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HKGCC Scores High Marks in Members' Survey

Members rate the Chamber's business services highly, but they would like to see more leisure and social events, a recent survey shows

Overall ranking high

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce continues to rank highly among all trade associations in Hong Kong, the latest survey of Chamber members shows.

Some 82 percent of respondents rank the Chamber in the upper quartile, or as the best business association in Hong Kong, compared to 74 recorded in the Chamber's last survey conducted in 2001.

"We are delighted that the hard work that the Chamber has put in over the last two years has been appreciated by our members," Chamber CEO Dr Eden Woon said. "We have taken the results of our 2001 survey and implemented members' suggestions to better serve them, and we will do the same with the results of this survey."

Members gave the Chamber's performance, operations, and professionalism of the secretariat and CO service the highest rating of 99 percent, up from 97 percent in 2001. Other aspects of Chamber service also got extremely high marks from members. Service attitude and response of staff was rated at 98 percent, up from 93 percent in the last survey, while 99 percent of respondents praised the leadership of the General Committee and its relationship with members, which jumped from 74 percent in 2001 to 97 percent this year.

From respondents' feedback regarding "the most dissatisfied" facet of the Chamber, overuse of fax, post and email was the biggest concern.

"This is something that we are looking into," Dr Woon said. "We are in the process of seeing if we can be more selective and prudent in the type of information that we communicate to members, without causing any shortfall in the type of information that they are interested in receiving."

Most valued services

Members said they regarded information as the most valued service provided by the Chamber, followed by business opportunities & networking, programmes and representation. The three most welcomed information services are The Bulletin at 66 percent, up from 60 percent in 2001, Hong Kong economic analysis and business survey (48 percent), and the Chamber Web site (44 percent).

Chamber programmes also scored a high approval rate. Some 45 per cent of members said they valued the seminars and conferences organised by the Chamber, followed by roundtable luncheons, at 33 per cent. Members said they found the Distinguished Speaker Series of luncheons the most attractive of all Chamber programmes, with 62 percent of respondents saying they enjoyed the events.

Similar to the results of the 2001 survey, 39 percent of respondents said they feel Chamber programmes, especially luncheons, are the preferred platform for business opportunities and networking. Meetings with incoming officials and business delegations also ranked highly at 38 percent.

China-related programmes, missions to China to meet with officials, and work relating to the Pearl River Delta and Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), were also highly regarded by members.

Representation

Members said they were generally satisfied with the Chamber's work in representing their interests, and lobbying of government. Respondents said the Chamber had done a very good job in working with the media, its excellent work relating to CEPA and its initiatives during the SARS crisis.

Camaraderie

One area where respondents said that the Chamber could do better was in strengthening its sense of belonging and fellowship.

"Members also raised this issue in our 2001 survey, and as a result we initiated a number of leisure and social events, including the Chamber's quarterly Dinner Club, regular golf outings, monthly happy hour, in addition to regular cocktails hosted by different committees within the Chamber," Dr Woon said. "Even though we now run a wide range of such events, it appears that more needs to be done. So we now have to carefully examine how we can provide them with the type of "soft functions" that they want to strengthen fellowship and sense of belonging amongst members."