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Nâng cao năng lực cạnh tranh của các doanh nghiệp Việt Nam trong bối cảnh tự do hóa thương mại

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Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 2 năm 2020  
ENHANCED COMPETITIVENESS OF VIETNAMESE ENTERPRISES UNDER  
GLOBAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION  
NÂNG CAO NĂNG LỰC CẠNH TRANH CỦA CÁC DOANH NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM TRONG  
BỐI CẢNH TỰ DO HÓA THƯƠNG MẠI  
Phan The Cong, PhD, Assoc. Prof.  
Thuongmai University, Hanoi, Vietnam  
Email: [email protected]  
Abstract  
In the context of global trade liberalization and higher competition against other countries in the region  
and developing countries, many other bilateral and multilateral trade, investment agreements tend to put  
Vietnamese enterprises in a position of facing increasingly fierce competition with businesses of member countries  
when the tariff barriers are almost completely removed. The fourth wave of industrial revolution is entering a  
booming phase with rapid technological innovation tendency with a positive impact on enterprises' production and  
business activities. Vietnamese enterprises have more opportunities to expand partnership as well as export  
markets if they are well prepared and take the opportunies at the right time. The business sector is increasingly  
promoting and confirming its important role and position in national socio-economic development. However, in  
order for Vietnamese enterprises to develop sustainably and improve their competitiveness in the context of global  
trade liberalization, enterprises are required to be creative and innovative and the State, the Government,  
ministries and related associations also need to provide important support.  
Key words: Competitiveness; Trade Liberalization; FTA; Vietnamese Enterprises; Obstacles to  
Business Development; Tectonic Government  
Tóm tắt  
Trong bối cảnh tự do hóa thương mại toàn cầu, cạnh tranh từ các nước trong khu vực và các đối thủ  
thuộc nhóm các nền kinh tế đang phát triển ngày càng mạnh, nhiều hiệp định thương mại, đầu tư đa và song  
phương khác được ký kết sẽ đặt doanh nghiệp Việt Nam vào vị thế phải cạnh tranh ngày càng khốc liệt với các  
doanh nghiệp của các nước thành viên khi hàng rào thuế quan gần như được gỡ bỏ hoàn toàn. Làn sóng cách  
mạng công nghiệp lần thứ tư đang bước vào giai đoạn bùng nổ với xu thế đổi mới công nghệ nhanh chóng có  
tác động tích cực đến hoạt động sản xuất kinh doanh của các doanh nghiệp. Các doanh nghiệp Việt Nam có  
thêm nhiều cơ hội để mở rộng hợp tác cũng như cơ hội mở rộng thị trường xuất khẩu nếu chuẩn bị tốt và đón  
nhận thời cơ kịp thời. Khu vực doanh nghiệp ngày càng phát huy và khẳng định vai trò, vị trí quan trọng trong  
phát triển kinh tế xã hội quốc gia. Tuy nhiên, để doanh nghiệp Việt Nam phát triển bền vững và nâng cao được  
sức cạnh tranh trong bối cảnh tự do hóa thương mại toàn cầu, đòi hỏi, một mặt các doanh nghiệp phải sáng tạo  
và đổi mới. Mặt khác, để doanh nghiệp phát triển bền vững, cần phải có sự chung sức hỗ trợ từ phía Nhà nước,  
Chính phủ, các Bộ ngành và các Hiệp hội có liên quan.  
Từ khóa: Năng lực cạnh tranh; Tự do hóa thương mại; FTA; Doanh nghiệp Việt Nam; Rào cản phát  
triển doanh nghiệp; Chính phủ kiến tạo.  
1. Introduction  
In recent years, entrepreneurship has been strongly promoted by the Central Party and  
Government of Viet Nam than ever before through the issuance of a range of guidelines and policies to  
encourage the development of enterprises and the private sector, creating favorable conditions to  
promote legal business freedom among its people. For the first time, three Resolutions dedicated to  
three economic sectors have been issued, namely: Resolution 12-NQ / TW dated June 3, 2017 at the  
Fifth Meeting of the 12th Central Executive Committee of the Party on continued restructuring,  
renewing and improving the efficiency of state-owned enterprises; Resolution 10/NQ-TW dated June  
3, 2017 at the Fifth Meeting of the 12th Central Executive Committee of the Party on developing the  
private sector as an important driving force of the socialist-oriented market economy; and the most  
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recently issued Resolution 50/NQ-TW by the Politburo on the direction of completing institutions and  
policies and improving the quality and effectiveness of foreign investment cooperation by 2030.  
