The 4.0 Industrial Revolution has developed significantly, which results in the transformation and breakthrough of all areas of the globe. Besides, the Internet and social network has got more popular and become an indispensable part of modern life. Online business, therefore, is formed and conducted the most frequently on social networking platforms. In the process of doing online business on this platform, many potential risks arise and depending on the situation, the people taking part in the transaction might need to involve the business consultant or risk management consultant to assist proving advice or consultancy service to address the matters.

Secondly, no authorities have the possibility to guarantee absolutely the quality of items traded on social networks. The goods listed for sale are extremely diverse in quantity, type and design. Each business subject can sell hundreds of products per day and there are many business subjects on one social networking platform. Therefore, governmental agencies are unable to oversee and manage the origin and quality of each product and service. Many of goods for sales are prohibited or barred from trading. At the same time, sellers can sell fake goods, counterfeit, provide poor-quality ones or sell unknown-origin ones to customers in order to maximize profits. The most serious consequence of trading in unqualified goods is affecting the health of customers.

Thirdly, although Vietnamlaw imposes taxs on business subjects, it is difficult to collect taxes from organizations and individuals conducting business on social networks. That reduces state revenue and creates an unfavorable competitive climate for other sorts of enterprises. The reason is that business on social networks is based on technology, and it is easy to modify and delete information online, so it creates difficulties in identifying and verifying the number of business people and capturing transactions.  This situation can be characterized as unfair competition, which is upsetting and unstable for the economy.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

Source: https://www.antconsult.vn/risk-prevention-in-vietnam/potential-risk-of-online-transaction-in-vietnam-and-its-consequences.html

  Risk management is a vital element when doing business but so far, not many enterprises concern about it.

According to a recent survey with 522 companies, there are only 43 companies, accounting for about 8%, have the independent risk management department in their business. More noteworthy, the majority of these 43 companies operating in the banking and financial sector, which has nothing new to risk management. In fact, not all banks have independent and effective risk management departments. The negative problems related to the banking system in recent times somewhat showed the picture about the risk management of this sector.

Risk is understood as any events and situations that could harmful to the ability to achieve the business objectives of the enterprise. Risk management is organized in a formal way and is conducted continuously to identify, control and report the risks that may affect the achievement of the business objectives of the enterprise.

So why businesses are not interested in risk management? Part of this problem stems from the awareness of the leaders. In order to build and operate the risk management system in the enterprise, it needs the commitment of the senior leaders. If senior leaders do not aware of this problem, the administration process will be difficult to achieve the desired effectiveness.

Recently, there are many theories and systems of risk management but small and medium enterprises should be cautious when apply because system and theory are just general and they should be adjusted when applying to each business.

In order to form the culture of risk management, the leaders must along with the employees to implement it regularly and for each project. In theory, the risk management process is carried out in 5 steps: identify risk; evaluate its impact; determine the likelihood; action and measures; monitoring and evaluation.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

Source: https://www.antconsult.vn/news/risk-management-a-vital-element-when-doing-business.html

  Risk management is a vital element when doing business but so far, not many enterprises concern about it.

According to a recent survey with 522 companies, there are only 43 companies, accounting for about 8%, have the independent risk management department in their business. More noteworthy, the majority of these 43 companies operating in the banking and financial sector, which has nothing new to risk management. In fact, not all banks have independent and effective risk management departments. The negative problems related to the banking system in recent times somewhat showed the picture about the risk management of this sector.

Risk is understood as any events and situations that could harmful to the ability to achieve the business objectives of the enterprise. Risk management is organized in a formal way and is conducted continuously to identify, control and report the risks that may affect the achievement of the business objectives of the enterprise.

So why businesses are not interested in risk management? Part of this problem stems from the awareness of the leaders. In order to build and operate the risk management system in the enterprise, it needs the commitment of the senior leaders. If senior leaders do not aware of this problem, the administration process will be difficult to achieve the desired effectiveness.

Recently, there are many theories and systems of risk management but small and medium enterprises should be cautious when apply because system and theory are just general and they should be adjusted when applying to each business.

In order to form the culture of risk management, the leaders must along with the employees to implement it regularly and for each project. In theory, the risk management process is carried out in 5 steps: identify risk; evaluate its impact; determine the likelihood; action and measures; monitoring and evaluation.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

  Risk and manage risk

Conceptually, risk is any uncertainty that may be harmful to the ability to successfully implement the business objectives of the enterprise. Businesses can identify potential risks to manage them. Fully understood, risk management is a process of a comprehensive review of the business operations to identify potential risks that may impact adversely to the operational aspects of the business. Based on that, the response solutions will be given corresponding to each risk. We can also understand that the risk management process is a process that is organized in a formal way and ongoing to determine, control and report the risks that can affect the achievement of the business objectives of the enterprise.

Requirements for operational risk management

To ensure that risk management activities are carried out as planned, the implementation must ensure the following requirements:

• Raising awareness about the risks as well as the ability to cope with risks appropriately throughout the enterprise;

• Formalize the process of risk management;

• Develop unified risk management processes in the enterprise;

• Transparency risks;

• Including risk management process as part of the internal control system;

In fact, well organized and efficient risk management activities will contribute to add value to the enterprise, specifically:

• Help improving operational efficiency and create competitive advantage;

• Contribute to the allocation and efficient use of corporate resources;

• Minimize errors in all aspects of business operations...

