Dr Fam has industry experience in retailing and advertising before turning to academia. His career began as a management trainee with a large retail organization in Malaysia before moving to Scotland to undertake an undergraduate degree in Business Studies and later an MBA in Retail Management. Upon graduation, Dr Fam went to Hong Kong to work as a media manager with multinational advertising agencies such as Bozell and Leo Burnett. A career break came about when Dr Fam was offered a PhD scholarship by the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Dr Fam’s research is in the area of cross-cultural advertising and promotion. Currently, he is working on several research projects at various stages of development. His research projects can be grouped into three themes: "When is a Goodbye a Good Buy"(sales promotion techniques, equity theory and purchase satisfaction); "Marketing the Brains Business" (brand trust, cultural values and education), and "Voice of Advertisers/Consumers" (client-agency relationship, perceptions of controversial products, ad likeability, and promotion strategies of SMEs). Amongst others, his publications have appeared in the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Advertising Research, and Journal of Business Research.