Most people access the value of a person by judging what
he/she has in money terms instead of what he/she is or becoming. Similarly, the
value of a Company is usually assessed by its market capitalization plus a premium
of its potential earning from a financial perspective instead of what it is and
what it is becoming. Some scholars (Brandenburger and Nalebuff, 1996) suggested
considering the world with the Company versus the world without it. The difference,
if any, is the Company's unique added value. To put it in a comprehensive way (Montgomery,
2008), we can ask ourselves "If our Company is closed, whom would it matter
and why, who would miss us, and how long would it take for other Companies to replace
us?" The answers of these questions can give us a more holistic way in assessing
our values, our contributions, and the impact we created in the Society.
According to The Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith, 1776), self-betterment is an innate
of human being. He wrote "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the
brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own
interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and
never talk to them of our own necessities but of their own advantage." The
underlying motivations of a Company to create value may be for its own betterment.
It is nothing wrong as long as it is a fair trade and a win-win scenario. In fact
being Caring and Social Responsible does not create any conflict of interests with
the Company. Not to mention moral obligation, sustainability, license to operate,
and reputation, successful corporations need a healthy society that incorporates
Education, Health Care, and Equal Opportunity to a productive workforce (M.E. Potter,
2007). Both business decisions and social policies must follow the principle of
shared value i.e. choices must benefit both sides. Business Strategy and Social
Responsibility are sharing a common ground.
While most of the traditional strategic theories rest on enhancing a firm's performance
and profitability in a competitive market, Kim and Mauborgne (2004) rejected the
fundamental conventional strategy and went to the other extreme. They evoked the
Blue Ocean Strategy which suggests creating an uncontested market space and make
the competitive irrelevant by capturing entirely new demand and breaking the value/cost
trade-off. They indicated that in order to make the Blue Ocean Strategy work, a
company's activities should pursuit of both differentiation and low cost. Elements
in the Red Ocean Strategy involved keen competition in the existing market, beating
the rivals in the competition, exploiting existing demands, making the value/cost
trade-off and the selection between the strategy of differentiation or low cost.
The simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost for the Blue Ocean Strategy
was established as the firm is able to offer value proposition to buyers with advantageous
cost structure. Hence, cost saving is attained when the firm reduces and eliminates
the competitive factors in the Red Ocean. Besides, innovative offers can be distributed
to buyers and lifted the inherited values. However, making competition irrelevant
is not realistic in business world because the window of Blue Ocean is very narrow.
We can only staying ahead of the market through continuous innovations in term of
technology and application.
HKC adopts an integration approach of Blue Ocean Strategy and Social Responsibility.
The former is reflected in our commitment in Home Automation and RFID applications
while the latter is manifested in our core values of the Company: Care, Comfort,
and Communications. We care about our Environment by providing energy saving
monitoring devices. We care about the security of our home and working premises
by designing integrated security systems. We enable Home Automation of various devices
at your fingertip to create a comfortable and convenient living environment. We
develop the applications of RFID in Library, supply chain, and assets management
to further improve the efficiency of our operation. We enable remote communications
in IP network. The same philosophy can be applied in family, in work and our social
life. These are the purposes of HKC. These are what we exist to achieve.