Genting Berhad: The Story of a Malaysian Conglomerate

Case Code: BSTR108 Case Length: 22 Pages Period: 1964 – 2004 Pub Date: 2004 Teaching Note: Not Available

Price: Rs.500 Organization: Genting Berhad Industry: Diversified Countries : Malaysia Themes: Business Environment

Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts

The Making of Genting Highlands

Genting's history can be traced back to 1964 when Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong (Lim Goh Tong), a businessman in the construction industry, came up with idea of developing a hill resort near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Being a tropical country, Malaysia's climate is hot throughout the year. While on a business trip to the Cameron Highlands, a small tourist resort, Lim Goh Tong found the place's cool air and pleasant atmosphere very enchanting. He realized that the place was not as popular as it could have been. This was because the road leading to the Cameron Highlands was very narrow and winding, and the drive from Kuala Lumpur took four to five hours. Lim Goh Tong also realized that since Kuala Lumpur was the hub for Malaysia's political, economic and cultural activities, a resort located near the city would enjoy several strategic advantages. Having concretized the idea of building a hill resort, the next big task for Lim Goh Tong was to find an appropriate place on a hilltop to build the resort.

After a lot of research and geographical studies, Lim Goh Tong zeroed in on Genting Sempah, an area at the bottom of Gunung Ulu Kali, a mountainous area located 1800 meters above the sea level (around 58 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur). He figured that Gunung Ulu Kali was a better location for a resort than Cameron Highlands. Also, though Malaysia was a newly independent country at that time, he foresaw that its economy would prosper very fast. He concluded that, as Malaysians became prosperous, they would have more disposable income to spend on leisure activities. Lim Goh Tong foresaw a huge potential for a holiday resort, once tourism took off in Malaysia (Refer Exhibit IV for note on the Malaysian tourism industry). The immediate task on hand was to identify and procure a piece of land at Gunung Ulu Kali to build the resort. Soon, Lim Goh Tong learnt that the government already had plans to develop the place (Gunung Ulu Kali). A conversation with the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rehman (Tunku), about the development plans for Gunung Ulu Kali worked in Lim Goh Tong's favor as the government agreed to cooperate with him on his project...

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