Case 2 Li Ka Shing

201502MBA104- People, Strategy & Leadership in Organizations
Analysis of a Case Report by Júlio Alexandre Dias Neves / VH-75-NK

LI KA-SHING AND THE GROWTH OF CHEUNG KONG

1. Introduction:
The present case study reports the history of the life of one of the most influential persons of Hong Kong: Li Ka-Shing. The current billionaire constructed by pulse an empire, beginning at a sales position in a small company when young and working, spreading and creating an empire in a lot of different sectors in the Hong Kong market and also with recognized world companies. His life had also an important role in the history and development of Hong Kong mainly with the British and with a political intervention allowing a swift transition to China.

2. Description and analysis of the article:
Being the eldest brother of 6 and beginning his life in a troubled war zone was not easy for the magnate. After his father passed away when he was 15 (1943), Li focused in working from a low position and studying intensely to grow and support part of his family. Not many years after, with his hard working spirit and his capability to learn and to build networks, he ascended and formed his own company that after would constitute in 1950, the center of his empire: Cheung Kong Inc.
His vision made him take advantage of a growing market, the plastic flower, powered in a rapid industrialization period of Hong Kong motivated also by the difficult position of China with international sanctions, during the 1950s, allowing him to increase his market to China and growth. His fortune however came also in great part by the real estate acquisition of land from Hong Kong and buildings erected and sold. By the 1960s, Mao was in power and with his communist vision, started the Cultural Revolution that made it difficult from businesses to grow. In the 1970s, Li with the connection and help of the HSBC chairman and support, started to have more visibility and opportunities which led to the acquisition of Hutchinson Whampoa that included several holdings and business, like the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company and A.S. Watson. With his intervention, businesses grew also favored by what was considered favorable terms.
With the death of Mao in 1976 and the beginning of a new era for China with Deng XiaoPing, new doors opened to business man in China, and Li improved his connections with his business point of view, with his guanxi and also humanitarian side (ex: building Shantou University and capitalizing his growth). His support to Deng in CITIC also helped to swifter the negotiations about the future of Hong Kong and allowing favorable business environment in his China constructions, acquisitions and business developments. In the beginning of the 1990s and with China committed to opening up and looking for investors, Li was enthusiastic and since then, never stopped investing in China.

3. Conclusion
During Li`s life, China passed threw a lot of different phases (war with Japan, Mao`s leadership, Deng ascension, China opening up, Tiananmen event, etc), and Li was always able to adapt to them and search for other opportunities. When China began to open up to the world, his vision, hardworking personality, his guanxi in Hong Kong and with Chinese Central Government, allowed him to grow his businesses and help Hong Kong with a swift passage from the British to the Mainland China in the principle of 1 country, 2 systems.
He is without a doubt, one of the most prominent personalities of our time.