Viet Nam has implemented a series of drastic reforms to the business investment environment  
through the completion of its legislation and policies: amendments to the Law on Investment, Law on  
Enterprises, Laws specialized in land management, credit, tax, customs, labor, etc., and issuance of the  
Law on Support for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). At the same time, the Government  
has issued such Resolutions as Resolution 02/NQ-CP (formerly Resolution 19) on improving the  
business investment environment and national competitiveness, Resolution 35/NQ-CP on supporting  
business development to 2020; Resolution 139/NQ-CP on cutting costs for businesses, Resolution  
53/NQ-CP dated July 17, 2019 in Vietnam on solutions to encourage and promote businesses’  
effective, safe and sustainable investment in agriculture, and several other programs and plans to  
support business development in science and technology, market, human resources, etc.  
Currently, the business sector in development is facing several barriers. Although the business  
environment has improved thanks to efforts to build the tectonic government with a larger number of  
businesses and sharply increased registered capital in 2019, the business sector still faces many  
difficulties. About 98% of current businesses are in the private sector, the majority of which are SMEs.  
The proportion of businesses with losses has increased continuously since 2012, and now up to more  
than 50% of the total number of businesses. Among the three sectors, private enterprises and  
enterprises with foreign direct investment (FDI) have higher rates of losses than state-owned  
enterprises (SOEs). While FDI enterprises’ losses may be partly due to ‘transfer pricing’, the figure of  
more than 48% of the private enterprises facing losses, compared to more than 16% of SOEs clearly  
reflects great difficulties of the private sector. The above mentioned situations show that enterprises in  
general and private enterprises in particular are still facing barriers in their development, including  
barriers when entering the market with important production factors such as capital, labor, land,  
technology, infrastructure and logistics; as well as having many unreasonable problems when starting a  
business or complying with tax and customs obligations, etc. This affects the development of  
businesses, thereby affecting rapid growth. and sustainability of the economy.  
The business sector is showing its continuous development and confirming its important role and  
position in national socio-economic development. However, to help Vietnamese enterprises develop  
sustainably and improve their competitiveness in the context of global trade liberalization, businesses  
are required to be creative and innovative while it is also important to have the joint support from the  
State, the Government, ministries and related associations.  
2. Overview of the development of Vietnamese enterprises  
2.1. Development of Vietnamese enterprises  
According to the Report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (2019), in the past years,  
the proportion of large, medium and small sized enterprises tended to increase while the proportion of  
micro enterprises decreased: entrepreneurship developed positively with a continuously increasing  
number of newly established enterprises and additional registered capital into the economy. The  
number of newly established enterprises and amount of registered capital increased in five consecutive  
years for the first time in history (of which 96% are enterprises of the private sector). In 2019, 136,000  
enterprises were newly established with a total registered capital of about 1.7 million billion dongs.  
The proportion of large-sized enterprises in the entire enterprise sector in 2018 accounted for 2.8%, an  
increase of 0.4% compared to 2016 (2.4%); medium enterprises accounted for 3.5%, an increase of 1%  
compared to 2016 (2.5%), bringing the proportion of medium and large-sized enterprises from 4.9% in  
2016 to 6.3% in 2018. The proportion of small enterprises also increased from 25% to 30.8% while  
that of micro enterprises decreased from 70.1% to 62.9%. In addition to state-owned corporations and  
large FDI enterprises, there were more economic corporations in the private sector with increasing  
scale, great potential, and investment in industries and fields with significant impacts on the country's  
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socio-economic development such as infrastructure development, information technology, high-tech  
fields, high-tech manufacturing fields, and others.  
According to GSO (2019), nine out of twenty-nine Vietnamese enterprises currently with  
capital of over US$ 1 billion come from the private sector (Vingroup, FLC, Masan, Vietjet, Truong  
Hai, Techcombank, Mobile World, Novaland, Hoa Phat, so on). According to the ranking in the  
Vietnam Report (VNR), 21 out of 50 largest enterprises in Vietnam are in the private sector (this figure  
was 11, 16, and 17 in 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively); and one of the private enterprises is in the  
list of 10 biggest enterprises in Vietnam (Vingroup).  
Figure 1. Newly established enterprises and newly registered capital  
Unit: US$ billion  
a) Newly established enterprises  
b) Newly registered capital  
Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment (2019)  
In recent years, comparison of the average number of newly registered enterprises in the period  
of 2016-2018 against the period of 2011-2015 shows an increase of 40% in manufacturing, 56.6% in  
science and technology, and 62% in electricity and water supply, and 89.5% in education and training.  
Enterprises tend to shift investment from industries that purely exploit raw resources to processing,  
manufacturing and services to create added value for products and goods. The average number of  
enterprises per 1,000 people and 1,000 employees is constantly increasing at an increasing rate. In  
2018, on average, there were 7.6 enterprises per 1,000 people (this figure was 5.4 in 2016 and 6 in  
2017), while the number of enterprises per 1,000 employees aged 15 in 2018 was 11.5 (this figure was  
9.3 and 10.2 in 2016 and 2017 respectively).  
With flexibility and innovation in doing business, Vietnamese enterprises have made great  
strides in the integration process. The index showing business dynamism (Global Competitiveness  
Index - GCI 2019 - WEF) rises 12 places as one of the three pillars with greatest improvements.  
