Entrepreneur Ricky Wong Wai-kay, chairman of City Telecom (Hong Kong), is used to running his own show. When he was appointed chief executive of Asia Television earlier this month, it was only to be expected that he would do things his way. Along with fellow telecoms executive Linus Cheung Wing-lam, appointed ATV chairman, his brief was to turn around the station's dismal ratings and revenue performance. They were expected to change things.
Changing a corporate culture is easier said than done. It requires a combination of patience and sensitivity, resolve and hard decisions. Corporate chieftains often assign the hard parts to 'change agents', a term coined to describe an executive charged with effecting change, who overcomes resistance and scepticism with friendly persuasion if possible, and bears the brunt of any resentment.
It now appears that Mr Wong has been forced to move on after less than two weeks without changing anything. According to chairman Mr Cheung, a career executive rather than an entrepreneur, this followed a clash of management styles. By all accounts, Mr Wong appointed himself as change agent. Communications with staff included strong comment on editorial values, political objectivity, media professionalism, and accounting for expenditure of rather large sums of money. One worth repeating here, given that ATV is seen as more pro-Beijing in its editorial and programming content, is that he did not want ATV to be seen as just another channel of the mainland's state-run CCTV.
In a dramatic development last night, Mr Wong said he had not tendered his resignation. It was a sign that the entrepreneur, who made his name and fortune by being provocative and anti-establishment, was trying to pick a fight. Perhaps he would rather be fired than forced to resign. It now looks likely that he will spill the beans about the reasons for his departure from ATV.
Drama aside, ATV must not give up on reforms to improve. For the sake of viewer choice, it is to be hoped that it succeeds in offering more formidable competition to industry giant TVB.