Prof. Lynette Louw (Deputy Dean Faculty of Commerce Rhodes University) South Africa

Lynette Louw, appointed in the Raymond Ackerman Chair of Management, Department of Management, former Head of Management Department, and current Deputy Dean, Faculty of Commerce at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.  She received her Doctor Commercii  (Business Management) degree at the University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Her areas of speciality include Strategic Management, International Organisational Behaviour, Cross-cultural Management and SMEs/Entrepreneurship.

Internationally, she has taught and/or researched in the Netherlands, Germany, Uganda and China. She also taught Strategic Management in a Global Classroom network to students from different countries around the world. Lynette is an International Visiting Faculty member of Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Mohali, Punjab, India. She also presented for the International Faculty Development Programme on 9 July 2021 for Chandigarh University. She is also the Academic Chair for the Global Listening Centre (globallisteningcentre.org) since 2022.

She is an active researcher and previously a National Research Foundation (South Africa) rated researcher. Lynette has received merit awards for outstanding performance and research merit awards (2001-2003, 2004). In 2012, she received the Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes University, and Researcher of the Year award.  In addition, she is the recipient of research awards for conference papers and publications in rated national and international journals. She also serves on the editorial board of rated national and international journals. Lynette is a co-editor and co-author of text books on Management, Strategic Management, Managing Chinese-African Business Interactions and a monograph on Chinese organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lynette was involved as a collaborative international research partner in (a) England-Africa Partnerships in Higher Education:  Cross-Cultural Management and Health sector project delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa;  (b) Multilateral and academic programme:  Intercultural communication and management skills across Africa (with Neurtingen-Geisling University Germany and USA partner); and (c) the research leader of an extensive research project on Chinese management in Africa. This project is in collaboration with colleagues in the UK and China, attracted funding from the Sandisa Imbewu Fund at Rhodes University and the National Research Foundation in South Africa.

Previously, Lynette was a member of the MBA Higher Education Quality Committee for the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa (2003 - 2004), a reviewer to the National Research Foundation (NRF) for researcher ratings since 2007, and has served as a panel member for the NRF and working group member for the CHE. She represents the Rhodes University Faculty of Commerce on the CHE’s Bachelor of Commerce Working Standards group and was the Chairperson of a CHE Doctoral Review Panel (2020).  She is also a Rhodes University team member of the EU-funded international research project (involving nine universities in Kenya, The Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium and South Africa) entitled “Creating Post-Graduate Collaborations” since 2019.  Involvement in this project enhances my contribution to developing research-rich environments within the Faculty of Commerce at Rhodes University that are contextually sensitive. Creating such an environment is essential for the growth and success of both supervisors and scholars who learn from each other. Being the national coordinator of Commerce Faculties for a new DHET-funded project on Quality in Postgraduate Qualifications will provide further impetus to addressing PG curriculum-related and the examination process at the postgraduate level. This project brings together all universities in South Africa and Universities of South Africa (USAf).

Internationally, she was invited by the Directorate of Higher Education Reviews (DHR) at the National Authority for Qualifications and Quality Assurance of Education and Training (QQA) in Bahrain to review two business programmes offered by the Bahrain Polytechnic (2014), the Doctor of Philosophy in Management Studies, Operational Research and related fields offered by Brunel University - London at the Ahlia University (AU)- Bahrain (2021) and two commerce programmes for Bahrain University (2022).

As a former Board Member of the Amatola Water Board, she served on the Executive Committee, and the previous Chair of the Finance, Strategy and Development Committees.