A comparative study of “divestment” and “contracting-out” of Hong Kong Housing Authority’s shopping centres in respect of customer satisfaction

Abstract

Since the large-scale privatization of Hong Kong Housing Authority’s Shopping Centres in 1990s, a large number of shopping centres in public housing estates is now under the management of Link Real Estate Investment Trust. Comparing with those traditional shopping centres in public sector under contracted-out management, the divested shopping centres under the management of Link Real Estate Investment Trust generally have a higher evaluation from customers as reflected by some previous researches. However, it is still doubtful to assert that divestment would be the predominately better way out than contracting-out for the development of Hong Kong Housing Authority’s Shopping Centres in public housing estates. Through the survey of customer satisfaction at Lei Yue Mun Plaza and Domain, it is discovered that contracted-out shopping centre could also have more fans than its privatesector counterpart, the result of competition between divestment and contracting-out of shopping centres is still unclear.