Vietnam's innovation index continued to improve, rising 3 places to 42th out of 129  
countries/economies ranked in 2018. It improved 17 places compared to that in 2016 and brought  
Vietnam to the first position among 26 low-middle income countries and rank 3rd in ASEAN after  
Singapore and Malaysia. Especially, the output index of Science, Technology and Innovation, the  
index of products based on knowledge and technology has made a great leap (up 8 places),  
demonstrating significant changes in technological receipt, transfer, absorption and development  
among enterprises.  
The output of Vietnamese enterprises’ production - business activities shows many positive  
achievements in the integration process. Their total net revenue in 2018 reached VND 23.9 million, an  
increase of 15.7%, 37.6%, and 130% compared to 2017, 2016, and 2011 respectively. By business  
sector, industry, construction and services had the largest proportion of net revenue, an increase of  
nearly 16% compared to 2017. Agriculture, forestry and fishery accounted for the lowest proportion of  
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less than 1% (0. 57%) of the total net revenue of the entire business sector, but with the highest growth  
rate of 20.32 compared to 2017. The 2017 net revenue of private enterprises accounted for 57% and  
the increase compared to 2017 was 16.2%; FDI enterprises accounted for 28.7%, an increase of 15.7%;  
state owned enterprises accounted for 14.3%, up 9.3%. The total profit before tax of the business  
sector in 2018 reached VND 953.2 trillion, up 8.7% compared to 2017, and 33.9% compared to 2016.  
2.2. Vietnamese enterprises’ contribution to socio-economic development  
- Enterprises have made great contributions to exports, the state budget, and Vietnamese  
branding in the international market. According to GSO (2018, 2019), in 2018, export turnover was  
estimated at US$ 243.5 billion, an increase of 13.2% compared to 2017 (exceeding the target set by the  
National Assembly; an increase of 7-8%). In particular, the FDI sector contributed 71.3% and the  
domestic sector contributed 28.7%. Regarding the growth rate of export turnover, the domestic  
economic sector experienced positive changes with an ecrease of 16.9% in 2018 compared to 2017,  
higher than the FDI sector (11.8%). Vietnam's economy in 2019 continued to mark a prosperous year  
in the context of slowing world economic growth. Trade tensions between the US and China and  
geopolitical issues have further increased the instability of the global trading system. GDP growth in  
2019 reached 7.02% compared to 2018; in particular, it increased by 6.82%, 6.73%, 7.48%, and 6.97%  
from the first to the fourth quarter respectively, exceeding the target set by the National Assembly of  
6.6-6.8%. 2019 growth rate was lower than the growth rate of 7.08% in 2018 but higher than the  
increase of the years 2011-2017.  
In 2019, Vietnam also achieved great achievements in signing free trade agreements. Its total  
import and export turnover of goods was estimated at nearly US$ 517 billion, up 7.6% compared to  
2018; surpassing US$ 500 billion for the first time and being a historical result, with the trade surplus  
reaching a new record of US$ 9.94 billion. In particular, the export turnover of goods reached US$  
263.45 billion, up 8.1%. The domestic economic sector in 2018 marked a remarkable development  
with an export growth of up to 17.7%, much higher than the growth rate of the foreign invested sector  
(4.2%). Phones and spareparts with the largest export value reached US$48.7 billion, accounting for  
20.2% of total export turnover, up 5.4% over the same period in 2018; electronics, computers and  
components reached US$32.4 billion, up 19.4%; textiles and garments reached US$ 29.9 billion, up  
7.8%; footwear reached US$ 16.5 billion, up 12.5%; and machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts  
reached US$ 16.5 billion, up 9.8%. Export turnover of many agricultural products continued to  
decrease compared to the same period in 2018: Fisheries reached US$ 7.8 billion, down 2.3%; fruit  
and vegetables reached US$ 3.4 billion, down 2.4%; cashew nuts reached US$ 3 billion, down 3.4%  
(output increased by 21.5%); rice reached US$ 2.6 billion, down 8.3% (output increased by 4.8%);  
coffee reached US$ 2.5 billion, down 22.2% (output decreased by 14.6%); and pepper reached US$  
672 million, down 6.5% (output increased by 21%). Particularly, rubber gained US$ 2 billion, up 7.6%  
(output increased by 8.1%); tea reached US$ 212 million, up 8.2% (output increased 5.8%).  
