Business Associations - VCCI’s Extended Arms

VCCI’s roles in assembling, connecting and supporting enterprises and promoting operations of business associations are important and remarkably effective. First of all, in the past time, VCCI has organised many business delegations accompanying State and Party leaders on foreign visits and combined investment promotion activities during these State-level visits to help businesses approach and expand their presence in the target markets. It also hosted many investment promotion conferences in many provinces and cities in Vietnam to create business opportunities for enterprises. VCCI has actively taken part in making policies and laws to protect businesses and create a favourable environment for businesses. In particular, VCCI’s contributions to lawmaking have helped boost the position of enterprise and entrepreneurs in society and promote sustainable business development.

 

The marked activity of VCCI is the initiative to launch the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) which helps improve the accountability of local authorities for production and business investing activities of the economy in general and of enterprises in particular. VCCI underlines supports for construction and operation of business associations in provinces and cities and uplifts the position of business associations to help them better represent local enterprises and entrepreneurs.

 

However, besides positive results achieved, VCCI’s activities also expose shortcomings and limitations due to objective and subjective factors. Firstly, the business delegations accompanying State-level visits are not organized and prepared carefully and effectively enough. Policies on enterprises and business associations are quite sufficient in content but they lack regulatory framework and assigned responsibility for implementation, leading to limited effects on businesses and business associations. The construction and organisation of business associations needs to be further promoted and cared by VCCI because a majority of Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized, mainly operating in provinces and cities. For that reason, business associations importantly help VCCI perform its vital function of “assembling, connecting and representing” and supporting enterprises in provinces and cities.

 

The Vietnamese business community is now growing rapidly in both quantity and quality. However, most businesses have tiny scale and limited production level and management level, resulting in low competitiveness. Besides, lack of unity and professionalism are the biggest drawbacks to Vietnamese enterprises in the process of international economic integration.

 

Subjectively, companies lack capital and high-quality human resources. To address this, apart from enterprises’ efforts, VCCI, with his role, should suggest the State have human resource development policies to meet their demand.

 

Being aware of its position and role, the Bac Kan Business Association has endeavoured to accompany businesses, strengthen its roles of assembling, connecting and supporting businesses like organising dialogues for the government and businesses, taking part in investment promotion activities, and organising human resource training for businesses. In addition, the Bac Kan Business Association has worked with the Party Committee of Bac Kan Enterprise Bloc, set up in July 2013, to survey and make a scheme for renovating organisation and operation of the Bac Kan Business Association in 2013 to prepare activities for 2014. In this respect, we are looking forward to more practical support from VCCI.

 

To overcome current difficulties of domestic and international economies, Bac Kan province-based enterprises have deployed measures to restructure operations, reduce investments in non-core businesses, shrink production and cut costs. To enhance effectiveness and stability in crisis time, find new directions, overcome challenges and grasp opportunities in the time of market recovery, the Bac Kan Business Association and local enterprises are actively “riding the wave” to ensure employment for workers and helping maintain social security.

 

The Bac Kan Business Association proposes that VCCI should increase its support for business associations and enterprises in the coming time. VCCI can propose the Government introduce policies on organisation and operation of business associations in provinces and cities, including regulations on supporting initial infrastructure and facilities like working office, means and payrolls in order to improve their professionalism in assembling, connecting and representing local enterprises and business communities. VCCI necessarily completes and supplements the application of PCI assessment mechanisms to ministries, central agencies and local governments to enhance the accountability of authorities to businesses. Last but not least, personnel of business associations should be trained to perform their functions and tasks more professionally, efficiently and more practically.