Francesc Xavier Mena: ESADE professor now driving Catalan Businesses & Employment

Barcelona (ACN).- The new Catalan Minister for Business and Employment comes from ESADE, one of the top 10 Business Schools in the world, according to leading rankings. Mena was ESADE’s Economics Department Director between 1992 and 2000. He is currently a professor of Economics at the Universitat Ramon Llull (ESADE’s University) and continues to teach at ESADE. He also worked in consultancies in the private sector, focusing on Tourism and emerging economies, and in the analysis department of Banc Sabadell. Mena defends cutting the public expenditure to fight the public deficit. For instance, two days ago in an ESADE conference, Mena considered “necessary” the reform of the Spanish pension system, in order to avoid “the system heading to a collision.” Artur Mas promised a “business friendly” Government, and Mena will be in charge of ensuring that businesses, from Catalonia and abroad, find better conditions in Catalonia to develop their activities and create employment.

This Monday, in the ESADE conference, Mena predicted that, in 2011, the Spanish economy will go through a transition period. However, he stated that, if the necessary reforms are accomplished, in 2012 the Spanish economy will go forward like a “jet plane.” According to Mena, the necessary reforms are “the reduction of expenditure and the reorganisation of the economy, especially regarding the real-estate exposure of the financial system.”

In an interview with the ‘Eixprofessional’ magazine, last June, Mena stated that the economy needed a change and he waged for “new forms of activity generation, which will require reforms of businesses, the financial system and the administration.” He continued by saying that “difficult measures” will have to be implemented to decrease the public deficit, which would have negative implications on consumption rates and economic growth in the short term. However, they would be beneficial in the long term. Mena is thus a defender of austerity measures and cutting expenditures in the public sector. Mena also focused on the internationalisation of small and medium-sized companies, as well as on continuous innovation. Now, Mena will be the person in charge of Business, Industry, Tourism and Trade policies of the new Government, as well as Employment.

Francesc Xavier Mena is not a member of any political party and will be one of the three independents of the Mas’ Government. Mena has a PhD in Economics from the Universitat de Barcelona, which he completed after his Bachelors in Economics and Business Administration at the same university. In addition, he holds a Bachelors Degree in Law from UNED. Currently, Mena is a professor of Economics at the Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona, ESADE’s university. Between 1992 and 2000, Mena was the Director of ESADE’s Economics Department, where he is still teaching. He also directed three Masters degrees at ESADE (Economics and Financial Management, Marketing Management, and Production and Operations Management). He was co-director of the European Union PHARE programmes in Eastern European countries. He also chaired the International Conference on Euro-India Economic Relationship in New Delhi (India).

Mena clearly has wide-ranging international experience. He has been a visiting professor at different business schools and universities worldwide, to include Shanghai’s CEIBS and Jiaotong University (China), ESAN in Lima (Perú), and ICDA in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Mena is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Annals of Tourism Research, a board member of the Tourism European Network, a member of the Expert Group on Industrial Competitiveness, and a member of the Evaluation Committee of the European Community of Management Schools, among others.

In addition, Mena has experience in the private sector. He has been Director of Consultur, Consultores Turísticos SA (a Tourism Consultancy). He was also an economist at the Banc Sabadell Systems and Control Department, among others. He has been a consultant and has developed projects for private companies and international organisations in 48 different countries and diverse sectors, such as energy, tourism, infrastructure, finance, and social services.