Our story
Taylor’s University started in Malaysia in 1969 as a family business, inherited by the eldest son of one of the richest men in Malaysia. His name is Dato’ Loy.
His father spent thirty-five years building a conglomerate in finance and property, and died in 1997, leaving him everything. This story could have ended right here, as a beautiful inheritance. But the Asian financial crisis that hit in 1998 turned an empire that took a generation to build into a red line of debt.
Dato’ Loy had a simple choice: let it all go, or get into even deeper debt and rebuild everything from the ground up. He went back to the banks and borrowed more. And over the next fourteen years, he built Southeast Asia’s number one private university.
In 2001, he bought a small stake in Taylor’s College, founded in 1969, and turned it into a full university in 2012. Today Taylor’s is 272nd in the world in the QS rankings, with 20 subjects ranked by QS. The beauty of it is that Taylor’s is already run by the next generation of the Loy family, a successful family business in its own right.
The next turn in the Taylor’s story is to build a legacy: a School of Family Business. Three years ago we started Malaysia’s first research centre for family business, under the School of Management and Marketing. Five PhD scholarships are already funded for 2027.
We are looking for a founding professor who is up to the challenge of building that school: an academic with the vision to leave a mark on Asian family business, inside a university that is itself a family business.
Teaching & learning
- Participate and contribute in high quality programme and curriculum development, including programmes relating to family business
- Teach approximately 4–6 hours a week, in modules relating to family business, and develop executive education programmes and family governance workshops
- Establish and maintain high standards of teaching and effective learning to meet the University’s teaching and learning expectations
Research
- Lead and drive research on family business, including Asian family firms
- Participate in scholarly activities, including undertaking research, conference presentation, journal publications and relevant community work
- Secure grants for research activities as Principal Investigator
- Achieve the specified set of research outcome targets for Professor level of appointment
Leading the Centre
- Lead Taylor’s Centre for Family Business, build industry partnerships and attract research funding
- Build the alumni family business network, offer executive education programmes and organise family business forums
- Develop international collaborations with family business centres and academic partners in the region
Administration and other activities
- Undertake and contribute in administrative responsibilities such as attending departmental meetings, participate in committees and working groups within the Department, School and Faculty
- Participate in continuous relevant professional activities
- Assist in establishing linkages with external organisations and professional bodies in academic related matters
Requirements
- Possess a PhD from a recognised university in Family Business, Entrepreneurship, Management or a related field
- At least eight (8) years of experience in teaching / research / industry
- A strong publication record with at least 10 publications in Q1 and Q2 C.I. journals (ISI, SCOPUS, Clarivate) in the last 5 years, in top-tier journals such as Family Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal and Small Business Economics, in areas relating to family business
- Secured external research grant(s) as a Principal Investigator worth RM150,000 - RM200,000 (USD equivalent ≈ 37,000 - 49,000)
- Graduated at least 3 PhD students as Main Supervisor
- Minimum Scopus h-index of 20
- Experience in advising business families, consulting for family-owned firms, serving on family councils, advising family offices and/or working with multi-generational enterprises
- Understanding of Asian family firms
If that sounds like you, we would like to talk. Please book a call on Natalia’s Calendar or email your resume to natalia@axetalent.com. Natalia Rostova, Executive Headhunter at Axe Talent, leads this search.
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