“The rate of businesses in fear of failure is very high while the rate of businesses conscious of opportunities is low in Vietnam ,” said fact findings in the Global Entrepreneurs Monitor (GEM) 2013 announced by Dr Luong Minh Huan, an officer at Enterprise Development Institute under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), at the workshop on "Business law and business development: Angles from GEM 2013." The workshop was recently organised in Hanoi by VCCI and the Vietnam Association of Corporate Directors (VACD).
According to statistics, the number of business start-ups increased 2.5 times in the 2007-2013 period compared with the 2000-2006 period but the growth rate has slowed down in recent years. In the 2000-2006 period, more than 200,000 companies were set up after the Law on Enterprises took effect in 1999. Then, the Law on Enterprises 2005 which unified regulations on the establishment and management of enterprises, created a strong leap in new business start-ups, which were counted 2.5 times that of the previous period.
However, apart from economic difficulties, the role of the Law on Enterprises 2005 has reached its limit and needs a new push for business establishment and development policies.
According to researches, the perception about the existence of opportunities and business skills in Vietnam is low. Only 36.8 percent of surveyed adults in Vietnam realise the chance to start their own businesses and 48.7 percent of surveyed adults are aware of their business capabilities. 24.1 percent of respondents in Vietnam intend to start a business in the next three years, much lower than the average of other countries in the first stage (68.7 percent).
The disbelief in business capabilities of Vietnamese people is partly resulted from economic difficulties in recent years, coupled with the instability of financial market which has caused a lot of problems for businesses.
Besides, other reasons include the weakness of the education and training system in training knowledge and skills training for entrepreneurs. Therefore, many Vietnamese people lack conditions to equip business knowledge and skills.
Dr Pham Thi Thu Hang, VCCI General Secretary, said that entrepreneurial confidence building is very important. The State needs to persist with its macroeconomic stability and inflation policies. Policies must be also predictable and anticipatable enough for people to plan their business.
Dr Huan said, in the amended draft Law on Enterprises and business development policies in general, building entrepreneurial trust is very important. The simplification of business registration procedures and the transparency of policies, especially those relating to conditional business lines and industries and prohibited industries are important steps.
In addition, a level environment for all economic sectors must be created while business support system also needs to be developed.
He said Vietnam also needs to improve the efficiency of policy enforcement and government-backed business support institutions; perfect business support service networks engaged by private suppliers and business associations; better business conditions, particularly business support infrastructures like transportation systems, wastewater treatment facilities and industrial parks; and renovate education and training system which must focus on training and developing entrepreneurship.
In addition, Huan stressed that Vietnam also needs to focus on audit work and raise the efficiency of this work, and socialise business supervision work to ensure the information transparency and ensuring legal compliance of enterprises.
Initiated in 1999 with 10 participating developed countries, the Global Entrepreneurs Monitor, also known as GEM, has attracted nearly 100 participating countries. This is considered the world’s largest researcher in entrepreneurship. In 2013, GEM interviewed 197,000 adults and 3,800 professionals from 70 countries, which account for 75 percent of the world population and 90 percent of the world GDP.
GEM studies have three main purposes: Measuring the difference in business development levels among countries; exploring business environment elements that affect the national business development; and Consulting on national business development policies.
Vietnam, officially represented by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), joined GEM in 2013.
Quynh Chi
Vietnamese
