Never mind if no one knows for sure where the saying 'Great Scott!' comes from. 'Global Scot' seems more to the point these days.
GlobalScot is the name of an international business network of more than 900 top executives in global corporations who are far-flung Scots and 'friends of Scotland'. They recently held their first Asian conference in Hong Kong, where 25 members of this elite diaspora are based.
Piped into a gala dinner by a kilted Hong Kong Chinese band, the 90 or so participants were encouraged to use Scotland's historical links with Hong Kong to expand their business with China and the region. It was 'global Scots' William Jardine and James Matheson who set Hong Kong on its rise in world trade in the 19th century.
Scotland has always produced people who go out into the world, taking their skills and enabling others to do better, according to Stewart Saunders, who chaired the September 17-19 conference at Cyberport. 'There is something in the Scottish character that likes to do that.'
The idea behind GlobalScot, which was launched in 2002, is for its members to help the Scottish economy by offering their time, experience, contacts, knowledge and skills. Often this involves giving a 'leg up' to smaller Scottish companies, some of which are said to receive hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of free advice from GlobalScot members, who also open doors for them.
There are an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 Scots in Hong Kong, where many Scottish traditions are vigorously upheld. Mr Saunders, former chief operating officer of CLP Power and now a consultant, finds he has more opportunities to wear his kilt living here than he did in Scotland.