BANKERS TRUST SECURITIES RESEARCH
manufacturing
manager,
regional headquarters,
press center,
there is no early prospect of change. Most modern financial enterprises need the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review and
other publications that are banned in Singapore, and they cannot thrive in an atmosphere of heavy handed business regulation.
It is noteworthy that, despite years of Singapore's campaigning to attract Hong Kong talent, only 35 actually moved in four years prior to 1989!3; this writer has received almost as many resumes from Singaporeans wanting to move to Hong Kong as the total emigrants from Hong Kong to Singapore in these years. Hong Kong people seek Singapore residence permits as an insurance policy, but do not want to move there. There are unofficial reports that after Tiananmen Square 500-600 people accepted Singapore's offer of permanent residence permits, but even if this is true Singaporean emigration to Hong Kong was greater in four years to 1990 (873 people) than Hong Kong emigration to Singapore in five years. Proportionately, Singaporean migration to Hong Kong was more than double.
Hong Kong's third role is that of a major manufacturer. Actually, Hong Kong is going out of the manufacturing business, except for certain specialized sectors. But Hong Kong is becoming the manager of manufacturing in southern China. Like New York, it has evolved from manufacturing to management, design and finance. The 1.5 to 2 million employees of Hong Kong firms in China now outnumber the total number of workers in Hong Kong itself. There are many competitors for this role, but there is also plenty of work for all of them, and Hong Kong's role as a manager and designer is increasingly a regional one, with factories in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even Sri Lanka.
A fourth major role for Hong Kong is as a regional headquarters. Most major firms require a headquarters in Tokyo and another for non-Japan Asia. In addition to the reasons for choosing Hong Kong or Singapore as a financial center, tax and other incentives make these two city-states the locations of choice. Hong Kong is regarded as offering a superior environment for cultural and entertainment opportunities, but both city-states appear to have entrenched roles in this respect, depending on a particular firm's sector and geographic orientation. There is no evidence of large net movement of headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore; some, such as British Airways, have moved the other way. The number of regional headquarters in Singapore is somewhat exaggerated by firms' tendencies to set up a miniregional headquarters in Singapore (often reporting to Hong Kong), in order to qualify for Singapore's special headquarters incentives.
Hong Kong is also Asia's press center. No other country offers such an attractive combination of superb facilities and press freedom. Singapore's
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