Strategic model for global competitiveness of Hong Kong manufacturing industries

In this era of globalization, countries are facing global markets and global competitors. To sustain global competitiveness in the 21St century, it is important that countries develop and implement globally competitive strategies to compete strongly in the global market. Hong Kong manufacturing industries are losing out quality and technology competitive advantages to the other three Asian Little Dragons while they may also fade in cost rivalry with the newly emerging East Asian economies. Hong Kong is now at the crossroads of industrial transformation. Various research projects investigating the future development direction of the Hong Kong manufacturing industries have been accomplished. Most of them were initiated by the Hong Kong government. The majority of these research studies follow a similar approach on projecting the future development strategies of the Hong Kong manufacturing industries by consolidating the findings from mass surveys and structured interviews of the targeted manufacturing industries. However, none of them has tried to apply some national development models on the Hong Kong's manufacturing situation to determine the future development strategies. The aim of this research is to analyze, with the application of the Generalized Double Diamond Model which is modified from the famous Porter's Diamond of National Competitive Advantages model, how Hong Kong manufacturing industries can become more globally competitive. A theoretical global competitiveness model for the Hong Kong manufacturing industries was firstly formulated by studying extensive literature review. This proposed model was then tested by a questionnaire survey and structured personal interviews on the major manufacturing industries in Hong Kong. Results of the analysis indicated that the long-term global competitiveness of the Hong Kong manufacturing industries is determined by the synergistic integration of the core competitive strengths of both Hong Kong and China, together with the technologies and managerial knowhow transferred from the foreign developed countries. Both the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Hong Kong manufacturers have to pay concerted efforts in upgrading the technological and managerial competencies of the Hong Kong manufacturing industries. The government needs to establish and share a far-sighted industrial policy coherently among the government, the industries and the academic institutions. The government has to continue to strengthen Hong Kong's infrastructures to sustain Hong Kong's world trade centre position, commit to show strong support in establishing the research infrastructures, provide more financial supports to encourage industry-driven research activities, and provide more focused resources to develop the universities and the governmental manufacturing support organizations to suit the industrial and world market needs. On the other hand, Hong Kong manufacturers have to pay aggressive commitment and support to enhance their own technological and managerial competencies. Depending on their own technological capabilities, the Hong Kong manufacturers have to pay efforts to develop innovative, good quality 'own-brand' products or to develop the technology-intensive industrial products by indigenising the transferred technologies. Relocating the production to China is essential as a key gateway to access the huge Chinese market as well as the under-exploited pool of Chinese technological human resources, but maintaining low cost production in China can no longer be a long-term competitiveness strategy for the Hong Kong manufacturing industries.