Date: 2024-10-24

Degree: Doctoral Thesis

Programme: Doctor of Business Administration

Authors: Paul Barrie Spooner

Supervisors: Professor José Alves, City University of Macau; Co-supervisor: Professor Alexandre Lobo, University of Saint Joseph

Abstract:

This study sought to determine the strategy that allowed the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (LVS) to attain its leading status in the casino industry and to gain insight whether this status would continue given (i) the passing of the LVS founder, Sheldon Adelson, in January 2021, (ii) the sell-off of the company’s Las Vegas properties early in 2022, and (iii) the firm’s greater sensitivity to events in China caused by the company’s increased reliance for most of its customers on the mainland China market.  The study first identified the nature of the LVS competitive advantages when Adelson was directing the firm and then assessed whether these had been adversely impacted due to changes in the firm’s markets, management or strategy.  

The study relied initially on the work of David Baron, Professor of Political Economy and Strategy at Stanford University who as early as 1981 advanced the view that corporate strategy needed to be divided in a Marketing Strategy (MS) and a Non-Market Strategy (NMS). The NMS component for LVS was critically important since government determined who could acquire a Macau casino concession and what level of visas would be provided to Mainland China gamblers to fill the Macau’s casinos.  The key question became the nature of Adelson’s Political Effectiveness as determined by the NMS he directed towards the China market.  To resolve this issue, we adopted the Wellner & Lakotta proposal to extend Porter’s Five Forces analytical framework by two additional dimensions, Government Interventors and Complementor Organizations. We concluded that it was highly likely that Goldman Sachs, the long-term financial backer of Sheldon Adelson, played a significant if not the major role in the success Adelson was able to achieve in the Greater China market.