We started the day off early due to some confusion in the timing. As you probably know, Vietnam is an hour behind Singapore time. We were scheduled to wake up at 6:45, so Joanne called us at 6:45 Singapore time, which is 5:45 Vietnam time.
Headed up to the 5th floor for breakfast. Ate my fill before heading out to Hanoi Industrial Park to visit our first company TOTO Manufacturing. On the way, Happy Buddha was briefing us on the traffic regulations in Vietnam. Unsurprisingly, most drivers do not have a licence. In fact, Vietnam have a very high traffic related deaths, which is around 28 deaths per day. In order to improve the traffic conditions to attract foreign investors and businessmen, the Vietnamese government have implemented new laws to make riders wear a protective helmet. Police would punch a hole in the drivers licence if it is their first or second offence. Repetitive offenders would have their licences revoked and sent for refresher courses.
According to Caahng, the average Vietnamese earns US$700-US$750 a year. Teachers and policemen earn more which is around $US 105 to $US 130 a month. The thing about Vietnamese is that they really respect their teachers a lot and if you are a teacher, you usually get gifts from parents and students. I'll find out why they revere their teachers so much later on when we visit the temple of literature on Day 4.
To Vietnamese, a successful man is one who owns Buffaloes, land and a house, and are married. Vietnam has one of the worlds fastest population growth rates is that it is traditional for people to get married by their early 20s. In fact those in the countryside get married as early as 12 to 14 years old. Caahng was recounting an incident in the central Vietnam where he spoke to this young girl around 16 years old, and was shocked to find out that all the kids on the motor bike with her are her children.
I was amazed by the architecture of the residential houses in Vietnam. They were often narrow and very tall. Happy Buddha told us that this reflected how the Vietnamese wanted their women to look like : Tall, Fair and Lean. The front of the house is painted, but the sides weren't, which were quite weird. And it can be quite perculiar to find a tall house sticking out alone in the middle of a padi field.
There are no equal rights for the men and women, although conditions are improving for the Vietnamese women. In the past, women were encouraged to stay home and work. Nowadays, more and more women are joining the labour force, which is a sign of industrializing, moving away from farms to work in industries.
One interesting fact is that Vietnamese men whom have college education do not have to serve the army. Wish Singapore could have a similar policy.
We drove over the Than Long Bridge, which is the 6 Km in length. Built in 1975 when Vietnam was liberated. We reached the Hanoi Industrial Park and learnt a great deal about TOTO Manufacturing and its technology, CeFionTec. Vietnamese are always striving to improve ways of doing things, and they strongly encourage employee feedback. TOTO even made a machine to flip over the toilet seats, which cut down labour from 2 people to 1 person.
Any business which invests in Vietnam would definitely use the parent company's method of doing things, although they must be flexible enough to change to suit some of the working culture of the Vietnamese.
The production manager said that Vietnamese people are still mainly agrarians, and do not realise the potential losses incurred if they are 10 to 20 mins late. It may mean that an entire shipment could be delayed if production is a few mins late.
After lunch we went to a romantic spot in Hanoi, a winding road between the two rivers which flows in opposite directions to and from Vietnam. We were also supposed to visit a 15th century pagoda which was built by the Chinese when they first occupied Vietnam, however it was closed. We then drove past a majestic Presidential way which was truely breath taking. The buildings were grand and governmental offices have different architectural designs, from chinese, to colonial french. The moseleum where President Ho Chih Mihn's body rests was equally majestic.
We got to Kinderworld International, where it took us nearly 5 mins just to cross a 2m road to get to the compound. Traffic was crazy and motorbikes did not allow us to cross. Kinderworld is a Singapore based company, which have been in Vietnam for 8 years. According to Mr. Ricky Tan, education is a very hot sector to be in Vietnam now. This is true as according to Caahng, Vietnamese are very prudent and practical people. If they had the money, they would rather spend it on educating themselves or their children than spend it on luxury items such as cars and jewellery.
One thing Mr. Ricky Tan said that we Singaporeans can learn from the Vietnamese is that we must step out of our comfort zone and sieze what we want.
The final program of the day was the networking dinner at our hotel with the Singapore Business Group. There were some prominent businessmen at the networking dinner from very established Singaporean companies such as Singtel, Citi Group and the ambassador to Vietnam who's in charge of commerce.
They spoke of understanding the culture, and needs of the country. How to adapt your business to capture a foreign market. They also said that Singaporeans, being so sheltered take a lot of things for granted. When the light does not work, we simply call the electrician to come and if he is late, we complain. In Vietnam however, it is very common for power to fail at least twice a week.
