Band leader drums up ideas for new Centaline image
Centaline Property Agency managing director Addy Wong Wai-hung has a major challenge before him: reinventing the public image of one of Hong Kong's biggest property agencies.
The task has fallen to Mr Wong, now that the company's chairman, the charismatic Shih Wing-shing, has his attention drawn to other business pursuits. Mr Shih is working his way into the Hong Kong newspaper market with his free publication, AM730, which made its debut last Saturday.
Mr Shih's name has been synonymous with Centaline, which has a staff of about 4,000, since he and fellow founder Wong Man-yin set up the company in the early 1980s.
'With Mr Shih occupied with his new investments, and having less time for Centaline, we cannot continue to rely on his personal image to sustain the company and build its reputation.
'We need a new corporate identity,' said Mr Wong, who took over the reins mid-way through 2003.
'We want to highlight Centaline as a corporation with a strong commitment to the community.'
One way Centaline does this is through charity work - every year, the firm raises funds from management and staff to give to the poor.
The agency is also involved in career promotion. Next month, Centaline will be working with the Education and Manpower Bureau to arrange talks on the estate agent industry for students in Forms Four to Six.
'Future estate agents are going to be much more professional,' Mr Wong said.
'They will possess higher qualifications.'
He said the company would be recruiting and grooming university graduates to be estate agents in a bid to upgrade the overall quality of the industry.
Meanwhile, there has been a revamp in Centaline management. Mr Wong has set up a seven-member management committee, which includes senior management, that meets once a month to discuss the company's business direction and map out strategies.
Mr Wong believes his sense of leadership surfaced during his school days.
'I was the drummer in the school band, and I enjoyed it very much. A drummer is a very important person. It is he or she who sets the rhythm and drives the spirit of the band.'
Mr Wong sees himself playing a similar role at Centaline, helping to rally the company spirit through encouraging words and actions. But building a new identity for the company was a big challenge, he acknowledged, especially with recent negative reports in the media about the firm's business activities.
Last week, the Estate Agents Authority fined a Sha Tin branch of Centaline Property $100,000 for falsely claiming in a window poster that the company had exclusive rights to secondary market transactions for Belair Gardens in Sha Tin.
In a separate case, Centaline agent Lai Chor-che had his licence suspended for two months for falsely claiming he had sold five units at Choi Po Court, in Sheung Shui, to a mainland visitor for $2.5 million.
Mr Wong admitted the company's policy of giving agents a 'free hand' to drum up business could be at fault, and that there should be a stricter monitoring of staff. But he pointed out that it was the management's view that giving agents a free hand was the best way to develop their talent and skills.
He added that the policy of allowing district managers to distribute information to the press without central office approval also had to be looked into.
'We will improve the mechanism,' he promised. He believed the recent adverse news reports would hurt the company image only in the short term.
