Peter: I was responsible for accessories Ð audio tape cassettes, to be precise. Philips had a factory in Vienna, but production there was too costly for Asia, so Philips wanted to buy the tapes in Korea and then process them into cassettes in Shenzhen. My responsibilities also involved purchasing the packaging materials and overseeing sales of completed cassettes. (1) Aletta: Peter was totally on his own when we arrived in Hong Kong. Peter: On the one hand, that was terrible, but it was also a terrific challenge for me. Aletta: Sometimes I would see him only rarely, because he had to travel so much to coordinate everything… Peter: … and to negotiate prices, for example, with Lucky goldstar, Lg and SKC. We had to haggle over every last cent. We had to be careful not to buy too much because prices were constantly falling. And we always had to wait until the very last second so as not to miss an even better offer. Aletta: The positive aspect was that Peter no longer had a boss directly above him to put the brakes on his ambition. His superior was far away in Vienna. Peter: I was distantly acquainted with him from my student days and I had sent him my plan. Aletta: Weeks went by without an answer, so Peter simply flew to Vienna to discuss everything with him there. Peter: They told me to take things slowly. They said that there's no hurry. But they also let me do what I wanted. After just one year, we were no longer losing money Ð despite my good salary and my costly expenses in Hong Kong. Aletta: Peter traveled very frequently and I was home alone much of the time. No Fields Found.