Business

The story of an entrepreneur and his eco-friendly business by Nicole Kwok Graffiti is often associated with vandalism and rebellion, but with the growing popularity of street cultures, graffiti is now becoming a booming commercial design element, especially for interior design. "Couldn't say Hong Kong is a place that embraces graffiti as much as in the UK, Brazil, or Germany," said Hannah Smith, director of creative company Graffiti4hire. "But I think more people are changing this by subtly putting graffiti up in interiors, commercial spaces, or on objects meant for marketing use. They want people to see them as aesthetic pieces of arts." Graffiti4hire is a UK creative company that contacts graffiti artists for customers who plan to have graffitis for their businesses as design solutions. The company launched in Hong Kong in 2014 because they saw growing potentials from emerging popularity of graffitis. Since then, they have hired six local artists and over 100 international artists. The company's business has 2-3 per cent of steady growth every year. They are planning to do pop up exhibitions for their artists in the future, hoping to showcase their work and attract more opportunities. "Clients range from restaurants and our commercial spaces to hotels and gyms,"  Smith said. Rocky Lam, owner of New York Diner in North Point, put graffiti on three walls in the restaurant. "What kind of art could make a statement and create the vibrancy that my restaurant needs?" said Lam. "Then came the idea of having graffiti as my major design element here." He said the cost of putting up graffitis is at least 20 per cent less compared to other design decorations like brass pipes and lamps that relate to his restaurant's industrial, New York style theme. They help to market his business. "I think they have …

  Automatically generated news has flooded the financial news industry. But is it as good as the stuff produced by humans? by Alfred Lam and Daniel Ma News is not necessarily written by humans nowadays. Computers can do the job too. Computer programs such as Automated Insights and Narrative Science have been helping news agencies like the Associated Press (AP), Forbes and Yahoo to automatically generate articles based on financial data and sport competition results. AP now produces nearly 4,300 earnings stories per quarter – a 14-fold increase over its human efforts, according to Automated Insights. Ryan Thornburg, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said there is an initial capital cost  in using such software, but then the cost of generating the articles gradually falls. The snag is that the articles may not be of high quality. Thornburg added that with technology, journalists who only have basic skills such as describing traffic accidents and recording videos will have difficulties finding jobs. "Students who want to be journalists need to learn how to make good use of these tools," Thornburg added. "They need to go more in-depth than the algorithms can." He said only a few companies can compete in the area of automated article generation since most news organizations do not have a big enough to justify the use of such a technology. But Tom Grundy, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Free Press, said the technology is immature. "You still need human beings for the analysis and context." Grundy said machine journalism needs many more years to move beyond writing dumb stories and start to produce quality journalism or important investigations. The chief editor said he did not know any news organizations in Hong Kong that adopt this technology. "Basic stories like financial results and sports …

  by Daniel Ma The Environmental Bureau launched  the Charter of External Light in January after three years of heated debate. The aim is supposed to reduce light pollution and energy wastage. More than 800 companies and organizations are participating in the event. They will get a Platinum Award if they switch off their external lighting between 11 p.m. and  7 a.m.. Those which turn off their  lights between midnight and 7 a.m, will get  the Gold Award. Ruth Law, who lives in Mong Kok, said the government should penalise those who leave their lights on around the clock because of the nuisance to the neighbourhood. " Businesses should bear liabilities because they are ignoring residents' health and people living nearby should be able to claim compensation," Mr. Law said. Jason Chun Shing Pun, a principal lecturer at the Department of Physics at University of Hong Kong said energy-saving lighting devices are to blame for the light pollution. "Using energy-saving lights means that their electricity charges would drop while the lights can be even brighter than regular lighting. This is incentive for the shops to turn on their lights for longer," he said. Despite concern expressed by some in the business sector, the problem remains because bill boards are often regarded as a special features of Hong Kong, often shown in promotional photographs of the city. "The external lighting of restaurants and hot-pot shops in areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Lan Kwai Fong are an attraction," said Ricky Lam Kwok-Leung, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurant and Related Trades Limited. Mr Lam said consumers might think the restaurants are closed if they switch off their external lights after 11 p.m. Following the launch of the Charter of External Light, Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for the Environment was …

  By Isabella Lo and Ellen He Small businesses in Hong Kong are facing challenges caused by price-cut promotions by large firms, following the implementation of the Competition Ordinance. The Competition Ordinance (the "Ordinance"), passed by the Legislative Council in June 2012, has come into full implementation since December 14, 2015. The Competition Commission, an independent statutory body established under the Ordinance, had already received about five hundred complaints from all sectors across the territory before the law came into effect, according to Anna Wu Hung-yuk, Chairperson of the commission. Days before and after the commencement, stores selling electronics and sports products in Mong Kok had cut down the prices. For example, Fortress, an electronics chain, offered customers a discount up to 20 per cent for selected products, as stated on its official Facebook page. The Competition Ordinance is an economic legislation aiming to "prohibit conduct that prevents, restricts or distorts competition in Hong Kong". It adjusts business relationships by prohibiting three kinds of anti-competition conducts: anti-competitive agreements, concerted practices and decisions; abuse of market power; merger and acquisition (only applicable to the telecommunications industry). According to Thomas Cheng Kin-hon, an antitrust lawyer and member of the commission, the law should have given small businesses greater room because it "aims to ensure level playing field so that businesses can compete on their merits." In particular, "The Second Conduct Rule prohibits of abuse of substantial degree of market power, which means that small businesses should be able to compete better," he said. Before and shortly after the law came into effect, however, a large scale of stores including the large enterprises offer great discounts like 40 per cent off, leading to heavy pressure on small businesses. "When large corporations and small businesses both make sales, the former is surely at an advantage," …