RESEARCH CLUSTERS

Research Clusters

There are numerous challenges and new trends faced by the industry, which requires multi-disciplinary research and collaborations especially in the field of social, environment and economy impact research. Thus, Centre for Entrepreneurial Sustainability (CENTS) is proposed to implement the research strategy and forms alliances with other research centres in different disciplines (e.g., science and technology centres) by providing a platform for collaborations by looking into dimensions of sustainability such as social, environment and economy impact of their research output.

Centre for Entrepreneurial Sustainability (CENTS) has established six interdisciplinary research clusters designed to enable scholars to better exchange ideas and explore emerging research areas and to work more effectively with industries, other universities and research centers.

These research clusters comprise of teams of researchers from various backgrounds and wide range of disciplines across boundaries to produce and enhance research knowledge on issues of international business, social responsibility, economic, environmental and cultural importance.

Research Clusters / Focus Areas

Financial Sustainability and Technology

Led by

Dr. Tee Peck Ling

This cluster conducts research and provides consultancy service in business planning, financial risk management, fund raising and investment evaluation for entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large local and multinational corporations. In the new and highly dynamic digitalized business environment, our research and consultancy will recommend solutions to entrepreneurs and businesses with financial technology approaches such as equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer financing, business analytics etc.

Key Research Area

Digitalisation and Business Sustainability
Personal Financial Sustainability and Retirement Planning
Sourcing of Finance and Financial Planning

SMEs Business Sustainability

Led by

Ms. Jayamalathi a/p Jayabalan

SMEs have become the essence of Malaysian commerce as their contribution to the economy in terms of goods and services, employment and income are significant. SMEs are under heavy pressure to increase performance both with restricted manpower and low levels of profits. SMEs carry out their activities in a dynamic environment that is affected by various risk including marketplace risks, relational risks, resources risks, operational risks and competency risk that can also impact their sustainability. The future of SMEs depending on their ability to respond promptly to the challenges and ability to exploit opportunities sufficiently.

Key Research Area

Key survival strategies for SMEs- innovation, capabilities and performance.
Digital innovation of SMEs- building digitally-enabled businesses that prepare businesses for a post-pandemic environment.
Post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery plans- Challenges, resources and partnerships that need to be employed to ensure SMEs can build resilience now and post-pandemic.
To explore the SMEs awareness and their ability to cope with natural disaster issues and to assess the vulnerability of small businesses to natural disaster risk (flood, fire and lightning strike)

Sustainable Township

Led by

Dr. Komathi a/p Munusamy

This research cluster research is focused on green township. As such this cluster will collaborate with external parties to develop an integrated plan that gives emphasis to the use and recycling of natural resources and emphasis on the protection of nature while promoting public health and general welfare of the urban people.

Key Research Area

Social and Economic Well-being

•Emerging Issues in Sustainable Economics

Led by

Mr. Sia Bik Kai

The cluster focuses on Emerging Issues in Sustainable Economics. The research areas include microeconomics, macroeconomics and monetary economics, international economics, financial economics, health and education economics, labour and demographic economics, economic development, innovation, technological change, and growth, agricultural and environmental economics, and digital economics.

Key Research Area

Active and Productive Aging
The efficiency of Financial Institutions
Energy Economics
Institutional Quality
Intra-Industry Trade
Islamic and Conventional Fintech Matters

Sustainable Tourism

Led by

Dr. Yeong Wai Mun

The cluster focuses on the area of hospitality and tourism and its niche areas (e.g., medical, education, heritage, etc.) with the inclusion of innovation and digitalization. Highly competitive local and international market for tourist spending and receipts require constant needs in keeping abreast with the latest changes in research and provides consultancies to the relevant parties such as Tourism Board, and businesses in the hospitality industry.

Key Research Area

Medical tourism
Tourism Studies

Sustainable Real Estate Development & Management

Led by

Dr. Chin Hon Choong

The cluster focuses to promote dynamic linkage between real estate industry stakeholders and academic and to provide innovative solution in addressing challenges surrounding real estate development and management.

Key Research Area

Energy Security
Cyber Security
IR4.0 implementation
Environment and Climate Change

Digital Entrepreneurship

Led by

Dr. Seah Choon Sen

This cluster focuses on digitalisation and aims to research how entrepreneurship changed and transformed by the recent digital technology and how the combinations of technology and entrepreneurship resulted in a diversity of research and phenomena with socio-economic impact. It also aims to research how to map the technical performance to business outcomes and applications on recent technology.

Key Research Area

Digital Transformation
Digital Sustainability