Serviced offices are particularly useful for start-up companies, providing an upmarket address, ready-made facilities on flexible terms, and making upgrading or downsizing easy.
With its worldwide network of more than 1,200 offices in 520 cities, Regus has been in touch with aspiring entrepreneurs for more than 20
years and understands the problems start-ups face.
The company has now published Growth in a Difficult Decade, a book of suggestions and advice from successful entrepreneurs on setting up and running a business. All proceeds are donated to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The book probes the assumption that being a successful entrepreneur depends on luck and good timing, and this was discussed in a meeting with entrepreneurs representing Hong Kong.
For Andy Ann, who founded digital media and advertising company New Digital Noise in 2002, being an entrepreneur is not about being lucky. It's about being in the game long term.
Yat Siu, founder and chief executive of Outblaze, a media services and solutions company, says: 'Entrepreneurs need to believe they can create luck. Unless you are optimistic, you cannot be successful. It depends on you if you look at something as an opportunity or as a problem.'