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Is Hong Kong a world-class city ?

Does Hong Kong actually live up to its “world-class city” image ?  Let’s put this to test in the context of the local retail trade, for instance.  More often than not folks employed in ‘retail’ show little knowledge about the products or service they sell.  Two specific incidents and both happened on a recent Saturday.  First – during coffee break at a Leadership Conference I made a call to purchase some concert tickets (a great conference, by the way).  The “English-speaking line” quickly opened and I was speaking to an agent by the fictitious name “Anne”.  I gave her a brief description of the concert. Anne put me on hold for two minutes only to return saying that there’s no such booking in the system.  After much insistence on my part Anne agreed to talk to the supervisor.  Another long wait ensued…eventually she returned to deliver an apology, adding that if I had given her the concert name in Chinese it’d have saved her the trouble, and my time.  When asked about the program for the evening Anne again apologized for her lack of English.  Finally we settled for a ‘spelling contest’ that took another ten or so minutes.  (remember, Anne is supposed to be serving Hong Kong’s English-speaking public).  Second incident – Instead of eating lunch provided by the conference I shuttled to Central to look for Men’s clothing in a trendy part of town where well-heeled locals and foreign visitors would shop.  I asked to see 100% linen suits.  The gentleman was quick to pull out three, all of which, to my dismay, were blends of synthetic fibres.  Needless to say he was very embarrassed after checking out the labels.

The juxtaposition and timing of these events are ironic.  Hours ago at the conference, Chief Executive Donald Tsang and panel speakers were at pain to identify essential ingredients for Hong Kong’s next-generation leaders, by which this beautiful city of ours could play a pivotal role in the global arena.

Greed, instant gratifications, and lack of far sight have resulted in systemic failure in the pursuit of greatness.  Are local bosses and leaders willing to commit financial resources and a work environment whereby the general public could leap frog the survival mode to embrace personal growth ?

A billion-dollar question.

Philip Leung

August 1, 2011