We are very pleased to announce the:

3rd International Symposium on PLS and Related Methods
September 15th-17th, 2003
Lisbon (Portugal)

organised by
ISEGI-UNL Portugal
ADISEGI-UNL Portugal
HEC School of Management France
DECISIA France
Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of Naples 
“Federico II” Italy

PLS’03 is the third international symposium for interested parties in 
Partial Least Squares and related methods. PLS’01 in Italy (Anacapri) had 
the main objective to present the state-of-art on the PLS methods as well 
as the most recent developments and the most challenging advances demanded 
for the future. The PLS techniques were compared to other methods and it 
was shown several applications to real data.

The main objectives of PLS’03 are:
- To show the application of PLS methods in several fields and areas of 
research;
- To present the opinion of the most outstanding reference scientists 
connected to PLS;
- To exhibit existing commercial and academic software for PLS.

The main focus of PLS’03 will be put on PLS Regression and PLS path 
modelling and its applications.

The Symposium is addressed to people who are interested in either the 
methodological aspects or the application potentialities of the PLS 
methods. Therefore, it is very suitable for actual and potential real users 
such as managers, researchers and decision-makers working in the most 
different fields: management, economics, marketing, publicity, consumer 
behaviour, psychology and information systems.

In the three days of the Symposium you will see specifically the 
application of PLS methods and its potentiality and competitive advantages 
in the fields of:
- Multivariate modelling with independent factors
- Perform the multivariate modelling of a process
- PLS Path modelling
- Evaluation of Customer Satisfaction and related issues
- Strategic Management
- Information System
- PLS regression
- Economics and Management
- Chemometrics

At the same time, the Symposium will represent a forum of discussion for 
the scientists working on the theoretical and methodological issues related 
to PLS. The International Symposium PLS’03 will gather all those people who 
are already using PLS methods at any level as well as all potential users.

The organizing committee will assure a specialized session on: “Customer 
Satisfaction and Related Issues”.

Steering Committee:
Manuel Vilares (Chairman) - ISEGI/UNL Portugal
Pedro Simões Coelho (co-Chairman) - ISEGI/UNL Portugal
Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi (co-Chairman) - University of Naples “Federico II” 
Italy
Michel Tenenhaus (co-Chairman) - Groupe HEC - France
Alain Morineau (co-Chairman) - DECISIA France
Carlo Lauro - University of Naples “Frederico II” - Italy
Claes Fornell - University of Michigan, School of Business Administration - USA
D.L.Massart - ULB, Brussels - Belgium
George A.Marcoulides - California State University, Fullerton - USA
Harald Martens and Magni Martens - Norweg. U.Sci.Tech/Tech.U.of Denmark
Helena Bacelar Nicolau - University of Lisbon - Portugal
John McArdle - University of Virginia - USA
John Mac Gregor - McMaster University, Hamilton - Canada
Svante Wold and Nouna-Kettaneh Wold - UMETRI, Umea - Sweden
Wynne Chin - University of Houston - USA

Prospective authors are invited to submit an extended abstract (2 pages) of 
their paper to Prof. Pedro Coelho no later than May 1st, 2003. The same 
deadline applies to prospective organisers of specialised sessions (with a 
maximum of three speakers). The contents of the abstract should clearly 
contain the following information about the paper:

- Relationship with literature
- Original contributions with main formulas
- Methodological, computational and/or application relevance
- Main references

The authors will be informed about the paper acceptance by June 1st, 2003. 
The final versions of accepted papers (maximum 12 pages) have to reach 
Prof. Pedro Coelho by July 1st, 2003.

Web site of the Conference: http://www.isegi.unl.pt/pls03

For more information:
Prof. Pedro Simões Coelho ([log in to unmask])
Dr. Alexandra Machás ([log in to unmask])

Address:
Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação - PLS’03
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Campus de Campolide
1070-124 Lisboa - Portugal
tel.:+0351 213870413
fax:+0351 213872140