HK and S'pore affluent see technology as "key to future success"
singapore.cnet.com
By Bloomberg, Singapore.CNET.com
Friday, October 20 2000
SINGAPORE--Hong Kong's upper-middle class is more conscious of brand names, news and the environment, while Singapore's seek the meaning of life and attach importance to marriage, a survey showed.
Both countries ranked technology in the second spot, with 86 percent of respondents in both saying "getting a grasp on technology is the key to future success".
The study by ACNielsen Media International showed that affluent consumers in the rival cities who set business trends and help shape the economies have different attitudes.
Hong Kong and Singapore have the highest ownership of credit cards, computers and mobile phones, as well as the highest Internet penetration among seven Asian markets in which the research firm conducted its survey. The survey excluded Japan, Korea and China.
"The Hong Kong-Singapore rivalry is very real," Steve Garton, the company's business development director, told reporters. The survey results "help companies to better market by understanding their different psycho-graphic attitudes".
Singaporeans are fifth-richest in the world with a per capita gross domestic product of about US$23,000. Hong Kong is close behind with a per capita GDP of about US$22,000.
Life, marriages
In Hong Kong, most of the surveyed representative sample of 918,000 upper-middle class people said if they "find a brand they like, they stick with it". They also "follow news and events in their industry closely," and agree that "the environment should be protected, even if it is at the cost of the industrial and economic development".
In Singapore, though, most of a sample of the 442,000 well-off said "people today pay too much attention to being practical (money-minded) and lose sight of the real meaning of life".
Most also said that "a happy marriage is the greatest wealth", and agree that "men should also do housework".
Of the 3.6 million people that ACNielsen categorized in the survey as "affluent", 2.5 million are male and 1.1 million are female. They are at least 20 years old, with skilled, white-collar jobs, and earn above-average personal income for the city they live in. Singapore saw a 15.7 percent rise in the number of people in this group in the past year, while Hong Kong saw a 3 percent gain.
The findings are a result of 6,700 face-to-face interviews conducted in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok and Jakarta.
Technology, success
Still, there was a common denominator.
Technology ranked in the second spot for both Singapore and Hong Kong, with the 86 percent of respondents in both saying "getting a grasp on technology is the key to future success".
Singapore has the highest Internet penetration of the economies surveyed, with 82 percent, up from 69 percent last year, while Hong Kong's is second-highest, jumping to 78 percent from 52 percent in 1999.
"They are very nimble to adopt technology to help their business or family," Garton said. "In a year, we saw Internet penetration rocket in Hong Kong--they are very alert to changes in the marketplace."
Ninety-two percent in both Hong Kong and Singapore said they had personal computers at home, highest in the survey. That compares with 67 percent in Manila and 74 percent in Bangkok. |
