Católica Porto Business School hosts conference on geostrategy and management
The Dean of Católica Porto Business School, João Pinto, and the Executive MBA Director, Luís Marques, opened the event that brought together business leaders, politicians and academics to debate the impact of global geopolitical tensions on organisational strategies.
The meeting, organised within the framework of the Executive MBA, featured the participation of Paulo Macedo, CEO of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Pedro Siza Vieira, partner at PLMJ, and top managers such as Sandra Santos (CEO of Logoplaste), Pedro Vasconcelos (CEO of EDP Iberia and board member of EDP) and Pedro Moreira da Silva (CEO of i-charging).
"Today, we are not living through an era of change, but a change of era", Paulo Macedo began by quoting Pope Francis to frame the moment we are experiencing - "we are living through the most complex international environment in the last 80 years". The CGD CEO presented data illustrating the escalation of uncertainty: the trade policy uncertainty index reached historic highs in 2025, driven by conflicts in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and tensions between major powers.
Paulo Macedo dedicated part of his speech to reviewing the Draghi Report, presented a year ago. The recommendations of the former President of the European Central Bank pointed to the need for €1.2 trillion in annual investment between 2025 and 2031, but implementation has been slow.
"The speed of decision-making is insufficient. There is frustration amongst citizens and businesses with the European Union's slowness," said Macedo, identifying bureaucracy and lack of scale as critical obstacles. The CGD CEO emphasised that Europe needs to close the innovation gap in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity, whilst achieving decarbonisation.
Among the critical areas identified is energy, whose high prices threaten European competitiveness. "Energy is a critical factor that can determine the success or failure of the digital transition", he warned.
This was followed by a discussion on "a political and economic vision of the impact of geostrategy in Portugal", moderated by Alberto Castro, professor at Católica Porto Business School, and which featured the participation of Pedro Siza Vieira, who brought the legal and political perspective of the ongoing transformations. For the former government minister, "in the last ten years, from the point of view of Portugal's international economic integration, the trading and investment partner that has grown the most has been the United States", which makes the current context complex, as a result of all the changes that emerge on a regular basis from across the Atlantic.
The second panel, dedicated to "The impact of geostrategy on business management", brought together three CEOs who shared their experiences on the front line of management in turbulent times. Sandra Santos, Pedro Vasconcelos and Pedro Moreira da Silva discussed corporate strategies, risks and opportunities that the new geopolitical order presents to Portuguese organisations, in a debate moderated by Sofia Salgado, professor at Católica Porto Business School.
The conference ended with a cocktail reception where participants were able to deepen discussions in a networking environment. The event reinforces Católica Porto Business School's positioning as a space for strategic reflection on major contemporary challenges, connecting the academic world with business and political reality, and marks the beginning, still during the month of October, of the 21st edition of the Executive MBA, one of the School's most prestigious executive education programmes.