How will Hong Kong benefit from Chinas admission to WTO?
Victor: There will be tremendous movement of goods in and out because of the opening of Chinese market. That will require an industry like supply-chain logistics to absorb a lot of labor, and that is our big story. About 85% of [Hong Kong’s] economy is from services, compared with 33% in China. So Hong Kong will for a long time be able to remain the service center for China. William: There is a whole aspect of logistics that is virtual and can go anywhere. The goods don’t have to come to Hong Kong. At Li & Fung, we orchestrate the logistics. It’s a knowledge-based industry, a service industry of virtual logistics. The ideal is [that] when a bottle of shampoo gets sold off the shelf at the supermarket in Hong Kong, then we start mixing the active ingredients [for a replacement bottle] in the Thai factory. Q: How is global supply-chain management affecting trade flows? William: One problem we have with trade flows is that all economies must attach country-of-origin [identifications] and
