Marina Bay Sands International Expansion Strategy

The assignment analyzes the potential challenges faced by Marina Bay Sands in expanding its business into new markets, specifically focusing on the hotel industry. It proposes a wholly owned subsidiary as the most appropriate process of market entry for the company, allowing for freedom to create and maintain the entire supply chain. The document also references various academic sources to support the proposed strategy.

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
OF MARINA BAY SANDS

Introduction
International expansion of an organization
mainly provides huge opportunities for
increasing their revenues and their
profitability will also increase in the process.
The global expansion of a corporate can also
be defined as the thought of the company to
reach the different countries with the help of
its services and products. The organization
can become global if it is able to reach the
various countries belonging to different
continents (El Akremi, Perrigot & Piot‐
Lepetit, 2015). . The expansion of operations
of the organizations to other countries is the
easiest way to reach the global market.

About Marina Bay Sands
Marina Bay Sands is a hotel chain
situated in Marina Bay Singapore. The
organization had started its operations in
the year 2010 and was considered to be
one of the world’s expensive property.
The facilities provided by the hotel chain
include, 2561 rooms, an exhibition centre
of the size of 120,000 square-meter
(García de Soto-Camacho & Vargas-
Sánchez, 2015). The hotel also provides
shopping opportunities to the guests with
the help of the Sands Mall that is located
within the premises of the resort.

Target market of Marina Bay
Sands
The Marina Bay Sands is planning for
expansion of their resort in a market area
so that they can reach with their services
and offerings to the other countries as
well. The city that has been chosen for the
expansion plans of the hotel in India is
Mumbai. The major reason being that the
city is located in the coastal area and has
many foreign tourists during the entire
year (García-Almeida & Yu, 2015). .
The resort will be able get its required
type of land area in the city where they
can set up the new premises of the resort.

About the target market
Mumbai is known as the business
capital of India and it is well-known in
the entire world for housing the
activities related to the Indian film
industry. The city is well-developed
and business centric, which will be a
major help for the fast expansion of
Marina Bay Sands in this area. The
business environment of this city is
fast paced and it provides huge
opportunities for any type of business
organizations (Ivanov & Ivanova, 2016).

Challenges faced in the new
area
Economic challenges are the major
issues that will be faced by the Marina
Bay Sands in India. The country is
considered to be the largest democracy
in the world and the huge population can
put immense pressure on the economy
of the country. The problems that occur
in a developing can adversely affect the
profitability of the organization in this
business area (Ivanova & Ivanov, 2015).

Challenges continued
• Competitors – Marina Bay Sands will have face major
competition from the various other five-star hotel
chains that are already operating in Mumbai. The
major competition will be faced by Marina Bay Sands
by the hotels like, The Oberoi Mumbai, The Taj Mahal
Tower Mumbai, Taj Lands End, Sofitel Mumbai BKC.
These hotels have been operating in the city for many
years and they have knowledge about the needs of the
guests.
• Substitutes – Marina Bay Sands provides facilities
like, entertainment, sky-park, restaurants, museum and
meetings. These facilities are provided by the other
five-star properties which operate in the city. The
tourists or guests visiting the city have many options
related to the choice of hotels. This will act as a major
challenge for the organization in this area (Kruesi,
Kim & Hemmington, 2017).

Recommended approach
The Marina Bay Sands resort can face
the challenges in the new area by
formulating unique strategies which can
help them in the successful setting up of
the business. The organization needs to
conduct extensive research on the hotel
and hospitality to understand the nature
of the sector. The promotional strategies
need to be designed in such a way so that
it highlights the unique services provided
by the resort which include the
opportunities of shopping and the
famous casinos.

Strategy of market entry
A wholly owned subsidiary will be the
most appropriate process of market
entry for the hotel chain. This is a type
of setup which involves a business
organization under the total ownership
of another company. The Marina Bay
Sands will be the parent company or the
holding company in this case
(Singapore, 2018).

Implementation of market entry
strategy
The hotel industry is heavily dependent on
the suppliers and a wholly owned
subsidiary will provide freedom to the
business organization to create and
maintain the entire supply chain. There
will no interference from the parent
organization, however the brand value of
Marina Bay Sands will help the subsidiary
organization in establishing their business
successfully in the new area. This will
further help in increasing the revenues and
the profitability of the organization
(Kruesi, Kim & Hemmington, 2017).

References
• El Akremi, A., Perrigot, R., & Piot‐Lepetit, I. (2015). Examining the drivers for franchised chains
performance through the lens of the dynamic capabilities approach. Journal of Small Business
Management, 53(1), 145-165.
• García de Soto-Camacho, E., & Vargas-Sánchez, A. (2015). Choice of entry mode, strategic flexibility and
performance of international strategy in hotel chains: an approach based on real options. European Journal of
Tourism Research, 9, 92-114.
• García-Almeida, D. J., & Yu, L. (2015). Knowledge transfer in hotel firms: Determinants of success in
international expansion. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 16(1), 16-39.
• Ivanov, S., & Ivanova, M. (2016). Do hotel chains stimulate globalisation?. Tourism Management
Perspectives, 19, 102-108.
• Ivanova, M., & Ivanov, S. (2015). The nature of hotel chains: An integrative framework. International
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 16(2), 122-142.
• Kruesi, M., Kim, P. B., & Hemmington, N. (2017). Evaluating foreign market entry mode theories from a
hotel industry perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 62, 88-100.
• Singapore, 5. (2018). Singapore Luxury Hotel. Marinabaysands.com. Retrieved 16
March2018,fromhttps://www.marinabaysands.com/hotel.html#osSwY5SPJvKoE5Yx.97