Top 50 Bestselling Case Authors 2022/23: No. 42

KingJewels, one of the leading jewellery manufacturing and trading companies in Hong Kong, was having another profitable year. With its operations director essentially running the company in Hong Kong while the owner and chief executive officer focused his energies on expanding the business into international markets, an opportunity had arisen for foul play. Accounting records had been manipulated and some senior staff were found to have forged shipping documents and accepted bribes from suppliers in exchange for awarding of contracts. This case illustrates the importance of corporate governance and internal control.

AccuForm is a German-Hong Kong joint venture specialising in the production of chemical coatings for application on garments. They were confronted with a situation where an unauthorised Chinese manufacturer had stolen one of AccuForm's experimental coatings, applied it to their own brand of clothing, and sold it to the public as an AccuForm product. This case illustrates how differences in company cultures can create difficulty for management and how a formula for success in one country may guarantee failure in another.

Hong Kong logistics companies are facing increased competition from the Chinese mainland operators, particularly in cross-border logistics business in the Pearl River Delta region. The case examines the cost structure of Transland's (a Hong Kong-based third-party logistics operator) cross-border trucking operation, the inefficiencies captured in the logistics pipeline and the cargo and sea trade challenges facing Hong Kong.