Baldwin Lam joined Austrade's team in Hong Kong in June 2005 as a locally-based Business Development Manager. There are many emerging opportunities for Australian companies in Hong Kong and Baldwin is keen to assist Australian companies win new business in the region.
We spent five minutes with Baldwin to further understand opportunities for Australia ICT companies in Hong Kong and Macau.
What are the major opportunities in the Hong Kong ICT market?
Hong Kong is among the first cities which launched the 3G mobile service. We have six mobile operators which provide a range of value added services, contents and applications to the nearly seven millions of population. With the keen competition, well assorted packages of content and application offering for users are highly demanded by mobile operators. Therefore, companies which have capabilities to provide mobile contents such as animation or games are highly welcome.
Hong Kong Government has a good track record to bring in municipal administration and management experiences from Australia. Moreover, the government is the biggest ICT spender in the region. Recently, it has just issued a tender for electronic passport with a budget of A$27 million. We expect there will be more tenders coming in the next few months.
Hong Kong and Macau, as the windows of China, also share with the issues of fast growing economies, especially air and water pollution. The Hong Kong Government has an agenda on improving the air quality and the Macau community has a problem to deal with the salty taste on fresh water supply. Those areas of air and water quality as well as waste treatment create opportunities for Australians who have expertise on environmental consultancy services for the government, or providing domestic appliances which help to alleviate the pollution problems for households.
Macau, another Special Administration Region of China next to Hong Kong, is the only China city which allows gambling. A recent deregulation of the Macau gaming market attracted a lot of foreign investors to build new casinos, resorts and conference centres just like the model of Las Vegas in US. This creates opportunities for all kinds of gaming solution providers from Australia.
What are your recommendations for the Australian companies that wish to penetrate the Hong Kong market?
Hong Kong is a very efficient market. Transactions take place very fast but also competition is very high. Before coming to Hong Kong, we suggest that Australian companies undertake some internet research or market research to understand the market dynamics, and prepare a marketing plan. I can help new entrants with this planning for Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong market is very open and most goods and services are tax free. Nearly all of the reputable MNCs have branches doing business here. So competition is strong, but if you plan well and position your technology correctly, doing business is straight forward and can be at a fast pace.
Are Hong Kong people familiar with the Australian ICT capability?
Yes and no. We have quite a big Australian community in Hong Kong. The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong has a corporate membership of nearly a thousand. Moreover, quite a significant amount of Hong Kong Chinese have migrated or studied in Australia. Therefore, the community tie between Australia and Hong Kong is quite strong. However, in terms of ICT capability, US probably gives a stronger impression for people everyday as they come across all the American big names such as IBM, Motorola, Intel, Microsoft, etc., which all have offices set up here and have successful business.
Therefore, it again goes back to the necessary market planning that we need to identify our own edges, get the right positioning and compete for a success.
And any last comment?
Always remember Hong Kong is an open and efficient city. In a good way, people are working very fast, and government policies and statistics are very transparent. However, people doing business are very impatient. When they want something, they want it tomorrow, if not yesterday. So, before you go to the market, sufficient preparation not only on pre-sales but how to follow up on the process is very important.
Interested in exporting to Hong Kong or Macau?
Email us at Export-ICT@austrade.gov.au and our ICT export advisers will call you to discuss export opportunities in the region.