Ventures Dialogue

Carla Kearns has been posting a series of observations made during her visit to both Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Forum.  This is her final diary entry.

zaijian Hong Kong, ni hao Beijing

October 31 was the second and last day of the Hong Kong Forum.  During these 2 days we heard from successful Canadian and other business leaders and entrepreneurs in the area about why they chose to either do business in Hong Kong or use Hong Kong to do business with China.

Hong Kong has a business structure that is familiar to North Americans, in its legal, financial and governance aspects.  Although these are critical factors that can shorten a business’ learning curve in Asia, the fact remains that developing relationships here is still very important.  At the Forum I met a potentially valuable contact from Hong Kong.  We sat and talked for 30 minutes about where his family is from and some of the business and personal experiences he has had.  As I could see my partner becoming visibly impatient, I reminded him that we were gaining invaluable information about who this man is, what his relationships are and the capacity of business that he has done in the past.

When you go to Asia on a one week business trip it is easy to feel a great sense of time pressure to get business completed.  However, trying to shortcut the process of getting to know who you are doing business with often results in doing business with someone that you wish you weren’t.  These trips and missions to China should always be regarded as a beginning point, not the end result.

In the end I developed several solid leads for my corporate training services and am exploring opportunities for partnership to recraft our training programs to Chinese students and executives who are coming to Canada.  Now it is up to me to ensure than I maintain the momentum.

A few random items of interest:

At the HK airport I saw this very interesting service advertised, one which could be enormously beneficial to Canadian companies: www.asiainspection.com.  I cannot personally recommend this as I have not used it myself but the concept is terrific and I will investigate it further.  The idea is that the company has a team of people to monitor factor conditions in China with its client’s suppliers – something that would be an invaluable factor in Quality Control.

It seems like every Asian airport has a rest lounge with lovely flat or almost-flat lounge chairs in a quiet, out of the way corner to enjoy a snooze in between long flights.  Why is it that North American chairs all seem to be designed for maximum discomfort?

Finally, a tip for booking hotel rooms at great value:  my hotel in Hong Kong was great and in Beijing it has been exquisite.  I was able to get a phenomenal rate of $170 at the Peninsula Hotel - a gorgeous 5-star hotel with personal service bordering on a manic attention to detail.  Breakfast included for 2.  Check out www.agoda.com the next time you travel for great rates — the rack rate for this room is $350+.

If you attended the Forum, or have visited Hong Kong for business or pleasure, please share and discuss your experiences in the comment section below.