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The forum, which will feature 73 prominent international speakers, and over 1700 financial and business leaders from 32 countries and regions, is inviting participants from financial institutions and markets as well as investors and financial intermediaries to attend.

One of the highlights of the AFF is the opportunity for project managers to meet with investors in one-on-one meetings at the AFF Deal Flow. This ‘speed-dating’ session for businesses has proven to be one of the successes of previous forums.

David Thomas from Think Global will be taking an Australian Mission to the forum and says it’s a great opportunity  for those looking to learn more about the region, to look into developing business in Asia and those looking for Chinese investors, particularly for attendees from Australia. “Post GFC I think Australia has risen in everybody’s thoughts,” Thomas said at an AFF information function yesterday.

The Theme of this year’s AFF will be ‘Asia: Driving Sustainable Growth’ and will discuss growth opportunities and challenges in the Asia-Pacific region.

It’s a future that Sydney company Laservision couldn’t have anticipated when it started out doing laser shows in nightclubs in the 1980s. “CEO Paul McCloskey was a pioneer,” says Shannon Brooks, director of projects and marketing. “Lasers were being used in medical research, but he really harnessed laser power for use in entertainment for the first time.” The company now has 21 permanent employees and operates light installations all over the world.

International innovation

Driving innovation through the company’s dedicated research and development facility at Dural in Sydney’s north-west, Laservision keeps ahead of the technology curve. During the early 1990s, the company began orchestrating laser billboards and light shows for special events. As shows incorporated more and more multimedia, it became clear technology wasn’t keeping up.

“Traditionally when you go to an attraction, you’ve got all these third-party controllers that talk all these different languages (controlling different types of lights, for example),” Brooks explains. “We designed a show control system capable of integrating all of these different mediums on the one server. We have one protocol, which keeps everything in sync. It’s talking across all the different mediums at the same time.” Even more impressive, the controls can be operated from the Dural facility. Brooks can stop and start the Hong Kong light show from a rural Sydney suburb.

The technology development, funded by the Australian Government, put Laservision ahead of its competitors in terms of the ability to design and implement large-scale complex permanent attractions. “The technology we have is scalable. We’re unlimited in terms of how large our shows can be.” The recently opened “Wonder Full” installation at the Marina Bay Sands complex in Singapore is a 360-degree extravaganza over the 40-acre property. Fourteen ‘universes’ containing 512 lighting channels are required to operate the show.

“Winning the Marina Bay Sands contract was a proud moment because the Las Vegas Sands corporation singled us out.” Identifying Laservision as a contender with 13 other world competitors, the Sands corporation audited the Laservision business for 18 months. “It’s not often the United States will look outside itself to provide a solution. But we were identified as the right choice for them,” Brooks says.

Laservision does most of its work overseas, with a permanent presence in Hong Kong and Singapore and projects lined up in Russia, India and Pakistan. “Every single week we get inquiries from different exotic parts of the world, from Iran, from Qatar.” The majority of inquiries come from South East Asia, so the company focuses on that region as a core market, with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. “Lots of those countries look to areas like Australia because they know we’ve got a high grasp of technology and we’ve got the skills.” Austrade’s backing has helped immensely in securing contracts. “They were instrumental in facilitating the talks with Samsung for our first installation in Everland in Korea. We’d never done international business on that scale before.”

Laservision’s first major international installation was the Hong Kong Symphony of Lights, commissioned by the Hong Kong Tourism Board to boost visitor numbers after the 2002 SARS epidemic brought tourist numbers to an all time low. “We had a study done,” Brooks said. “The Symphony of Lights increased the average nightly stay in Hong Kong by 1.8 nights. You can image what that did for tourism sector.”

About 90 percent of Laservision’s business comes through its website, Brooks says, due to months of optimisation work. “We don’t do any active marketing.” While industry best practice is usually to tender for big installations, Brooks says Laservision is often approached for advice on developing the tender. “We have a bit of a unique advantage then.”

