The ambitions of “billion US$” empires in Vietnam

In the early days of Masan, the company founders are young Vietnamese who won a scholarship to study in Eastern Europe.

They had the opportunity to witness a world of rapid change and they did not want to just stand to see it happen or simply enjoy the wave of economic liberalization happening around them.

They wanted to become the leading factor in the change to create value, and become entrepreneurs.

Gaining success abroad, Masan returned to the home country. In 2002, it launched Chin-su sauce in the domestic market, placing the first small steps in the journey to conquer the Vietnamese market with nearly 90 million consumers.

Since then, Masan has led the change in many different markets, from food and beverages to the animal protein value chain of Vietnam, and even the global tungsten market.

After 20 years, Masan has become one of the largest conglomerates in Vietnam, focusing on consumer goods, and it is one of the leading firms in many sectors.

Masan's 2020 target is "to be recognized globally, becoming the pride of Vietnam through the creation of a unique successful business model in Asia".

For Masan, success means achieving a market capitalization value of 10% of GDP (about US$20 billion) by 2020.

This goal seems to be delusional, but 10 years ago Masan set the target of US$1 billion and that goal was achieved in 2011.

The target of US$5 billion was then realized in 2015, through the deal with Singha (Singha is a member company of Boon Rawd Brewery, the largest beverage firm in Thailand with 59% of the market share).

Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman of Masan, said that this goal is not too "foolish", which is just a different perspective. Because, while many see Vietnam is a poor country, Masan looks Vietnam as a country rich in natural resources and human resources.

2. "Mastering the 4th industrial revolution" was the main theme at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which took place in early 2016.

Attending the event, Mr. Truong Gia Binh, Chairman of FPT Group more increasingly believed in the path followed by FPT.

According to him, FPT was lucky to be involved right from the starting stage of the Revolution. FPT has been working with the leading technology corporations that lead the digital revolution and is engaged more deeply in the global technology value chain, especially in the S.M.A.C technology and Internet of Things.

In 2016 FPT will shift to a model of global corporations.

"Personally I'm excited with the changes taking place and the goal of becoming a global corporation is increasingly closer, but along with it are enormous challenges which come from customer requirements, competitiveness, and large scale governance. But we understand the challenges and are determined to overcome them. I believe in the power of maximizing the potential of each FPT employee," said Truong Gia Binh.

3. Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) has been a billion USD corporation for years, but in 2016, in the process of continued innovation and economic integration of Vietnam, especially when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) takes effect, it will open up many opportunities and of course many challenges.

Vinamilk will be forced to become the number one dairy company in Vietnam in at least the next five years.

Another goal is sales in international markets to be equivalent to 50% of domestic sales in the next five years.

In addition, Vinamilk will become a trading company operating in various fields on the basis of the available competitive advantages in the next 2-3 years.

However, to be named on the world map, Vinamilk must be among the biggest 50 dairy companies in the world in 2017.