Recently, with the powerful impact of high inflation rate and economic recession caused by the global financial crisis to enterprises, people are concerning more about risk management activities. Many experts believe that well organized and effective operated risk management system will help businesses withstand and overcome fluctuations.

However, how to organize a complete risk management system is the fact that not many businesses are well understood. The worrying thing is many businesses supposing that with the use of insurance services, their businesses are making adequate risk management. That is completely incorrect.

Risk management policies and implementation

To establish risk management systems, enterprises should start from the development of risk management policy. This policy will define the approaching and managing of risk. In addition, risk management policies will clearly defined responsibilities for risk management throughout the enterprise to Board of Directors; The subordinate units; Departments; Risk management department (if any); the internal audit department - internal control. The implementation of risk management activities should be tied to business strategy, annual budget plan and the business cycle in the enterprise.

Risk Management Process

Basically, risk management processes typically include basic steps such as: confirmation of the business objectives, identify risks, description and classification of risk, assessment and risk ratings, response planning development, reporting an update on implementation, monitoring the process of implementation, review and improvement of risk management processes. Details of some of the main steps in the risk management process are as follows:

Confirmation of business objectives

Risk management activities are organized and implemented towards ensuring the successful implementation of the enterprise objectives. Therefore, at the begining the risk management process, the first task that business leaders need to do is confirming the operational goals of the business. This will be the base to ensure that risk management activities are held in the right direction.

Identify Risks

There are many methods to identify risk. Each method has different advantages and disadvantages. However, the following methods are considered using to determine the risk:

• Organize risk assessment workshop;
• Organize "Brain Attack" meeting;
• Questionnaire;
• Audit and inspection;
• Based on industry norms;
• Situation analysis

In fact, the method of determining risk that are used most in organizations is organizing risk assessment workshop. Attending the workshop are the Board of Directors and leaders of all departments. Members at the workshop will exchange information to give a list of business risks. In many cases, the result of the risk identification process is a long list of potential risks. However, this should not be too worried, the implementation of the next steps of the risk management process will help identify clearly the risks that are really the great risk to enterprises.

Description and classification of risk

After identifying potential risks, the next step is to describe briefly but specifically about the origin, cause, consequence and impact of each risks to the enterprise.

Next, we will implement the risk classification. There are many different types of potential risks for enterprises. They can originate inside or outside the enterprise. Based on the nature of the risk, they are many way to classify risk. However, the most common way is to classify risk into 4 groups as follows:

• Financial risk: interest rate, exchange rate, credit source, cash flow and ability to pay...;
• Strategic risk: competition, customer changes, industry changes, risks for research and development activities, intellectual property...;
• Operational risk: the leaders, corporate culture, violation of management rules, financial control, information systems...;
• Dangerous risk: environmental risks, supplier, natural disaster, risks for assets, contracts, products and services...

The classification of risks as above will help enterprises to manage risk in a systematic way.

Assessment and risk rating

Enterprise resources are limited while the number of the risks is great. So, the next step is to organize, evaluate and ranking risks according to priority level of response. Enterprises will analyze, evaluate each risk according to two criteria: the possibility of risk and the extent of the risks affecting the business if happened. The risk that the businesses need to prioritize response and prevent is the risk with high likelihood and degree of influence.

Develop response plans

Develop response plans is an important stage in the process of risk management. At this stage, enterprise should given the preventive measures and specific control should be taken to prevent and minimize damage if the risk occurs. There are 3 contents that must be determined for each specific risk when developing response plans:

1. Measures that should be implemented to prevent risks;
2. The completion deadline for those measures;
3. The person that responsible for managing that risk.

Monitoring the implementation of measures

In the process of implementation of response measures, businesses need to build a system of reporting regularly to ensure strict control of the implementation process. Enterprises also need to ensure that all shortcomings in the implementation of risk control measures must be timely reporting to leaders.

At the same time, business leaders must also build a culture of risk management to every staffs in the enterprise. It is high time that the corporate governance should seriously view the role of risk management activities, consider setting up and maintaining a risk management system in business. Practical experience shows that, once the risks are forecasted, enterprises can fully develop and deploy effective response plans for sustainable development.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

  As the Covid 19 pandemic is still occurring in many countries around the world, a large number of medical equipment or accessories being Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as N95 respirator masks, surgical masks and other items essential to protecting doctors, nurses, others on the front lines of the pandemic are required to be purchased and sold from many different countries to meet the demand for treatment disease globally.

Vietnam is a country that has many enterprises producing medical supplies such as medical gloves, medical masks, which are the focal points supplying goods to many businesses around the world. However, buying and selling quickly, and without researching their partners has caused many businesses to face many risks when purchasing of medical supplies in Vietnam. Here are some tips for buying and selling medical equipment in Vietnam safely and effectively.

Searching for a partner is the necessary work. Currently, to meet the increasing demand for buying and selling medical supplies, many companies switch to the medical supplies business as the broker to take opportunities in this field. It will help the buyer finding a selling partner more convenient because more brokers reach out to buyers.  However, there are many sellers who do not have a valid business registration or are not able to supply the goods, however, they still approach the buyer and guarantee to deliver the goods on request. Many buyers have been deceived by businesses that are not capable of doing business with the deposits, failure to deliver goods, deliver the wrong quality, quantity, ... Therefore, searching for the seller carefully, and undertaking due diligence on the seller with the help of local risk management company will help buyers to avoid the risks of buying the wrong goods.

