Maria Jesus Saenz

Dr. Maria Jesus Saenz is the Director of the research area on Digital Supply Chain Transformation at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, as Research Scientist. The primary research aims at leveraging the connections among inter-organizational business drivers when facing new collaborative paradigms in digital transformations. Such opportunities require approaches that encompass the challenges of innovation around digitalization, with organizational changes at inter-organizational level, including multidimensional collaboration, digital supply chain capabilities and digital customer value.  

Dr. Saenz also serves as the Executive Director of the MIT Supply Chain Management Blended Master Program, an elite MIT degree that allows learners to combine the MITx MicroMasters credential with one+ semester at MIT. 

Dr. Saenz teaches various courses at Master, PhD and Executive Education level on Digital Transformation, Supply Chain Management, Collaboration, Risks, Resilience and Project Management. Regarding her education, Dr. Saenz is certified in Participant Centered Learning by Harvard Business School. She received Cum Laude and the Outstanding Doctoral Award for her PhD in Manufacturing and Design Engineering from the University of Zaragoza, where she previously obtained her M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering, while she also studied Mathematics Sciences for several years. In 2003, she received her tenure as Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Zaragoza. In 2004, she joined the newly-formed research institute MIT Zaragoza Logistics Center as Professor, and she has also served the Center as its Executive Director. She was also the Director of the Spanish Center of Excellence in Logistics. Dr. Saenz has also led various international research projects for the European Commission, as well as for companies on Supply Chain Management innovation, such as P&G, Carrefour, Clariant, Dell, DHL, Leroy Merlin or Caterpillar. She is co-author of more than 80 publications, including books and articles in leading international Journals. Her knowledge transfer work has received 14 awards and her research was cited in the media including MIT Sloan Management Review, Forbes, Financial Times Press or Supply Chain Management Review. She also regularly interacts with business leaders in more than 15 countries.

Key Publications

View more publication on the MIT Digital Supply Chain Transformation web site, or on Research Gate 

•  I Like Quadrants And I Cannot Lie, Forbes, May 31, 2020.

•  Saenz M.J., Revilla E., and Simon C. What does the human face of AI look like? Supply Chain Management Review, April 2020.

•  Saenz M.J., Revilla E. and Simon C. Designing AI Systems with Human-Machine Teams. MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2020.

• Chen W., Kucukyazici B. and Saenz M.J. On the joint dynamics of the economic and environmental performances for collective take-back systems, International Journal of Production Economics, 2019, 218, p.228-244.

• Sheffi Y., Saenz M.J., Rivera L. and Gligor D.. The Role of Logistics Clusters in Facilitating Horizontal Collaboration Mechanisms. European Planning Studies, 2019, 27(5), 905–931.

• Saenz M.J., Knoppen, D. and Mendonca E., Building manufacturing flexibility with strategic suppliers and contingent effect of product dynamism on customer satisfaction. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 2018, 24, 238-246.

• Knoppen, D. and Sáenz M.J., Interorganizational teams in low versus high dependence contexts. International Journal of Production Economics, 2017, 191, Sept, 15-25. 

• Chen, W., Kucukyazici, B, Verter, V. and Saenz, M.J. Supply Chain Design for Unlocking the Value of Remanufacturing Under Uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 2015, 247, 804-819.

• Sáenz, M.J. and Koufteros, X. (Guest editors). Special Issue on Literature Reviews in Supply Chain Management and Logistics. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 2015, 45 (1-2), 2-11.

• Sáenz, M.J. and Revilla E., Creating More Resilient Supply Chains. MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer issue, 2014, 22-24.

• Sáenz, M.J., Revilla, E. and Knoppen, D.. Absorptive capacity in buyer-supplier relationships: empirical evidence of its mediating role. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 2014, 50(2), 18-40.