Table 7: Hong Kong Cotton Spinners' Attitude Toward Competition and Cooperation
157
Choice Number Percentage Competition needed for prosperity 18 53 Competition unnecessary 2 6 Cooperation instead of competition 14 41 No answer 1 TOTAL 35 100Source: Interviews, 1978,
* reactions towards the statement that ‘local textile mills should join together to overcome external difficulties instead of competing among themselves.’ Most of the respondents, irrespective of their actual choices, said that this was theoretically desirable. They saw clearly the tangible benefits of combining their medium-sized mills together to form integrated industrial organizations. It had been a long-cherished hope, said B32:
'We have the [Hong Kong Cotton Spinners'] Association, and there are thirty-three spinners averaging 20,000 spindles per mill. Each mill produces over ten varieties of products. This is very uneconomical. If we can specialize, each producing a particular type, then the cost can be lowered sharing the same offices, buying cotton together. During recessions, we have discussed this possibility. But once business picked up, (he made a scrambling gesture with his hands).'
What was the main obstacle if there were so much to be gained? A25 provided an insightful answer:
'Among the mill owners, we are all good friends though we are competitors at the same time. We would talk about technical things, comparing machines and suggesting others to try some new equipment. But everybody wants to be their own boss, and all of us are almost of the same size. It is not like there are large companies and very small ones. In Hong Kong, all the spinners founded their companies