Hong Kong Manufacturing SMEs: Preparing for the Future

53Renley focuses a good deal of attention on stafftraining. Its Hong Kong production staff is trainedby its Swiss technicians in traditional Swiss assemblymethods for producing high quality watches. Thisgives the company a standard of quality assurancethat many other companies cannot emulate. In1994, Renley was the first watch manufacturer inHong Kong to obtain ISO9001 certification and allits operating procedures are based on the ISO9001standard for quality assurance. Renley has receivedquality awards from the Hong Kong ProductivityCouncil, the Hong Kong Industry Department, andfrom others.On other operational issues, in terms of cashmanagement Renley has established a goodrelationship with its bank and has set aside a cashreserve to act as a buffer against short-to-mediumtermissues such as SARS and economic downturns.To overcome overdependence on one customer,Renley decided to expand its marketing activitiesand participate in more trade fairs and exhibitions.The company also focused on diversifying to includeODM and OBM to move beyond price-competitiveOEM operations.In terms of management, Mr Lau manages thecompany very closely. He thinks that the way todeal with challenges and issues that often areunforeseen is to be informed and “hands on.” Tothis end, Mr Lau gets daily reports from his toplinemanagers, and speaks to them either in personor via telephone during most working days. Duringdiscussions with his management team, Mr Lauremains open-minded and receptive to their ideas.Once Mr Lau has considered the thoughts of hismanagers, conclusions are drawn and decisionsare made and implemented together as a team.Mr Lau has found that this approach motivatesstaff and results in a happier and more productiveworkplace.Renley has overcome most of its challenges byfocusing on niche market opportunities, by doingthings differently, and not blindly following the packof other companies in the watch industry, and byfocusing on value adding activities such as researchand development, innovation, design, and branding.Future PlansRenley’s goal over the next decade is to become aleader in watch manufacturing and in operating abranded watch business in Hong Kong. In addition,Renley plans to grow its retail network, mainly inChina but also in Hong Kong, as well as focusingon the development of its watch brands. Expandingthe OEM business will be a lower priority given thecommodity nature of that business.Renley will keep manufacturing in Switzerlandbecause the company still has a lot of customerswho want Swiss-made watches. Renley will alsocontinue manufacturing in Hong Kong because itis easy for Mr Lau to manage and because manymembers of Renley’s Hong Kong staff have beenwith the company for up to 25 years and are veryexperienced in making watches. However, Mr Laufeels that the Hong Kong factory may get smalleras some of his Hong Kong based staff retire, notingthat it is quite difficult to find new staff in HongKong who have the skills that Renley needs. For thetime being, Renley is still reluctant to do large scalemanufacturing in China because of uncertainty inlabour markets and regulation.