Playing catch-up: Workers assemble an electric car at a plant in Haiphong. Compared with regional countries, the governance level of Vietnam’s large enterprises is still very low, only half of that of countries with high corporate governance scores. — AFP
HANOI: The management level of large enterprises in Vietnam is still very low, compared with countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, according to experts.
Hoang Quang Phong, vice-president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said Vietnam would build an independent and self-reliant economy in the context of international integration.
He added that the party had properly understood and appreciated the role of businesspeople in realising the goal of building an independent and self-reliant economy, especially in the current context of deep integration.
Hoang said such efforts helped the team of entrepreneurs and businesses to grow.
By the end of 2021, Vietnam had nearly 860,000 enterprises in operation, about 15,300 non-agricultural cooperatives and about 5.1 million business households.
Hoang announced six local entrepreneurs had entered the top “dollar billionaires” globally in 2021 and 124 businesses with 283 products that are national brands, saying some brands resonated and affirmed their brand value in regional and international markets such as Viettel, Vinamilk, VinFast, Thaco, TH True Milk and ST25 rice.
From another angle, he said business development still faced many difficulties and had not met expectations as the number of enterprises was unlikely to reach the set target of 1.5 million enterprises by 2025.
The quality of enterprises in value chains and global production networks were still limited, and had not yet taken full advantage of the opportunities brought by free trade agreements.
There were still some businesspeople who violated ethics, traditional culture and even the law, he told a seminar held by VCCI on Sept 27 aimed at improving competitiveness for the business community to develop and grow the local economy.
It was necessary to build a team of Vietnamese entrepreneurs who were not only talented but also had business ethics and culture.
This is to contribute to making Vietnam a developing country by 2030, have modern industry, high average income; and become a high-income developed country by 2045 as said in the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress.
Deputy director of the Department of Enterprise Development of the Planning and Investment Ministry, Bui Thu Thuy, told the seminar: “There are about 878,600 enterprises operating in the whole country; of which 97.2% are small and medium sized.”
She added despite being ranked as a large enterprise, the average size of large enterprises in the private sector in Vietnam was also much smaller than the average in other countries in the Asean region.
At the same time, Vietnam’s stock market is home to the largest concentration of private enterprises with a large number of listed companies compared to other stock exchanges in the region, said Thuy.
According to newly updated data, although Vietnam’s stock market had a good growth rate, the average capitalisation of enterprises listed on the two exchanges in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City was still far behind other countries in the region.
Compared with countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, the governance level of Vietnam’s large enterprises was still very low, only half of that of countries with high corporate governance scores.
This may partly explain the ability of large enterprises to grow and reach the regional and world level in these countries, which is still much higher than that of large enterprises in Vietnam, added the data. — Viet Nam News/ANN
