Vietnam was included to the Asia Business Monitor (ABM) for the first time in 2010 conducted by UPS from March 11 to April 20, 2010. According to the survey, a vast majority of Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are optimistic about business development prospects.
The 2010 ABM was conducted on around 1,350 leaders of SMEs from 13 countries and territories. According to the survey, 59 percent of Vietnamese SMEs showed their optimism about further development of the Asia-Pacific economy, 9 percent said the regional economy saw a downward trend and the remaining 32 percent said it would remain unchanged.
Besides, according to the survey, Vietnam was the second optimistic market in the region in business development prospect in 2010 with 72 percent of interviewed businesses saying their companies would reap better results this year. 81 percent of surveyed businesses forecast that Vietnam’s business activities would increase this year. They also believed in the growth in North American and Europe.
Although a huge majority of Vietnamese SMEs are very optimistic about economic development, Vietnam is quite indifferent to personnel development. 61 percent of Vietnamese SMEs intend to cut staff while none indicated workforce expansion.
With respect to financial issues, business owners are still confronting many challenges. 70 percent of companies said the most headache issues were finance and financial costs, followed by lending interest rates. In addition, competitive pressure was growing on Vietnamese SMEs after the country opened the market to foreign investors. Thus, 41 percent of surveyed businesses required supports from the government to reduce borrowing interest rates and trim down financial burdens. 23 percent of companies said they needed financial assistance to upgrade equipment and technology while 19 percent wanted the government to adopt policies to support Vietnamese brands.
Mr McLean, General Director of UPS Vietnam, said: This year’s survey found out a significant conclusion, that is, Vietnamese SME really needed the Government’s assistances to develop and help the Vietnamese brands and products to secure strong regional and global positions.
A summarized quite important by the survey is the role of supply chain activities of SMEs in Vietnam. More than 30 percent of companies said that the reason they pursued a strategy of supply chain management to cut costs, and to business development, said they will also reduce transport costs and distribution.
Another conclusion of the survey is the role of operating supply chain of Vietnamese SMEs. More than 30 percent of surveyed companies said they pursued supply chain management strategy is to cut costs.
Le Phuong
Vietnamese
