MTR Website

Legal Structure

The main characteristics of this company is that it is a public company with 77 % of the company being owned by the government and 23% owned by other private investors. Because of its majority stake in the firm, the government has large influence over MTR's business decisions and operations as it can outvote other shareholders.

Taken from MTR's corporate structure page

Management Structure

As mentioned earlier, the MTR is owned mostly by the government. However, the company is not actively run by the government, and retains control over tactical (daily functioning of business operations) and strategic objectives (to a certain extent). Further details of MTR's management structure are shown in the diagram on the left, where it is seen that the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Directors of the company are among the top levels of the organisation's management structure.

An example of the government's control over MTR's strategic objectives is the new (currently under construction) Sha Tin to Central line. In 2008, urban planners and the executive council of the government worked together with MTR "to map out possible locations in which to expand the railway to" (MTR, 2012). The government also helped in gathering the opinions and views of other stakeholders such as the public and taxpayers. Ultimately, it was the government who made the final approval on the construction of the new line, and they did so in March 2012. This shows the influence and authority the government has in the strategic planning of the firm.

Location

MTR operates mainly in Hong Kong, with investments as joint ventures in the public transport systems of other countries such as Australia (Metro Trains Melbourne) and London (London Overground). MTR has also expanded its network into mainland China, with interchange stations at Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau.

Staffing

Due to the vast scale of MTR's operations, MTR employs large amounts of people on a daily basis. They are constantly trying to get more staff and they advertise looking for people "who can think for themselves and are constantly striving for success" (MTR, 2011). They also require people who can work as a team. In addition, they are also looking for people who have prior knowledge in these various skills, as seen from their website (click to visit).

MTR offers careers in areas such as:

Civil design
Corporate relations
Engineering
Human relations

Marketing Strategy

Like many other companies, MTR has marketing strategies which include not only advertising the company and its services but by also giving discounts. For example, refer to the advertisement shown on the right: Currently MTR is running a special offer where the second trip on the same day with the same octopus card is discounted by 10%. This not only makes MTR's services more attractive to people, but will increase the usage of MTR's transport network as people will be more inclined to make the second trip for the discount.

Characteristics