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Department of Global Value Chains and Trade

Leading research and learning in economics, supply chain management, tourism, and hotel and hospitality management.

The Department of Global Value Chains and Trade conducts teaching and research in economics, supply chain management, tourism, hotel and hospitality management.

Key themes for the department

Our strategic imperatives:

  • Attract and retain high quality researchers, teachers and students to build the next generation of industry leaders, practitioners, policy makers and academics. Also to integrate and supervise research students for honours, master's and PhD degrees
  • Conceive, design and conduct research on problems and themes that have a high impact on knowledge creation and also industry practice
  • Develop and maintain meaningful links with industry to facilitate the university/industry networks and knowledge dissemination
  • Lead research projects and collaborations with industry, Crown research entities and other universities to build key knowledge networks to address the key issues of a dynamic and changeable world
  • To promote excellence in teaching and research to produce high quality employment-ready graduates.

Key discipline areas in the department

Supply Chain Management

The Supply Chain Management group researches and teaches in a number of related disciplines that forms the corpus of supply chain management.  The group aim to produce high quality supply chain management graduates, work ready and suitable for any industry context.  The main themes are:

  • Humanitarian Logistics and Disaster Relief Supply Chains - this theme examines the application of supply chain management approaches and techniques to the disciple of providing humanitarian aid and relief supplies to disaster impacted populations and economies. These disaster events may be large or small, sudden on-set or slow on-set, man-made or natural disasters
  • Productivity Improvement - this theme is built around the key theories, techniques and approaches for optimising supply chains. Key to this is making informed real-time decisions based on Big Data and sound analytics within a highly networked supply chain. Productivity can be improved throughout the supply chain through the application of manufacturing approaches, such as Lean Systems, automation, technology and quality systems.
  • Supply Chain Resilience and Adaptability - this theme is highly relevant given recent events. Given the global reach of modern value chains, the risk of disruptions and delays has increased exponentially. Hence, building resilient and adaptable supply chain systems is a matter of life or death for businesses. This theme examines the sources of resilience and offers solutions for building adaptability in global value chains
  • Supply Chain Systems - this theme takes the premise that supply chains should be seen from a holistic System’s View. In other words, supply chains should act and function as a whole complex network, rather than a series of discreet independent firms. This approach examines the interdependence of all the actors and organisations within a wider supply chain network
  • Value Chain Management - this theme utilises the lenses of value chain analysis to examine value adding or value destroying activities in all supply chain functions such as; logistics, inventory management, operations, distribution and sustainable procurement. Especially, value chain management focuses on the value creation and value capture activities and behaviours of supply chain actors.

Why industry relies on our Supply Chain Management graduates 


Qualifications

Bachelor of Commerce (Supply Chain Management)

Food and Resource Economics

Economics is the study of choice and decision-making in the face of scarcity. Studying economics will provide you a framework to answer some of the most pressing problems of our time.

Working alongside our innovative team of economists, you will learn to use the economics toolkit to ask the right questions and provide solutions in the areas of agricultural and food policy, international trade and finance, economic development, and environmental and natural resource economics.

How you’ll grow

  • Develop your potential to work as an economist or analyst for corporations, governments, and non-profit organisations
  • Gain a deeper understanding of, and be able to, analyse contemporary issues facing the world’s food and natural resources systems
  • Have an unforgettable experience and expand your expertise still further by studying a part of your degree abroad through our LincOE exchange program.
  • Nurture in-depth analytical skills alongside the knowledge of markets, government policy, and how individuals, households, and firms respond to incentives and make rational decisions.

Career opportunities

Graduates of Lincoln University’s Bachelor of Commerce (Food and Resource Economics) are in demand by both government and industry. Your career opportunities will include economist, business analyst, trade and enterprise policy analyst and advisor, researcher, and more.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Commerce (Food and Resource Economics).

Business Management

Businesses are complex organisations requiring access to competent leadership and management, human capital, financial resources and a marketplace. From the understanding of the fundamentals of management to the most complex strategies business.  Understanding business management is fundamental to success.

The main themes are:

  • Hotel and Tourism Management - Tourism plays a critical part in the New Zealand and global economy and tourism will recover to once again be the world’s largest business. As the industry retakes its shape, hotels and other tourism providers in New Zealand and around the world will need strongly qualified managers prepared to help them grow by offering fulfilling and sustainable travel experiences. This degree has a sound commerce base and expands your opportunities
  • Human resource and management- Courses in this theme focus on the value that organisation, management, leadership and human capital add to the organisational success in land-based industries in a global environment. Students gain an understanding of why the success of a business is rooted in how it manages its relationships with its people. These essentially align with the core values of Lincoln University- looking after people (Manaakitaka), sound leadership and opportunities for growth (Rakatiraataka) and how a manager/company can create a positive work environment through collaboration (Whanauukataka). 

The delivery focuses on the following key aspects: 

  • Interdisciplinary approach: Co-teaching by involving staff from the faculty and across the university to cover a range of areas (Hospitality, tourism, sports and recreation, property, wellbeing team etc)
  • Living laboratory concept: Guest presentations by external speakers such as employment lawyers, human resources practitioners and managers (farms, business organisations, social enterprise, public sector). These people bring problems/case studies for class discussion and recommendations
  • Multi-cultural management (using culturally responsive practices in Aotearoa/New Zealand) The appropriate inclusion of the multi-cultural content contributes to a dynamic and diverse learning environment that reflects the unique position of Lincoln University.

Social Entrepreneurship

The Social Enterprise sector is one of the fastest growing sectors globally as it attracts young entrepreneurs with innovative and creative visions and ideas, working outside the box, to create solutions for social and environmental problems that governments and private sector are failing to address. However, in New Zealand it is in its nascent stage.

To support its growth, the Social Entrepreneurship course creates a stimulating and challenging environment to encourage original thought, and provide the tools needed, for students to be the next generation to lead the world in dynamic thinking and producing innovative social enterprise solutions, addressing poverty, land degradation, inclusive employment, water quality, prisoner rehabilitation, mental health support, energy production, gender equality, and equitable food distribution, to name a few.

The course focuses on the value that an organisation (for-profit, non-profit or hybrid form) offers to address unmet social and environmental needs through applying innovative business approaches.  Students will gain an understanding of how social enterprise organisations achieve their impact through balancing their social mission with the financial growth of their operations.

The course will use an experiential learning approach, focusing on examining the complexity of unmet societal needs through:

  • Business practices (application of entrepreneurial methods and tools, such as human-centred innovative design thinking, Lean Business Model Canvas, creative marketing, and preparation of business plans)
  • Theoretical lenses (social change, social innovation, entrepreneurship, multi-stakeholder management, impact investment, and social enterprise ecosystems).

Students will be given many opportunities to observe and evaluate the business practices of local social enterprises and how they offer innovative solutions to achieve their greatest impact. This approach will also enable students to network with entrepreneurs and learn first-hand about how they identify a societal need and evaluate its social value, engage with key stakeholders, finance their operations, and achieve impact on individuals, communities, and society.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Commerce (Hotel and Tourism Management)

Bachelor of Commerce (Global Business)

Bachelor of Commerce (Honours)

Master of Business (Global Management and Marketing)

Master of Commerce and Management

PhD

Contact

Associate Professor Wanglin Ma

Head of Department

Department of Global Value Chains and Trade

Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce

Wanglin.Ma@lincoln.ac.nz

+64 3 423 0237