Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West
Genting, a gaming company that monopolizes the Malaysian market, entered the U.K. gaming market in 2004 and faced competition from established players, different customer preferences across casinos in the United Kingdom, and changes in the British government's gaming regulations. Genting had to rely on local management to run the business in the United Kingdom, as the market was still new to the company. In operating casinos with different but established brand names to cater to different market needs, Genting faced the challenge of creating a single corporate identity. In spite of its challenges in the United Kingdom, Genting Malaysia has seized the opportunity to enter the U.S. market with its unique set of challenges, again through a local acquisition, with the strategic goal of continuous expansion of the gaming business in the United States. Is this the right move for Genting? What are the risks and opportunities? Justin Paul is affiliated with University of Puerto Rico. Sumit Mitra is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
Swot Analysis of "Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West" written by Justin Paul, Zalina Rosli, Sumit Mitra includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Genting Gaming facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Genting Gaming, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Genting Gaming operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Genting Gaming
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Genting Gaming
Strengths Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Genting Gaming in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Genting Gaming is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Genting Gaming in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Genting Gaming is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Justin Paul, Zalina Rosli, Sumit Mitra can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Genting Gaming has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Genting Gaming is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Genting Gaming is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Genting Gaming in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Genting Gaming has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Genting Gaming to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Genting Gaming is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Genting Gaming to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Genting Gaming to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Genting Gaming is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Genting Gaming is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Genting Gaming is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Genting Gaming has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, it seems that the employees of Genting Gaming don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Genting Gaming is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Genting Gaming, firm in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Genting Gaming has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Genting Gaming even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, in the dynamic environment Genting Gaming has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Genting Gaming has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West HBR case study mentions - Genting Gaming takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Genting Gaming has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Genting Gaming has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Genting Gaming has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Genting Gaming 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Genting Gaming is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Genting Gaming needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Genting Gaming to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Genting Gaming is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Genting Gaming can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Genting Gaming to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Genting Gaming can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Genting Gaming has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Genting Gaming can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Genting Gaming can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Genting Gaming can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Genting Gaming to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Buying journey improvements
– Genting Gaming can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Genting Gaming can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Genting Gaming operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Genting Gaming can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Genting Gaming can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Genting Gaming to increase its market reach. Genting Gaming will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Threats Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, Genting Gaming may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Genting Gaming has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Genting Gaming needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Genting Gaming demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Genting Gaming is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Genting Gaming in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Genting Gaming can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Genting Gaming business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Genting Gaming can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Genting Gaming high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Genting Gaming with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Genting Gaming needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Genting Gaming.
Regulatory challenges
– Genting Gaming needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Genting Gaming needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.