Bio
Professor of Accounting and Corporate, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross University, Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia 4225
Deputy Chair, Gold Coast Surf Industry Taskforce – Gold Coast Surf City Inc. a not-for-profit organisation supporting the surf industry on the Gold Coast, Australia
Member of World Surf City Network – Gold Coast City delegate to WSCN
Research Interests:
The economic structure of the global surf industry – market structure, consumer behaviour and globalisation of surf industry corporations.
Surf cities and the concentration of economic activity around key nodes cities in the global surf economy. Strategic and operational management of small-medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the global surf industry.
Surf industry contribution to the sustainable economic development of communities in emerging and developing economies and regional centres including small-island nation states. Valuation and measurement of surf resources – waves, beaches and other environmentally related non-market assets. Social and environmental management of surf resources within the broad context of sustainable surf industry development.
Global surf tourism and surfer consumer buyer behaviour and surfer decision-making regarding tourism destination choice.
Historical development of the surf industry and its transformation from a ‘cottage’ industry to a global industry.
Current Projects:
Externally funded research grant: Australia-China Council Project 2014-2015 (ACC2014034) ‘Strategies for Developing Australia-China Surf Industry Collaboration’
Supervision of postgraduate research project: ‘The relationship between strategic planning practices and performance of surf schools in Australia’
Geographic Areas of Interest:
Global surf cities and economic clustering of the surf industry in key cities and regions
Special interest countries and surf areas: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Indonesia, Hainan Province China, Hawaii, Pacific Islands generally