Demographia, an international public policy consulting company, has just released its annual global housing affordability survey report. Among 81 large cities with a population of more than one million, Hong Kong once again ranked 81st, continuing to be the most difficult city in the world to buy a home (ranked Echigo Home the higher the difficulty).
The survey found that based on the ratio of the median property price to the median annual household income, Hong Kong’s ratio of 13.5 times overwhelmed Vancouver (9.5 times), which ranked 80 (the second most difficult to buy a home), and Sydney (8.3 times), which ranked 79. It has become the most expensive metropolis in the world in terms of affordability.
Hong Kong buildings are the most valuable in the world
For Hong Kong’s “houseless” people who are suffering from high property prices, the ratio of property prices to median income shown in the survey does not seem to fully reflect the reality of “every inch of land is at a premium” here. Demographia did not explain the source of the data. There was no independent explanation in the report from which agency statistics the two median values of property prices and annual household income were taken. However, from the 2011 census in Hong Kong, the median monthly income of all households is HK$20,200, which is HK$242,400 per year. Multiplying this number by 13.5, the property price is HK$3.27 million. This figure is quite different from the local newspaper’s statement that “4 million urban private buildings are ‘extinct’”. The media may be exaggerating, but Demographia’s survey based on affordability (as of the end of the third quarter of 2012) fully demonstrates that Hong Kong properties are the most expensive in the world.
On the other side of the coin, it is difficult to derive astronomical “bricks” of wealth from home ownership. Not to mention, among the top 50 chaebols in Hong Kong newly announced by “Forbes” magazine, nearly half are related to real estate. None of the world’s richest people outside the world has anything to do with real estate; it is clear that “land” and “wealth” are inseparable in Hong Kong.
In addition to the fact that Demographia’s report and Forbes’ rich list highlight the fact that Hong Kong succeeds and fails, Bi believes that there is another enlightening and interesting discovery: with a net worth of nearly 60 billion U.S. dollars, the top 100 Amancio Ortega, the owner of Zara, who topped the Forbes rich list, and Tadashi Yanai, the founder of UNIQLO, who has dominated Japan since 2009 and became the country’s richest man, are all devoted to the “clothing” part of food, clothing, housing and transportation. Both of them have become rich in one place and even in the world with the fashion brands they established.
Hong Kong’s real estate industry is uniquely endowed, and the tilt of wealth towards developers is an inevitable result of the right time and place. However, this does not mean that Hong Kong does not have entrepreneurs who stand out in other industries. Take the fashion retail business that Masa Yanai and Ortega relied on for their success as an example. Didn’t Giordano in Jimmy Lai’s era and Esprit in Xing Liyuan’s era also have great success and become the target of imitation by many competitions?
The Secret of Success of the Richest Man
According to recent reports, Fast Retailing, the parent company of UNIQLO, intends to spin off this casual clothing chain store and list it in Hong Kong. Although the form of listing has not yet been finalized, the chance of it happening within this year is obviously not low.
When a company stands out and its founder becomes famous, analysis around its success will inevitably arise. This is the case for Dell in the past and Zara today. UNIQLO’s products are simple yet individual, unique in color research and development, and meticulous in its employee attitude and clothing folding skills. All these advantages are now cherished by many people.
In Lao Bi’s view, what makes UNIQLO unique is not the sustained high growth in sales and profits that any successful company has experienced, but the spirit of its founder Tadashi Yanai who is not afraid of setbacks and embraces failure. Isn’t this very obvious from the fact that his autobiography is titled “One Win, Nine Losses”? His attitude towards life?
“Failure is the mother of success” is an old saying, easier said than done, but Yanai Masaru’s spirit of learning from mistakes and getting up wherever he fell has made UNIQLO’s expansion of the international market bitter at first and then sweet. Experience is enough to know the whole thing at a glance.
The development of UNIQLO in Japan has been almost saturated by the turn of the century. Some of the clothing launched by the brand have annual sales of 26 million pieces. With a population of about 120 million in Japan, less than one in five people wears it.
In 2001, Yanai made the first move for UNIQLO’s overseas expansion, opening 21 branches in the United Kingdom, and then across the Atlantic (10.20,0.02,0.20%) and opened three stores in the United States. Most of the British UNIQLO stores are located in the suburbs, with small stores occupying a small area; American branches are all opened in shopping malls in New Jersey. Within five years, all three stores in the United States had closed down, and the rate of closure of the British branch was also quite high. UNIQLO’s first attempt to expand overseas was met with four words: a complete defeat.
This setback not only did not dampen Yanai Masaru’s ambition, but instead inspired him to think about the reasons for his failure. In 2005, UNIQLO launched its second attack on overseas expansion. However, completely opposite to the first attack, Yanai abandoned the strategy of opening stores in suburban areas and instead focused on popular shopping hotspots in major cities on five continents. Huangtian paid off, and his efforts avenged UNIQLO’s shame, and Yanai fought a good battle.
Now that the formula for success is in hand, UNIQLO’s next step will be…��Opening up the Mainland’s apparel retail market to wholly foreign-owned enterprises to flex their muscles. Whether this Japanese brand can break out in the mainland casual wear market with countless competitors and repeat its success in New York and even Hong Kong remains to be proven. However, with Tadashi Yanai’s character, the worst he can do is try again after falling down and fight again and again. This kind of “brute strength” and fighting spirit may be exactly what Hong Kong people who are no longer as brave as they used to be need today.
In Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s, when companies became famous for their fashion retailing, the first things that everyone thought of were Giordano and Esprit.
Jimmy Lai has devoted himself entirely to the development of the media kingdom in the past ten or twenty years, and Xing Liyuan has long stopped participating in the operation and management of Esprit. Although both Giordano and Esprit are now managed by experienced professional teams, the management may not have the ambition and courage of the founders. The situation is just like Apple after the death of Steve Jobs. Although Esprit and Giordano are still around, compared with brands such as Zara and UNIQLO, which are personally run by founders who are getting older but not less domineering, “Hong Kong Double Treasure” is somewhat like a body that has lost its soul. (21st Century Business Herald)
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