Hong Kong

One tradition of the Business Studies Department is the annual overseas trip to view aspects of international business. Recent trips have included Barcelona and New York. The 2011 trip to Hong Kong was no exception for experience as this destination provides students with a very diverse  education . Its Chinese administration and proximity to the Chinese Mainland is in stark contrast with the many aspects of traditional British colonialism, which are still very evident today in the territories of Hong Kong

Students had the opportunity to visit the HK Stock Exchange and understand how the capital markets of Asia operate. Visits were arranged to many local businesses, which specialised in designing and providing products for Western Europe and North America ranging from clothing to toys and furnishings. No manufacturing takes place in the territory as this is outsourced to Mainland China where the economics of scale are very evident. Students were able to appreciate how the entrepreneurial free market economy of Hong Kong can reconcile itself to the planned economy of Communist China.

Students were also able to take advantage of the hospitality of the many ex Buckswood students who live and work in the Hong Kong. Not only was this a typical celebration of the Buckswood international family found in many parts of the world, but also it provided an excellent opportunity for current students to understand what it was like to live and work in Hong Kong and why some ex students choose to live there.

Finally the extraordinary wide range of clothing and electrical goods at low prices was very evident and students were able to partake in some unusual retail therapy, whereby the price of a handmade suite or ipod would be haggled down to unbelievably low prices. Who was that student who bought a ten-foot model helicopter? Just how did he get on the plane to London?

Ten days of sightseeing with tourists, along with investigating the commercial and cultural aspects of this unique corner of the world left students a little wiser and a lot more exhausted. Business Development trip 2012 Moscow.