Executive Development in Hong Kong

While many of the major economies of the world such as Japan, the United States, England, and Germany are caught in the jaws of a major recession and large international corporations from industry after industry are going through a period of not just low profits but operating at significant losses, the Hong Kong economy is on a roll. It is being driven by its important symbiotic relationship to the 1990's economic miracle, the People's Republic of China which has experienced a GDP increase of 12.8% last year and 14.1% in the first quarter this year, 1993; which has grown rapidly to be the largest exporter to the US market for twelve different products and is now the US's number two deficit in imports versus exports. Hong Kong is playing a major role in that growth; Hong Kong employers now employ more than 3,000,000 employees in the PRC which interestingly, is more than they employ in Hong Kong. Little Hong Kong, with a population of just over 5.5 million, is the biggest player of the foreign direct investors in China today, larger than even Japan or the US. Hong Kong's GDP/Capita surpassed that of Great Britain this year and its government just announced as this is being written salary increases for the next fiscal year of 10.66% surely one of the highest in the world in this time of economic recession throughout most of the developed economies; the index of its stock market, the Hang Sang Index, has increased in value in the first half of this year nearly 40%. Hong Kong is definitely on a roll but it also has serious problems especially in terms of the topic of this article, Management Development. Week after week, there are over 100 pages of employment ads in its major newspaper, The South China Morning Post. The purpose of this article is to describe the unique features and problems in Hong Kong's development of its executive pool.