Commentary News | Hong Kong Business

Great companies are about more than making money

The recent arrest of the Kwok brothers, members of one of Hong Kong’s highest profile business families, reminds us that doing business with friends and relatives can sometimes end in tears. But that doesn’t mean that Asia’s traditional family-based companies do not have something to teach the wider business world.

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Losing your mobile worse than losing your wallet

It takes just a few minutes for people to realize they have forgotten their mobile phone after leaving home; but it takes in general much longer for people to notice that their wallet is missing.

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Why firms must focus on retention right now

The financial services employment market in Hong Kong has seen better days. Put simply, there are more redundancies and fewer vacancies than a year ago as many institutions strive to slash costs in an uncertain global economic environment.

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Is getting 'excited' really helpful?

I'm sure like me, many of you have been on a corporate training seminar that started the day with a ra-ra session to get you up out of your chair, get the energy flowing and get you in the mood to learn something new. Many of you may also have experienced that terrible feeling when sitting an exam of suddenly not remembering things you definitely knew the night before.

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Collaboration is key for Hong Kong port operations

Hong Kong ports have benefited greatly from the region’s thriving trade activity in recent years. But now, the irregular economic ups and downs of the global market and industry changes may threaten future success.

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International reserve currency

When Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner recently visited China in a rah-rah session for the dollar—their reaction was almost appalling. In fact, while speaking to Chinese university students... he promised them that the dollars owned by their government were "very safe … and their reaction? They nearly laughed him off the stage!

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Ice-cold office tombs and flying freezers

Stepping into a Hong Kong bound Cathay Pacific airplane is like coming home; the organization is perfect, the hostesses are immaculate – and it is freezing cold onboard.

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Knowledge advancements in Hong Kong

Like other major societies worldwide, Hong Kong is also transforming itself into a knowledge-based economy where increasingly firms are competing based on their leverage of collective wisdom and innovative capability of their staff and other stakeholders to design and deliver knowledge-intensive services.

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Will US’s declining economy affect Hong Kong?

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 227,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs were created by the economy during February. Is that true? Of course not!

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How to attract your targeted customers?

Do you ever wonder why some business owners are so successful, while others are just scraping by, trying to make some money for a living and working very long hours?

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Hong Kong as an emerging arbitration venue

As Asia continues to grow in economic prominence, one of the region’s most established international arbitration venues is also raising its game.

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Asian ETFs need more transparency

In August 2011, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Hong Kong, where he unveiled plans to create an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would allow mainland China investors to invest in stocks listed in Hong Kong.

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Insurance: A job sector in Asia that is very much alive and kicking

It’s a candidate-led market in this job sector.

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Heritage matters for Hong Kong companies too

“Corporations resemble nations in that they reflect the accumulation of past events and the shaping force of underlying genetics that have roots in prior generations.” Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

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Hong Kong will top the world in retail rents

Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay is now the second most expensive shopping district in the world, behind New York’s Fifth Avenue and ahead of Tokyo’s Ginza, London’s Bond Street and the Champ Élysées in Paris. Of course Mainland Chinese shoppers are the driving force behind these high rents and there are often long lines of mainland tourists outside the Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Dolce & Gabanna stores, where they are (allegedly) preferred over local shoppers, much to the chagrin of many Hong Kong inhabitants.

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Why holding HKD is the same as holding USD

I have far fewer concerns about a bank going under in Hong Kong than I do in the US. And in Hong Kong I can move money into gold or any number of currencies.

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