It's only that when most people think about, okay, just
developing products or hardware, tangible products, it
is much more easier to be plagiarised or copied in China
because the cost of manufacturing is pretty low. But,
of course, not everything is that low in terms of
manufacturing; whereas there's a lot of people, a lot of
products are being manufactured outside of China these days.
But in terms of the innovation, a lot of the mentorship
I told to … I talk to the companies themselves.
If it's that easy for people to copy you, it's … doesn't matter
whether in China or in Hong Kong or somewhere in US,
it happens everywhere. So, the strategic importance of
your company being able to plagiarise by someone else
is very critical. So, if you’re developing a hardware product,
don't just think about the product itself. You have
to think about not just the hardware but also the software
and the services and everything that links in behind it
Because that's pretty much where the uniqueness lies
in terms of how you are providing. Because everyone
is providing pretty much the same thing. If you talk about
products like drones these days… flying in the air,
so everyone makes the drones. So, certain companies make
the drones earlier. So, they may sell like 3000 RMB
or 6000 RMB per drone. But if you go to, like, online
shopping commerce platforms, you can actually buy, like,
small toys, like, for 20 RMB.
So, the technologies is
… catches up pretty fairly quickly. So, if you just
rely on just the technological breakthrough at this point
of a certain hardware, well, be prepared that by tomorrow
someone else will be developing something even much more
better and copying you overtime. So, my suggestions
normally, like, if you are developing a hardware, you
have to have something in behind that you’re developing
services, maybe there is a software, maybe there's
an app to link into your consumers or your customers
that they will feel that okay I'm not just using the hardware
but I'm also using a service behind just using
that hardware as a medium.
So, your advice is to build
up extra, like, competitive edge, not just the hardware
but software and service that around it.
Well, definitely
I’m not asking everyone to build a lot of things.
But when most people think about … especially products or
especially creative, much more creative people …
the artistic people, they will be tending to think about,
okay, I’m drawing a picture on a plate, I'm doing a
machine, I'm doing a robotics. And these are things that
are pretty easy to copy because people can just buy a
prototype or just buy something off from you and then
they just copy exactly the molding in it. But in terms of
the creativity or building a better robot, or designing
something different, or providing that service that were
probably certain of the designs cater to certain people
of your consumer groups, and those consumer groups, those
people, those customers are happy with how you are solving
their problems, that's pretty much the key to how
successful company should be. It is not just about the hardware
it's always about how the company or the CEO
of the business itself solve a certain group of people's problems
And if you can solve that, then people will
rely on you a lot more longer and give you … a little bit
more money. Just think about … it’s pretty much like a doctor.
You don't buy medicine if you don't go crazy.
If you have …if someone's got cancer, you don't just go
buy any medicine from a pharmaceuticals company
You'll ask to consult the doctor, a professional. So, as a company
a developing company … whether you’re just developing
a hardware or software or some much more professional
company, you have to be in all cases be much more
professional in your field and also be able to solve your
customers’ problems in a much more professional way.
Prof. Dominic ChanAssociate Director, EMBA Program, Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship, Project Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship
