Genting Takes Family Approach to Casinos | downtowncanyonville ...

By GAURAV RAGHUVANSHI

Genting Group

is plowing ahead with a proposed US$3.8 billion resort in Miami that could be the world?s largest casino, but some worry that the Malaysian company is making too big a splash in its very public approach.

Casinos, usually associated with the vice economy, stir debate over whether the social and economic consequences of gambling outweigh the revenue they generate.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Lim Kok Thay at the soft opening of the Resorts World Sentosa complex in Singapore on Feb. 14, 2010. Mr. Lim?s approach to employee morale and management: ?I try to make people excited and not feel that it?s a 9-to-5 job, or that it?s a dead-end place. Without them, I can?t move. That?s how I see my role. If you ask me very complicated management theories, I?ll have none.?

R?sum?

• 
  Qualifications: B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of London; attended the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.
• 
  Career: Joined Genting Group in 1976. Currently chairman and chief executive of Genting Bhd. and Genting Malaysia Bhd., executive chairman of Genting Singapore Ltd. and chairman and chief executive of Genting Hong Kong Ltd. He was awarded the ?Panglima Setia Mahkota? by Malaysia, which carries the title of ?Tan Sri,? in June 2002.
• 
  Extracurricular: Traveling, collecting art and football.

Lim Kok Thay, Genting?s chairman and chief executive, is confident the group?s successful Asia model will translate abroad. The company runs a $4.7 billion casino in Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa, and is flush with funds to spend in cash-strapped U.S. states that are looking for a way to bring down unemployment rates and close budget gaps.

To Mr. Lim, a casino linked with wholesome entertainment?the word ?family? comes up a lot?is a better business proposition, both financially and politically, than purely a gambling den.

?If it?s just about making money, I don?t think we will kill ourselves to do it,? he says. The group?s properties in Malaysia, Singapore and New York are centered around theme parks and holiday resorts, with the casino just another attraction.

Mr. Lim says even his organization is built like a family. He claims attrition rates are relatively low, partly due to worker-friendly conditions and competitive wages.

He spoke with Gaurav Raghuvanshi in Singapore. The following interview has been edited.

WSJ: As Genting expands outside of Asia, do you think you can replicate your local model in Miami?

Mr Lim: Of course, it will be successful. You are not talking about Las Vegas where there are 30 other casinos. You are talking about Miami, a very cosmopolitan place. If you want to go to South America, [Miami's] the place to change a plane. You have Europeans coming to Miami for business and vacation. It?s a hub. What?s missing is the Asian link. If you can add the Asian link to Miami, I think it?s the most exciting place to be.

WSJ: How is your concept of a casino different from the common image of a cigar-chomping, high-on-alcohol gambling house?

Mr Lim: In the West, they see it as gambling. Here, as we go down the road, we used the word ?gaming.? It?s not really a play of words but what comes from within. The development of the same industry here in Asia, we see beyond just gambling. While that industry in the West may have started purely as gambling, here in Asia it?s not. The industry has created employment and has provided an experience?there?s nothing wrong with making it an overall family experience.

We approach gambling from the hospitality side. Discreet?you give people a choice. You don?t have to put it in their face: You?re a gambler. They will find it. It?s not as if there?s only one way of doing things. You have to cut the cloth the way you?re going to dress. From the Genting standpoint, we will stick to that, when we invest in gaming, we want that extra element [of family entertainment] because we think that will offer the maximum benefit to the local community and to the country as a whole.

WSJ: How did the concept of family entertainment, opposed to strictly gambling, occur to the Genting Group?

Mr Lim: In Malaysia?s tropical climate, the British used to enjoy the so-called hill stations (towns they built at higher altitudes to escape the tropical heat). Why can?t Asians also bring their families to a hill station? That?s how Genting started, never with a casino in mind. But when the prime minister at that the time suggested it, it was more to accelerate the development of Malaysia. It would require lot more investment to build larger facilities that create more jobs and move the economy, which is what the success story of the country is. The success of my dad (Lim Goh Tong) has been translated many, many times into the success of Malaysia as many others were thinking in the same way.

WSJ: Do you spend a lot of time on the details of your day-to-day operations, or is it more of a hands-off management approach?

Mr Lim: Numbers don?t mean much to me. As the guy who leads the group, I have to get beyond the numbers alone. If I?m stuck with numbers, we are not doing things simply enough. That?s the philosophy engrained in the group?keep it simple. We must think of the common goal, but as in football, each one of us should have a different role. If everyone became an attacker, that?s not good.

I try to make people excited and not feel that it?s a 9-to-5 job, or that it?s a dead-end place. Without them, I can?t move. That?s how I see my role. If you ask me very complicated management theories, I?ll have none.

WSJ: Several Asian countries, including Singapore, seek to restrict gambling mainly to tourists and discourage citizens from visiting casinos. Do government regulations hinder your business?

Mr Lim: I don?t subscribe to the ?for foreigners only? approach. Then you?re looking at it as a one-way traffic. You can?t be doing that. It has to be mutually beneficial. You don?t want just the gamblers to come. You really want it to be a nice experience for tourists, for them to understand your country. If it?s just about making money, I don?t think we will kill ourselves to [attract tourists]. If it?s a happiness thing, then sky is the limit.

WSJ: How do you see employee satisfaction contributing to the success of your businesses?

Mr Lim: Our employees, we see them as a big family. We want them to be comfortable, we want them to be happy. On our ships, we have fewer restrictions on work permits. That?s a great place to learn the trade. We respect our employees. They don?t have to fill in dozens of forms or have their fingerprints taken. It?s not going to be a good experience if you?re treated as criminals?getting fingerprints and so on. My solution [on security concerns of countries] is to make the employer responsible and convince employers that if you make your workers happy, they?re not going to do anything wrong.

Write to Gaurav Raghuvanshi at gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com

R?sum?

Qualifications: B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of London; attended the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.

Career: Joined Genting Group in 1976. Currently chairman and chief executive of Genting Bhd. and Genting Malaysia Bhd., executive chairman of Genting Singapore Ltd. and chairman and chief executive of Genting Hong Kong Ltd. He was awarded the ?Panglima Setia Mahkota? by Malaysia, which carries the title of ?Tan Sri,? in June 2002.

Extracurricular: Traveling, art collection and football.

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