Lincoln C Wood is Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the University of Otago Business School in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, where he convenes BSNS111, Business, Society, and Government in Aotearoa New Zealand, the first-year course this book was written for.

His research designs decisions for messy, high-stakes systems, combining management science (optimisation, forecasting, and simulation) with decision science (risk, judgement, and multi-criteria trade-offs). That work spans supply chain resilience, healthcare operations, sustainability, and digital transformation, including HRC-funded research on surgical scheduling and emergency department demand prediction, and sustainable supply chain practice in construction and food systems. He serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Supply Chain Management and is a Chartered Member of CILT.

The same commitments run through his teaching: authentic learning through simulations, industry collaboration, and systems thinking that connects analysis to action. This book applies that philosophy to the first-year classroom. It teaches students to see business whole, embedded in society, shaped by government, and grounded in the history and values of Aotearoa New Zealand.