Nearly 97 per cent of Vietnamese businesses are small-scale with poor technology and low investment efficiency, according to a 2006 business survey made public by the General Statistics Office in Hanoi on December 6.
Based on the criteria for small and medium scaled enterprises (SMEs), having less than 300 laborers and owning under VND10 billion, nearly 97 per cent of businesses in Vietnam are SMEs, the survey said.
Of the total figure, SMEs owning less than VND1 billion represented up to 41.8 per cent, SMEs with capital of VND1 billion-VND5 billion accounted for 37.03 per cent and VND5 billion-VND10 billion SMEs made up 8.18 per cent. Regarding labor size, as many as 51.3 per cent of total SMEs had only 10 laborers each, 44.07 per cent had 10-200 laborers, and only 1.43 per cent had 200-300 laborers.
The survey showed that average assets of these businesses were low, and per capita assets were even lower. That is, the average asset was only VND153 million/laborer.
Business efficiency remained low and was a downward tendency. The return on equity last year reached only 4.42 per cent compared to 4.85 per cent in 2004.
Notably, this year’s survey reported rapid growth of the number of businesses in Vietnam. By December 31, 2005, Vietnam had 113,352 enterprises under the Enterprise Law, up 23.54 per cent over the same period of 2004, of which trade businesses made up the highest proportion of 41.59 per cent, industrial businesses 22.5 per cent, construction businesses 13.46 per cent, services 10.12 per cent, and agro-forestry-fisheries - only 2.14 per cent.
Additionally, the contribution of these businesses to the country’s GDP was estimated at 53 per cent. The annual investment of businesses represented some 55 per cent of total investment of the whole country.
Business activities reported quite robust growth. Total net revenue in 2005 were posted at VND2,223 trillion, rising by 27.03 per cent against a year earlier. The industrial sector booked a growth rate of 31.26 per cent, the construction sector 29.51 per cent, the trade sector 24.23 per cent, the transport sector 31.76 per cent, the hotel-restaurant sector 26.26 per cent and other service sector 39.96 per cent.
The survey stated that businesses created over 541,000 new jobs each year.
The number of businesses running at a loss accounted for 27.35 per cent with an average loss of VND592 billion and the number of businesses making profit was 62.58 per cent with an average profit of VND1.931 billion.
The number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been reduced in recent years to only 3.61 per cent of the total, the survey said.
However, the state-run sector was still leading in capital (54.06 per cent) and contribution to the state budget (40.76 per cent) as compared to private and foreign-invested sectors. It attracts 32.69 per cent of the total of laborers nationwide.
Making up only 3.26 per cent in the number of businesses and 19.55 per cent in the number of employees, the foreign-investment sector was operating at the highest economic efficiency, with its strength in the oil and gas industry, contributing 40.33 per cent of remittance to the State budget.
Meanwhile, the private sector with a modest contribution of 18.91 per cent to the state budget was playing an important role in job generation and consumer goods production.
Vietnam Economic Times
April 24–25, 2026
Kinh Bac Cultural Center, Bac Ninh Province
Vietnamese