In terms of product prices, when buying medical supplies from a third party (not directly from the manufacturer), the price of the equipment could increase many times compared to the price offered by the manufacturer.  Sometimes, the brokers could not fix the price because their offering price depend on the buying price they receive from manufacturers or traders while the supply of goods are not guaranteed.  This could create problems for the buyer if the delivery and price have been committed to final clients oversea with hefty fine clauses if breaching the contract.

There are potential medical supplies without origin, or quality assurance, being purchased and sold to the market, therefore the buyer needs to ensure the seller provides qualified goods as their request.

When trading with an unqualified seller, there is a risk that the seller cannot meet the required quantity of the goods, especially in the case of the sellers are not the manufacturer. Because the number of goods produced could not meet the demand, in fact, many manufacturing companies in Vietnam have stopped accepting orders for some time from many customers.  However, many the third-party continue to receive orders from buyers, resulting in an inability to deliver on time or inability to meet the required quantity. When having a request for delivery from the buyer, these sellers will not answer the buyer's questions, refuse to receive phone calls, emails, ... leading to the buyer being inaccessible to the seller at this time which affects the business of the buyer.

Especially in the difficult situation when limited traveling between countries are allowed due to the pandemic, the discussion via electronic means such as Email or social network platforms, ... will help the parties can discuss in an easy way. However, discussion or exchange of information via electronic means, will meet potentially risk when the buyer exchange with another third party (who may not be representative of the seller). In many cases, the parties exchange messages via regular messaging apps, which cannot determine if the subject exchanging is exactly the seller or not. In the event of a dispute when buying or selling goods, this proof is that the message which cannot determine the sender shall not be enough to prove the wrongdoings. Therefore, when exchanging communication, the parties should take precaution steps to verify the other parties ensuring the exchange is carried out properly with the authorized person.

In addition, to ensure the rights in the purchase and sale of medical supplies, signing the sale and purchase contracts is extremely important.  The contracts should be in written and duly signed and stamped by parties.  Trusting in business should be accompanied with legal documents for sustainable business.   When performing the contract in accordance with the regulations of the law will help the parties to limit risks and this is considered as specific legal evidence that forces the parties to comply with regulations and ensure their rights when buying and selling goods, especially international sale goods.

Finally, with significant transaction, the buyer could minimize risks through the helps of local risk management company in Vietnam to undertake due diligence on the seller’s business registration certificate, business location, real operation at site, adverse media check for past wrongdoings and general personal or corporate reputation.

  Currently, the purchase and sale of international goods are very popular from Vietnam and around the world, taking the advantage of Vietnam the signing a number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and the application of technology 4.0 in the business helping the international transaction of goods just got easier.  However there are many risks involved in the meantime for international buyer purchasing goods from Vietnam sellers if due diligence on the seller, whether being corporates or individuals are not under taken.

In the international goods sale and purchase using technology, the best benefits are that, the parties in the transaction do not need to meet, negotiate, and check goods before buying. All of the international goods purchase and sale activities are done via the internet means such as Website, Email, Social media,... which help parties save time and costs when doing the purchase. However, the use of digital technology in the goods sale and purchase transactions still has many hidden risks that the buyer cannot foresee.

Specifically, in the process of discussion of the purchase and sale of international goods, there are many cases where the Vietnam seller does not provide the expected quantity of goods or the goods are meet the minimum quality requested by the buyer, but the seller still signs the contract and require the buyer make the deposit/payment before delivery.  Some time, all the transactions are conducted via social media and there is no contract at all.  Unless the transaction is small, it is always suggested a proper contract to be properly signed with the envision of potential disputes might arise.

Further, there might be fraudulent activities involved taking advantage of the urgent needs of buyers whom skip the process of verifying the business partner for business existence, reputation, financial capability, bad history, and potential fraudulent acts.  In some cases, the seller could go further to forge legal documents, quality certificates, ... to create confidence for the buyer in performing the contract. Some lure buyers by creating fake websites, fake contracts, fake phone numbers, ...using alias names to avoid being traced when taking fraudulent activities.

With significant transaction, the buyer could minimize risks through the helps of local partner on the ground to check the seller's legal documents including corporate documents to be able to trace back the and if the seller does not perform, at least they could be located for legal action.  The buyer could send people to physically check the seller's office, factory to ensure that the seller operates at the registered address.   Before making a deposit, the buyer could check if the beneficiary's account matches the seller's registered account.  The more information about the partner, the better.  The buyer needs to thoroughly check the information that their partners provide including phone numbers, emails, bank accounts, business registration certificate, and other legal documents ... If involved significant transactions, more emphasis on risk management especially understanding business partners through corporate intelligence investigation, background studying adverse media search on company, owners, shareholders, business managers through professional background check consultants in Vietnam whom understand languages, cultures, legal environment and business practices could help.

  A series of specific commitments has been confirmed by HCMC’s Party Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan to help startup environment in HCMC becoming as favorable as in Singapore.

In addition to the above 3 commitments, according to Mr Nguyen Thien Nhan, HCMC will have a general information page to reflect the creative start-up activities in the area. At the same time, he decided to meet face-to-face with the startup community twice a year to listen to their mind and remove difficulties in time.

