As he celebrates his latest venture in Macau, the boutique hotel Encore adjoining Wynn Macau, Steve Wynn says people and relationships are central to business.

Success comes in many forms, as traditional wisdom tells us, yet one needs not only luck to prosper in the gambling business but also some solid business strategies, confidence and relationships.

Steve Wynn, chairman and chief executive Wynn Resorts has a proven track of record in the casino business. He got started with The Gold Nugget in early 1970s, then opened The Mirage in 1989, Treasure Island in 1993, the Bellagio in 1998, Wynn Las Vegas in 2005 and Encore in 2008.   

In 2009 Forbes listed Wynn the 468th richest man in the world with a net worth of US$1.5 billion (HK$11.6 billion).

Speaking of his success formula, Wynn, who has just recovered from back surgery, says: “In a service business, there’s an overriding truth that I am claiming to have sort out the things that have come my way, and that is, only people make people feel good. Only people make people stay at a hotel, eat at a restaurant, or place their bets in the casino … coming back again and again.”

As financial institutions gear up for growth in Greater China, B-school grads see opportunities in Hong Kong, says the career services director of the London Business School.

The financial crisis of the past two years might have created global catastrophes and shocks and then some for most of us in the civilised world, but the industry has certainly not lost its charm (at least for some of us) as it now climbs out of one of the deepest troughs of the business cycle in recent history.  

And Richard Bland, career services director of the London Business School was aware of this when he dropped by Hong Kong recently with a dozen alumni to introduce them to major players in the corporate world. The school’s full time MBA ranked No 1 in the world according to the Financial Times 2010 Global MBA ratings.

Expensive but longer-lasting LED lighting will be adopted for wider use in residential projects, a leading lighting designer believes.

Walking into a factory building in Fortress Hill may not give you an idea of what a lighting designer’s studio office is like, until you are in a sizeable space filled with light bulbs, cords and sketches.

Tino Kwan, founder of Tino Kwan Lighting Consultants, shows up and tells  The PEAK, he had just come back from the opening of The Peninsula Shanghai, where he designed the lighting.  “I have had a good relationship with The Peninsula group through my work with The Peninsula in Hong Kong, Beijing, Thailand and Philippines.”

Kwan celebrated the 30th anniversary of his lighting design career last year with an exhibition.