Achieving business success through land banking and market analysis: Perspectives of Malaysian private housing developers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of land banking strategy and market analysis towards the performance of Malaysian housing developers. Design/methodology/approach Through in-depth interviews, participants shared their opinions on success factors of housing development firms with a focus on land banking and market study. Content analysis was performed on the data, identifying the connection between both strategies and their superior performance. Findings The study presents interesting findings in that it lends support to the existing literature as such land banking and market analysis do affect the business competitiveness of housing developers. Albeit subjective in nature, the comments received from respondents are revelatory and have implications for the level of performance perceived by the organisations, as well as the experience of housing entrepreneurs in assembling the land bank and gauging the housing market. Practical implications Though not a substitute for quantitative problem solving, this piece of work serves as a corroborative evidence to improve the satisfaction of homebuyers, industry players and policymakers. The paper ends by recommending that the study be repeated in Malaysia, this time with the involvement of other stakeholders, to enrich the findings. Originality/value To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first research performed in the Malaysian context in which the strategies of private housing developers comprising land banking and market analysis were explored in relation to business success. Hence, the present study not only contributes to the existing property literature, but also makes an important contribution to the business performance and firm competitiveness in the lens of Malaysian entrepreneurs.