People key to city's success, say Post's Redefining panellists City told to concentrate on people

Hong Kong must boost investment in technology and people if it is to stay globally competitive, a panel of top business executives said yesterday at the South China Morning Post's Redefining Hong Kong Debate.

Without determined action to address shortcomings, Hong Kong would become too insular and miss a vital opportunity to engage the city's increasingly disaffected youth in a drive to deliver economic dynamism for generations to come.

"Hong Kong can lose its competitiveness because of one simple ingredient - people," warned Roger Lee, chief executive of TAL Group, one of the city's oldest apparel manufacturers.

In the past, Hong Kong Chinese dominated the top management of TAL, but it now increasingly needs foreigners to fill top jobs. "That is not sustainable in the long term for making Hong Kong a competitive hub," Lee said.

Lee said his own education had taught him the value of having international perspective and that had helped him in managing a business that has 25,000 employees worldwide - only 300 of whom are at the firm's global headquarters in Hong Kong.

Agnes Chan, Hong Kong and Macau managing partner of global accounting giant EY, said talent was a crucial competitive differentiator and that social mobility was key to both retaining talent and encouraging people who had studied overseas to return home.

"We need to create new opportunities for young people to move up," she said.