In the Bulletin

From the Chairman

From the Director

Legco Report

Letters
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Cover Story
E-commerce Coming of Age

Special Feature
Banking on the Power of 'e'

Business
Egypt Striving to Become IT Hub

WTO Watch
Chamber Welcomes PNTR Vote 

iPerkin
Growth Hits 12.5% in First Half

Q&A
Esquel Group Chairman Marjorie Yang

Programmes
Mission to Xiamen

SME Week

Cashing in on Your Green Initiatives 

Businesses Must Back SAR's Asian Games Bid

e-Chamber
Doing Business Anywhere

Dodging the Pitfalls of E-commerce

Member Profile
Sam Seng Winery

ARCHIVES
2000 Issues
1999 Issues

the bulletin


Pay increases should be tied to employee performance

I would like to add some comments to the Chamber circular from the chairman dated September 25, 2000, which recommendations overall payroll increases of 0 to 2 per cent in the 2001 calendar year.

In his letter, the chairman rightly pointed out that we must improve the productivity and efficiency of local businesses. The message that wage and salary increases should be tied to individual employee performance and corporate productivity and profitability are also valid points.

But I don't think it is generally understood that continuous wage increases is unsustainable if they are not matched by productivity increase. This will remain true for as long as the HK dollar is pegged to the US dollar, and for as long as Hong Kong has to compete with our neighbours in terms of cost, quality and productivity.

I fully accept that the plight of a group of low-skilled workers that earns less than HK$4,000 per month needs to be improved, but the general wage level in Hong Kong is not low when productivity is taken into account.

And I think leaders in business and government should make Hong Kong aware that we're may not be adapting as well to the new "knowledge-based economy" as we think. And we should work harder toward improving Hong Kong's overall productivity.

Alan Lung
Chairman
Human Resources Committee

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Member commends Xiamen Mission

Having recently returned from the Hong Kong General Chamber's mission to Xiamen, I would like to convey my thanks and appreciation to the Chamber for putting together a superb, professionalyl managed trip.

I would heartily recommend the Chamber's missions to professionals engaged in business in China -- on the evidence of this trip, the Chamber is able to meet Chinese officials at the very highest level and is extremely efficient at coordinating a compelling schedule. I very much look forward to participating in HKGCC events and missions in the future. The mission was ably led by Christopher Cheng and Stanley Hui, and I would particularly like to highlight the hard work and attention to detail engaged by your staff, Ellen Liu and Priscilla Yu.

Once again, a great thanks to all at the HKGCC for their hard work

Patrick M Dransfield
Managing Director
Asia Law & Practice

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SME Committee helps resolve problems

I would just like to take this opportunity to say how impressed I am by the SME Committee and its work in helping businesses, such as mine. I joined the committee last year, and prior to attending one of its meetings several months ago, I had been seeking a good ERP programme for nearly one year. At one meeting I was introduced to Tony Tai, from IBM, and I explained to him my predicament. But to be honest, I did not hold out much hope at the time that such a giant company like IBM would be interested in helping an SME.

However, I was proven wrong as it turned out that Mr Tai took care of my request and assigned one of IBM's consultants to get in touch with us and evaluate our needs. I found the consultant, Eric Lam, very professional in recommending the right programme and equipment for our needs, and his guidance during various meetings with the service provider proved very useful.

We have already started supervisory training under the implementation process with JOS of the JDE programme and we hope the service provider will provide the same good service in the coming months as in the demonstration period.

Thank you for the opportunity to join the SME Committee, and once again your help is highly appreciated.

Benson Pau
CEO
Wings Trading (HK) Co., Ltd.