- Enterprises create jobs, improve living standards and raise income for people and employees,  
making important contributions to hunger eradication, poverty reduction and social stability. On  
average, during the 2016-2018 period, enterprises attracted 14.48 million employees, an increase of  
24.4% compared to the period of 2011-2015 (11.64 million people). Enterprises of the private sector  
attracted most employees, accounting for 60.9% of the total number of employees in all enterprises;  
FDI enterprises accounted for 30.4%; and SOEs accounted for 8.7%. Monthly income per employee in  
the period 2016-2018 of enterprises was VND 8.24 million on average, an increase of 40.1% compared  
to the period of 2011-2015. Private enterprises had the highest growth rate of 47.4%, followed by an  
increase of 38.1% in FDI enterprises, and 35.9% in SOEs. Monthly income per employee in 2018 was  
VND 8.94 million, up 7.7% compared to 2017, nearly two times higher than that in 2011. The rate was  
estimated at VND 10.2 million in Ba Ria Vung Tau, VND 10.8 million in HCMC, VND 10.2 million  
in Hanoi, VND 9.4 million Bac Ninh, VND 9.8 millionin Dong Nai, VND 8.9 million in Thai Nguyen,  
VND 9.6 million in Quang Ninh, and VND 8.6 million in Binh Duong.  
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- Enterprises are an important force to attract investment from the society to achieve socio-  
economic goals, sustainable development and green growth. On average, during the 2016-2018 period,  
enterprises spent about VND 34.28 million billion on production and business investment, an increase  
of 82.05% compared to the annual average capital in the period of 2011-2015 (VND 18. 83 million  
billion). Private enterprises had the highest proportion and growth rate, accounting for 55% of the  
capital of all enterprises, more than 2 times higher (103%) than that in the 2011-2015 period; SOEs  
accounted for 27.35%, up 54%; and FDI enterprises accounted for 17.65%, up 77.64%. In 2018,  
according to preliminary statistical data, enterprises used about VND 41.73 million billion, up 26.45%  
compared to 2017, 2.8 times higher than in 2011. Some industries showed positive developments with  
a significant increase in investment capital compared to 2017, such as agriculture, forestry and fishery,  
up 31% compared to 2017; processing and manufacturing industry increased by 20%; water supply,  
waste and waste water treatment increased by 25%; health and social assistance activities increased  
36.9%; scientific and technological activities increased by 53.2%.  
- Enterprises are centered in innovation through the transformation of advanced production  
models, application of scientific and technological advances, improving productivity and product and  
service quality, making important contributions to raising national competitiveness. Currently, there  
are about 4,000 innovation startups in operation, including many successful startups, financed with  
millions of dollars from foreign investment funds such as Coc Coc, KAfe Group, VeXeRe, Tiki, NCT,  
etc. Many private enterprises in information technology start ups such as Hoa Binh Software Solution  
Company, iSphere Software Company, VinaGame, Navigos Group, Wireless Solution Services Joint  
Stock Company, VC. Corporation, CyVee.com, Tai Viet Joint Stock Company, MJ Group, and others  
contribute significantly to creating Vietnamese brands for information technology on the world’s  
startup map. According to a survey by the Ministry of Science and Technology, in 2018, about 30% of  
enterprises had innovation activities (reaching the goal set in Resolution No. 35/NQ-CP on supporting  
business development by 2020). More and more corporations were investing in science and technology  
such as Vietel, FPT, Vingroup, TTC, Phenikaa, etc. and were expected to make a breakthrough. In  
2018, according to preliminary statistics, the total investment capital for production and business  
activities of enterprises in the scientific and technological sector witnessed a breakthrough increase,  
reaching VND 965 trillion, up 53.2% compared to 2017 (VND 630 trillion) and achieved the highest  
growth rate among all business groups.  
- Enterprises are the key factor to promote the value chain and improve added value for  
products and services. Enterprises are the key factor and important link in the value chain to enhance  
the competitiveness of Vietnam's export products, forming clusters in such industries as electronics,  
textiles and fisheries, thereby creating a job dispatch and efficiency for the economy, affecting the  
sustainability of GDP growth, and increasing labor income.  
Figure 2. Vietnam’s commodity groups with competitive advantages when entering the global value chain  
Source: TradeMap of the World Trade Center. Analysis and graphics were made by USAID consultants  
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3. Impacts of global trade liberalization on Vietnamese business development  
The fact that Vietnam has been integrating increasingly deeply and effectively into the region  
and globe, through its signing and implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs) such as Vietnam -  
Korea FTA (VKFTA) and FTA ASEAN - Korea (AKFTA), Comprehensive and Progressive  
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Vietnam - Eurasian Union, Vietnam - European  
Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has created dramatic improvements in the business  
environment, expanded investment and trade for Vietnamese enterprises, which positively affects  
import and export activities. FTAs have had a major impact on making Vietnam's business  
environment more open, predictable and more integrated. Production and export activities are more  
advantageous due to preferential tariffs under FTAs, attracting more capital, technology and improving  
management skills among enterprises. In addition, among the FTAs that Vietnam is implementing,  
there are FTAs from countries with similar economic and trade structures, creating a strong  
competition for imported goods in the domestic market, causing a higher trade deficit. A number of  
examples are Viet Nam’s commitment to completely eliminate tariffs in the ASEAN Free Trade Area  
(AFTA) by 2015, to eliminate tariffs within the framework of the ASEAN-Australia / New Zealand  
Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), ASEAN - Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA).  
