Critical success factors of asset enhancement projects of wet market in Hong Kong

Abstract

In Hong Kong, everyone would have been to a wet market to buy fresh food and groceries. The wet market culture is embedded in our Chinese society, and it is undoubtedly one of the major marketplaces of fresh food provisions and daily groceries for the households. This culture is associated with the ingrained idea of the importance of “freshness” for food in Chinese cooking practices. In a wet market, there will be different types of stalls selling fresh fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, and some dry products such as clothes, furniture, electrical appliances etc. In short, a wet market in a district is an important and convenient place for households to look for everything they need in daily life. In every district in Hong Kong, there must be wet markets, either public or privatized, operating to support the people in the neighborhood. Currently, there are around 200 wet markets in Hong Kong. Up to today, 96 of them are still owned and managed by the Government department, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. However, many of them lack proper maintenance and efficient management which caused a host of issues and problems. In regard to this, a 10-year Market Modernisation Programme (MMP) is announced in 2018 by the Financial Secretary with a goal to improve the operating condition of the public wet markets. The pioneering project under the MMP is the overhaul of Aberdeen Market. This overhaul can be considered as an asset enhancement project to upgrade the overall competitiveness of the market in order to improve the customers’ satisfaction on the shopping environment, as well as facilitating the business operation and revenue income for the stall’s tenants. This research is designed to test the hypothesis that an asset enhancement project should necessarily improve customer satisfaction and patronage, thus benefiting the stall tenants and the property asset owner. After the study of relevant literatures and analysis the of the impacts of the overhauled Aberdeen market, it rejected the hypothesis and proved that an asset enhancement project does not essentially increase the market patron, so as the stall tenant’s business and bring economical values to the owner, even though customers satisfaction level has raised. Ultimately, the purpose of the study aimed to find out the critical success factors for asset enhancement projects of wet markets in Hong Kong. As there are more similar overhaul projects to be carried out under the MMP and it is important to critically examine the results and provide insightful recommendations to the Government for more effective implementation in the future.