Lawsuits; multimillion-dollar battles for talent; celebrities emblazoned on billboards all over town. It sounds like Hollywood but this is the bizarre, high-stakes world of Hong Kong’s super-tutors.
訴訟;數百萬美元的人材爭取戰;出如今全城遍地告白牌上的名流。這聽上去似乎是好萊塢(Hollywood)，但現實上說的是香港瑰異的、幹系龐大的超等補習西席圈子。
Education is big business in the territory, where tiger moms (and dads) employ huge reserves of energy and money to secure top grades for their offspring in the crucial university entrance exams. The best tutors attract banker-sized salaries and the cult status of pop stars.
在香港，教導是一項主要的家當，“虎媽虎爸”們會支付大批精神和款項爭奪讓他們的孩子在癥結的大學入學測驗中獲得最高分。最優良的補習西席能掙到銀內行同樣的薪水，並遭到風行明星般的崇敬。
But now, as years of breakneck growth tempers on the back of a rapidly ageing population, a tussle between two of Hong Kong’s best-known tuition companies for a top teacher has spilled over into the public arena.
現在，跟著生齒敏捷老齡化，多年的經濟快速增加漸漸降溫，香港兩家著名補習公司環繞一位頂級補習西席睜開的爭取戰已公然化。
Modern Education published an open letter in local newspapers last week offering Lam Yat-yan, one of Hong Kong’s most popular tutors, an annual income of HK$85m ($11m) if he jumps ship from rival Beacon Group and lures 25,000 student enrolments.
當代教導(Modern Education)上周在本地報紙登載一封公然信，向香港最受迎接的補習名師之一林溢欣(Lam Yat-yan)開出8500萬港元(合1100萬美元)的年薪，願望他從競爭敵手遵理團體(Beacon Group)那邊跳槽過來、並吸引2.5萬邏輯學生來報名。
Modern Education, whose parent company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2011, made its move for Mr Lam, a 28-year-old Chinese language tutor, just after Beacon filed for its own initial public offering.
當代教導的母公司於2011年在香港證交所上市。在當代教導向這名28歲的中文補習西席拋出橄欖枝前，遵理方才申請舉辦本身的初次公然刊行(IPO)。
Mr Lam, who looks more like a boy-band singer than a teacher with his fashionably coiffed hair and fitted clothes, enjoys a strong following. “I have friends who worship him like a god,” said Coby Lam, one of his former students. “A friend of mine got better grades after going to his class and that’s why I signed up for it.”
林溢欣發型時尚、穿著得體，看上去更像是一名男孩樂隊的歌手，而不是西席。他的擁躉許多。“我的同夥們把他看成天主同樣崇敬，”林溢欣的一位前門生Coby Lam表現，“我的一個同夥在上他的課後進步了分數，是以我也報名去上了。”
Tiffany Lai, another former student, said she joined the bandwagon along with most of her classmates because she was afraid she would miss out.
另一位前門生Tiffany Lai表現，她與班裏大多半同窗都去加入補習的緣故原由是她擔憂會錯過機遇。
“I think he’s a good talker, that’s his biggest selling point,” she said. “I saw people crying even in some of his video classes, all because of the motivational things he said.”
“我以為他很健談，這便是他最大的賣點，”她表現，“我看到有人乃至在他的一些視頻課上哭，這都是由於他說的器械鼓勵民氣。”
With testimonials like these, it is no wonder these colleges have to worry about “key person risk” even more than founder-led companies such as Facebook or Tesla Motors.
有了如許的口碑，難怪這些補習黌舍會比Facebook或特斯拉(Tesla)等由開創人引導的公司加倍擔憂“癥結人材危害”。
Star tutors have to sign non-compete clauses and several poaching attempts have escalated into messy legal disputes.
明星補習西席必需簽署競業制止條目，數次挖角試下已進級為淩亂的司法膠葛。
Beacon revealed in its listing prospectus that its top tutor was responsible for generating 40 per cent of its revenue of HK$328m in the last financial year.
遵理在招股書中表露，上一財年，在該公司3.28億港元的收入中，頂級補習西席進獻了40%。
“The loss of such tutor’s service to our group may cause a significant reduction in student enrolments and materially and adversely affect our business,” the company warned potential investors.
該公司告誡潛伏投資者：“一旦這些補習西席流失，大概會令報邏輯學生數目大幅下滑，並對咱們的營業造成龐大負面影響。”
Tutors are typically paid commission per student and the use of video technology has allowed them to expand their reach. When Mr Lam gives a live class, Beacon records it and later rebroadcasts it as many as 18 times, with students who watch the video getting just a HK$20 discount on the HK$590 fee for four sessions.
補習西席一樣平常從每邏輯學生身上得到傭金，視頻技巧的采取使得他們可以或許擴展影響規模。遵理錄下了林溢欣的一堂現場課，爾後將其反復播出了18次，旁觀這部視頻的門生在付4堂課共計590港元的膏火時可得到20港元的扣頭。
Mr Lam said he wanted to stay at Beacon as long as it provided a “fair and reasonable workplace”, telling his 67,000 fans on Facebook that “it makes no difference for me to make 50m or 80m dollars more”.
林溢欣表現，只要遵理供給“公正公道的事情情況”，他就想留在這裏。他在Facebook上告知他的6.7萬粉絲稱：“對我而言，多賺5000萬或8000萬沒甚麽分歧。”
Hong Kong has more than 900 tuition centres focused on high-school pupils but enrolments dropped from 206,500 in 2010 to 180,300 last year because of a decline in the school-age population, according to a report commissioned by Beacon and produced by Euromonitor, the market research group.
香港有900多家補習機構，重要營業是高中生補習，但遵理拜托市場研討機構歐睿(Euromonitor)體例的一份申報表現，因為學齡生齒降低，補習機構招生數目從2010年的20.65萬人降至客歲的18.03萬。
市場價：HK$ 92
