厚生與創業 Enriching Lives and Founding A Business (2nd Edition) (in Chinese and English)(Out of stock)

Utilization of resources to ameliorate people’s life is an important Confucian concept. It means making the best use of resources for the enrichment of life. For centuries, Confucian ideology has advocated that the ruling class has an obligation to look after the common livelihood, thus the saying “The greatest virtue of heaven and earth is called life”. Hence, the intelligentsia is expected of a basic duty to enrich people’s life through utilizing the resources. Modern China has had its share of external threats and internal unrest. While many large-scale political, economic and social reform plans were advocated by intellectuals, the traditional concept of utilization of resources to ameliorate people’s life endured. More importantly, it became the very foundation of reform proposals and measures. In particular, modern industry (known as enterprise at that time) was regarded as a crucial approach to build a strong nation, strengthen our armed forces and bring relief to the people. The founding of The Hong Kong Soya Bean Products Co., Ltd. and the introduction of Vitasoy in 1940 embodied the true colours of “utilization of resources to ameliorate people’s life” and “saving the country by industry”. Before embarking on his road of enterprise, K. S. Lo was inspired by a speech titled “Soya Bean — The Cow of China”. He came up with the idea of bottling the wholesome and affordable soya milk with a modern process. He wanted to offer this beverage wide to the public at a low price, in order to solve part of the malnutrition issue prevailing at the time. HKSBP today is a very sizeable company. Backed by a diverse product portfolio, it has gained access to overseas markets. Evidently, it has secured firm footing in the capitalist society of Hong Kong. However, as Hong Kong went through drastic political, economic and social changes over the last decades, producing low-cost health drinks to improve the Chinese physique is no longer relevant to the times. Since the 1950s, Vitasoy has been evolving from a product designed for China to one that is solely targeted at the Hong Kong market. As the Hong Kong society became affluent, The marketing positioning of Vitasoy’ as a low-cost nutritious beverage changed completely. Vitasoy’s evolution over 50 years highlights the diverged development paths taken by China and Hong Kong. Specifically, it reflects Hong Kong’s emergence as an independent economy and cultural entity. Indeed, the Vitasoy story is an epitome of the Hong Kong story.