Trials at the top

Like most businesses, Laservision needs to manage cashflow, but unlike most businesses, the initial outlays are very, very high. The company takes on a project in phases to protect the business from pullouts and cancelled contracts. Working on a consultancy basis, the company starts with a low cost phase where the team flies over to assess a location. “That’s a good culling process, we find out which clients are for real. A lot of clients don’t put a value on time,” Brooks explains. “They think if they approach us, we can miraculously bring up a quote straight away. But we want to give the client exactly what they want.” Clients must pay for each phase up front. “We have to make sure we’re always in a positive cashflow.”

But you can’t plan for everything, and the Global Financial Crisis hurt the business. “A lot of large installations were put on hold around the world. We provide a high-priced exotic item. When the GFC hit, everyone was counting their dollars. They put money into infrastructure, deciding the attraction can come later.” Laservision survived with the help of ongoing maintenance contracts for existing attractions and one-off displays around the world.

Working internationally has its challenges, number one being the language barrier and cultural differences. “Australian culture is abrupt, we’re straight to the point. In Asia, it’s very important to save face. If you embarrass your workers or your client in front of anyone else, they lose face and there goes your contract.” In the Middle East, the challenges came in learning to operate under Sharia Law. “You can’t make money off interest. We had to deal with a lot of local banks to find out how to implement that into potential contracts.”

Having market presence has been vital to developing the business. When people find out the company is Australian based, they say ‘Oh my gosh how do you do business?’ Brooks says. “When you say you’re based in Singapore, suddenly they’re a lot more interested, because they get you on the phone and you could have a meeting in an hour. There’s no time difference, no paying for flights.” Brooks is relocating from Sydney to head up the Singapore operation, and he expects business to grow exponentially in that region as a result of Laservision’s increased presence.

A fiery future

“The permanent attraction industry is only going to increase over the next few years. Everyone is trying to have the biggest and best next big thing.” Brooks doesn’t believe there will soon be laser overload and the market will reach saturation. “All these government agencies are always trying to outdo each other. Every client wants a different outcome. We can adapt the technology and multimedia and make all these attractions appear to be different.”

Brooks predicts lighting will become an important part of architecture, particularly in the Middle East. “It creates identity for your building. It makes it an icon.” That’s what Laservision intended at Marina Bay Sands. “The building had an image by day, but by night it’s in darkness. We’ve created a solution so the Marina Bay Sands brand would continue all the way through the evening.”

Tighe is expected to take up his appointment next month, and he will replace Les Luck, who has been Consul General since April 2008.

Australia has important and enduring interests in Hong Kong. Two-way trade in goods and services totalled $7.3 billion in 2009-10.

Hong Kong is Australia’s leading business base in East Asia, with more than 60,000 Australians living and working there. Around 600 Australian companies are established in Hong Kong, mainly in the services sector. The Australian Chamber of Commerce is the second-largest business chamber in Hong Kong, and the largest Australian chamber outside Australia.

More than 88,000 people of Hong Kong origin reside in Australia. Government-to-government relations have been friendly and cooperative over many years, and regular high-level visits have taken place. Hong Kong remains a valued partner in APEC, the WTO and other multilateral forums.

Tighe is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is currently First Assistant Secretary of the Trade and Economic Policy Division, a position he has held since March 2008. He has previously served overseas as Australian Ambassador to Greece, with earlier postings to Thailand and the Australian Delegation to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and development in Paris.

While the Australian government has made a concerted push to encourage Australians to trade with China, Cameron Boardman, head of Australian and New Zealand for Invest Hong Kong, believes this shows a lack of perspective. China is a difficult market with complex regulations and high capital set-up requirements, and Boardman says Hong Kong can be a buffer market which Australian companies can use to learn about China.

It’s a great place to do business, explains Phil Ingram, Senior Trade Commissioner for Austrade in Hong Kong. “Because Hong Kong is still following the British legal system, it has a very transparent government. It’s free of corruption and government interference. It’s a free market.” Services comprise 92 percent of GDP, so Hong Kong doesn’t have primary production or manufacturing industries to protect, Ingram says. With no tariffs or quotas, “it’s just open.”

