The chairman of the Banking Training and Consultancy Institute (BTCI), Le Mai Lan, has called on businesses to adapt to the changing environment or risk being left behind.

Speaking at a conference on business transformation held in Hanoi on October 10, the banking chief said a "wider" economy had exposed holes in effectiveness and productivity.

The call came as macroeconomic factors have battered local businesses who are grappling with high inventories and decreasing financial resources, primarily due to being unable to tap into business opportunities or finance for debt repayment.

The effects have created ripples across the banking sector with increases in bad debts, slow credit growth and low profits.

The chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vu Tien Loc, agreed that Vietnamese businesses had been hit hard. In the first nine months of this year alone, more than 40,000 firms closed down or suspended operations, while nearly 10,000 reduced their operations.

He said the number of enterprises reporting losses was still high, with 66 percent of companies unable to pay corporate taxes. "The most important solution for businesses is to save themselves by transforming. Both banks and enterprises need to transform," Loc said, adding that the banking system could provide capital and debt consultancy for businesses.

Douglas Jackson, BCG Group's global director, said firms needed to address an epidemic of volatility, poor positional advantage and poor profitability, adding that transformation would be difficult in larger corporations with complex management structures.


The BCG expert also said businesses opting for a strategy of transformation needed to create a ‘change agenda', a mechanism for necessary changes and manage resources.

Nguyen Huu Thai Hoa, FPT's strategic director, said the partnership between businesses and banks was critical to efforts to adapt to market volatilities, adding that transformation required a renewal of corporate administration, technology and labour.

The BTCI and the US Omega Performance Group have signed a strategic co-operation agreement on training professionals in credit and risk management in line with international standards.

The agreement aims to provide benefits to the banking and finance communities and other businesses to improve human resources and competitiveness.-VNA