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Report of the Preliminary Survey on

Government Assistance for Small Industry and Professional Bodies

Background

One of the programmes launched by the Financial Secretary to promote Hong Kong's service sector is to set up a joint office for professional bodies, and to that end a Joint Professional Centre is being established by 9 professional bodies. Besides, the HKCSI supports the creation of similar facilities for small institutions and professional bodies. To assess the need, the HKCSI conducted a survey to seek the private sector's views on the desirability and feasibility of such a centre to be provided by government.

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Questionnaires & Analysis

The HKCSI sent questionnaires to 150 small institutions and professional bodies, from which 26 replies were received. Key points are as below:

• Respondents come from a wide range of industries, including purchasing and supply, trade-relating or supporting services, banking and finance, secretariat functions, public relations, construction, environment protection and waste management, entertainment, etc.
• The response rate is comparatively high at 17.3%, reflecting the interest of the subject matter.
• A majority at about 88.5% of the respondents support the proposal, reflecting the need for such office.
• Year of establishment ranged from 1 to 76. Corporate membership ranks from 5 to 1400. These variations have no significant effect on the survey findings.
• A majority of the respondents, who are supporting the proposal, have a secretariat size of 5 or less than 5 employees. Most of them are likely to be moderate users.
• The office is mostly needed for meeting, event organising, secretariat functions, mailing, publishing and publication. It serves as a business centre rather than a permanent office.

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Conclusion

There is a prime facia case for a business centre to be established for small institutions and professional bodies.

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Recommendation

1. With the identified need to establish such office for small industry and professional bodies, we recommend to conduct a detailed study on the above subject to assess the desirability and feasibility for such a facility. The study should include meetings and interviews with the supporting organisation, as well as information gathering from the non-respondents.

2. The aims of the study should be as follows:

• to establish the need for the joint office.
• to determine the usage of the joint office.
• to study the financial viability and resources implication.
• to assess the overall benefits of such a facility for Hong Kong's service industries.

3. The study methodology should include both a professional survey and detailed in-depth interviews.

4. A consultant should be appointed to conduct the study. We estimate that the budget will be around the following:

5. The focus of the study should be on the "joint business centre" concept. Alternatively, the consultant could be asked also to study the need for other forms of government or institutional support for small business and professional bodies. This could imply a study of greater depth and the budget would have to be increased accordingly.

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