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Chapter Four The Companies The public image of contractors stems from the most visible aspect of their work - the site. In Hong Kong sites are frequently congested, noisy and very dusty or very wet, depending on the season. But from what to many may appear to be chaos arise splendid buildings, roads, bridges and all manner of facilities needed by a modem society. The general public is amazed that such magnificent constructions which contribute so much to Hong Kong's well-being can emerge from such maelstroms. Anyone who thinks carefully about these sights soon realizes that underpinning such activity must lie technical competence, planning and management of a high order to achieve the quality of output which is represented by many of Hong Kong's fine buildings and infrastructure projects. That is not to say that all Hong Kong's contractors are equally capable of the same level of performance. Statistics presented earlier show that there is a vast range of size of construction company in Hong Kong with many of the smaller companies acting as subcontractors to the relatively few large firms. It is in these large firms that the highest levels of engineering construction skills and management lie. Even the medium size construction companies in Hong Kong are not equipped to carry out many of the increasingly technologically demanding projects which are characteristic of Hong Kong today. Such fin11S restrict themselves to straightforward projects such as housing, schools, road resurfacing and repairs and simple infrastructure work, or themselves act as subcontractors to the larger firms. The construction companies reviewed here represent the very best in their field in Hong Kong, which places them amongst the very best in the world. Their staff encompass the highest qualified professional engineers, builders, surveyors and architects, their plant and equipment is amongst the most advanced in existence and they have the managerial, commercial and entrepreneurial abilities to produce profitable companies capable of building some of the world's most spectacular buildings and capable of sculpting, burrowing and manipulating the land of Hong Kong to provide its infrastructure. The eight construction companies described are drawn from the top echelon of Hong Kong contractors which numbers about twenty firms. Whilst it may be accepted that construction companies differ considerably depending on their size, many will The Companies 81 expect that within the top echelon companies will look very similar. Herein lies a paradox as they are the same yet different. They are the same in that they compete for projects in the same market, they employ professional staff of the same calibre, they all carry the appropriate licences for Government contracts and they are concerned with productivity and profit. They all focus on the same areas for improving their performance; for instance, the quality of their products and the safety of their sites. But their corporate context separates them. They come from different origins and their corporate history has determined how they have grown and with which other companies they are now associated. Within their context each company strives to achieve a competitive edge which distinguishes one from the other. All bring their competitive edge to the market place, and although they complete on equal abilities for many projects, for others their special skills and experience and their ability to draw upon other firms within their corporate group may swing a project in their direction. At this level of competence construction companies do not stand alone. They are invariably part of a large corporation which gives them corporate strength and this is true of the 'eight of the best' chosen here: Dragages at Travaux Public (H.K.) Ltd. , part of the mighty French group Bouygues; Shui On (Contractors) Ltd., a mainstay of Shui On Group Ltd., a home grown Hong Kong company; Hsin Chong Construction Group Ltd., part of the Hsin Chong Group but separately listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the longest standing of the major Hong Kong construction companies; Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd., the Hong Kong branch of a Japanese construction company but now classified as a local contractor; Gammon Construction Ltd., a long established Hong Kong company now owned by Jardine Matheson and Trafalgar House; Leighton Contractors (Asia) Ltd., the Hong Kong arm of the Leighton Group, Australia's largest construction company whose major shareholder is Hochief, a diversified European construction company; China State Construction Engineering Corporation, the PRC construction giant, whose listed Hong Kong subsidiary is China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd.; Hip Hing Construction Co. Ltd., the...

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