2007-09-13

Remember to Sign Up!

POLI0019 students, please remember to sign up for a tutorial session through the PPA Department homepage at hku.hk/ppaweb. Just follow the links.

The first tutorials will meet on Wednesday, 19 September, starting at 2.00 pm.

Mike Rowse, Hong Kong's Investment Promotion Czar

I have asked the Faculty of Business and Economics to invite students and faculty to Mike Rowse's presentation on Tuesday. If you know any MBA students who might be interested in attending, please let them know the details. Thanks!

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"Keys to Success: How Hong Kong Stays Globally
Competitive"

Speaker: Mike Rowse, Director-General of Investment
Promotion, InvestHK, HKSARG

Time: 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Venue: Theatre 6, Meng Wah Complex, University of Hong
Kong

Hong Kong consistently ranks as one of the world's
most competitive economies - and for more than a
decade has been recognized by the Heritage Foundation
as the world's freest economy. In 2006, the flow of
foreign direct investment into the SAR amounted to
US$42.7 billion, up 28% from the year before. Ten
years after the handover, Hong Kong remains a highly
attractive place in which to do business. What have
been the keys to the SAR's success? And how will Hong
Kong continue to be globally competitive? Mike Rowse,
Hong Kong's investment promotion chief, will discuss
Hong Kong's global competitiveness and the investment
outlook for the SAR.

This event will be conducted in English.

Note: This event is a special lecture-discussion session for
the course POLI0019/POLI0068 "Hong Kong and the World" offered
this semester by the Department of Politics and Public
Administration, University of Hong Kong. The course usually
meets on Wednesdays from 9.30 am to 11.30 am in Theatre 5,
Meng Wah Complex.

Update on Readings - and the Power of Cities

Here are links to two of the readings for this week.

Anson Chan speech to the Asia Society:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd9nk9p8_2d8qpr3

Donald Tsang speech to the Asia Society:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd9nk

These and many of the readings are available on the WebCT POLI0019 course site, but the site is still configured for last year's course. I'm sorry for this. I cannot yet make any changes due to technical issues. To find the readings, look into the "Learning Modules" section and then click into the various modules and you will find a number of the readings posted.

I have put the William Overholt article on Hong Kong/Shanghai, Chun Yang's article on Hong Kong/Shenzhen, and Michael Davis's paper on Chinese Federalism on reserve in the PPA Department office, room 622, Meng Wah Complex.

In many cases, I have provided a URL to access readings available online. If any links don't work, please let me know.

For any other readings, please try the Library.

For this week, btw, I suggested books by Prof. Saskia Sassen who is now at Columbia University. She has been at the forefront of scholarship on the concept of the "global city" and the role of the city in the global economy. She was in Hong Kong in August to give a lecture. Last year, she wrote about Hong Kong in Newsweek magazine. I should have included this essay as required reading. You might also check out another article by Prof. Sassen on the power of big cities, also in Newsweek.

We will certainly talk more about cities and how they are becoming dynamic poles of growth. Effective and business-savvy leaders in cities across the world, from New York to Shanghai, from Denver to Dalian, are driving competition among them to attract investors and visitors. Hong Kong is in that race - and I am sure that Mike Rowse will talk about this on Tuesday.

2007-09-12

PLEASE REMEMBER...

...There is NO lecture on Wednesday, 19 September, at 9.30 am-11.30 am. Instead, next week, the lecture will be on Tuesday, 18 September, from 3.30 pm -5.30 pm, in Theatre 6, Meng Wah Complex. The guest speaker will be Mike Rowse, the Director-General of Investment Promotion at InvestHK, HKSARG. He will start speaking at around 4 pm.

Please note that the first tutorials for POLI0019 students will be on Wednesday, 19 September, as scheduled, starting at 2 pm. Sign-up is now available through the PPA homepage at hku.hk/ppaweb. Let me know if you have any problems.

There will be no tutorial for POLI0068 IBGM students on Wednesday, 19 September.

Course Syllabus and Lecture Schedule

Here are links to the course syllabus and lecture schedule:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd9nk9p8_07m98jz

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd9nk9p8_1dks3vn

Asia Society Event - 24 September

Thank you for your interest in attending the Asia Society luncheon talk with Ambassador Wu Jianmin. I have emailed the six who were quickest on the draw to let them know that I will book a place for them at the 24 September lunch. If any of those who are booked to go should not be able to make it, please let me know and I will then offer a place to others.

The Asia Society Hong Kong Centre will make available free seats to other events over the coming months, I expect. So stay tuned.

2007-09-11

Update on WebCT Page

I understand from the IT folks that we will finally be backing up the old WebCT page for the course so I can finally update it. Please bear with us. Meanwhile, check this blog for any course-related communications. I apologize for the problems but we should have things sorted out this week.