As vice-chairman of Shun Hing Electronic Holdings, David Mong Tak-yeung expects to attend any number of lengthy meetings during the year with the management and corporate advisers to scrutinise budgets and sales projections, or formulate strategic plans.
However, one chance encounter a few months ago gave him a new insight into the overall state of the business.
It took place during lunch with his father William, who founded the company in 1953 and made it the sole distributor in Hong Kong of National Panasonic products. A fellow diner, middle-aged and prosperous, approached to ask if he had correctly recognised Mr Mong Snr.
Getting confirmation, he explained that, as one of the first students to graduate from the CCC Mong Man Wai College in Kwun Tong, he simply wanted to shake hands and say: 'Thank you for building my school'.
'My father was so happy, he talked to that man for 15 to 20 minutes,' Mr Mong said. 'He told me afterwards this little episode made his day. He really felt that he had helped someone, and it is that feeling that makes you want to continue to contribute.' Far more than most local enterprises, the group has made contributing central to its business philosophy. The corporate structure requires subsidiary operating companies to give 25 per cent of taxable profits - the maximum allowed under current Hong Kong accounting rules - to the Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund.
To date, donations totalling roughly HK$500 million have been given to a wide range of research, learning, conservation and medical causes.