Teaching note for product 9B10M101.

Tommy Li was a designer and brand consultant renowned for his black humour and bold visual impact. With business spanning Hong Kong, China, Macau, Japan, and Italy, Tommy Li was one of the few Hong Kong designers to have entered the international market. In his ten years of experience as a design staff member, Li learned that getting the right clients was the key to a successful design consultancy business. Therefore, Li set up his own company to .....more

William Cheung owned an apparel wholesaler and a boutique shop that sold his clothing designs in Hong Kong. After attending a fashion exhibition in France, he realized his products were lacking compared to European brands. This experience motivated him to improve his jeans designs, and he soon registered “Koyo” as an independent company. He went on to become the first Hong Kong designer embraced by the French department store Galeries Lafayette. While .....more

This case describes how two Hong Kong product designers chose their respective paths and achieved design excellence and celebrity status. The case is suitable for teaching MBA and senior undergraduate students the value of design entrepreneurship in professional services. It is useful for courses in entrepreneurship and innovation management in business and engineering schools. Human resources management or organizational behaviour classes may also .....more