Tradition and Transformation in a Chinese Family Business

261 Pages·2020·2.305 MB·English

by  Heung Wah Wong, Karin Ling-fung Chau

‘Wong and Chau present a wonderful historical ethnography of a Hong Kong
jewellery company, charting out its transformation from a one-man entrepreneurial
show into a large company with multiple branches and marketing campaigns.
Interwoven into this depiction is a very skilful analysis and deconstruction of the
idea of traditional “Chinese management methods” or “Chinese companies” in
the context of contemporary capitalism. Well-written, empirically rich, and full
of insights, it represents a true contribution to studies of current-day models of
management.’
—Eyal Ben-Ari, Senior Research Fellow, The Kinneret Center on
Peace, Security and Society in Memory of Dan Shomron
‘In their examination of a Hong Kong family jewellery business, Heung Wah
Wong and Karin Ling-Fung Chau’s extraordinary book provides a devastating
critique of contemporary management theory and its politics, whilst making a
compelling case for the decisive importance of culture in business. As it does so, it
also provides a brilliant anthropological study that has revolutionary implications
for business and management studies.’
—Wayne Cristaudo, Professor of Political Science,
Charles Darwin University
‘This book makes an important contribution to the literature by combining
business, entrepreneurship, anthropology, and comparative cultural traditions of
Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan. It is significant to note that
the authors offer a different perspective not often heard from the business and
management field. It will be of great interest to scholars to see how the book
melds cultural family traditions (e.g. tribal and patrilineal, among others) with the
usual narrative on business, entrepreneurship, and cultural elements. The book’s
use of the case study method is also notable, especially how the authors morph
it into an academic tome. Business schools should take note of this book. It will
reinforce their drive for a multidisciplinary perspective. Very useful in this era of
never-felt-before challenges.’
—Reuben Mondejar, Emeritus Associate Professor,
City University of Hong Kong

Tradition and Transformation
in a Chinese Family Business
Family businesses have been an important part of the economy in Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Singapore, and in the Chinese diaspora, and, since the reforms, in mainland
China itself. Some people have argued that the success of Chinese family businesses
occurs because of the special characteristics and approach of such businesses. This
book examines the nature of Chinese family business and the key issues involved
by exploring in detail the case of a leading Hong Kong jewellery company
which was established in the early 1960s and which has grown to become one
of the biggest jewellery manufacturers, exporters, and retailers in post-war Hong
Kong. The book considers the motivations of Chinese people to set up their own
businesses, outlining the strategies adopted, including the strategies for raising
capital, and the qualities of successful Chinese entrepreneurs. It discusses the
management of the company, including relations between family members, profit
sharing and succession planning, and assesses how conflict and crises are coped
with and overcome. It also charts the evolution of the company, looking at how it
has been transformed into a listed corporation and modernized. The book concludes
by arguing for the importance of studying Chinese family businesses culturally.
Heung Wah Wong is an Associate Professor in the School of Modern Languages
and Cultures at the University of Hong Kong.
Karin Ling-Fung Chau is a MPhil/PhD student in the Department of Culture,
Media and Creative Industries at King’s College London.
Routledge Culture, Society, Business in East Asia Series
Editorial Board
Heung Wah Wong (Executive Editor)
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Chris Hutton
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Wayne Cristaudo
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Harumi Befu (Emeritus Professor)
Stanford University, USA
Shao-dang Yan
Peking University, China
Andrew Stewart MacNaughton
Reitaku University, Japan
William Kelly, Independent Researcher
Keiji Maegawa
Tsukuba University, Japan
Kiyomitsu Yui
Kobe University, Japan
How and what are we to examine if we wish to understand the commonalities across East
Asia without falling into the powerful fictions or homogeneities that dress its many con-
stituencies? By the same measure, can East Asian homogeneities make sense in any way
outside the biases of East–West personation?
For anthropologists familiar with the societies of East Asia, there is a rich diversity of
work that can potentially be applied to address these questions within a comparative tradi-
tion grounded in the region as opposed the singularizing outward encounter. This requires
us to broaden our scope of investigation to include all aspects of intra-regional life, trade,
ideology, culture, and governance, while at the same time dedicating ourselves to a com-
plete and holistic understanding of the exchange of identities that describe each community
under investigation. An original and wide ranging analysis will be the result, one that draws
on the methods and theory of anthropology as it deepens our understanding of the intercon-
nections, dependencies, and discordances within and among East Asia.
The book series includes three broad strands within and between which to critically
examine the various insides and outsides of the region. The first is about the globalization
of Japanese popular culture in East Asia, especially in greater China. The second strand
presents comparative studies of major social institutions in Japan and China, such as fam-
ily, community, and other major concepts in Japanese and Chinese societies. The final
strand puts forward cross-cultural studies of business in East Asia.
Tradition and Transformation in a Chinese Family Business
Heung Wah Wong and Karin Ling-Fung Chau
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Culture-Society-Business-in-East-Asia-Series/book-series/CSBEA
Tradition and Transformation
in a Chinese Family Business
H eung Wah Wong
and Karin Ling-Fung Chau
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Heung Wah Wong and Karin Ling-Fung Chau
The right of Heung Wah Wong and Karin Ling-Fung Chau to be identified
as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-91484-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-69061-2 (ebk)
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Contents
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgements x
Notes xi
PART I 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Politics, economy, and society of post-war Hong Kong 26
3 A life history of Fong 48
4 To produce or to die: the development of Fong’s
manufacturing business 72
5 Beyond manufacturing: the development of Fong’s
showroom business 91
6 From a manufacturer to a brand: the development
of Fong’s retail business 110
PART II 133
7 J an cing mei management 135
8 The crises 157
9 The transformers and the transformation 179
10 The eternal return of the Chinese boss 201
viii Contents
11 Conclusion 229
References 235
Glossary 242
Index 244
Illustrations
Figure
6.1 Floor plan of a typical g am pou 123
Tables
5.1 A typical itinerary of a standardized three-night/four-day
Japanese package tour in Hong Kong in the mid-1990s 105
8.1 List of defendants in the FBL court case 161