In addition to general effects of the economy and different economic sectors, enterprises are  
also affected by specific factors as follows:  
- Overcoming non-tariff barriers is a great challenge. Resources for investment and technical  
and technological innovation are limited; strict requirements on sanitary, quarantine, packaging,  
labelling, traceability, specifications related to health and people’s life in EU countries, Japan, USA,  
etc. cause many difficulties for enterprises’s penetration into the market.  
- Since the competitiveness of Vietnamese SMEs is not strong enough, the risk of losing the  
domestic market is quite high. When Vietnam signs FTAs without taking advantages of them, SMEs  
will not only lose opportunities to dominate foreign markets, but also the domestic market will be  
difficult to sustain.  
- In addition, SME's financial capacity and financial management remains limited. Most SMEs  
have relatively small equity compared to the international average. While SMEs’ accessibility to  
domestic loans is low, mainly due to lack of collaterals as well as transparent financial management  
and financial records, limited capital and weak financial capacity will take away opportunities as well  
as limit the competitiveness of SMEs in the market in their deep international integration.  
- SMEs’ awareness and concerns about FTAs remain limited. According to a survey of the  
Ministry of Planning and Investment in 2014, up to 76% of Vietnamese enterprises were not fully  
aware of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), 94% of enterprises did not understand the  
contents of negotiations in AEC, and 63 % of enterprises did not grasp the opportunities and  
challenges brought about by AEC. Passive integration into the international market will cause  
Vietnamese SMEs to lose business opportunities as well as fail to respond to well-designed business  
strategies of foreign competitors.  
Figure 3. Factors impacting enterprises’ FTA implementation  
Source: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (2019)  
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The  
General Statistics Office (GSO) has conducted thematic surveys to collect information on  
assessing enterprises’ readiness for international integration in processing and manufacturing industrie  
where there are many large-sized enterprises affected by international integration. GSO sampled 3500  
processing and manufacturing enterprises including 200 SOEs, 100 FDIs and 2200 non-state  
enterprises in the survey. Many enterprises in large-scale of processing and manufacturing industries  
were selected for the survey, including food processing and production (601 enterprises), production of  
products made from non-metallic minerals (476 enterprises), production of products made from  
prefabricated metal (329 enterprises), apparel (254 enterprises), and so on. Information collected to  
assess enterprises' readiness for international integration includes: Information channel through which  
enterprises know about trade agreements; enterprises' views on Vietnam signing trade agreements;  
assement of the production and business situation of enterprises; business opportunities with foreign  
partners; effects of the agreements on business activities of enterprises; strengths and disadvantages of  
enterprises when participating in trade agreements with regards to main factors of production and  
business such as product quality and price, investment capital, employees’ qualifications, expertise and  
skills, business management skills, consumer market, sources of information supply and updates,  
awareness of business laws, enterprises’ expectations about the Government / state agencies, and  
enterprises’ strategy to seize integration opportunities.  
Figure 4. Enterprises’ awareness of FTAs  
Source: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (2019)  
Figure 5. Enterprises’ assessment of FTAs’ impacts  
Source: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (2019)  
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GSO survey results showed that up to 94.5% of enterprises said they knew one or more trade  
agreements Vietnam had participated in. Only 5.5% of enterprises were not aware of any agreements.  
Some industries having a high rate of enterprises knowing about trade agreements (over 97%) were  
tobacco production; coal production; oil refinery; unclassified machinery and equipment  
manufacturing; repairing, maintenance and installation of machinery and equipment; manufacturing of  
other means of transport; manufacturing of motor vehicles; metal production; production of medicine,  
pharmaceutical chemicals and pharmaceuticals; etc.  
Regarding the information channel of enterprises, among enterprises that know about trade  
agreements, up to 86.9% of enterprises knew through communication channels; 16.3% heard from  
associations; 15.1% knew through state management agencies; 10.8% of enterprises knew through  
business partners; and the remaining of 8.8% knew through other information channels. For state-  
owned enterprises: 90.4% of them knew trade agreements via media; 26.3% heard from state  
management agencies and 19.7% knew through associations. The proportions were 86.7%; 15.4% and  
14.2% among non-state enterprises and 86.4%; 11.8% and 20.2% among FDI enterprises respectively.  
Industries hearing about trade agreements through communication with a high rate included  
manufacturing of motor vehicles (97.6%); manufacturing of medicine, pharmaceutical chemicals and  
medicinal materials (97%), Cigarette production (92.3%), and manufacturing of unclassified  
equipment and machinery (91.4%); etc.  
Regarding the classification of agreements, the surveys showed that the highest rate of  
enterprises knowing about the ASEAN Economic Community was 83.8% (16.2% did not know);  
followed by TPP Agreement - 82.2% (16.8% did not know); Vietnam - Japan Free Trade Agreement -  
66.8% (33.2% did not know); Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement - 64.1% (35.9% di not  
know); and Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement - 62.7% (37.3% did not know).  
