SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN TODAY!

What does the Chamber do for Hong Kong's SMEs?

The Chamber has 4,000 corporate members, with most large multinational companies in our membership, most large Mainland Chinese enterprises which operate here in our membership, and all large Hong Kong corporations in our membership. However, the majority of our members are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We are very conscious of this fact, and in our services we always make sure that we do many things to help the SME member.

On pages 46-49 of this issue, you can find an article listing in detail the different programmes and services that the SME member can take advantage of. First and foremost, many SMEs take advantage of our Certificate of Origin service. The other services can be grouped into the following categories:

Policy Work

Our philosophy is that the government should facilitate business by staying out of the way when necessary and by always providing the necessary infrastructure and regulatory environment.

To promote this philosophy, we frequently speak to the media, to the government, and to the legislature on general and specific issues. While there may be other organisations in Hong Kong which claim to speak on behalf of SMEs, there is no doubt that due to our size and diversity - and our considered attitude on Hong Kong's economic development as a whole - our voice on what concerns SMEs carries much more weight.

Programmes

We complement large-scale luncheons and conferences with workshops, training courses, and roundtables in our own conference room, on subjects of immediate interest and use to our smaller members. Whether it be learning how to comply with the new IPR Ordinance, or how to incorporate e-commerce in your business, or how to be better environmental corporate citizens, or how to get loans for China business, these programmes offer a wealth of knowledge at a low cost. We hold at least two or three of these programmes per week. We are also starting a new WTO section in the Chamber, specifically to help members learn about the new opportunities in different sectors through consulting or programmes. This is a follow-on to the very popular China WTO Study we did last year. Speaking of China, our China connections are now formidable, and SMEs can benefit from them by joining our trade missions or by meeting incoming China delegations.

Other Services

Two important initiatives were started by the Chamber this year, and SMEs will benefit the most from them. One is helping Hong Kong companies identify suitable Mainland subcontractors for IT work - we have a partnership with a Chinese firm capable of providing liaison for this kind of short-term work. The other is the setting up of the Mainland-Hong Kong Joint Business Liaison Committee, which will help members with questions on policy and problems while doing business - including dispute issues - in the Mainland. Finally, networking, our business hotline, discounts, and using our Web site to source government tenders, information, company database, and trade opportunities postings are all most useful to the SME.

In summary, we have a lot of services for the SME. Our SME Committee is one of the most active committees in the Chamber, and its members help us do all of the initiatives mentioned above.

But the old saying of "what you get out of the Chamber is what you put into it" still applies. SMEs need to take advantage of these services themselves, but if something is lacking or if we can do better, please let us know.

Eden Woon
Director
HKGCC