The Rise and Decline of Hong Kong's Disc Industry in Past 30 Years - Report Example

Hong Kong Task: The rise and decline of Hong Kongs disc industry in past 30 years Hong Kong has got companies that were specializedfor the manufacturing of the disc industry. Hong Kong has been the main supplier for the Discs that have been supplied around the world over the past three or four decades. Companies like High Tech Corp ltd in Hong Kong are specialized in the disc manufacturing. They have manufactures CDs, VCDs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, and even DVDs. The optical disc industry has been a booming industry in the past years (Chiu, 1999). Hong Kong is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of film. They also produce the films, and they sell them. In the year 2009, there were 51 films that were locally produced. The demand for the storage was on the rise with the continuing changes in technology and over the last decade technology has undoubtedly changed. This called for an increase in the storage capacities of computers, and thus it created an avenue for the Hong Kong manufacturers to start the disc manufacturing. The manufacturers are based on houses in the city, and they manufacture millions of discs every day which are then supplied all over the world to create storage space for computers and other forms of data. The disc industry has helped the people of Hong Kong in such a way that the industry has provided employment and income to the city. The manufacturers are able to manufacture discs by using the magnetic technology and other technologies and being able to manufacture the storage space of the data. They are able to manufacture hard disks, flash disks, and other types of discs that is used to keep and store data in computers (Earnshaw, 2005). The first Asian city to enforce a ban against piracy was Hong Kong of any kind of media this is because, since they were the manufacturers of discs, then there was a probability of people pirating media information that was burned in to the discs. This caused artists to earn low income, and some of them lost their property because they were making losses. The anti piracy enforcement authorities in Hong Kong has tried its best to ensure that they are able to wipe out piracy in the city. Pirating of movies, music and any kinds of media was being done in a volume of up to more than five million discs every day. It was a legitimate business that could last the city for decades, but at the same time, it was giving Hong Kong an exceedingly inappropriate name to its publicity. The authority conducts patrols every day to make sure that they eliminate this kind of dirty business. At the same time, the anti piracy authorities have to fight with people conducting illegal manufacturing of discs in the city. Because of the huge population in Hong Kong, there is a lack of employment; hence people resolve to production of illegal discs which are in turn, smuggled out of the country and then they are supplied to the outside world. The authorities have to fight with cartels that are carrying out these kinds of illegal manufacturing and these results to loss of income. In the last years, the authority has managed to cut short most of the illegal trade, and this has immensely benefited the legit manufacturers to gain their market back. People can also trust the products that are being produced currently because they are of exceptional quality (Farhoomand, 2005). The authority has also been trying to manage the number of manufacturers that are being registered and permitted to manufacture the discs. This has ensured that companies are not able to conduct piracy under any circumstances. This has been done to ensure that the city is held piracy free and that the citys name is not committing business suicide. This has in turn led to people losing their jobs and has increased the poverty levels of the people in the city. The authority that was created has managed to give full legislation. The government has managed to create a legal framework of the city that will guide and rule how they will be able to prevent the levels of piracy. This law has provided investors with a legal avenue to conduct their business on fair grounds and they are not afraid of losing their wealth to pirates. However, the Hong Kong anti piracy authority has not been able to manage all types of anti piracy activities. Some of these include the internet piracy which has got a lot of obstacles. Some of the obstacles include; the authority is not able to apprehend the people committing the cyber crimes. Running a copy right business physically is quite easy but it becomes a crucial issue while trying to run the business online. Despite these challenges to curb the internet piracy, the authority has managed to control this kind of piracy by incorporating some of the methods. The government has been able to cultivate expertise on tracking down people who conduct piracy business online (Roebuck, 1995). The government has been able to form a forensic group that has got interest in the internet and activities that are going on in the internet. The government has created a computer analysis team that also responds to activities of online piracy in the region. This has lead to the decline of the disc industry in Hong Kong. The government has also formed an anti piracy team that specializes strictly on the internet. The business of this team is based in the internet, and they work twenty fours a day to ensure that there is no piracy activities that are being conducted online. At the same time, the government has ensured that the people who are caught conducting this kind of piracy business online are given exceptionally heavy penalties and sentences. This has in turn made the pirates to be extremely wary of the business and some of them have stopped conducting the piracy business. In the disc industry, there was an issue of polluting the environment. This was as a result of manufacturers dumping the waste materials that were being used to manufacture discs in places that were accessed by people. These materials were terribly dangerous, but the government has tried its best to curb this problem. Nowadays the disc manufacturers have found out different methods of disposing the waste materials which is tremendously costly at the same time. This has led investors to drop out of the business since they gain remarkably little profits at the end of the manufacturing; hence the decline of the disc manufacturing in Hong Kong (Rioni, 2002). References Chiu, C. C. (1999). Small Family Business in Hong Kong: Accumulation and Accommodation. Ma Liu Shui, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Earnshaw, G. (2005). China Business Guide 2005: The Top Source of China Business Information for 15 Years. Hong Kong: SinoMedia (Holdings) Co. Ltd. Farhoomand, A. F. (2005). Small Business Management And Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong: A Casebook. Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press. Genzberger, C. (1999). Hong Kong Business: The Portable Encyclopedia for Doing Business With Hong Kong. New York: World Trade Press. Inc, T. M. (1997). Tax management portfolios, Volume 928. Hong Kong: Tax Management Inc. Price Waterhouse (Firm), P. W. (2005). Doing business in Hong Kong,. London, United Kingdom: Price Waterhouse. Rioni, S. G. (2002). Hong Kong in Focus: Political and Economic Issues. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Publishers. Roebuck, D. (1995). Law Relating to Banking in Hong Kong. Hong Kong : Hong Kong University Press. Stephen Wing-kai Chiu, D. L. (2009). Hong Kong: Becoming a Chinese Global City. London: Routledge. Zhao, Y. (2011). Cyber Law in Hong Kong. Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Kluwer Law International. Read More