In general, in the past year, HCMC has had very specific and significant results in comparison with other provinces in terms of start-up activities. According to director of the Department of Science and Technology of HCMC, this agency has set up 5 spaces to support innovative start-ups and links with 24 business incubators with a total floor area of over 22,000 square meters. Of which, 50% capital is from socialization.

In addition, The SpeedUp 2017 program has provided financial support tools from the budget for innovative startup projects through enterprise incubators. In the past 8 months, this program has received and processed 112 innovative startup project applications. The number of selected projects was 14/112 (12.5%), which is quite high compared to the current selection rate of many investment funds (VIISA reaches 5%, VSVA reaches 8%).

This year, the HCMC Department of Science and Technology has also set up 4 Steering Committee for Innovative Ecosystems for 4 key areas of the city, including mechanics, food processing, plastic – rubber - chemistry and information technology.

With a network of 145 consultants and innovative start-up advisors from many different disciplines, up to now, 938 start-up projects have been connected to help develop business ideas. There are 3,200 individuals and start-up groups connected to investors, experts and consultancy organizations. Moreover, over 300 startup products are promoted to the community.

However, a general assessment from the Department of Science and Technology of the City, most startups in Vietnam are newly invested at the seed stage with small scale and the possibility of breakthrough growth is not high. This is a matter of concern.

  Toyoda Gosei Group, the world's leading manufacturer of auto parts, supplying for Toyota (Japan) has decided to choose Tien Hai Industrial Park, Viglacera as the location to set up factory in Vietnam.

Viglacera Real Estate Trading Company and Toyoda Gosei Group of Japan have just signed a land lease contract with an area of 11.3 hectares in Tien Hai Industrial Park, Thai Binh province, which is invested by Viglacera Corporation.

Toyoda Gosei is the world's leading auto parts manufacturer, supplying for Toyota, with a network of about 100 factories and offices in 18 countries and regions.

The new plant is expected to be built in early 2018 and put into production in 2019 with a total investment of 24.6 million USD, specializing in the production of airbag components and airbags for safe protection for drivers and passengers in cars, leather and polyurethane coated car steering wheels.

Toyoda Gosei's products will be exported to Japan, USA, Europe and some other regions.

Toyoda Gosei has also invested in Hai Phong, with 3 large-scale workshops, and also one of the largest investment companies in Nomura Industrial Park in Hai Phong.

Tien Hai Viglacera Industrial Park has the advantage of geographical position when locating near the coastal highway connecting the 6 northern coastal provinces (Quang Ninh - Hai Phong - Thai Binh - Nam Dinh - Ninh Binh - Thanh Hoa), which has just started construction in May 2017. In which, the construction of the expressway locating in Thai Binh province will be completed by the end of 2018, shortening the distance and travel time from the industrial zone to Hai Phong port (40km) – 60 minutes).

In addition, enterprises in Tien Hai Industrial Park are also enjoying attractive incentives for enterprises in the economic zone such as 10% corporate income tax rate for 15 years, tax exemption for the first 4 years and reduction of 50% for the next 9 years; land rental exemptions from 11 to 19 years; import tax incentives; personal income tax incentives...

Therefore, only after less than one month since the decision to establish Thai Binh Economic Zone was issued, Tien Hai Viglacera Industrial Park has received the attention for information and investment decision from many investors coming from the countries like Japan, Korea, Hongkong, Taiwan...

In order to meet the increasing demand for land leasing to build factory in Tien Hai Industrial Park, Viglacera is actively promoting land clearance to ensure a large area of clean land, complete construction of infrastructure to create the most favorable conditions for businesses operating here.

  Japan is a familiar investor in the Vietnamese market, many Japanese companies have set up business in Vietnam and IHI Corporation is not an exception.

In particular, IHI has successfully built Binh bridge (Hai Phong) and Nhat Tan bridge (Hanoi). In 2015, the Group has built the IHI Infrastructure Asia (IIA) plant at Dinh Vu Industrial Park, which specializes in the manufacture of steel structures, supplying for bridge construction projects, thermal power plants and engineering facilities, serving for key construction works in the city.

Through investigation, it is known that there are plans to deploy Hai Phong transportation expansion projects, in which Nguyen Trai bridge and many key bridges connecting trade between the city and the northern provinces will be built. Hence, IHI Corporation wishes to have the opportunity to contribute their accumulated experiences to the cooperation and construction of these bridges.

Accordingly, Chairman of Hai Phong People's Committee has highly appreciated the effective cooperation between Vietnam - IHI in the past time and also provide information about the bridge construction projects of Hai Phong in the coming time, like Nguyen Trai bridge, Vu Yen bridge...

In addition, he also expressed his wish that in the near future, IHI will explore and promote the cooperation in building bridges of Hai Phong. At the same time, in coordination with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), speed up the implementation of transportation projects, focusing on the Nguyen Trai bridge project.

Hai Phong always take care and create conditions for qualified contractors with high quality products. With the potential, efficiency and experiences of the IHI Corporation that has been confirmed, Hai Phong city will create the best conditions for the IHI Corporation to participate in the transportation development projects of Hai Phong in the coming time.

