Getting Down to Basics: "Seeing Is Believing" Describes the Learning and Development Agenda of the Hong Kong-Based Utility That Seeks to Entice New Customers and Business Partners in the People's Republic of China

Harris, Paul, T&D

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It's an event that would have inspired Confucius into full reflection: honorable Asian company hears opportunity knocking in its 130th year, and seizes it with proverbial gusto.

So it happened to The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, the venerable utility founded in 1862. During the 1990s, the Hong Kong-based firm with its colonial pedigree was quietly enjoying a steady 70 percent market share when a burgeoning People's Republic of China (PRC) began expressing a need for more clean energy. So the enterprise quietly embarked on a "China adventure," ultimately opening a new business in Guangdong to test the joint venture waters.

Today, the company--commonly known as Towngas--is operating at full throttle. It engages in more than 120 joint ventures (JVs) spread across 20 provinces, has undergone a merger and acquisition, and is experiencing a compound annual growth rate of gas sales in excess of 40 percent for the last five years.

That means you might want to excuse the company's training and …

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Publication information: Article title: Getting Down to Basics: "Seeing Is Believing" Describes the Learning and Development Agenda of the Hong Kong-Based Utility That Seeks to Entice New Customers and Business Partners in the People's Republic of China. Contributors: Harris, Paul - Author. Magazine title: T&D. Volume: 65. Issue: 10 Publication date: October 2011. Page number: 44+. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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