A retail paradise

The retail sector is experiencing extraordinary growth. “What’s really fuelling the retail scene is that last year there were just over 30 million tourists in Hong Kong,” Boardman says. Eighteen million came from the mainland, with projections for more than 20 million mainland tourists this year. They come to shop in a market free from VAT, sales tax, GST and import restrictions. Products bought in Hong Kong are frequently cheaper than elsewhere in Asia, guaranteed to be genuine and follow international health and safety standards.

This presents a huge opportunity for Australian companies. “For Australian exporters, there’s a lot of liquidity in the economy, there’s certainly an increase in consumer confidence and consumer spending. So what’s happening is that people are eating out more, drinking more (and more expensive) wine, buying more consumer goods and textiles,” Boardman explains. “Australian companies operating in those avenues are finding it very profitable indeed.”

The bigger names finding success in Hong Kong include luxury brands Oroton, Paspaley Pearls and natural skincare brands Aesop and Jurlique.Australian natural skincare and cosmetics do well in Hong Kong because it is so easy to bring products in, Ingram says. “You can market to all these visiting tourists and Hong Kong becomes a showcase for Chinese and Asian tourists to see Australian products.”

Boardman says there is also a big opportunity for food and beverage producers to compete with Chinese food products that don’t always adhere to Hong Kong’s strict biosecurity and sanitary standards. Australia has a large market share in fresh produce including beef, seafood and mangoes and a large amount of packaged consumer food, including wheat, butter and cheese. “Everything from Arnott’s Tim Tams through to pasta, you name it,” Ingram says. The largest supermarket chain in Hong Kong carries 3,500 Australian food lines.

The wine market is developing in Hong Kong (the CE dropped tariffs on wine from 40 percent to zero in 2008), but consumers are still highly uneducated. Australia succeeds in everyday drinking wines, with a market share of about 23 percent, according to Ingram. But it’s not enough to flood the market with Australian red wine, Boardman says. “It’s got to be backed up by education: not only for the industry but for the consumer.” Australian wine producers need to follow the lead of the Chilean, French and New Zealand wine sector and begin to educate the consumer.

Features include the Premium Food Zone, which returns for the second year to exhibit more than 30 quality brand names, the launch of the Coffee Zone and cooking demonstrations and workshops on topics such as ‘healthy eating’.

Bonnie Shek, HKTDC Australia and New Zealand director explains Hong Kong is the ideal location to market food products. “Hong Kong is a market in its own right. Consumers are affluent and are always looking for new products and varieties. Australian and NZ products have a favourable image,” she says.

Visitors can expect to see a variety of exhibits, including bakery products, tea and coffee, organic foods, kitchenware and equipment.

With the strength of the Australian dollar contributing to export challenges, executive director International Markets and Trade from the Department of Trade and Investment Kylie Hargreaves said the results and feedback from the exhibition was pleasing.

“As a key trade exhibition in Asia that attracted more than 30,000 visitors, HOFEX provided the ideal springboard into this growing market for these NSW companies,” she said. “Feedback from the companies indicated that they made total sales worth $89,000 during the exhibition, while anticipated sales over the next 12 months totalled $2.16 million.”

The NSW Department of Trade and Investment helped the companies with pre-departure, exhibiting on the NSW stand and in-market briefings and business matching at the exhibition. “The NSW presence at HOFEX was part of the Government’s program to help companies to win business in international markets,” Hargreaves explained.

Twelve NSW companies took part in HOFEX 2011 with the support of the NSW Department Trade and Investment, including Australian Organic Meats, Bellata Gold, Campbell Foods Australia, Gelato Ingredients Manufacturers of Australia, JBM Beverages, Ozganics, Rowie’s Cakes, SalDoce, Urban Thirst and Very Cherry.

Managing director of Murwillumbah-based organic food company Ozganics Anni Brownjohn said the exhibition was worthwhile and successful. “As well as making very good sales at HOFEX, I came home with some really exciting leads. I also had a number of inquiries from major companies wanting private label products,” Brownjohn said. “Many people in Asia are looking for food that’s high quality, clean and great tasting, which is what my company produces.”

