featurestory living it, and now more aware of it due to 24-hour news and the technology we carry with us every waking minute. CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS RISE
Our expectations align with the perception; more competition gives consumers more choice, and their expectation of more frequent change therefore accelerates — which is par t of the reason customers’ expectations have sky rocketed. There a re numerous companies that have both succeeded and failed. According to the A merican Enterprise Institute comparing the Fortune 500 firms from 1955 versus 2016, only 12 per cent remain on the list that were there in 1955. There are many failed companies and many new rising stars. According to Forbes from 1920 to 2013 the lifespan of a company on the Fortune 500 list has dropped from 67 to 15 years. Where are Blackberry and Nokia compared to Apple or Samsung? What about Blockbuster contrasted to Netflix? Amazon versus Borders? Polaroid, once an “innovative” company did not see the digital future. Do you remember MySpace and their fast rise and fall? Even Yahoo has fallen from number one to four in online advertising revenue behind Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. The apparent conclusion is that companies that innovated were the rising stars and survivors in their industry. Clearly, what is necessary and vital for business success is to evolve, change, innovate, launch, or introduce something new. CHANGE IS CONSTANT
The gaming business is no different, and is certainly changing like any business going through the product life cycle, facing new challenges, or having to adapt to new technologies. Like other industries, gaming must innovate and make something new to survive. According to the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Center for Gaming Research, gaming revenue as a percentage of total revenue in Nevada has declined from 61.95 per cent in 1984 to 42.64 per cent in 2016. On the Las Vegas Strip, the decline over the same years was from 58.63 per cent to 34.24 per cent1. Clearly, the gaming industry changes their revenue model and experiments with new products all the time. What if Nevada had to rely only on the old business model?
For example, we can look at one segment of the market and why creating something new (innovation) is important: How will Millennials' needs and expectations change the gambling industr y, and who will innovate to meet the new needs and expectations? THE PERENNIAL MILLENNIAL
Many are talking about the Millennials like it is a new species. Think back to your youth — apart from advances in technology and a change in environment, is it that really that different from the one Baby Boomers or GenXers were raised in? Most of us, no doubt have parents of a different generation. (Do you think they didn’t question your behaviors and lifestyle?) No doubt many of us are parents of Millennials. That means nothing more than people and times are changing and will continue that way. The environment and activities you participated in while growing up influenced your behavior and what you do today. It’s no different with today’s Millennials, and therefore, expect them (much like you when you were young) to behave and enjoy different lifestyles from past generations. We did not grow up with video games, virtual reality, drones, the Internet, and a computer in our pocket 24 hours a day, but like Baby Boomers, the Millennials are an attractive market with needs. Change may be the only constant. Robotics, avatars, machine learning, artificial intelligence, self-driving vehicles, quantum control, new work environments/lifestyles, and more will change our business, jobs, and the needs of customers. A book copywritten in 1994, entitled “Competing for the Future,” by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad, still has a number of applicable messages about remaining competitive and innovative. CUSTOMERS + NEED = OPPORTUNITY
It is still about needs and customers. It is hard to see a need and innovate ways to fill those needs when you’ve been a part of one business or industry too long. “Whole industries become vulnerable to new rules when all the incumbents accept, more or less, the same industry conventions. An industry full of clones is an opportunity for any company that isn’t locked into the dominant managerial frame.”2
1. Dr. David G. Schwartz, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Center for Gaming Research, “Nevada Casinos: Departmental Revenues, 1984-2016, http:// gaming.unlv.edu/reports/NV_departments_historic.pdf (accessed on May 11, 2017) 2. Gary Hamel & C. K. Prahalad, “Competing For The Future,” Harvard Business School Press, 1994, pg. 58 Canadian Gaming Business | 9