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Research Grant Award For Prof. Dr Murali And Team
APU is thrilled to announce its Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development & Strategy) Prof. Ts. Dr. Murali Raman and his team have received the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) 2022.
The FRGS is a competitive grant scheme opened to academics in both public and private universities in Malaysia, provided by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).
Prof. Murali who is also APU’s Director of Postgraduate & Continuing Education secured this grant with his research team members - Associate Prof. Dr. Jugindar Singh of the School of Business; Associate Prof. Dr. Devinder Kaur, Head of School of Marketing & Management; Dr. Janitha Kularajasingam, Senior Lecturer of the School of Marketing & Management; and Ts. Dr. Sharmini Gopinathan, Head of Enterprise, Faculty of Management, Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU).
Through this grant, the team will conduct a 2 years study entitled “The role of Digital Leadership and Digital Culture in SME Digital Business Transformation”, and aspires to add to the body of fundamental knowledge about SME digital business transformation.
Project findings will potentially lead to several publications and presentations within the scholarly and relevant industry communities.
“The team would like to thank Prof. Dr. Angelina Yee and Mr Tajuddin A. Rashid for assisting us during the application process,” said Prof. Murali.
In their study project, Prof. Murali explained, SMEs in Malaysia need to be fully transformed digitally despite only 6.3% of them utilising front-tier technologies such as data analytics. Issues such as cost, lack of talent, poor in-house infrastructure, and limited awareness are often cited as inhibiting forces.
He opined digital transformation requires leadership, a shift in the mindset, a strong culture and employees who are digitally ready to work with digital strategies and innovative ideas. The identified gaps and the potential of digital transformation for SMEs led him to apply for the grant to generate new Malaysian moulded knowledge.