WHY HONG KONG DOES IT SO WELL!

By Graham Potter | Saturday, April 27, 2019

HRO’S Graham Potter only spoke, in passing, for a few minutes to Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Jockey Club at the FWD Champion’s Day Gala Party. It was neither the time nor the place for a formal interview, but, even in two minutes of informal conversation, it became quite clear why the Hong Kong Jockey Club does things so well. Their management strategy is as simple as it is unrelenting, as admirable as it is focussed.

In the words of Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges …

“A lot of organisations look for a purpose … and, if you look at the Jockey Club, our purpose is for the betterment of Hong Kong.

“That, already, means the Jockey Club makes a big contribution which allows employees to buy into the idea of what we are about, what we are doing so that they can be proud to be part of it.

“And then we have the vision of world class racing and the drive of permanent improvement. That drives our organisation … and when you then achieve results like we have done in the last year, and before, the people who have been a part of and who participated in this journey can, and do, feel extremely proud and that shows in the way our employees go about representing the Jockey Club in their work.

“Also, we realise we are in the entertainment business. Racing is part of entertainment … and we have customers. One theme that we have pushed very much since 2012 is customer centricity … because in the end where does the value come in?

“It comes in with customer centricity.

“To be successful a race-club needs to have an outside-in look. In other words, you have to look at things from a customer’s point of view. We have different segments of customers and you have to appreciate what each segment wants and understand this.

“A lot of race clubs have an inside-out look. They look at it from their point of view first which, most times, will not serve them well.

"That is the difference."

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*For the record, one definition of being ‘Customer Centric’ is … a way of doing business with your customer in a manner that provides a positive customer experience in order to drive repeat business, customer loyalty and profits.

It all makes perfect sense to follow this path.

It should be the priority of every race club

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