Bulletin Vol. 3 No. 2 Sep 1966

concern for international academic standards. We have set up an advisory committee that consists of not only business leaders in H o n g K o n g b ut also of distinguished persons overseas some of w h om are academic leaders in the field of business administration. T h e committee is chaired by T h e H o n. S.S. Go r d on and its terms of reference are to advise the Vice-Chancellor on the plans and programmes of the Institute. ‘ ‘ I k n ow that the L i n g n an Board of Trustees shares my confidence in the success of the Institute. L e t us hope that its wo rk in the days to come w i l l live up to the expectations of all of u s ." Speech by Mr. Yorke Allen Jr. I welcome this o p p o r t u n i ty to b r i ng you greetings and best wishes f r om the Trustees of L i n g n an University. M r . Y . M . L i n , D r . Y . K . Chu and I have come f r om the Un i t ed States in order to represent our Board on this auspicious occasion; and a f o u r th Trustee, M r . L . D . Seymour, here today, is currently residing in H o n g K o n g. T h e b i r th of a new organization is a t i me wh en hopes r u n high, a t i me wh en it is most appropriate to set f o r th this objectives of a new enterprise. Ac c o r d i n g ly I w o u ld like to outline briefly the reasons and the purposes wh i ch our Board has had i n p r o v i d i ng the initial financial support for launching the L i n g n an I n s t i t u te of Business Adm i n i s t r a t i o n. O f all the major cities in the wo r l d, H o n g K o n g is v i r t u a l ly unique in its dependence on the commercial skills of its residents. Ha v i ng no large agricultural or f a r m i ng area of its own, possessing no extensive mineral resources, and not being the capital of a vast nation, the four m i l l i on persons in this city k n ow f u ll well the necessity for their being able to compete successfully in the fields of commerce, manufacturing, shipping, finance, and all the other forms of activity included under the general heading of the w o rd " b u s i n e s s ', T h e traveller f r om abroad cannot fail to be impressed by the energy, the vitality and the industry of the residents of H o n g K o n g. A t the same time, our mo d e rn jet age is s h r i n k i ng the distances between the countries and cities of the wo r ld so that each of t h em are c ompe t i ng mo re keenly w i t h each other for a larger share in the wo r l d 's trade. I n this race for business the victory is not necessarily being won by those who wo rk the longest or the hardest. I t is being w o n by those who most skilfully utilize all the latest techniques employed in the production, marketing and financing of consumer and capital goods. These techniques are changing and evolving so rapidly that it is difficult to envision h ow the great majority of the nations in the w o r ld w i l l ever be able to catch up w i t h the leaders in this race; and among the leaders 一 such as H o n g K o n g and Japan in the Orient, Great Britain and the members of the C ommon Ma r k et in Europe, and i n the Western Hemisphere, the U n i t ed States, the race w i l l be won by those who b r i ng to bear on business problems the latest findings of science i n the use of computers, labor saving machinery, reductions in administrative and overhead costs, the use of new packaging materials, the techniques of h a n d l i ng labor relations i n v o l v i ng larger and larger members of employees, and, of course, devising new products to supplant traditional ones. W i t h this as a general background, the L i n g n an Trustees asked one of their members, D r . Y . K . Chu, to make a survey of the various possibilities wh i ch m i g ht be open to our Board to be of assistance in f u r t h e r i ng the educational activities of H o n g Ko n g. D r . Ch u, who is Ch a i rman of the De p a r t me nt of Edu c a t i on at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N e w Yo r k, spent the s ummer of 1962 here surveying various possibilities. Ou r Board wo u ld have very mu c h liked to see Lingnan Un i v e r s i ty re-created here in H o n g K o n g. Unfortunately, w i t h i n the very l i m i t ed financial means at our disposal this was s i mp ly out of the question, nor is it possible at the mome nt for any organization in the U n i t ed States to raise large amounts of capital funds f r om private donors for educational institutions overseas. Ac c o r d i n g ly the L i n g n an Trustees decided that the wisest course wo u ld be to assist the Chinese University of H o n g K o n g to establish an I n s t i t u te wh i ch wo u ld be devoted to meeting the particular educational needs of this city ; and it is our hope that the L i n g n an Institute of Business A dm i n i s t r a t i on w i l l not only train a g r ow i ng n umb er of students enrolled in its courses, b u t w i l l also be of direct, practical use to H o n g K o n g business men in ma k i ng available to t h em in due course seminars conducted by p r om i n e nt business leaders and educators f r om various parts of the wo r l d. T h e f o rma t i on of this Institute was greatly aided by the imagination and support provided for it by Vice Chancellor C h o h - M i ng L i , whose absence today is greatlv regretted by all of us. I w o u ld also like to pay a wo rd of t r i b u te to D r . John Cowee, f o rme r ly Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration of the Un i v e r s i ty of California at Berkeley (and now Vice President of Ma r q u e t te Un i v e r s i t y) who has been so h e l p f ul in p r o v i d i ng the academic support needed for this enterprise. T h e L i n g n an Trustees are particularly pleased that Professor Ma u r i ce Mo o n i tz of the Un i v e r s i ty of California has agreed to serve as the first D i r e c t or of the I n s t i t u t e; and that his colleague Professor Wayne Boutell is associated w i t h h i m here d u r i ng the current academic year. Eventually it is our hope that the faculty of the Institute w i ll be staffed by persons of Chinese extraction and that the reputation of the I n s t i t u te w i ll be such that students of all races w i ll come f r om all parts of the O r i e nt in order to be enrolled in its courses. 3