Vietnamese enterprises hold high expectation for 2014, with confidence that the economy will flourish, said the Vietnam Business Forum - a weekly magazine of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), adding that they are ready for a new stage of development.
As a person in charge of Vietnam Business Annual Report, Pham Thi Thu Hang, General Secretary of VCCI, is not surprised at the bright results of the survey in late 2013. After 7 annual reports, it seems that the businesses feel more optimistic about the actual situation may seem. The difference is mainly more or less optimistic, said Hang.
While 2013 saw a record number of bankrupcies or shut-downs of enterprises, 2014 is expected to see a record number of revived enterprises. This belief is built on the basis of expectation that the sales this year will have great improvement compared with 2013 and average selling prices will also tend to rise.
Nguyen Tuan Hai, Chairman of Alphanam, after a period of "silence", has decided to "churn" back on the market with the projects that he viewed as a grasp of crowd psychology. Although he had not revealed his specific investment areas, the move to recruit senior personnel from the retail groups shows that he is looking to take advantage of rich land in big urban for a breakthrough target in the distribution market.
But what is he selling and distributing? He hinted that there will be Alphanam Food producing food and distributing goods for the No. 1 brand in the world. Only time will tell whether this investment in foods and beverages is a wise decision or not, but clearly Hai is not the only one making big investment decisions at this point of time.
Hang also indicated a more optimistic view: many businesses are confident that the their machines’ capacity will be much better than 2013. Many businesses after a period of "hibernation”, start to accelerate restructuring and have more confidence in the effective use of their resources. They expect that the number of orders will increase compared with 2013. A lot of businesses are confident with their plan to recruit more in 2014.
Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Investment Development Group (VID), a firm specialising in the development of industrial parks, export processing zones, is confident that 2014 will see more businesses expanding their activities, so her group plans to expand the industrial parks.
Naturally, businesses which want to develop cannot be separated from the macro- economic environment. VCCI 's survey showed that businesses which decide to expand their business scale for many reasons.
In particular, the reason of favourable economic outlook and availability of skilled labour with high competitive costs is chosen by many businesses, this ratio is 42.9 percent and 40.1 percent, respectively.
Businesses hold high expectations on changes in the labour market because this is the easiest time for businesses to recruit those who can immediately meet job requirements without being retrained, even for key positions. The second reason is the opening of markets, tax incentives and improved ability to raise capital. The third is improved infrastructure and support programmes.
Referring to the contents of the strategy of the socio-economic development period 2011 - 2020, the majority of businesses (64.6 percent) are aware that the increase in domestic value, added value and competitiveness of products are important objectives in strategy.
The rate of added value on price of one product of respondent enterprises is estimated at an average of 19.5 percent. This index ranged as low as 0.05 percent and as high as 85 percent. Notably, there were 77.5 percent of the surveyed enterprises considered this a key issue and among these businesses, the solution to improve the competitiveness of products is the most common (up to 74.3 percent enterprise applying the solution).
So far, Vietnam enterprises have not yet focused on research and development (R&D), only 32.5 percent of businesses choosing this method). Mentioning this problem, Economist Pham Chi Lan shared that she had just conducted the survey among enterprises in the southern region, through that, she felt the movement within the enterprises. Most of the enterprises recommended that the government promote industrial development to support businesses in raising the proportion of value added products.
Lan is happy to find that enterprises are now changing their mind, they do not just sit and wait for the state to support. They have changed the way of thinking and business strategies to survive and thrive instead of just stopping at the surface reforms.
Despite high expectation for the economic performance in 2014, there are still difficulties that enterprises need to be ready to cope with. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), in a debate on amendments to the Law on Enterprises emphasized that more than ever, businesses need to get the positive support from institutional reforms to create a stable macroeconomic platform for "micro levels" to develop.-VNA
As a person in charge of Vietnam Business Annual Report, Pham Thi Thu Hang, General Secretary of VCCI, is not surprised at the bright results of the survey in late 2013. After 7 annual reports, it seems that the businesses feel more optimistic about the actual situation may seem. The difference is mainly more or less optimistic, said Hang.
While 2013 saw a record number of bankrupcies or shut-downs of enterprises, 2014 is expected to see a record number of revived enterprises. This belief is built on the basis of expectation that the sales this year will have great improvement compared with 2013 and average selling prices will also tend to rise.
Nguyen Tuan Hai, Chairman of Alphanam, after a period of "silence", has decided to "churn" back on the market with the projects that he viewed as a grasp of crowd psychology. Although he had not revealed his specific investment areas, the move to recruit senior personnel from the retail groups shows that he is looking to take advantage of rich land in big urban for a breakthrough target in the distribution market.
But what is he selling and distributing? He hinted that there will be Alphanam Food producing food and distributing goods for the No. 1 brand in the world. Only time will tell whether this investment in foods and beverages is a wise decision or not, but clearly Hai is not the only one making big investment decisions at this point of time.
Hang also indicated a more optimistic view: many businesses are confident that the their machines’ capacity will be much better than 2013. Many businesses after a period of "hibernation”, start to accelerate restructuring and have more confidence in the effective use of their resources. They expect that the number of orders will increase compared with 2013. A lot of businesses are confident with their plan to recruit more in 2014.
Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Investment Development Group (VID), a firm specialising in the development of industrial parks, export processing zones, is confident that 2014 will see more businesses expanding their activities, so her group plans to expand the industrial parks.
Naturally, businesses which want to develop cannot be separated from the macro- economic environment. VCCI 's survey showed that businesses which decide to expand their business scale for many reasons.
In particular, the reason of favourable economic outlook and availability of skilled labour with high competitive costs is chosen by many businesses, this ratio is 42.9 percent and 40.1 percent, respectively.
Businesses hold high expectations on changes in the labour market because this is the easiest time for businesses to recruit those who can immediately meet job requirements without being retrained, even for key positions. The second reason is the opening of markets, tax incentives and improved ability to raise capital. The third is improved infrastructure and support programmes.
Referring to the contents of the strategy of the socio-economic development period 2011 - 2020, the majority of businesses (64.6 percent) are aware that the increase in domestic value, added value and competitiveness of products are important objectives in strategy.
The rate of added value on price of one product of respondent enterprises is estimated at an average of 19.5 percent. This index ranged as low as 0.05 percent and as high as 85 percent. Notably, there were 77.5 percent of the surveyed enterprises considered this a key issue and among these businesses, the solution to improve the competitiveness of products is the most common (up to 74.3 percent enterprise applying the solution).
So far, Vietnam enterprises have not yet focused on research and development (R&D), only 32.5 percent of businesses choosing this method). Mentioning this problem, Economist Pham Chi Lan shared that she had just conducted the survey among enterprises in the southern region, through that, she felt the movement within the enterprises. Most of the enterprises recommended that the government promote industrial development to support businesses in raising the proportion of value added products.
Lan is happy to find that enterprises are now changing their mind, they do not just sit and wait for the state to support. They have changed the way of thinking and business strategies to survive and thrive instead of just stopping at the surface reforms.
Despite high expectation for the economic performance in 2014, there are still difficulties that enterprises need to be ready to cope with. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), in a debate on amendments to the Law on Enterprises emphasized that more than ever, businesses need to get the positive support from institutional reforms to create a stable macroeconomic platform for "micro levels" to develop.-VNA
