ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to demonstrate that the specific path of development taken by Fong Bou Lung’s manufacturing business must be understood in three terms: the broader socio-economic context of Hong Kong, Fong’s unique business strategy characterized by the logic of maximizing production, and the mediation of the two. According to Fong, the production cost of making a jewellery product could be as low as 10 per cent of the retail price, which is also to say that the profit margin of the workshop was even lower. Fong’s logic, however, was completely supply-driven. He learned from his experience as an owner of a small workshop that he could only maximize the profit by maximizing the output of his workshop. Fong’s strategy in maximizing production through an expansion of the labour force soon put him under intense pressure to secure and create more orders for his workers.
