- The 74-year-old Hong Kong businessman is busier than ever, flying the world giving lectures and advocating change for a better world
- The honorary chairman of Li & Fung is the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's DHL-SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards
Victor Fung Kwok-king, the honorary chairman of global supply-chain manager Li & Fung, has stepped down from some of his official roles and plays less golf than he used to. But apart from that, there has been no let-up in his jet-setting lifestyle.
Fung, 74, spoke at 31 seminars and conferences around the world in the past two years at the rate of more than one every month, 10 of which were on globalisation, a subject very close to his heart and the source of three generations of wealth for his family.
He believes that the stronger influence of China and other economic powers will see the world transform from a unipolar leadership model dominated by the US to a multipolar system led by five to 10 nations.
"The world needs a new form of multilateralism, we need a new system to accommodate the technological changes, geopolitical changes and a new focus on sustainability," he said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. "How we can re-conceptualise the global multilateral system is important for the next stage of the world's development."
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The devotion of the former Harvard Business School finance professor to global economic issues is why Fung was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2019 DHL-SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards.
It is only the seventh time in the award's 30-year history that this honour has been bestowed. Earlier recipients have included Li Ka-shing (2010), Lee Man Tat of Lee Kum Kee (2018) and L.T. Lam, who created the iconic yellow rubber duck (2017).
Allan Zeman, known to the public as the "father of Lan Kwai Fong" " a renowned bar and restaurant spot in Hong Kong's Central district " has known Victor Fung for over three decades.
Zeman sold his merchandise sourcing company Colby International to Li & Fung in 2000.
"Victor is very smart, intelligent and innovative. He is a very detail-minded person and a great leader who is capable of spotting future trends. This has allowed him to be a first-mover in many areas," Zeman said. "As an example, Victor developed a logistics business at the very early stage of online shopping."
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Fung, who says he no longer plays as much golf as he used to, said he enjoys attending seminars on global issues with the objective of helping reduce conflict by enabling countries to better understand each other.
And he wants to return to his academic roots to help the cause.
"I have been a researcher and scholar my whole life. Although I am a businessman, I'm an academic at heart," he said.
"If I had the opportunity, I would go back to do more research, study, some writing and teaching. It is important to give back to society in a special way."
Five generations of Fungs have called Hong Kong home, prospering amid the city's role as China's bridge to the world market, and the foothold for global companies seeking to enter the world's most populous nation.
In the process, Victor and his brother William Fung Kwok-lun have amassed combined wealth estimated by Forbes at US$3.3 billion early last year.
In a working life spanning more than four decades, Victor Fung has held some key public roles. These include chairmanships of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Airport Authority and Council of the University of Hong Kong, each tenure lasting around a decade.
The irony is, the more successful you are, the stronger is your corporate culture and the harder it is to adaptVictor Fung, honorary chairman, Li & Fung
Li & Fung has 17,000 staff, whose expertise and knowledge in 50 markets " from product design and development to raw materials and factory sourcing " is essential to providing millions of US consumers with products from thousands of suppliers.
The 113-year old company is now run by Fung's 45-year old son, Spencer, as chief executive officer. It is in the last year of a three-year programme to reinvent itself at a time when digital technology, online payments and smartphone capabilities have upended retailing.
The retooling also comes as globalisation " the notion that's dearest to the elder Fung's heart and the source of his family's wealth " is being undermined by the US-China trade war.
The demise of traditional retail formats in the US and the trade spat were largely responsible for a 76 per cent decline in the company's share price over the past two years, and a corresponding fall in the family fortune.
Despite the digital age challenging its decades-long role as a middleman between buyers and suppliers, Fung said he does not see it being eliminated, only transformed.
"People say the age of the intermediary is past. I totally disagree. You need to have the modern intermediary that is technologically enabled, with a good understanding of cultures. I am an intermediary and am very proud of it."
A volley of tit-for-tat import tariffs traded in the past 22 months has disrupted the supply chain of US$550 billion worth of US-bound Chinese goods.
This has raised concern that Hong Kong's role in the sourcing and distribution of China-made merchandise to the US will be eroded, as production moves elsewhere to avoid the tariffs.
But Fung said this is an overly simplistic way of looking at the situation.
"What is happening is a wholesale search for places to do the finishing … the components and upstream materials will still come from China," he said. "We are seeing a complete reconstruction of the trade flows and supply chain."
Supply chain shifts caused by the US-China trade tension are only one of the challenges facing the global economy, Fung said.
Digitalisation has empowered consumers, forcing businesses to upgrade their capability to meet fragmented demands in shorter time frames by investing in artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing tools, he said.
The importance of sustainability and climate change have also brought unprecedented challenges to politicians and business leaders.
He highlighted inequality as one of the more difficult sustainability issues, amid social discontent in many parts of the world.
"The inclination is to attack the problem below the poverty line, but the problem is with the working poor who can't afford to live in major cities. To me, that is the biggest cause of what has happened in the last six months," he said, referring to the anti-government protest movement in Hong Kong.
Fung's advice to his son and the next generation of business leaders is to be adaptable.
"The world is changing so quickly, so radically, partly because of technology and partly political changes. The irony is, the more successful you are, the stronger is your corporate culture and the harder it is to adapt."
Additional reporting by Enoch Yiu
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
