Manuel Luís Au-Yong Oliveira was born in London, in 1969, where he lived and studied until he moved to Portugal when he was eleven years of age. Manuel took his undergraduate degree in Management Information Processing, at the Universidade Portucalense Infante D. Henrique, in Portugal (1987-1991). Following a brief period working in the textile industry, Manuel then took a Master’s degree in Management (MBA) at Cardiff Business School, in the United Kingdom (1992-1993) (the Catholic University in Lisbon later gave Manuel equivalence, in 1997, to a Master's in Management). Manuel’s Master’s dissertation, on Human Motivation, was awarded a distinction. From 1993-1997 Manuel worked as a lecturer (of subjects such as information processing, management, human resource management, economics and marketing research), a management trainer and as an independent consultant. Manuel then went on to work for the global consultancy firm Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in its management consultancy division (1998-1999). Since then Manuel has worked for two other multinational companies – Worthington Cylinders (2000-2004) and Waterco (2005-2009). At Worthington Cylinders Manuel gained valuable experience in the USA, the Czech Republic, Austria and Portugal in diverse areas such as the management of information systems, strategic marketing and the training and development of international human resources in leadership, communication, conflict management, lean manufacturing and safety at work. At Waterco Manuel worked as the Sales Manager for Western Europe and travelled quite extensively including to England, France, the Netherlands, and especially to Spain and in Portugal. Manuel has a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management (FEUP-DEGI, University of Porto), for which he was awarded a distinction, in 2012. Manuel lectures Marketing, Marketing Management, and Strategy and Competitiveness at the University of Aveiro (undergraduate and Master's levels) and Business Construction Project (Master’s degree level) at the University of Porto (MIET). Both of these universities are major universities located in Portugal, where Manuel is currently based. Manuel also works as an independent consultant and has publications on the subjects of management, innovation, entrepreneurship, and economics (in journals such as Performance Improvement, Journal of Business Ethics, Behaviour and Information Technology and The European Journal of Development Research).