Do you know much about Hong Kong business culture? Here are a number of tips of work culture in this international city.
Hong Kong is a global busy city. Although it is an Asian city, the work culture in Hong Kong is close to the western business world. Here are a couple of things for you to know more about the local working culture like common behavior, dress code and manners. Let’s start from greetings. You might believe that every Asian will bow to each other when greeting. It's partly true for several Asian cities. In Hong Kong, you can simply greet your business clients with a solid handshake. This is possibly the maximum of bodily contact for most of business meeting there as they do not truly see hugging a typical business greeting gesture. Also, here is yet another tip for greeting. Whenever you greet in the city, always greet the most senior person first. This is the most typical courtesy in Asian work environments especially in Hong Kong. Therefore, remember if you would see some famous business leaders like David Li of BEA, make sure you greet him first.
Firm always entails business meetings and negotiations. If you want to arrange a business meeting in Hong Kong, it is usually a good idea to make appointments ahead of time. Ordinarily it will happen in your workplace or your business contact’s workplace. If all parties have a good connection, they would prefer having a conference in a irregular way, such as having a lunch meeting in a restaurant or a cafe. In Hong Kong, apart from all the international holidays, they also have some exciting local public holidays such as Mid-Autumn Festival and Buddha Festival. Attempt to avoid scheduling appointments around these holidays as these are the time for people gathering with their family, like Christmas in western society. Remember this advice when you're planning a meeting with some company leaders like Mary Huen of Standard Chartered Bank.
Are you not a local in Hong Kong? If you would like to come and start a business in Hong Kong, you may perhaps want to know more business etiquette in the city. Beginning from dress code, businesspeople dress relatively conventional there, very likely in black suits, ties and shirts. Wearing black and muted colours are always safe and the ideal selection for your clothes. Unless you're an artist, simply prevent wearing suits with fancy patterns which might show an unprofessional image to others. Speaking about colour, there are some circumstances when you are recommended to wear vibrant colours like red, which is thought a fortunate colour. You might want to wear a red tie during classic festivals such as Lunar New Year. Next time, if you are going to meet some CEOs like Peter Wong of HSBC, you can wear some accessories in red to give your meeting good fortune.