Figure 6. Enterprises’ activeness in their integration  
Source: Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (2019)  
4. Difficulties and challenges faced by Vietnamese enterprises in the trade liberalization  
4.1. Unsustainable business structure  
Although the number of newly established enterprises keeps increasing, the number of  
enterprises facing difficulties and having to in temporarily suspend business is still high. The number  
of enterprises suspending business and dissolving accounts for about 58.1% on average against the  
total number of newly established enterprises every year in the period of 2017-2019. In particular, it  
was 57.3%, 67.7% and 49.8% in 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. Vietnam especially lacks large  
and medium-sized enterprises. This shortage of medium sized enterprises leads to an imbalanced  
structure of formal private enterprises. The shortage of medium and large-sized enterprises is also one  
of the factors limiting the connectivity of Vietnamese enterprises to global value chains.  
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Although many Vietnamese private enterprises are categorized as large-sized ones, their  
                                   
average size is much smaller than that in other regional countries. For example, data on listed  
companies on the stock market show that the average capital of the most representative large-sized  
private enterprises in Vietnam was only USD 186 million/company in 2018. This capital size was  
much lower than the figure of US$ 1.2 billion/company in the Philippines, US$ 1.07 billion/company  
in Singapore, US$ 835 million/company in Thailand, US$ 809 million/company in Indonesia and US$  
553 million/company in Malaysia at the end of April 2018. The number of medium and medium to  
large sized enterprises remains very low. The process of capital accumulation of internal resources in  
domestic private enterprises takes place at a slow pace.  
4.2. Enterprises' limited scientific and technological capacity, old equipment, poor investment in  
application and development of science and technology, especially core and pioneering technologies  
Currently, only 10% of enterprises have successfully registered or registered a patent within the  
last 3 years. Most Vietnamese enterprises are unlikely to own a patent. Vietnamese enterprises’  
investment in technological innovation only accounts for 0.2-0.3% of their revenue while it is 5% and  
10% in India and South Korea respectively. In fact, the linkage between Vietnamese enterprises and  
research institutions and universities is weak. According to the results of a survey on the  
competitiveness and technology capacity at enterprise level by the Ministry of Planning and  
Investment (2018), only 10.2% of enterprises said that they invested in some R&D activities. In  
particular, most of the research costs (55%) were devoted to developing new technologies for their  
operation rather than to 'pioneering research' - new technologies compared to the global figure (43.2%  
new to enterprises; 1.8% new to the world).  
Figure 7. Innovation rate of enterprises with research acvities  
Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment (2019)  
Pursuing technological innovation is a way to avoid the large cost of conducting research,  
which is suitable for small enterprises. However, most of them do not engage in any research or  
improvement activities (86%). The rest (14%) invest in innovation through research, innovation or  
both, (Figure 7).  
4.3. Low level of business management skills, most of which in the form of household business  
manangement skills, absence of vision and long-term business strategy, poor training in improving  
management skills, lack of high quality and skilled labor  
According the assessment by the World Bank (2018), the quality of Vietnam's human resources  
was 3.79 points (on a 10-point scale) ranking 11th out of 12 countries surveyed in Asia, while it was  
6.91, 5.76, and 5.59 points in South Korea, India, and Malaysia respectively. As such, Vietnam’s  
human resources remained low in quality and in short of dynamism and creativity, industrial work  
altitude. According to a survey result, up to 55.63% of small and medium-sized business owners had  
from intermediate or lower level of education, of which 43.3% had pre-intermediate or elementary  
level. Regarding the labor force, up to 75% of the labor force in SMEs did not receive technical and  
professional training. Meanwhile, human resources are considered as a key element of the sustainable  
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Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 2 năm 2020  
development of enterprises. In the context of the fourth industrial revolution and open economy,  
business managers are forced to adapt quickly in all aspects, in which the recruitment, arrangement  
and training of human resources result in effective business and attract more attention from enterprises.  
According to the Center for Human Resources Forecast and Labor Market Information in Ho Chi  
Minh City (Falmi), the demand for human resources in enterprises which are now developing in the  
direction of attracting high qualified and trained human resources accounts for 82.92%. In particular,  
the demand for manpower with university or higher degrees accounts for 12.46%; and it is 17.04% for  
college level, 26.04% for secondary level, and 27.38% for primary vocational training.  
4.4. Weak connectivity and low competitiveness in export and participation in regional and global  
value chains  
In particular, the linkage between domestic private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises  
is very weak with many limitations. According to a JETRO4 survey, Japanese companies, considered  
the largest foreign investors in Vietnam, procured about 32.4% of the services and input products from  
local suppliers in 2016. This figure was much lower than that of Japanese FDI enterprises in  
neighboring countries such as China (67.8%), Thailand (57.1%) and Indonesia (40.5%). It should also  
be emphasized that 58.9% of Japanese FDI companies’ suppliers were FDI enterprises based in  
Vietnam. According to JETRO (2016), "Survey of Business Conditions of Japanese Companies in  
Asia and Oceania", only 21% of Vietnamese SMEs were part of the global value chain and only 14%  
of SMEs successfully attracted foreign customers or partners, although the volume of FDI in the  
country was very high. The low productivity and lack of skilled labor in domestic enterprises had  
limited value chain linkages.  
