Businesses need to save their bacon

Nguyen Thi Thuan, Chairwoman of Traphaco’s executive board, said that her pharmaceutical firm was badly affected by low consumer demand and high interest rates of more than 18 per cent To remove obstacles, she said, Traphaco has decided to increase the quality of its products and provide better customer service to consolidate consumer trust.

Traphaco is in the lead of Vietnam’s medicinal herbs industry, Thuan said, adding that her firm earned around VND1,400 billion in revenue last year. “My firm has no bad debts and high inventory levels,” she said.

“We are set to increase our production output and improve our management skills to reduce inventory levels.”

Hoa Sen Joint Stock Company is a case in point. Over the past years it has maintained a domestic market share of more than 40 percent to become the largest steel producer in Southeast Asia.

Hoa Sen’s chief executive officer Le Phuoc Vu said that his company has earned trillions of Vietnam Dong (VND) in revenue, from VND8 trillion in 2011 to VND10 trillion in 2012. This year’s figure is estimated at VND12 trillion.

Vu was worried about bank interest rates and trade restrictions which might put domestic businesses in a fix and let trans-national groups gain the upper hand.

Against this backdrop, he argued, it is urgent for them to sharpen their competitive edge against strong foreign rivals.

Vu proposed restructuring business operations, cutting administration costs, improving product quality and making the best use of capital resources.

He stressed the need to prevent speculation and ensure social welfare for the whole community.

Many economists agreed that to protect themselves from the impact of the global economic crisis, small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should grasp new opportunities to corner the domestic market and then expand their investment overseas.