Training programs are considered by our respondents as the most appropriate form
of human capital investment for their staff. However, at the same time, respondents
also consider training programs as having only a very low perceived monetary value.
The three most valued subject knowledge areas are Marketing, Management and
Languages: all practical skills and targeted to middle level staff – who seem the only
ones deserving of a Hong-Kong human capital investment. The concentration of
investment at that level can be explained as follows: First, some of those intermediate
level staff may advance their career and hold senior staff positions, in which case the
transition will be all the more successful if they have been properly trained. Second, the
growing requirements of modern business, as new technologies and management
procedures become available, entails better trained managers and employees. Hence,
middle level staff, the backbone of any organization, are perceived to necessitate
training because they may need better skills to hold on to the same level positions –
intermediate level – as business complexity progresses.