Innovation-Driven Business and Sustainability in the Tropics - Proceedings of the Sustainability, Economics, Innovation, Globalisation and Organisational Psychology Conference 2023 (SEIGOP 2023)

The edited volume presents the conference proceedings from the 'Sustainability, Economics, Innovation, Globalisation and Operational Psychology Conference 2023' (SEIGOP 2023), organized by the Centre for International Trade and Business in Asia (CITBA) at James Cook University, Singapore. 

This edited volume places the highly dynamic, but also, jeopardized climatological - geographical region of the Tropics centre stage. The region is developing rapidly, with significant progress being made through the development of innovative technologies. The Tropics represent a region in which people live amid the greatest level of biodiversity anywhere on the planet. Nonetheless, propelled by rapid population growth, the Tropics is a region on the rise, with higher living standards and increased levels of international trade and investment. Densely populated emerging countries like India, Indonesia and Nigeria will be among the largest economies of the world by the end of the century. These upward socioeconomic trends are compromised by the impact of climate change on the Tropics' biodiversity. Such developments have forced policymakers, businesses, and local communities to search for more sustainable and creative ways to live and work. For these reasons, this edited volume presents theory-driven conceptual, qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies on the impact of innovation-driven businesses on the complex interplay of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental factors in the Tropics.

Dr Emiel L. Eijdenberg is Senior Lecturer and the Singapore Director of the Centre of International Trade and Boniness in Asia, James Cook University, Singapore. Dr Eijdenberg's research interests are about entrepreneurs(hip) and elite tourism, especially in the Tropics. Dr Eijdenberg's work has been published in journals such as International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, International Journal of Market Research, International Review of Entrepreneurship, Journal of African Business, Small Enterprise Research, and in several scholarly books and edited volumes. Dr Eijdenberg has secured in collaboration with others close to € 500,000 in funding from multiple organisations such as the Dutch organisation of internationalisation in education (NUFFIC) and Volkswagen Foundation. In these projects, Dr Eijdenberg is involved as an expert for short and long-term assignments in, amongst others, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Oman, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Dr Malobi Mukherjee is currently a Lecturer at James Cook University, Singapore, and a Visiting International Researcher at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Dr Mukherjee has over 15 years of research, teaching and consultancy experience in customer relationship management, services marketing, retail format development and retail public policy. She has published in Long Range Planning, Futures, Asia Pacific Business Review and International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. She is also the author of an edited book on retail development in emerging markets published by Routledge. Dr Mukherjee has been quoted in the Straits Times and Business Times (Singapore) and written opinion pieces for leading newspapers such as Indian Express, Times of India, and Business Times. Dr Mukherjee is also a futurist specialising in the scenario planning which she has used for several retail research and consultancy projects across Asia, Australia and Europe. Dr Mukherjee earned her undergraduate degree at Presidency University, Kolkata, India; her Master in Business Administration from Leeds University, United Kingdom, and her PhD from Alliance Manchester Business School, United Kingdom, where she was the recipient of the AXA PPP Healthcare scholarship.

Dr. Jacob Wood is the Associate Dean of Research (ADR) for the College of Business, Law, and Governance at James Cook University (JCU, Australia) and the ADR for Business, IT, and Science at JCU Singapore. He is also the Managing Director for the Centre of International Trade and Business in Asia (CITBA). Dr. Wood's primary research interests are in the areas of transportation and logistics and as well as several areas within the field of international trade, including works in nontariff barriers, intra-industry trade, and the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism. From these studies, he has been published in various outlets including The World Economy, Journal of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and the Environment, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Journal of World Trade, Scientometrics, and Journal of Asia-Pacific Economic Literature among others. Dr. Wood is also co-Editor of an ongoing book series that is published by Routledge titled 'Advances in Research on the Tropics', and recently he has also published a Book with Springer Nature titled 'A Multidimensional Economic Assessment of Africa'.