There is an old adage that says you shouldn’t do business with family. In Hong Kong, however, business is a family affair.
Last week, the Economist published the report “To have and to hold”, which looked at the family businesses that make up 90 percent of all the companies in the world.
One of its more startling discoveries is that in Hong Kong, the top 15 families control assets worth about 84 percent of the region’s GDP. But we knew that anyway, right?
The magazine notes that Asia has a strong collection of family firms. The practice minimises trust and loyalty issues within the business, although surely every family has an off-the-wall uncle.
A large percentage of Hong Kong’s mega families are involved in the property business.
The three brothers of the Kwok family ran Sun Hung Kai Properties…. until Thomas Kwok was sent to jail for his part in Hong Kong’s highest level graft case with former chief executive Rafael Hui, of course.
See what happens when you stray too far from the circle of trust?
Peter Woo and family run the Wheelock and Company Ltd, and the Kadoorie family get their wealth from CLP Holdings.
Hong Kong’s wealthiest person is real estate magnate Li Ka-shing and, lo and behold, his son, Victor Li, manages his property development company Cheung Kong Holdings.
Li is worth more than USD32 billion (HKD248 billion), according to Forbes’ latest rich list.
So get hold of that brother you haven’t talked to in a while, and reconnect with that estranged sister. After all, it’s always the people you hate who do well.
Photo: Stanford University School of Medicine via Flickr
