Business, economics, and management in the Global South are critical for driving economic development, reducing poverty, and improving living standards. The region’s emerging markets present vast opportunities for innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship, making it a key player in global trade and supply chains. Effective management practices and economic policies help strengthen institutions, foster sustainable growth, and attract foreign direct investment. Furthermore, businesses in the Global South often develop innovative solutions to local challenges, contributing to global knowledge and offering new models for inclusive economic development.
People
DR NAUMAN REAYAT
Convener, GSN/ Coordinator GSN Business.
Professor Flora Huang, Professor of Law and Business, University of Derby.
Professor Flora Huang currently holds the position of Professor of Law and Business at Derby Law School, University of Derby in the UK. She also serves as the EU Chairperson for Arbitrations and as a member of the Trade-and-Sustainable-Development Expert Panel Proceedings at the European Commission. Additionally, she is an arbitrator for the China Guangzhou Arbitration Commission and was honored with the ‘Central Asian Legal Research Fellowship’ by Tashkent State University of Law, Uzbekistan in 2022.
Her diverse career includes roles at international organisations such as the Basel Convention in Geneva and the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She has also worked as a legal consultant in a Chinese bank, served as an expert group member at the influential Legatum Institute in London, and an associate member of WhistleblowersUK.
Professor Huang has a strong track record of securing funding, including the British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, China Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone Innovation Development Funds, Policy and Participatory Research Funding, the HEFCE Newton Funds, the Erasmus+ mobility program, a City Venture Research Grant from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, the AHRC Skills Fund, and others.
DR ARASH (ASH) SADEGHI
Associate Professor in International Business,
School of Business, University of Leicester
I am an Associate Professor in International Business at the University of Leicester School of Business. Prior to this role, I served as a lecturer at Aston University. My academic journey began in New Zealand, where I earned a PhD in International Business from the University of Otago.
My research is primarily focused on the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I explore the dynamics and strategies that contribute to the healthy, rapid growth of SMEs on a global scale. Topics of interest include market entry strategies, adaptation to local business environments, and leveraging innovation for global competitiveness. I also examine how SMEs can sustainably scale their operations while mitigating risks associated with international expansion.
In addition to my academic pursuits, I have practical experience in business consulting and project management. I currently lead the Help to Grow Management initiative at the University of Leicester, a UK government-funded initiative aimed at enhancing the managerial capabilities of SMEs.
詳細情報 Professor Yukinori Okabe
Yukinori Okabe is professor of management at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Teikyo Heisei University in Japan. He received his Ph.D. in management from Kanagawa University in 2002. His research fields are management, science education, and educational engineering ethics. He is also a Honorary visiting professor at the School of Business of the University of Leicester, UK.
His main research topics are business ethics, scientific and engineering ethics, and case method teaching. He has published several books and papers on these topics, such as Q&A on Business Ethics1, Business Ethics Education and Training Program2, Model Ethical Code3, and Integration of Business Ethics Education and Engineering Ethics Education4. He is also a member of various academic associations, such as the Japan Association for Business Ethics Study, the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, and the Society for Business Ethics in the USA.
He teaches courses on business and corporate ethics, office communication at Teikyo Heisei University. He also engages in social activities, such as serving as a Chief-researcher for the Business Ethics Research Center (BERC), writing essays for BERC’s journal, and giving lectures and workshops on business ethics and engineering ethics for various organizations.
He is interested in the ethical issues and challenges faced by managers and engineers in the globalized society. He aims to develop an integrated education program and a quality assurance evaluation method for business ethics and engineering ethics education. He also seeks to explore the historical and cultural aspects of business ethics and engineering ethics in Japan.
Dr Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto
Associate Professor, School of Business, University of Leicester.
I joined the former Management Centre at the University of Leicester in 1997. I am a senior fellow of the HEA (SFHEA) and have been working closely with Japanese institutions, obtaining research fellowships from The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in conjunction with the Kanazawa Institute of Technology and The Japan Foundation in conjunction with the Business Ethics Research Center, Tokyo. As an undergraduate I held a scholarship from the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Germany (1989–1991). My research is interdisciplinary. It draws on institutional economics for discussing questions of organisation, management, philosophy, ethics, religion, and the history of political and organisational economic thought. My research connects to the understanding that economics is grounded in a mutual gains program and ideals such as the ‘wealth of nations’; aiming to steer, conventionally seen, organizational outcomes through systemic intervention with incentive structures.
Menaka Madushani Gamage
Menaka Madushani Gamage is a PhD candidate at the University of Leicester School of Business, where her research delves into Knowledge Spillover and norm creation in Multi-National Corporations in the Global South. Menaka is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and has over 08 years of experience as a University Lecturer in Sri Lanka. Since 2022, Menaka has served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Leicester Business School. She is a Gold Medalist and an Associate member of CIMA (UK). Menaka has received the Best Research Award for her MBA thesis and has published extensively on Knowledge Sharing and Human Resource Practices in business organizations
NOEMI CARDENAS VALTIERRA
Noemi is a talent development professional in the private sector and a research student in the DSocSci Programme (Doctor of Social Science) at the University of Leicester. She has experience in the private sector in México in the automobile and beverage industries in talent management, strategic human resources, and labour relations. She has held the positions of Human Resources Manager, Manager of Labour and Union Relations, and her current role is Senior Manager of Talent Management and Diversity and Inclusion. The main responsibilities are strategising and deploying talent development and fostering an inclusive environment in Mexico and Brazil.
She has a master’s degree in Organizational Development and Change from the Universidad de Monterrey and presented a thesis related to motivation triggers for change in senior workers in public organisations. Her research interests encompass gender dynamics in executive roles by studying the talent pipelines in managerial positions. Noemi lives in Guanajuato, México.
GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN) 