With its rapidly approaching transition from British to Communist Chinese rule, the "future of Hong Kong" has been a frequent story for news reporters in both the East and the West. But the July 1st transfer of power has been seen mostly as a political event, with virtually no analysis of the economic future of one of the world's most important business centers. Now, in The Hong Kong Advantage , readers have the conclusions of a year-long study of the competitiveness of Hong Kong, in a volume that sheds light on both the colony's profitable past and its prospects in coming years.

Enright, Scott, and Dodwell highlight a number of reasons for the colony's prosperity--its unique intermingling of thousands of local and overseas firms; the hands-off policy of the colonial government; a singular blend of firms with steady cash flow (transportation, property, or utilities) and firms relying on flexibility, rapid response, and competitive pricing (clothing, toys, electronics); and its central location in the most dynamic economic region in the world. But the greatest reason for its success has been its metamorphosis into an information and knowledge-based economy, acting in particular as a metropolitan center for mainland China, combining the land, labor, and resources of the interior with the design, marketing, and logistics skills found in Hong Kong.

The authors contend that this engine of prosperity should continue--and indeed grow stronger--after the transfer of power. Hong Kong's most pressing challenges, the book concludes, are problems generated by its own success, such as its high-cost economy (with rising rents, wages, and compensation packages) and the growing need for more highly skilled workers. If its business leaders can cope with these problems, the authors conclude, Hong Kong's economic future should be as successful as its past.

The Hong Kong Advantage is a book that everyone concerned about Hong Kong's economic future--and indeed the economic future of Asia and the world--will want to read.

The research project on which this book is based began in
the fall of 1995 when members of Hong Kong's business
community approached us to help them achieve a deeper
understanding of Hong Kong's economic system as well as
the sources of competitive advantage and disadvantage that
underlie and influence the performance of Hong Kong's
industries in international markets. Their concern had been
that with all the discussion of the politics of the transition from
British to Chinese administration to occur on 1 July 1997,
relatively little attention had been paid to the underlying
competitiveness of the Hong Kong economy and its prospects
through the transition. Since Hong Kong's economic future
depends on the competitiveness of its industries and activities,
they felt they needed such an analysis for their own planning
purposes.

The Hong Kong Advantage project was carried out under the
auspices of the Vision 2047 Foundation ('Vision 2047'), a
a nonprofit, nonpartisan, private organization consisting of
forty volunteer members dedicated to promoting a better
understanding of Hong Kong.