. Professor Manuel J. Rocha Armada has held visiting positions at The Wharton School (USA), London Business School (LBS-UK), Manchester Business School (MBS-UK) and University of Zaragoza – Spain (Dep.t of Accounting and Finance).