  Tetra Pak (Sweden) has started construction of a 110 million USD packaging factory on an area of 10,000 m2 and a total capacity of 20 billion packages per year at Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park II - A (Binh Duong). This information has been announced since the end of 2016. The factory is expected to come into operation by the beginning of 2019.

Moreover, he affirmed that the factory could become the leading bird, leading many Swedish businesses to come and set up business in Vietnam.

Sweden was the first country in the Western region that establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. There will be many Swedish multinational corporations want to invest in Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular need to prepare better investment environment to catch the wave of FDI, especially from Sweden.

According to representative of Tetra Pak, this is the company's most green packaging factory in their system, as well as the 4^th largest packaging factory in East Asia and Oceania in terms of scale.

The two popular types of packaging will be produced at the factory including Tetra Brik Aseptic and Tetra Fino Aseptic.

According to Tetra Pak, dairy and beverage products in South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand markets are expected to grow at a rate of 5.6 percent annually from now until 2019.

In Vietnam, milk production is still the largest sector in the country, which is expected to double consumption per capita to 28 liters per year by 2020. While the market for fresh fruit juice is expected to grow 17.5% in the next year. This is the basis for packaging factories - including Tetra Pak's factory to expect fast growth in the near future.

  Vietnam has signed many Free Trade Agreements with many countries and regions around the world, which makes international economic exchange easier. However, the expansion of international trade also makes many businesses at risk when they encounter fraudulent customers in their business.

Despite many warnings and notices, but due to subjective psychology, high profits, limited foreign trade operations, lack of understanding of customers, difficulties due to epidemics, many businesses cannot directly meeting, checking goods,... using online transactions, which causes businesses to take advantage of fraudulent acts.

Some ways of commercial fraud activities such as: Unpaid delivery; Forging documents even bank papers to get goods; Set the person to get export documents; Using hackers to infiltrate the email addresses of two parties that are having transactions, track the progress of the negotiation, when the buyer prepares to transfer money to buy goods, hack the mailbox (or create an email account with the exact same address as the seller's email) to send fraudulent account information. After the buyer transfers money to the fraudulent account, they will immediately withdraw the money and disappear; Using advantage of carelessness and unprofessionalism of domestic enterprises such as not asking a reputable inspection organization to check the goods before delivery, not verifying information about partner enterprises... to transfer goods with no value, not in accordance with the contract, or to notify the damaged or poor quality goods to pressure the price, deduct the debt or claim compensation ...

Some signs of identifying fraudulent businesses which one should pay attention are: the price negotiation, the contract takes place easily, quickly, less bargaining, accepting high prices; Deposit to receive investment money; Do not provide or provide documents of many different legal entities; Opening L/C at a non-reputable bank in a third country; Business license is about to expire ...

In order to avoid working with fraudulent partners, businesses need to improve their professional expertise, legal knowledge, and thoroughly understand their partners before making transactions, especially the new partner is dealing for the first time.

The current commodity prices could be updated through market information or on international commodity websites. Therefore, when there is a request for goods to be paid too high, or too low compared to the prices in the market, the enterprises need to pay close attention and carefully check their reliability.

It is also possible to reduce the risks through the professional service of local risks management in Vietnam for conducting of business due diligence, business license record checking, site visit survey, shareholders or directorship checking, criminal record certificate checking, business reputation verification, public reputation search, research for records of enterprises, research for the reputation of the company, …

  Foreign investors could make direct investment in Vietnam through setting up one hundred per cent (100%) capital of foreign investors, or establishing joint venture between domestic and foreign investors, or  investing in the contractual forms of: BCC, BO, BTO, and BT.

a)     Set-up Limited Liability Company in Vietnam

Limited Liability Company is a form of enterprise which is established by contributing of members.  A member shall be liable for the debts and other property obligations of the enterprise within the amount of capital that it has undertaken to contribute to the enterprise.

Limited liability companies are regulated by two types:

-    One member Limited Liability Company is an enterprise owned by one organization or individual;

-     Limited Liability Company with two or more members is an enterprise owned by organizations or individuals, in which the number of members shall not less than two members and not exceed fifty.

Organizational and management structure of Limited Liability Company normally comprise of a Member’s Council, General Director or Director.

b)     Set-up Joint Stock Company in Vietnam

Joint Stock Company is an enterprise which has charter capital divided into equal portions called shares.   The minimum number of shareholders shall be three and there shall be no restriction on the maximum number.

Shareholders shall be liable for the debts and other property obligations of the enterprise only within the amount of capital contributed to the enterprise.

Joint Stock Companies may issue all types of securities to raise funds.  Founding shareholders must together register to subscribe at least twenty per cent (20%) of the number of ordinary shares which may be offered for sale.

The main difference between Joint Stock Company and Limited Liability Company is the Joint Stock Company can raise funds by offering shares or securities.  In addition, an enterprise tends to join the Stock exchanges or public company must be a Joint Stock Company.  Management system of Joint Stock Company is more complicated than Liability Company.

c)     Set-up Partnership in Vietnam

A partnership is an enterprise which must be at least two members being co-owners of the company jointly conducting business under one common name.  In addition to unlimited liability partners, there may be limited liability partners.

Unlimited liability partners must be individuals who shall be liable for the obligations of the company to the extent of all of their assets.  Limited liability partners shall only be liable for the debts of the company to the extent of the amount of capital they have contributed to the company.

d)     Set-up Representative Office of Foreign Trader in Vietnam

A foreign business entity or a foreign trader is allowed to establish Representative Office in Vietnam.

