At home at the epicentre of publishing (hktdc.com)


For Peter Gordon, Hong Kong is the ideal place to develop and export world-class services

An expatriate American who "didn't want to go back", technology and e-publishing entrepreneur Peter Gordon explains why Hong Kong's efficiency has enabled him to take on the previously dominant multinationals - and given him a place to truly call home.

'I moved to Hong Kong in 1985 on a two-year contract with a US computer multinational. They wanted to send me back at the end of an extension or two, and I didn't want to go.

Image Alpha (Holdings), our flagship company, started as a technology consulting and R&D firm specialising in Asian-language computer products. Later, we began a consultancy in Russian trade and business development, established the Russian chamber of commerce, and helped the Russian Foreign Ministry establish the Consulate-General here. We helped Hong Kong companies set up factories in Russia and established our own semiconductor design and trading operation.

Paddyfield.com, the online and mail-order bookseller, was set up as a technology project in 1999 and, due to its success, spun off the following year.

Involvement in the book business led to taking over Chameleon Press, a small local publisher, which is now probably Hong Kong's leading English-language publisher of "trade" books (novels, non-fiction, poetry, etc.) and is also the exporter in Image Alpha's stable of operations. Other book-related projects include the Asian Review of Books and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, now probably East Asia's leading English-language literary event, which is run out of our offices.

We are still active in developing new internet-based or internet-enabled businesses.

Operating efficiencies boost bottom line

Paddyfield.com now has eight-figure revenues and is one of Hong Kong's leading book retailers. It has displaced multinationals who previously dominated what are its main areas of activities.

Hong Kong's business efficiency and low-operating costs has allowed us to build a business that dominates a sector - something that would have been very difficult for a company or our size to achieve in, for example, the US.

One of Hong Kong's advantages as a place to do business is that it is, both literally and metaphorically, a very small place. Few meetings need take place more than 15 minutes away. It is very easy to find the key people in any given business or industry and the concentration of business activities (chambers of commerce, seminars, get-togethers, clubs and the like) means that one tends to meet potential business partners all the time.

For people who do not live here, this is hard to visualise. It is as if all of New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles were concentrated between Wall St and Times Square.

Hong Kong's other main advantage is that it works very well due to the banking system, excellent public transport, advanced telecommunications and degree of tri-lingualism (Cantonese, English and Mandarin). Finally, people here just like doing business. This means that there is always someone to transact or partner with, in almost anything, or at the very least, someone who will take the idea seriously enough to discuss it in depth.

As far as the publishing business is concerned, Hong Kong is one of the centres of the world printing industry, perhaps the centre. There is considerable technical expertise readily at hand and prices are very good indeed. As a result, the break-even point is lower than similar projects would be in other places. We can make small print runs pay.

Hub for world media

It is also the place where the media are based, among them the Far Eastern Economic Review, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune and Asian Wall Street Journal. In general, companies and individuals here have more regional and international experience than companies and people elsewhere. With better airline connections, better broadcasters and more, Hong Kong is the regional transport and logistics hub with the resulting efficiencies. And staff are hard-working and efficient.

As for the mainland, we feel that our products, services and specialisations (books, education, etc.) will be in demand in the second phase of China's development. This is beginning to happen now, and our business has started to expand there.

We also feel well-placed to use Hong Kong as a base from which to expand to other key countries in the region. The Hong Kong market is sophisticated and cosmopolitan: "if you can make it here, you make it anywhere". It has forced us to develop world-class services, which we can now begin to introduce elsewhere.

I also fell in love, married and had a family here. From that perspective, the advantages of Hong Kong are all the more obvious. We live 20 minutes from downtown and upstairs from a beach. Food is of excellent quality, fresh and relatively inexpensive. Schools are as good as just about anywhere, and children grow with a wide range of cultural opportunities. Am I glad I started my business in Hong Kong and decided to live here? Yes. Well, it worked, didn't it?'