Hong Kong: easy to see it's the best place to be

New Yorker John Loughlin, senior corporate vice-president and president of Asia for eye-care giant Bausch & Lomb Inc, arrived in Hong Kong in 1994. He picked up a copy of Fortune magazine at the airport and there on its front cover was Hong Kong, voted as the number one best city in the world to do business. This turned out to be such a good omen, he had the cover framed! It now sits proudly in his office facing the spectacular Hong Kong harbour.

"I was based in New York prior to Hong Kong. But my 24 years with Bausch and Lomb has always been in international operations so I was familiar with doing business around the world. I find that in Asia, in general, there is a strong work ethic, positive attitudes and great commercial instincts. Nowhere is this stronger than in Hong Kong, where people are always striving to better themselves.

To me, there are so many compelling reasons to have a regional Asia-Pacific office here. The geographical location is great; it's only four to five hours away from Japan, the Chinese mainland and India, and there are direct flights to New York, London and California.

There is a strong talent base across such functions as marketing, sales, supply chain management, finance and IT. In fact, there's good talent across a broad spectrum of industries, and people also have good trilingual skills in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Change for the better

I've been here for 11 years. The changes I've seen across one decade are mostly positive. The increase in Mandarin fluency has been dramatic and there is a greater understanding of the China market. Hong Kong people have grown more regional and global minded. The legal and financial infrastructure is still good.

To Bausch and Lomb, the Asia-Pacific region is both an exciting and challenging set of marketplaces. Half of the world's population is here and half of it is below 20 years old. It's been proven that there's a higher incidence of myopia in Asia, especially in India and China, and there is a general lack of eye health awareness, so there are huge unmet needs in eye-care.

Nearly 80 per cent of our business in Asia is in contact lenses and related lens care products, while the rest of our revenues are in ophthalmic surgery and pharmaceuticals.

We are proud to be market share leaders, but we want to go beyond that to be market makers - growing the eye health market behind our motto of 'perfecting vision and enhancing life'. That is why in many countries like India and China, we're creating eye health awareness through clinics and education.

We set up eye health centres in universities to provide free eye exams and eye health counselling for students who may not be fully aware of their vision correction needs. We also offer the initial fitting of contact lenses as a safe, convenient and affordable alternative to spectacles.

Safe, approachable city

I was born in upstate New York, so it's interesting to compare East Coast cities with Hong Kong. I would say Hong Kong compares favourably with Manhattan in terms of the fashion, shopping and dining options.

You feel the energy on the streets and the buzz in both places. However, Hong Kong differentiates itself advantageously as a safer, more friendly and approachable place.

I have three kids and like any expatriate family, among the first things to consider is education. There are quality schools in Hong Kong and there is a wide range of options to meet with all expatriate needs. The education is good and learning goes beyond the classroom. Children are exposed to a multicultural environment and the importance of learning languages is accented here. My family is very fortunate to travel throughout the region where they are exposed to so much history and culture.

I don't plan to leave Hong Kong for quite some time but if I go, the first thing I'll miss is the people I work with. I'll also miss the spectacular views from my office and my apartment; and the vitality of Hong Kong, with its shopping and dining. I'll miss the junk trips and the Wednesday night races at Happy Valley. Nowhere else in the world is there a world-class racetrack in the middle of the city.

I always say a night out at the Happy Valley races is like looking through a kaleidoscope of fashion and lifestyles which cuts across all economic means in the city."