Hong Kong is one of the top two most entrepreneurial economies in Asia, according to a recent survey of executives from 25 countries and territories.

The survey was conducted by US-based consultancy firm Accenture, which interviewed 1,000 board level executives from private, public and not-for-profit sectors, including dotcoms.

Hong Kong ranked fourth worldwide behind the US, Japan and Germany.

Almost all Hong Kong executives think entrepreneurship is a positive force for society (98 per cent), creates jobs (93 per cent), and will help improve the overall global economy (93 per cent). About 80 per cent think the future prosperity of Hong Kong depends on everyone becoming more entrepreneurial, and 78 per cent think Hong Kong must be more entrepreneurial in the next five years.

“There is a widespread belief that entrepreneurship is important to both society at large and to individual organisations. Entrepreneurs are generally very well regarded within Hong Kong, although there are some concerns about social impact such as greater job insecurity,” said Accenture Hong Kong’s managing director Alex Lau. He said 83 per cent of Hong Kong executives believed sharing information and knowledge were needed to encourage people to be more entrepreneurial.

According to the report, the main barriers to entrepreneurial behaviour are lack of resources, cultural issues such as aversion to risk, and bureaucracy. Unlike executives from elsewhere in the world, few Hong Kong executives mentioned legislation and tax as problems. “This indicated that low tax and less legislation were advantageous to Hong Kong and should remain unchanged,” said Mr Lau.