Every successful enterprise has top brains serving as its internal think tank. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s financial institutions have brilliant financial think tanks just as property developers have strong land and housing think tanks. Enterprises are think-and-do tanks, putting their money where their brain is. As the implementation of “one country, two systems” enters a new stage, the need for alliances between enterprise and nonprofit think tanks has never been stronger.

“I hope everyone will deeply study and implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s important reply to Hong Kong entrepreneurs … and give full play to the functions of think tanks and the strengths and traditions of entrepreneurs who love the country and serve Hong Kong.” This was the appeal by Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xia Baolong in his congratulatory message on the 10th anniversary of the Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) in September.

Xia’s words “the function of think tanks” and “the strengths and traditions of entrepreneurs” came in the same breath, underlining the inseparable natural partnership between think tanks and entrepreneurs. Ample opportunities lie ahead for the two to collaborate more closely in serving the country and Hong Kong.

Enterprises’ brainpower tends to focus on their own industry only. But new challenges are now too complex for single-discipline in-house think tanks to tackle. Look at the tectonic changes brought about by geopolitics, the tensions between globalization and de-globalization, the disruptions to markets and business models by artificial intelligence, the rapidity of changes, and sharp rise in uncertainty. As enterprises find their challenges increasingly multidimensional, they look to public policy think tanks for collaborative support.

Enterprises need to stay profitable and tend to focus their brainpower on business-related issues such as market opportunities, products and services improvements, and they do sociopolitical scanning for risk management. Of course, enterprises are also paying increasing attention to social responsibilities.

In terms of institutional capabilities, enterprises that are successful in the fiercely competitive market would have optimized their internal operations and processes. Their biggest challenges are external variables that are beyond their direct control.

For example, some enterprises in the sports industry and mega-events business have been complaining about what they regard as the cumbersome regulatory and approval procedures requiring them to go through multiple layers of bureaucratic red tape. Overcoming such challenges requires external solutions including insightful public policy research, strong policy advocacy capabilities, and credible public opinion leadership to bring about reforms. These capabilities are unavailable to enterprises. Even if they do come up with suggestions for improvements, they will be regarded as “self-serving profit motivated changes” rather than public interest advocacy to enhance economic efficiency. That’s where nonprofit public interest think tanks can help to spearhead the necessary changes.

As geopolitical tensions ebb and flow while economic uncertainty grows, enterprises in Hong Kong from multinationals and State enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises need to brace for change

Enterprises need to make profits before they can contribute to social betterment. For nonprofit think tanks, it is the other way around, as they have to deliver on their public interest mission before donors will sustain their donations. The two are complementary in their mission, in capabilities and in resources, making them natural allies.

The depth of enterprises’ specialized think tanks combined with the breadth of cross-disciplinary nonprofit think tanks can help Hong Kong innovate for growth. Enterprises and think tanks can collaborate in many forms and shapes. Enterprises can conduct joint research with think tanks, send their leading professionals to think tanks as resident researchers or visiting researchers to broaden their exposure, set up revolving-door arrangements for talent swaps, and jointly work with universities in collaborative industry-university-think tank projects to create growth opportunities.

As the business community responds to the growing demand for corporate social value, enterprises can join public interest think tanks in innovative social betterment projects to meet the dual bottom lines of profits and social value.

National growth and social development provide the right environment for enterprises to prosper. They are both the contributor to and the beneficiaries of growth. They take, and they give. Partnership with public interest think tanks helps enterprises complete the give-take loop and forge a long-term strategy for common prosperity of the whole society rather than just focusing on the short-term profit-and-loss statements.

A case in point is telling the China story and spreading HKSAR’s voices to the world. OHKF as one of the leading public interest think tanks in Hong Kong takes this as a key mission. With the support of enterprises, we organize monthly high-tea sessions for expatriate friends and entrepreneurs working and living in Hong Kong to tell their personal Hong Kong stories, and then publicize them through different channels. This is yet another example of how the enterprise-think tank alliance can do good for Hong Kong while doing good for businesses as they let overseas markets form a more accurate view of opportunities in Hong Kong.

As geopolitical tensions ebb and flow while economic uncertainty grows, enterprises in Hong Kong from multinationals and State enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises need to brace for change. They are well-advised by Xia to “accurately understand changes, respond scientifically, and proactively seek changes”. Alliances between enterprises and public interest think tanks are the way to go. Are Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs and think tanks ready?

The author is president of Our Hong Kong Foundation.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.