Representative office of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “Representative Office”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to survey markets and to undertake a number of commercial enhancement activities permitted by the law of Vietnam.

Representative Office will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the representative office.

Representative Office is not allowed to directly conduct profit making activities in Vietnam (i.e: the execution of contracts, direct payment or receipt of funds, sale or purchase of goods, or provision of services), but the representative Office is permitted to

• To operate strictly in accordance with the purposes, scope and duration stated in the license for establishment of such representative office;
• To rent offices and to lease or purchase the equipment and facilities necessary for the operation of the Representative Office;
• To recruit Vietnamese and foreign employees to work for the Representative Office in accordance with the law of Vietnam;
• To open accounts in foreign currency and in Vietnamese Dong sourced from foreign currency at banks which are licensed to operate in Vietnam, and to use such accounts solely for the operation of the Representative Office.

e)     Set-up Branch of Foreign Trader in Vietnam

The Branch of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “The Branch”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to enter into contracts in Vietnam and conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

The Branch will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the Branch.

The Branch is permitted to conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

f)      Investment by Signing Contracts in Vietnam

Business co-operation contract (BCC) means the investment form signed between investors in order to co-operate in business and to share profits or products without creating a legal entity.

Build-operate-transfer contract (BOT) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct and operate commercially an infrastructure facility for a fixed duration; and, upon expiry of the duration, the investor shall, without compensation, transfer such facility to the State of Vietnam.

Build-transfer-operate contract (BTO) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct an infrastructure facility; and, upon completion of construction, the investor shall transfer the facility to the State of Vietnam and the Government shall grant the investor the right to operate commercially such facility for a fixed duration in order to recover the invested capital and gain profits.

Build-transfer contract (BT) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct an infrastructure facility; and, upon completion of construction, the investor shall transfer the facility to the State of Vietnam and the Government shall create conditions for the investor to implement another project in order to recover the invested capital and gain profits or to make a payment to the investor in accordance with an agreement in the BT contract.

Foreign investors may sign BOT, BT and BTO contracts with a competent State body to implement infrastructure construction projects in Vietnam. Typically, the contracts are for projects in the fields of transportation, electricity production, water supply, drainage and waste treatment.

The rights and obligations of the foreign investor will be regulated by the signed BOT, BT and BTO contract. The Government encourages both public- and private-sector investors to participate in BOT, BTO and BT in the following sectors:

(i)              Construction, operation and management of brand-new infrastructure facilities; and

(ii)             Renovation, expansion, modernization, operation and management of the existing infrastructure facilities such as:

•     Roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferry landings;

•     Railway bridges and railway tunnels;

•     Airports, seaports and river ports;

•     Clean water supply systems; sewage systems;

•     Wastewater, waste collecting and handling systems;

•     Power plants and power transmission lines;

•     Infrastructure works of health service, education, training, career training, culture, sport and offices of State agencies; and

•     Other projects as may be determined by the Prime Minister

  Along with the trend of integration in the world, Vietnam is considered a country with rapid and strong growth, in which, industrialization and modernization are focused on developing a uniform set and achieve high performance. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are considered the two cities and dynamic development in Vietnam.

In particular, Hanoi, the potential capital for developing and attracting foreign and domestic investment. Therefore, the investment from businesses to the city is seen as an advantage and the best. To evaluate how such advantages are, the following article will analyze in detail as follows:

First, the labor force

Hanoi is considered a capital with a longstanding historical developed tradition. The population is heavily crowded, reaching about 7 million after 4 times of adjusting the administrative boundaries in 2014. Ha Noi has become one of the 17 largest cities in the world. In addition, with favorable conditions, Hanoi is considered an attractive city for labor, especially qualified and highly skilled workforce. This is a particular advantage for businesses to invest in Hanoi, because the amount of labor leads to a consequence that cost for labor is cheap and a large workforce will provide for industries requiring a large amount of labor force.

Second, the pace of economic development

In 2014, the economy of Hanoi has continued to grow and controlled inflation. In addtion, GDP in the province is estimated at 8.8% and revenue is estimated at 130.000 billion, with 103% of the mathematics. Besides, administrative reform, improvement on the investment environment, business environment, policies to remove difficulties for enterprises often deploy, which made PAR index of cities rise 2 levels compared with 2012 and No. 5 of the 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Thus, with the stable and strong economic development, Hanoi is a city that brings stability for businesses to invest and develop business in this city.

Thirdly, facility

With the aim of developing Hanoi based on critirea of synchronous and modern infrastructure, leadership of Hanoi has attempted to offer policies to promote infrastructure construction of the city in order that Hanoi will become more modern, in which, the traffic system in Hanoi must be built and upgrades more modern. This is considered particularly advantage, because the synchronous development of infrastructure will bring to the development of economy of the city.

Fourthly, administrative and tax policies

With attractive policies for investment, Hanoi has implemented policies solving administrative procedures with only a door. This policy is seen as a new step forward the people of Hanoi in general and businesses having demand to invest in Hanoi in particular. With this open policy, the procedures for establishing businesses, dissolution, business transformation become quickly and easily than ever before, creat favorable conditions for the development of business and resolve administrative procedures. In addition, in order to facilitate business development for businesses, Hanoi has many policies to reduce taxes in order to create favorable conditions for development of new business with low capital.