4.5. Obstacles to the development of Vietnamese enterprises  
Currently, enterprises continue to provide feedbacks and recommendations related to  
administrative procedures, business investment conditions, contradictions and ambiguity in legal  
regulations. According to many businesses, they still have limited accessibility to preferential policies  
and support of the State due to inavailability of information or inadequate information, complicated  
and time-consuming procedures with many levels of administration, and gains from the policies being  
even lower than costs to produre completion. The reduction of requirements for enterprises in some  
areas is not substantial or has not been publicly announced or comparison of changes is not available  
(Nguyen Quang Thai, 2018; Phan The Cong, 2019).  
A number of business support policies such as preferences of income tax for SMEs, preferential  
credit, lowered interest rate, and production ground support have been issued but have not yet come to  
life due to the inconsistence of the legislation and limited resources. The fact shows that most  
limitations stem from the size of SMEs, most of which have micro, small and medium sized  
(accounting for 97-98% of the total number of enterprises). Enterprises still have a negatively short-  
term business mindset, i.e. desiring to get rich quickly without investing time and effort in study and  
research, especially on new and core technologies of products. Some enterprises are not fully aware of  
the roles, responsibilities and obligations of enterprises to the social community and the country and  
cause such problems as tax evasion, trade fraud, environmental pollution, and others.  
5. Implications and solutions for enhanced competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises  
Currently, Vietnam is still an attractive investment destination in ASEAN and Asia. Investors  
from Japan, the USA, South Korea, Singapore, and China continue to have a great trust in Vietnam  
market, and many large corporations have strategies to build their second bases in Vietnam. This is an  
opportunity and also a motivation for Vietnamese enterprises to learn, innovate and enhance their  
capacity to become a partner of foreign enterprises, gradually improving the level of participation in  
the value chain of the region and the world. The society, international community and Government  
have higher acknowledgement and interest in promoting the development of business models and  
innovation associated with sustainable development goals (clean and green production, attention to  
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Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 2 năm 2020  
people with low-income and disadvantages in society). In order to help Vietnamese enterprises to  
develop sustainably, the involvement of state management agencies, associations and businesses is  
essential.  
5.1. As for state agencies  
In order to remove barriers to the development of Vietnamese enterprises, state administration  
agencies need to apply the following measures:  
Firstly, the State continues to promote reformed business environment, improved national  
competitiveness by completing its policies and mechanisms with a consistent legislation system;  
reviewing and simplifying administrative procedures; serious application of open and transparent  
procedures with comparisons of changes, specific guidance of the implementation process and  
procedures. It is important to reform the investment environment, create favorable conditions on  
investment policies and procedures to attract foreign investment into Vietnam with long-term,  
sustainable projects of technology transfer in accordance with Resolution 50/NQ-TW on  
improvements in institutions and policies, quality and efficiency of foreign investment cooperation by  
2030. Information of planning, markets or production inputs, forecasts, especially supporting  
mechanisms and policies for enterprises, and procedures need to be made public on the portal of  
ministries, branches and localities.  
Secondly, the State continues to improve the business and investment environment and create  
favorable conditions for enterprises (cutting down business conditions, reforming tax and customs  
administration, building an e-government, etc.). Building an e-government then a digital government  
and digital economy in Vietnam is a prerequisite that needs to be done quickly and strongly. The legal  
corridor in applying information technology and building e-government has gradually been  
established. Some databases serving as an information foundation such as the National Business  
Registration Database, National Insurance Database, National Database of Residential, and National  
Land Database are under construction with some components in operation. State agencies have  
provided some fundamental online public services for enterprises and citizens such as business  
registration, tax declaration, tax payment, electronic customs, social insurance, etc. Several ministries  
and sectors have processed applications online. In some localities, an electronic one-door service  
system has been put into operation, gradually improving the transparency and responsibility among  
civil servants. According to developed countries’ experience in running e-governments, the  
institutional foundation for e-governments should be established first, while many regulations and  
policies have not been issued. Therefore, it is necessary to promulgate Decrees on data sharing,  
protection of personal data and privacy, electronic authentication, and reporting among state  
administrative agencies. A decree on investment in information technology application in alignment  
with the industry’s specific conditions needs to be issued soon as the replacement of Decree No.  
102/2009/ND-CP in Vietnam on investment in IT application in state agencies' activities and Decision  
No. 80/2014/QD-TTg by the Prime Minister in Vietnam on hiring information technology services. In  
the coming time, it is important to study and propose the development of the E-Government Law and  
guiding documents to ensure the legal corridor for developing e-government based on open data and  
application of new technologies for a digital economy and society.  
