João Carlos Simões Lopes, Master in Management from Católica Porto Business School, was awarded the PEL Academia 2023 prize for his "Criação de Valor no Controlo de Rede: o caso do Porto de Aveiro" thesis. The distinction, awarded by the Associação Portuguesa de Logística (APLOG), acknowledges academic projects applied to the logistics sector in Portugal.

Under the supervision of Professor Luís Marques, the student's thesis addressed a topic of great relevance to the logistics sector: value generation in blended systems composed of public and private organizations. This work analyzed these structures' challenges, showing that organizations are not operating collectively to maximize common value, often seeking to maximize their interests, which can undermine the whole value generation.

In order to understand this issue, the study focused on the Porto de Aveiro, an example of a blended system composed of public and private organizations that establish inter-organizational relationships. In turn, these interactions bring collective action problems, which require a coordinator's involvement responsible for maximizing value creation for the network, using management control mechanisms.

Católica Porto Business School congratulates the student's talent and dedication, whose work allowed an in-depth analysis of the role of blended system coordinators in maximizing the value created for the structure, with valuable insights into the logistics industry in Portugal.