How to Make a Success Story Better

In time, Adrian Cheng will likely inherit one of the largest fortunes, and real-estate-to-retail empires, in Asia. But for now, the dapper 31-year-old Harvard graduate and former Goldman Sachs banker is not sitting on his hands. The conglomerate built by Mr. Cheng’s billionaire grandfather, Cheng Yu-Tung, and his father, Henry Cheng, includes the Chow Tai Fook jewelry retailer and Hong Kong-listed New World Development Co., whose assets include department stores, hotels, ports and shopping malls.

Since 2005, the younger Mr. Cheng has been actively involved in the family business—he’s an executive director at NWD and is leading Chow Tai Fook’s plans to double its store network to 2,000 outlets by the end of this decade. He declined to comment on reports Chow Tai Fook is seeking a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Mr. Cheng is trying to bring a new approach, younger and more creative, to managing the business. The K11 brand he launched in 2009, for instance, focuses on developing shopping malls with art and green features. There is risk involved in changing a winning formula, he says. “I embrace my family values and heritage,” says Mr. Cheng. “But I’m also trying to create a new platform for the family with a new style. There can’t be drastic change. It needs to evolve slowly.”

SOURCE