History of Lim Goh Tong

MGMT 351- Responsible Leadership

Research on Lim Goh Tong

Chiew Heng Jun                                                                          4550249

Tan Sri Dato Seri Lim Goh Tong  ( 28 february 1918 - 23 october 2007 ) was well known for his vision and courage in developing an unexplored hilltop into the world class casino resorts- Genting Highlands. ( Genting Group, 2015 )

In the early years, Lim Goh Tong went through all kind of hardship. He was born in Fujian, China and he left China for Malaysia at the age of 19 after his father's death for new opportunities. Unfortunately, things never get any better because of the Japanese invaded Malaysia in 1942 and caused Lim to have a few near-death occasions. Life was never easy during the war as Malaysian-Chinese people in Malaysia were subject to especially harsh treatment but Lim Goh Tong never give up on his effort to make a living. At first, he worked as a farmer then decided to switch to petty trading follow by scrap-metal and hardware trading.  After the Japanese Occupation, He then made use of the opportunity in machinery trading and strayed into iron mining fortuitously. Eventually, his business went into higher peak as he was able to use his significant capital and experience and he was very wealthy man by 1960s. ( Reed Exhibition, 2014 )

However, his successful career never end here, instead, he was just getting started. According to an article on the Gambling sites.org, 2015,  his idea of developing a hilltop resort happened after he realized the business potential of people would like to visit mountain resorts for relaxation after the economics was slowly stabilized. Upon conceiving this idea, Lim Goh Tong received all kinds of negative feedback and challenges. The people by the time thought this project is risky and heavily capital and time consuming and Lim Goh Tong was seems to be a fool. However, this never stop Lim from went ahead firmly with his plan.  Lim Goh Tong acquired the land and gambling permits through the networking with the government and other industry players, and then set to work on tasks such as construct an access road and get water, power, and sewer access to the hilltop. It was estimated that the road alone would take 15 years to construct but it was finished in less than 4 years. The entire Genting project was completed successfully behind Lim's hard work and determination. This has shown Lim's visionary leadership style as he never give up working on today's success even though people are doubting his idea initially.

Lim Goh Tong eventual success was attributed to his entrepreneurial spirit. According to Liang, 2013, Lim Goh Tong always wanted to be extraordinary when he came to Malaysia. " No one was interested in it, which meant no competition," said Lim Goh Tong. He had his own idea of an ideal business and his achievement came through hard work. Also, He is task oriented leader. Despite they had overcome many challenge during the construction, Lim was the one providing direction to his followers or subordinates and managed to solve all kind of problems. Moreover, He was an ethical leader that never turn his back when people ask for help, especially the poor as he knew the feeling of being poor and felt helpless when he was young. ( UK Essays, 2013 )

Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister commended Lim Goh Tong's contribution to Malaysia's tourism industry even without any assistance from the government. Besides that, Lim and his Genting group had won many awards  entrepreneurship and his contribution such as Malaysian Entrepreneurs Award 1985, Manager of the Year Award 1986, Business Achiever of the Year Award 1994, Number 1 ranking of 10 Malaysian Leading Companies 1996 and The Best Employer Award 1996. Lim Goh Tong kept on develop and expand Genting Highlands beyond its initial idea of a hotel with basic tourist facilities for the next 30 years. Perhaps, the additional expansion projects were the construction of more hotels, indoor and outdoor theme parks, and a even convention center. Genting group was even expanded and diversified from its initial hotel and resort activities to plantation, power generation and oil and gas exploration and production. Today, Genting Berhad is a leading multinational corporation in Malaysia that has constantly been acknowledged by various organisations for its exemplary leadership and management. ( Genting Group, 2015 ) “If there were more entrepreneurs like him, Malaysia would have achieved more in its economic development, his struggle can be considered part and parcel of Malaysian development”, said Dr. Mahathir. ( France-Presse, 2007 )