Thirdly, it is critical to implement a plan on enterprise sustainable development and encourage  
enterprises to apply sustainable business models, cleaner production technologies, and efficient use of  
resources. Enterprises need to be promoted to innovate and apply science and technology, take  
opportunities given by the industrial revolution 4.0, improve productivity and competitiveness for  
enterprises, develop high quality human resources, and improve business administration capacity. It is  
significant to promote entrepreneurship; focus on innovative startups in a number of sectors with  
advantages and potentials; create favorable conditions for the formation of technology enterprises,  
especially those in hi-tech, information technology, electronics and telecommunications; create a fair  
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Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 2 năm 2020  
business environment between the new business model and the traditional economy by reviewing and  
abolishing unreasonable regulations on business conditions in the traditional business fields; and build  
a pilot institutional framework for new business models in a number of high-risk areas.  
Fourthly, there is a need to develop and complete policies to attract modern technologies for  
green, clean and environmentally friendly products and services; complete criteria, standards and  
specifications on exploitation and use of natural resources and environmental protection, application of  
technology transfer, energy use in attracting and using foreign investment.  
Fifth, large-sized enterprises, SOEs, and FDI enterprises should be encouraged to enter joint  
ventures and have business partnership with domestic SMEs; at the same time, enterprises should be  
enabled to participate in global production networks, supply chains and value chains. Business links  
are to be promoted to develop sustainable value chains. One of the three key supporting points of the  
SME Support Law is to support SMEs to join value chain and linkages. Decree 39/2018/ND-CP  
specifies a number of articles of the Law and stipulates that ministries, sectors and localities  
proactively develop a scheme to support SMEs joining industry clusters and value chains.  
Sixth, infrastructure and resources need to be more accessible to enterprises, especially SMEs.  
In particular, it is important to allocate resources in infrastructure development (electricity, roads,  
stores, green industrial parks, etc.); enhance access to credit, land, information on science and  
technology, intellectual property; develop the labor force to meet enterprises’ practical needs through  
strengthening enterprise-school partnership. Encouragement should be given to cleaner production,  
efficient use of natural resources, and environmental protection. Along with the Green Growth  
Strategy, in recent years, the Central Party and the State have issued many policies to promote  
sustainable development among manufacturers such as preferential policies on investment in  
environmental resource protection and clean energy; strategy for cleaner industrial production by  
2020, Law on Efficient Energy, National Environment Protection Strategy by 2020 with a vision to  
2030. As a result, in many localities, enterprises apply greener and cleaner production methods.  
5.2. As for business associations  
Business organizations and associations continue to actively coordinate with state management  
agencies in policy advocacy to enhance enterprises’ competitiveness, social responsibility, and  
implemention of national sustainable development goals. In addition, it is important to proactively  
seek resources, build and deploy initiatives to support the development of business members, and  
strength links to joint development in an effective and sustainable manner. Additionally, business  
organizations and business associations continue to develop specific and feasible programs and  
measures for continued improvement of the quality of activities, effective performance of supporting  
business members, and work an effective bridge between enterprises and the Government.  
5.3. As for enterprises  
Firstly, enterprises need to improve production capacity, be proactive and participate in the  
supply chains of foreign businesses; promote investment, expand production scale, increase production  
capacity; and develop secondary industries. Enterprises need to enhance innovation, application of  
advanced science and technology in production and business, especially pioneering core technologies.  
Enterprises should proactively innovate business thinking; improve management skills, productivity,  
quality, and competitiveness of products and services; standardize production and business to meet the  
requirements and criteria of international markets. Enterprises in integration need have better  
awareness and capacity to enforce legal provisions on trade remedies, rules on origin and labeling;  
improve the compliance with laws and comply with international commitments on rules of origin of  
goods. Transporting goods from countries subject to trade remedies to Vietnam for domestic  
consumption or export to a third country should be prohibited and at the same time, good archives of  
evidences for the origin of raw materials and products in service of verification and investigation  
activities of the customs authorities of importing countries.  
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Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 2 năm 2020  
Secondly, production and business models should be innovated in association with sustainable  
development goals: clean, green, and economical production, energy efficiency, environmental  
protection, and focus on disadvantaged groups in society. In the context of a changing world,  
international integration creates many opportunities for enterprises but also many risks and challenges.  
Besides environmental issues, climate change and social issues are increasingly complex. Therefore,  
the business community and businessmen need to promote the spirit of solidarity, turn national pride  
into strength to develop strongly together, and enhance social responsibility to construct an  
independent, autonomous, sustainable and powerful country.  
Thirdly, it is significant to strength business connection and partnership to develop production  
chains and value chains; raise the added value of products and services; and proceed to a higher place  
in regional and global value chains.  
Fourthly, enterprises need to take advantage of FTA tariff preferences to increase the price  
competitiveness of goods, while taking opportunities given by commitments on sustainable  
development to develop the image-reputation of Vietnamese goods.  
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