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In our efforts to reformat the newsletter and provide actionable and timely perspectives, business trends and insights, we present a special focus this month. Our focus on Vietnam offers an insider's perspective and point of view on the opportunities and barriers to conducting business in this market. It is a think-piece, intended to spark discussion in our pangaea.talk.NEWS(tm) bulletin board.
Please feel free to share your comments, opinions and ideas about Vietnam as a business opportunity for Asia, Europe, the Americas, etc.
"Doing Business in Vietnam-- an insider’s perspective"
Contributed by Sam Pyun,
a multi-cultural PANGAEA consultant who recently returned to the US after working in Hanoi this past year for a leading Korean conglomerate.
Focus on Vietnam
Why should you be considering business in Vietnam?
Who’s doing what?
What should you be selling?
Consumer profile
More Observations, Suggestions and Recommendations
What problems will you face?
Doing business abroad has many rewards, but there are still many hurdles. Here we address a few potential difficulties for many foreigners doing business in Vietnam -- at least, these are issues to keep in mind.For more information about investing in Vietnam or other foreign markets, or if you would like an in-depth market study, contact PANGAEA, International Consultants. With an extensive network of marketing consultants, attorneys, logistics experts and more around the world, PANGAEA is uniquely qualified to offer hands-on, local marketing and management consulting services.
- Business can be frustratingly slow to develop, requiring numerous meetings and approvals from multiple ministries.
- The legal system is prone to frequent changes and watch out for mistranslations of important notices.
- Proper housing and office space is hard to find, especially in Hanoi, though many projects are in the process of being completed. Due to this simple demand-supply imbalance, prices can be very high. Therefore, property speculation is a problem in Vietnam. The average price of a square meter of land in downtown Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is US$2,000 compared to US$680 a square meter in Bangkok in the center of the city and US$40 farther out.
- Though the rate at which Vietnamese are picking up English is impressive, the number of qualified English-speakers is not keeping up with the growth of foreign representative offices. Again, this is a problem of a supply-demand imbalance; as a result, turnover can be high, as companies fight for employees; salaries have gone up into the $300-500/month range from the $80-100/month range not long ago.
- In many joint venture agreements, it is inevitable that the foreign partner provides basically everything, from capital and machinery to expertise and, of course, the lavish signing ceremony. For this, often the local partner provides the site and the link to the right ministries.
- Construction can be frustrating and expensive - land use rights are hard to get - and construction materials must be imported.
Latest happenings and trends to watch
To keep up on what's new in Vietnam this month, keep checking back here for regular news "snippets," as they occur. And if you have news to contribute, we'll print it.For more information: Vietnam -- Basic Facts
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