I dont know but my guess with Lai would be something like this.
Lai and his group wanted to buy / invest into english football when there seemed to be a boom with other chinese owners, they werent going to buy into one of the top 6 from the premier league, its too expensive. The likes of West Ham and Newcastle are basket case clubs and as Newcastle are finding now, Ashley puts a high price on them and as the Blues can vouch for, with Gold and Sullivan in charge at West Ham, they would want a premium.
Lai's group are investors so they are looking for a good deal, and therefore at some point they want a return on their money, the Wolves are exactly the same, i doubt the Fosun Group used to have posters of Mike Stowell and Robbie Dennison on their walls, they brought into Wolves to make money, the difference is they have Mendes who has a pool of players who he puts in the shop window, the top ones will be sold for big bucks, and the cycle continues, its working well for them at the moment, the issue will be if the authorities clamp down on it.
As for Lai, as far as premier league clubs go we would be about good as you could get, aside from the top 6 and the basket case clubs, we were relatively cheap (in football terms), we were stable (i think 6 or 7 years in the premier league when he took over), debt free and just a well oiled machine (on the surface)
I think his first interview he said it would be business as usual, ie - follow the JP model, which would be tick over in the premier league, they can promote and tap into the far east market a bit (the big boys have most of the pie but with how big the market is, if you can just have a little nibble you will still make plenty).
Basically, keep the money coming in, the incomings get bigger but so do the overheads (bigger fees, wages, etc) but at the end of each season i would imagine the group would put a percentage aside somewhere in the accounting (even if they dont withdraw it) which is their return on the investment, the whole time your in the premier league the club becomes more valuable, have a nice little return each year then in x amount of years, sell it on, make a nice profit due to the club being more valuable, its what JP did but with Lai the stakes are higher as there is money to be made but more to be lost too.
Thats all well and good when it lasts but as i think Stan pointed out above, your only one season away from that collapsing (ie - relegation!) I dont imagine Lai had a great knowledge of the workings of a football club when he took over so he did the sensible thing, appointed a couple of safe proven 'football' people who did (Williams and Goodman) again, what he probably didnt allow for was that been a disaster, whether it was they were too old, they were outdated, no longer upto the job, who knows but they were terrible appointments.
I think overall Peace did a very good job at the Albion but the last couple of years he was obviously looking to sell and therefore protecting his sale of the club with the appointment of Pulis, a man who had no relegations on his CV and so you were pretty much guarenteed to be premier league (ie - high value) when he sold the club.
I think from the appointment of Pulis tracing back to the changing of Director of Football every 5 minutes after Ashworth went, to the appointments like Mel and Irvine, the sanctioning of signings of players who barely kicked a ball or who we lost a lot of money on (Big Vic, Sess, Ideye, etc) it was clear he was just looking for quick fixes, just doing enough to get the club through until he sold it. Until the last couple of years of his reign i always thought Peace had a sensible plan and vision and overall he did a good job in my book but the last couple of years maybe tarnished things as by giving Pulis full control we were left with short term fixes but longer term problems, ie - players with lower resale value and big wages.
As for Lai, what i think he has done well is press the reset button, we were sinking and so he got Jenkins in who knows how to deal with that situation, he has done it before, turned it round and got us back to the premier league (which is all the owners will want) he isnt scared to make unpopular decisions but he has a proven track record. I also think Jenkins was there with the days of Ashworth, bargain signings, etc so i imagine we will return to that, signs are there with the appointment of a young eager coach in Mooro (Mowbray), Dowling as DOF (Ashworth), signing Townsend, Barnes (Harvey not Giles!) etc.
If we go up i would think there will be a couple of bigger names (helps with the marketing too) but also a number of foreign players we probably havent too much about, the same will probably apply even if we stay down just on a smaller scale. I think gone are the days of a glamour signings like a Anelka, Chadli, Greg, Sturridge even if we do get back up, i think we will eventually see the Albion model of mid to late 2000's and its something i personally am pleased about (with ideal a few more of our own youngsters involved this time round)
I know people slate Lai, saying lack of ambition, etc but its worth remembering the Albion is worth a lot more to him being in the premier league than is in the championship, so its in his interests more than anyone to get there even if we dont always understand the methods, but its a lot easier for Lai to make money through the football side than it is to sell land, the ground, etc, etc.