During the process of facilitating this program, and observing our delegates during their initial engagement with potential investors and business partners, I made a note of some key points that are extremely relevant and important to anyone looking to do business in Asia:

Listen more, talk less!

In Western countries, we do have a tendency to talk too much! We want to get results and often start pitching our capabilities or products before we’ve spent enough time exploring the needs, desires and aspirations of the people we’re talking to.

In Asian countries this can come across as arrogant, discourteous and even rude. It takes longer but you’ll get better results if you take the time to ask open questions, listen carefully to the answers and tailor your products accordingly.

Prepare your pitch properly

When we visited the Deputy Director-General of the Financial Development department of the Government of Shenzhen, we were each handed a beautifully presented brochure with details of Shenzhen’s natural advantages as a financial services centre and the reasons to establish a business there.

In comparison, our own documentation is often shabby and, worst of all, in English only, with no Chinese translation. If you want some clues as to how to present your capabilities to an Asian audience, take great notice into how they present their credentials to you!

Asia is not one country

It’s absurd to think that you can have an ‘Asian strategy’ and treat Asia as one single market. The differences, idiosyncrasies and complexities of, say, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea when compared with mainland China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia are diverse. Even China isn’t one market.

You need to do your research, settle on one (or maybe two) markets and then work out from there, for example, start in Hong Kong and work towards Taiwan and then Shanghai. It’s no different to how you would approach an entry strategy for Europe.

Focus on building relationships, not contracts

There’s a saying in China that you don’t talk business “until the third cup of tea”! In other words, you build the relationship first and only then should you focus on the business deal. Ignore this at your peril.

Make the time to get to know your potential business partners, extend the hand of friendship and tell them about your interests, hobbies and passions. When you’ve exhausted every possible topic of conversation and when the timing feels right, offer to start talking business. You’ll get a better result this way.

Send your best people

In Hong Kong all our delegates were the most senior executives in their organisations or the actual business owners themselves. But we heard stories of how other companies had failed due to sending the B team instead of the A team!

This is an obvious but common mistake. If you’re serious about success, and you want to give yourself the best chance to succeed, send your brightest and best people.
I will be leading another Australian financial services mission to the Asian Financial Forum in January 2012… come along to our Australasian Financial Forum in Sydney and Melbourne in March (see details below) to learn more.

Please consider

Attending our next Australasian Financial Forum in Sydney and Melbourne in March 2011. Follow the links to register for for the Melbourne Forum (18 March) and the Sydney Forum (23 March). Our activities in Asia are building momentum… please come along and join in the conversation.

It is available free of charge to any SMEs doing business with Hong Kong or China and contains a list of more than 120,000 suppliers from all over the world, including manufacturers, agents, distributors and other types of potential business partners in international trade.

Most of the businesses on the list are authenticated by third party endorsements, including Dun & Bradstreet, Ge-Ts, Goodwill China and Intertek.

Contact the HKTDC  Sydney office by emailing sydney.office@hktdc.org or via the website www.hktdc.com or by calling (02) 9261 8911.

The competition began last year in Hong Kong, to find the best teamaker of this very distinct beverage. As an event, it highlighted the cultural aspects of Kam Cha as well as led to renewed interest in the beverage. This year, select locations around the world—three locations in China, and also Canada and Australia—became satellite competitions, with the winners from each travelling to Hong Kong to compete against each other.

It prompted me to think about what Australian food and beverage exporters could do to promote our produce, goods and services; surely there’s no better way to win the heart of the global market than through its stomach?

Perhaps we could turn Australian MasterChef fervour into a native gastronomic challenge complete with wine matching? How about a dairy challenge via a Tim Tam slam? Or what about a pie-making contest with Aussie meat and pastry made from our flour and butter?

Austrade already run a number of food-related promotions around the world: G’Day USA in January every year is one prominent example of making exports delicious. But I challenge industry associations, trade shows, or even individual businesses to run an event like the Kam Cha competition that will have the same scale of positive effects for Australian food and beverage.

Rong Gen Su is the Australian Kam Cha champion who will contest the International Kam Cha Competition 2010 in Hong Kong on August 14 at the HKTDC Hong Kong International Tea Fair.