Fifthly, geographic location

Judged to be a convenient location, with synchronous traffic system, a northern – southern railway, highway 1A, along with the expanded domestic and international routes, Hanoi is considered a city with the most convenient trade location in Southeast Asia and the gateway to the East Sea of Laos and other countries. Thus, Hanoi is the right choice of businesses that need an exchange between domestic and international provinces.

Sixthly, broad market

With the population of 7 million, belonging to one of the 17 cities with the largest population in the world, Hanoi is considered a city which has the largest consumer goods market in the country. Abundant work force, along with the large number of people from suburbs, strong demand for consumer products, services lead to favorable conditions for businesses in production and consumption of consumer products and services. These come from a reason that if the demand rises, the number of products will also lead to increase and as a consequence, economic growth of enterprises will also increase. It can be said that this is a particular strength of the city that businesses investing here are looking forward. From the analysis given above, it can be said that Hanoi is considered to be an attractive destination for small and medium enterprises, especially for enterprises with foreign investment into the Vietnam market. To better understand how to establish enterprises and choose the best type of enterprise. We help clients overcome cultural barriers and achieve their strategic and financial outcomes, while ensuring the best interest rate protection, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance. We have a lawyer to advise on setting up a company inHanoi, a lawyer in Ho Chi Minh and a lawyer in Da Nang.

  A large electronics manufacturer from Korea - Anam Electronics Vietnam has officially choose Dong Van IV industrial park to set up business in Vietnam.

Accordingly, Anam Electronics Vietnam will invest in building a factory here with an area of 100,000 m2, investment capital is estimated at 100 million USD.

The signing ceremony of land lease contract in Dong Van IV industrial park was held between Viglacera Real Estate Company and Anam Electronics Vietnam.

Anam Electronics is a 100% Korean owned company specialized in producing high quality electronic audio products such as: amplifiers, digital receivers. The company mainly supplies products to leading audio manufacturers in Japan, USA such as Harman Kardon, Denon, Marantz, JBL, Yamaha...

Viglacera's Dong Van IV industrial park has successfully attracted 10 investors, most of which are electronics businesses with nearly 40 hectares of land.

So far, Dong Van IV industrial park has been the destination of many domestic and foreign brands such as Masan Group, Sunjin, Jeio Vina, James Tech, Saki, Park Electronic Vina, Sunjin F & F Limited...

Dong Van IV industrial park is conveniently located, 50km from Hanoi, on Highway 38, which is easily accessible from the Ha Noi - Hai Phong expressway to Hai Phong port. Along with the policy mechanism to support the investors of Ha Nam province, Dong Van IV industrial park has received great attention from investors, and became the ideal choice for enterprises, especially FDI enterprises.

  Both countries have strength in agriculture sector, opening up many prospects for Poland enterprises to set up business in Vietnam and vice versa.

Statistics show that from 1993 up to now, two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Poland has increased continuously and rapidly. From 2001 to 2006, two-way trade increased about three times, from 117 million USD to 330 million USD.

By 2016, this figure has reached nearly 790 million USD. It is forecast that two-way trade turnover between the two countries in 2017 can reach 1 billion USD, because in the first nine months of 2017, imports and exports between the two countries has reached nearly 700 million USD.

Poland is now Vietnam’s number 1 customer in Eastern Europe. In particular, Vietnam imported dairy products, meat and poultry products, apples and other agricultural products from Poland.

According to the Vietnamese ambassador to Poland, if compared to other sectors, agriculture is an area in which Vietnam and Poland are more promising.

In particular, when Poland becoming an important link in Europe, with the approval of the Europe - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Vietnam's goods may pass through Poland to penetrate Europe. The prospect of cooperation of both sides in the coming time is very positive.

Recognizing the opportunities for cooperation between Poland and Vietnam in the field of agriculture, according to Activ Company, Vietnam is one of the markets for apples and apple juice that Activ wants to concentrate in the coming period.

Accordingly, Activ is setting up business with partners in Vietnam to expand the distribution channels of apple and apple juice products in Vietnam. This is also Activ's strategy movement to catch the market when EVFTA officially comes into effect. EVFTA will be a trade agreement that brings together many opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture, the sector that the two countries have strong advantages.

Therefore, in order to promote cooperation between the two sides, the two countries must strengthen the information connection so that the two sides can grasp the market and seize the partnership to build for future connections.

  Gyu Shige - a Japanese restaurant brand decided to enter and set up business in Vietnam, aims to open 70 branches in Vietnam in the next 5 years.

The plan to conquer the Vietnam market of this Japanese brand has been in place for 3 years. Large populations, prefer Japanese culture and bbq dishes are the advantages for them to do business in Vietnam. Through partnerships and direct exploration, Gyu Shige has officially entered Vietnam in 2016 with its first store in a major trading center in HCMC.

According to representatives of Gyu Shige, Vietnam has been an economic hot spot in Southeast Asia for several years, attracting many investors. Unlike the fierce competition of the food industry in Thailand, they see many opportunities to develop and decide to choose Vietnam as the first overseas market.

