Meena Chavan

DR MEENA CHAVAN Bcom, Mcom, PhD (International Business)

Research Expertise: International Business /Management, International Entrepreneurs, Cross-Cultural Management, Intercultural Management, Diversity Management, Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management, Experiential & Engaged education.

Dr. Meena is an ardent broad-spectrum Business/Management Academic. Her core research interests lie at the intersection of International Business, Cross-Cultural Management & International Entrepreneurship. She is an interculturalist and scholar in the field of Intercultural Management and Managing Diversity.She is a Fellow member of the 'Intercultural Academy of Intercultural Research'. Within this stream, Dr. Chavan’s focus has been on developing intercultural competence and cross-cultural leadership development, building intercultural capacity. developing strategies for inclusion and diversity, intercultural conflict management in multinational corporations, conscious decision-making for improving cross-cultural competency in diverse workplaces and enhancing the employment opportunities of people from culturally, sexual and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and people with a disability. She is the recipient of the best paper award for her paper “Diversity makes good business” at the 50th International Council for Small Business conference in Washington.

She currently holds the position of a Senior Lecturer & Program Director Master of International Business within the Department of Management at Macquarie University. Prior to academia, she worked as a Merger & Acquisition auditor with KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Dr. Chavan has a BCom degree majoring in Accounting and Auditing and Business Management, an MCom degree majoring in Advanced Accounting and Auditing and Business Administration. Her Ph.D. dissertation is an empirical resource-based study exploring international migrant entrepreneurs in Australia. This research has produced the first Australian model for Ethnic Migrant Business Creation - "The Productive Diversity Model", which is specific to Australia and measures the value of a multicultural migrant workforce to bolster "International Business" and export earnings through links to their country of origin.

This Ph.D. research was recognized widely through an interview on the ABC Radio - Business Report program by Elizabeth Jackson Story: Diversity makes Good Business Date: 3rd September 2003, via a CPA Publication Story: Ethnic Small business challenges Date: March 2004 and Queensland Multicultural office Publication on Diversity Date: May 2004.

Her core research, teaching and consulting interests overarches International Business, Cross-Cultural Management, and Diversity Management, Entrepreneurship/Small business and Organisational and Management Studies.  She has worked with global corporate and governmental clients like Woolworths, Tata’s, Wipro, Coca-Cola, AUSTRADE, DFAT and AIBC.

Dr Chavan has published in diverse areas in International business; liberalisation, foreign direct investments, gap between sales and investments' in South East Asia and Western economies, mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunication Industry, born global firms, cultural competency, cross-cultural conflicts, service quality and health care and experiential teaching in International Business. Her other publications have been in the area of business operations management; telecommunication, quality management, small business, women in business, balanced scorecard, resource management technologies, environment and sustainability and the Global Financial Crisis.

Her research has been published in top-tier national and international peer-review journals such as International Journal of Intercultural Relations, International Migration, Health & Social Care in the Community, The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Management of Environmental Quality etc.

She is an advocate of experiential learning and adopts an experiential teaching style. Her innovative approach to teaching has earned her a Vice Chancellors citation for sustained leadership in experiential and work integrated learning approaches for the transformation of students into employable graduates with strong social and community value.

Her published pedagogical research include web-based teaching, education and training needs of entrepreneurs, teaching International business to large classes through experiential teaching, service quality in education and International vs. Local student's perception of quality of education. She has extensive experience in curriculum development and design. She is passionate about curriculum design through digital technology for the 21st century, as she believes that the style of teaching and learning for the Zee generation is far from similar to the learning styles of the baby boomers.

She  has been in academia for the past 25 years, having taught undergraduate, postgraduate  and online programs in India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Australia and in the USA. Meena has a broad teaching portfolio encompassing undergraduate, postgraduate and online courses. She also supervises Honours, Masters and Ph.D. students.

She has demonstrated excellence in her record of successful supervision of HDR students with a track record of timely and publishable completions. She has supervised 8 PhD students and more than 15 Hons students and 10 Masters Theses to date.
Dr Chavan has been a regular contributor to the media on topical issues on India Australia Trade Relations, Indian Mining firms in Australia, Migrant Business and Management of Diversity. Her opinion pieces have been featured by the Chronicle- Magazine, The Asian Miner Magazine, CPA Publication, Queensland Multicultural office Publication.

Her consulting role sees her collaborating with the Diversity Council Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission, UNA (Australia), the Ethics Centre, Sydney and large corporate sector partners like Woolworths and key stakeholders in the government and non-government sectors like AUSTRADE and the Export Council of Australia.

She currently serves as the Associate Editor Journal of International Education in Business and on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Ethics Education and the Journal of Global Marketing journal and the Global Studies Journal She has worked on research projects on Migrant Employment and Business projects. She has also been working closely with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Global Labour Organisation on Indian labor and mobility studies. Meena is a member of the ‘Cultural Diversity Research Group’ at Macquarie University, Faculty of Business and Economics which provides an important platform for researchers in diversity management, ethics and migration in the business context, bringing together academics, the business community, and representatives from government.