In 2008, as the financial crisis reverberated around the globe, Allan Chau worried how his business manufacturing parts for the auto industry would weather the downturn.

But the Hong Kong-based factory owner didn't look for ways to cut costs or hire a management expert.

Instead, he consulted a feng shui master, who recommended moving the factory gate from the south side to the west.

"A lot of people went bankrupt that year but our sales doubled," says Chau, the general manager of Tien Po Precision Manufacturing.

Chau, who has been consulting feng shui masters for two decades, embodies Asia's embrace of the old and the new in its approach to doing business.

He has an advanced degree in engineering from Cornell University in the United States and employs 1,400 at a company that turns over $2 million a year. Despite Western skepticism, for him feng shui is an essential business tool.

"I only believe in numbers but I have an open mind," says Chau.

An ancient Chinese system of boosting your luck through the positioning of objects and of predicting fortunes through dates and traditional texts, feng shui -- literally wind water -- is used in a variety of different ways.

Shopping malls, office towers and casinos across Asia draw on its principles in their design in an attempt to create prosperity.

And individuals often consult feng shui masters to decide on the best date to get married, give birth or move house.

Chau says feng shui masters have helped him solve a variety of problems that have cropped up at his company, and, in some years, he has spent up to $100,000 on consultations.

Most recently, he sought advice on a staff issue after a number of long-serving technicians working at his factory in China left on bad terms.

In a bid to get the compensation laid-off workers are entitled to, the technicians started turning up to work and doing nothing. Chau said he had little choice but to fire them and pay up.

Fed up, he asked his feng shui adviser to pay a visit. He told Chau the toilet door faced the main entrance and the bad air flow meant people did not leave happily.

"He said why don't you build a wall to block the air flow," said Chau.

"After the change, I didn't pay a penny more," he said.

At the behest of various feng shui masters, Chau has also changed the color of the blinds in his conference room from green to milky white and added an aquarium to his office.

However, he has so far resisted advice to move his Hong Kong head office from its current location: "That's talking about real money."

Kerby Kuek, the feng shui master who helped Chau with his staff problem, says that 60% of his clients are businesses.

The run-up to the Lunar New Year, which this year began on February 10, is Kuek's busiest time as clients want their "annual audit" to maximize their good fortune in the year to come.