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 - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, 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 -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Genting Gaming are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Genting Gaming has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Genting Gaming has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Genting Gaming digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Genting Gaming has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
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.
Training and development
– Genting Gaming has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Genting Gaming
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Genting Gaming does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Genting Gaming has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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 -
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Genting Gaming supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Genting Gaming vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West, is just above the industry average. Genting Gaming needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Genting Gaming has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Genting Gaming needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Genting Gaming has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Genting Gaming is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Genting Gaming has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers 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 -
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.
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Genting Gaming in the consumer business. Now Genting Gaming can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Genting Gaming to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Genting Gaming to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Genting Gaming can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Genting Gaming has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Genting Gaming to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Genting Gaming has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Genting Gaming to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Malaysia's Genting: Gambling on the West case study. Genting Gaming can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Genting Gaming will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Genting Gaming
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Genting Gaming.
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.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Genting Gaming in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 .
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 .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Genting Gaming can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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.