MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE
-3-
Le. And like Faul?
7
i. The future of Hong Kong depends to a large extent on China and Hong Kong's role in transforming the Chinese economy.
Our commercial services must be fashioned to support British companies involved in that process.
ii. The medium term position of British business will be determined by the extent to which British major contractors pull in other British sub-contractors, suppliers of goods and services etc. Winning a big contract is the start of the real work.
iii. The short, medium and long term position of British suppliers will be determined by the "invisible" situation, ie the consultants, lawyers, bankers, communicators. There is an important role for BOTB, HMG and British Invisibles.
iv. We need to know and have the confidence of the emerging, Chinese leaders of Hong Kong. The methods of the past will not do.
(c) Resources
6.
I declared a bias to the then AUS, Andrew Burns. This is the third post I have taken over where booming major contract business resulted in a bid for an early transfusion of UK-based staff. In both Edmonton and Doha I turned down offers of more staff and we achieved our objectives. (In Edmonton the major contracts list was substantially larger than here: in Doha it was comparable). I watched closely our Kuwait activities last year with a degree of scepticism.
7.
Major contract business has a life of its own decades of patient endeavour by companies, intermittent enthusiasm by government. In my experience, companies have learned many lessons government less so.
8.
-
In the late sixties, the DS fashion was for selling nuclear power stations: British companies sold two, both at a loss. In the Gulf and Iran in the seventies we tried to cobble together at great speed all-British consortia.
We won
a small proportion of the business and were left with £1 billion in ECGD debts in Iran. The Saudi Planning Minister once commented to me that he had spent £200 billion during his fifteen years in that chair - and not one contract to Britain.
9.
-
British companies are winning in Hong Kong because of a variety of factors but principally, I believe, because:
/- the ...
MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE
>
!
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.