Hard Rock Digital Joint Venture with Gaming Industry Veteran Leaders (Seminole Gaming)

Hard Rock International is one of the most eminent chain of hotels, resorts, theme
restaurants which was founded in 1971. The chain is most important with its theme restaurants
which provides its customers a high quality in store experience with diverse themes and events.
On December 16th 2020, Hard Rock International announced that its Hard Rock Digital Joint
Venture with gaming industry veterans in order to expand its portfolio as strategy of innovation
and product diversification. Joint venture is type of business partnership which two or more
companies input their resources and capital with the purpose of fulfilling a goal such as
expanding the business and gain higher profit. Hard Rock digital and Seminole Gaming will be a
portal for gaming and international sports betting. The Seminole Gaming will finance the Hard
Rock digital at the same time it will provide access to its database of millions of customers as
well as worldwide venues of interactive gaming and sports betting. By this launch the chairman
of Hard Rock International Jim Allen quotes “With the launch of Hard Rock Digital, we are
broadening our digital business which enhances consumer experiences and offerings across our
interactive gaming and sportsbook offerings,”. Hard Rock digital is also following strategy of
strategic branding with the estimated market size of 7$ billion and 14$ billion in sports betting
and online gaming respectively.
Considering that Hard Rock International was leader in the hospitality industry, the strategic step
of joint venture was one of the most successful business steps. By this joint venture HRI will be
able to use its partner Seminole Gaming’s access to customer database, products and services, as
well as resources such as technological expertise, R&D and etc. Meanwhile, HRI will also be
able to contribute to this joint venture as its customer base will be interested in this innovation. If
aligned under the elements of VRIO analysis (which is an analytical tool that provides insights
about company’s resources which add value to its business processes in terms of Value ,
Rareness, Imitability and Organization). While assessing the resources, questions for each
element should be asked such as how expensive is the resource? (value), is the resource rare
(rareness), is it difficult to imitate (imitable), is the resource used in organized way
(organization). The most value added resources are the ones which answer yes to all of these
questions. The value adding resources of this joint venture is as follows:

1. Value – Research and Development, software and hardware development

2. Rareness – Customer base, access to market data
3. Imitability – Customer experience and engagement
4. Organization – Brand awareness and engagement, customer experience etc.

All above indicated points are resources which give significant competitive advantage to this
joint venture and it seems like this joint venture will be one of the most lucrative business
decisions of 2020.