Business Beat
Just 2 per cent of all Vietnamese businesses have their own websites, according to a recent survey by the Viet Nam Industrial and Commercial Bank. Nearly half have access to the Internet but use it chiefly for email, and there are very few e-commerce systems. These figures reveal the chilling reality that Viet Nam is losing the race to make full use of the Internet to open its markets. Despite more business transactions taking place over the Internet, local companies find themselves helpless, lagging further behind their regional counterparts in e-commerce. Vietnamese companies are invisible in cyberspace. The Government is doing its best to help: it recently pumped VND250 billion into e-commerce development.However, instead of investing in more information technology centres, or more projects to kick start e-commerce, those in charge should revise their thinking. They can start by stopping regulations that discourage people – such as those that require websites to be licensed or permits for every advertisement that appears on local websites. They can also start by applying e-commerce, whenever possible, in State purchases and contracts. These indirect efforts will prove effective as businesses can see and enjoy the benefits e-commerce brings.
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The success of administrative reforms at HCM City-based ports might encourage other sectors as they have helped cut the paperwork and time to clear a ship from several hours to less than one hour. Ship owners no longer had to present up to 32 types of documents, many with duplicated contents. Now the documents required are basically the same as in other countries. The reforms, carried out on a pilot basis over the past four months, are successful because there is co-ordination of different agencies in inspecting incoming or outgoing ships. Thanks to this simple change in working methods, a lot of time has been saved.
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Some Vietnamese exports to the US this year were returned and the Ministry of Trade has counted at least 400 errors behind the rejections. one-third had something to do with improper labelling. The regulations on goods labelling have been in place eight months now, but according to the ministry, a high percentage of products have incorrect labels. For the domestic market, the most common mistakes include lack of Vietnamese names, expiry dates, instructions for use, addresses of manufacturers, or incorrect ingredients. Local businesses have said labelling regulations costs them more money, but when importing countries reject their goods, there is no way they can further delay spending the money.
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Following on from the model of State-owned conglomerates of enterprises in different fields loosely grouped together, Viet Nam is now pushing ahead with a new model of parent companies and affiliates. So far, 23 major State-owned companies have been chosen to apply this model. The biggest difference will be that State money will no longer be injected into these companies as allocated capital or loans; the money will be considered as investment. For this model to work, many State-owned company directors said there should be one law for both State-owned and private sectors, so that parent companies and their affiliates can operate on an equal footing with other sectors. Their job is to protect State investment and bring back good dividends. The link between parent companies and their affiliates then is the investment made by parents companies. Affiliates can be wholly owned or joint ventures with other companies. If this principle is strictly observed, many headaches experienced with the conglomerate model could be done away with. The appointment or dismissal of key personnel will be made by those with a controlling interest, and not by an administrative decision.
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one side-effect of sales promotion campaigns is that they breed disputes flamed by greed. People sometimes just buy a few cigarettes rather than the whole pack. Usually shop owners, busy with other chores, ask the buyers to take the cigarettes themselves. There have been at least two cases where the buyers discovered a prize slip inside the pack – a motorbike and a TV. Now there are disputes as to who is entitled to the prize – the shop owner who sells only one or two cigarettes, or the buyer who pays just a fraction of the pack value. It is a pity to see these sorts of disputes covered extensively by some magazines, as if there is nothing else in the legal world worth reporting. Promotions like these work well with poor people in less developed countries. In the process, people forget the fatal effects of smoking and, despite a total ban on cigarette advertising, cigarette producers enjoy a free chance to promote their products.
VNS