With the strength of a chain of 130 successful restaurants in Japan, this brand almost delivers the original to Vietnam. The reason is that Vietnamese people love Japanese food and adapt quickly to new dishes. Beef is imported from the US, raw materials used for processing and sauces are imported from Japan and vegetables originate from agricultural farms in Dalat (Vietnam). In order to ensure quality, the central kitchen is equipped with full equipment like in Japan, so that the processing and preservation process are also following strict procedures.

The global development director of this restaurant system believed that their advantages are the delicious sauce and following the friendly restaurant segment, with spending of 10 USD to 17 USD per person per meal. Moreover, with the development of the fast-food market, demand for food will be higher, especially for friendly restaurant segment. Therefore, this will be a great potential for business in the future.

After one year of operation, Gyu Shige's sales in Vietnam grew by nearly 50% month-on-month, with over 70% of customers returning. That is why businesses decide to go deep into the market, targeting 50 - 70 branches and covering the whole country in 2022.

Representatives from the brand said that in the next 3 years, the segment of Japanese cuisine in Vietnam will continue to boom. Gyu Shige has over 20 years of development with 130 branches in Japan. After Vietnam, the company plans to conquer other markets such as Australia, USA, Singapore, Thailand...

  Worldon Vietnam Co., Ltd (under Shenzhou Corporation, China) have set up business in Vietnam with 2 large garment projects. It is likely that they will continue to expand its investment.

At the time of raising capital, Mr Ma Jianrong, President of Worldon Vietnam said that Shenzhou is a manufacturer of complete knitwear products, from the initial stages to the final garment products for famous fashion brands in the world such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Uniqlo... The project is expected to complete all stages to go into production right in 2015. However, the extension of the project was suspended and early in 2016 was restarted.

Regarding this project, according to the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), this is the largest textile and garment project in industrial zones of Ho Chi Minh City. Although the city has a policy of not attracting labor-intensive projects, including textile and apparel projects, this project has been licensed since investors committed to using the most advanced equipment and technology in the textile industry.

This is also the final stage of the production chain of the Shenzhou Corporation. Accordingly, the Gain Lucky Vietnam Garment Factory in Phuoc Dong Industrial Zone (Tay Ninh) will supply raw materials for factories of Worldon Vietnam. In addition, the projects of Worldon Vietnam have invested and built fashion design centers and production of garments, hats, shoes...

Thus, with the 2 above projects, this Chinese investor has poured over 700 million USD in Vietnam. With the completion of the textile and garment chain from the fiber stage to the final stage, it is likely that the company will continue to expand its investment.

As of November 20th 2017, Vietnam has 24,580 effective foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, with a total registered capital of 316.91 billion USD. The export value of the FDI sector accounts for about 70% of the total export turnover of the country. In the past 11 months, textile and garment export turnover reached 23.6 billion USD, increase by 9.5% over the same period of 2016.

  Many Thai investors have set up business in Vietnam and will not miss the opportunity to participate in auctions to buy shares in state-owned enterprises in the near future.

In the past, TCC bought Metro Vietnam (renamed MM Mega Market), successfully acquired Phu Thai Corporation in the North, holds 19% of Vinamilk shares and owning many real estates in Vietnam.

Furthermore, many other corporations and businesses in Thailand are rapidly establishing and expanding their presence in Vietnam through mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

In 2016, Central Group acquired BigC, Singha cooperated strategically with Masan, Siam City Cement owned Holcim. Siam Cement Group (SCG) currently has 23 trading companies in Vietnam with a total asset value of 32,000 billion VND and more than 8,300 employees. Over the years, SCG has been pouring capital into projects and acquiring many leading companies in many fields through M&A. In 2017, SCG bought 100% of Vietnam Construction Materials Company (VCM) and is expected to acquire Binh Minh Plastic.

According to analysts, Thai companies are interested in retail, fast-consuming, urban - resort real estates, clean energy, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications of Vietnam. These sectors are likely to be the areas in which Thai businesses will invest heavily. In particular, Thai investors will not stand out when big companies such as MobiFone, PV Oil, Satra, Becamex IDC... sell shares for the first time to the public.

According to economic experts, Thai investors will continue to pay special attention to the Vietnam market as Vietnam has been following the development path of Thailand in the last several decades, such as rapid economic growth and the middle class is growing. Vietnam has a well-developed domestic market, favorable geographic location and low production cost, which is well suited to the development of industrial production and export of goods to ASEAN.

  In recent years, Japanese investors continued to invest in Vietnam. The total direct investment of Japan in Vietnam in 2017 reached 8.5 billion USD, 4 times higher than last year's and become the highest ever.

Another reason is that the high-level visits between the two countries are ongoing from the beginning to the end of the year, especially the visit of the Emperor at 83 years old.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also visited Vietnam twice in 2017, in January and November. Vietnam also successfully organized the APEC Economic Leaders' Week and the TPP Ministerial Conference. In which, Japan also contributed to this success through close cooperation with Vietnam, including the joint organizing of TPP Ministerial Conference with Vietnam. In addition to economic cooperation, Vietnam and Japan have also strengthened their cooperation in the fields of human resources development, health care, non-refundable aid and defense…

About 230,000 Vietnamese are living in Japan. The number of Vietnamese trainees in Japan has increased eight times in the past five years to more than 100,000, surpassing China to become the country with largest trainee number in Japan.

It is expected that more Japanese companies will make investment in Vietnam through M&A acquisitions or FDI by setting up company in manufacturing, real estate, retail...