As an organisation representing the business community, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has been involved in many activities supporting business development, including the first time participating in the research project Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). With a database collected from over 200,000 people representing 70 countries, accounting for 75 percent of the world population and 90 percent of the world GDP, GEM is the largest scale study in the world about business. Based on this data, VCCI has built the “GEM Vietnam Report 2013″ and announced it recently in a workshop on Vietnam’s business prospects 2014 in Hanoi.
As of 2012, the study of GEM attracted nearly 100 participating countries. Particularly in Asia, there were 20 countries and territories participating in the GEM project. In Southeast Asia, there were 5 countries becoming members of GEM, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. This showed that Vietnam needed to participate in GEM project.
According to Dr Vu Tien Loc, President of VCCI, Vietnam Entrepreneurship Monitor Index in 2013 provided a broad picture of the business characteristics of Vietnam in business development cycle.
“By participating in the GEM study, for the first time Vietnam has issued the report that enables us to compare the development of Vietnam with those of developed countries in the world, especially countries have the same level of development with Vietnam based on development of resources and other countries in the ASEAN region. The report contributed to the policy and decisions construction process in the next time,” said Dr Loc.
Vietnam’s first Entrepreneurship Monitor Index showed that Vietnam’s entrepreneurs were highly appreciated and there are more and more people who want to become entrepreneurs. Employment growth prospects for the business in the early stages are higher than the average in the developed countries at the same level. However, awareness of business in Vietnam is much lower than other countries at a similar level of development. The innovation-oriented and international-oriented business activities are fewer.
Only about 37 percent of adults in Vietnam said that there will be a chance to start their own business and nearly 49 percent of adults thought that they had business capacity. In developed countries, this ratio turns approximately 61 percent and 69 percent, respectively. Only 24 percent of adults in Vietnam intend to start a business in the next 3 years, lower than the 44 percent average in developed countries.
Entrepreneurs in Vietnam are increasingly appreciated by the society (82 percent) and doing business is the dream career of more than 63 percent of adults. The percentage of adults who own and manage business operations in Vietnam in the early stage is over 15 percent, while the rate of start-ups is only 4 percent, lower than the average in developed countries based on the same resources, respectively 21 percent and 9 percent.
Business activities in Vietnam are mainly directed to serve consumers (about 74 percent). The business owners mainly receive advice from friends and family. The cooperation in business focused mainly on the stage of marketing sales.
Assessing business conditions, among 12 indexes, only 3 indicators including infrastructure; dynamics of the local market; and cultural and social norms achieved above average. The remaining indicators, including business support services such as legal, accounting and audit consulting are not yet adequately developed. The experts evaluated them as below average, especially financial support programs by Government for business and business education at school level. This suggests the lack of counseling and supporting services in Vietnam now.
Given the problems and challenges of the business environment in Vietnam, the report recommends it is necessary to build confidence for entrepreneurs through steadfastly continuing macroeconomic stability policy, making policies transparent, creating an equal competitive among economic sectors.
Quynh Anh
Đăng ký: VietNam News