While infrastructure and power are still major issues, Vietnam has taken considerable steps to open its market. This can be seen by the willingness of the Vietnamese government to comply with TWO and APEC guidelines which makes business efficacy more transparent.
They told us about the difference between the two cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Hanoi as we know had little capitalist influence, whereas Ho CHi Minh had a lot of American influence, therefore Hanoi is more political centre, whereas Ho Chi Minh is the economic centre of Vietnam. It is no wonder that all these government linked companies such as Singtel and Sembcorp have representatives based in Hanoi to facilitate communication with the government.
The Vietnamese government has taken steps to redistribute the industries through out Vietnam. More and more grants are given to companies who are willing to invest North of Ho Chi Minh City. In fact the bigger projects nowadays are going to be based near Hanoi. Besides that, the advantage of shifting north is that there is less competition and have bigger opportunities.
So what are the Vietnamese perception of us Singaporeans? Generally, Singaporeans are known to be trustworthy and honourable businessmen. We conduct our business by the word and we are very cautious. While we usually take long to delibearate on the decisions, once a decision has been reached, Singaporeans are known to honour their agreement.
We were told that we as Singaporeans should uphold this good image of our nation and continue doing business with the view of helping Vietnam develop rather than just going in to make a quick buck and pulling out. Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations are one way of establishing a company brand in Vietnam.
Headed up to the 5th floor for breakfast. Ate my fill before heading out to Hanoi Industrial Park to visit our first company TOTO Manufacturing. On the way, Happy Buddha was briefing us on the traffic regulations in Vietnam. Unsurprisingly, most drivers do not have a licence. In fact, Vietnam have a very high traffic related deaths, which is around 28 deaths per day. In order to improve the traffic conditions to attract foreign investors and businessmen, the Vietnamese government have implemented new laws to make riders wear a protective helmet. Police would punch a hole in the drivers licence if it is their first or second offence. Repetitive offenders would have their licences revoked and sent for refresher courses.
According to Caahng, the average Vietnamese earns US$700-US$750 a year. Teachers and policemen earn more which is around $US 105 to $US 130 a month. The thing about Vietnamese is that they really respect their teachers a lot and if you are a teacher, you usually get gifts from parents and students. I'll find out why they revere their teachers so much later on when we visit the temple of literature on Day 4.
To Vietnamese, a successful man is one who owns Buffaloes, land and a house, and are married. Vietnam has one of the worlds fastest population growth rates is that it is traditional for people to get married by their early 20s. In fact those in the countryside get married as early as 12 to 14 years old. Caahng was recounting an incident in the central Vietnam where he spoke to this young girl around 16 years old, and was shocked to find out that all the kids on the motor bike with her are her children.
I was amazed by the architecture of the residential houses in Vietnam. They were often narrow and very tall. Happy Buddha told us that this reflected how the Vietnamese wanted their women to look like : Tall, Fair and Lean. The front of the house is painted, but the sides weren't, which were quite weird. And it can be quite perculiar to find a tall house sticking out alone in the middle of a padi field.
There are no equal rights for the men and women, although conditions are improving for the Vietnamese women. In the past, women were encouraged to stay home and work. Nowadays, more and more women are joining the labour force, which is a sign of industrializing, moving away from farms to work in industries.
One interesting fact is that Vietnamese men whom have college education do not have to serve the army. Wish Singapore could have a similar policy.
We drove over the Than Long Bridge, which is the 6 Km in length. Built in 1975 when Vietnam was liberated. We reached the Hanoi Industrial Park and learnt a great deal about TOTO Manufacturing and its technology, CeFionTec. Vietnamese are always striving to improve ways of doing things, and they strongly encourage employee feedback. TOTO even made a machine to flip over the toilet seats, which cut down labour from 2 people to 1 person.
Any business which invests in Vietnam would definitely use the parent company's method of doing things, although they must be flexible enough to change to suit some of the working culture of the Vietnamese.
The production manager said that Vietnamese people are still mainly agrarians, and do not realise the potential losses incurred if they are 10 to 20 mins late. It may mean that an entire shipment could be delayed if production is a few mins late.
After lunch we went to a romantic spot in Hanoi, a winding road between the two rivers which flows in opposite directions to and from Vietnam. We were also supposed to visit a 15th century pagoda which was built by the Chinese when they first occupied Vietnam, however it was closed. We then drove past a majestic Presidential way which was truely breath taking. The buildings were grand and governmental offices have different architectural designs, from chinese, to colonial french. The moseleum where President Ho Chih Mihn's body rests was equally majestic.
We got to Kinderworld International, where it took us nearly 5 mins just to cross a 2m road to get to the compound. Traffic was crazy and motorbikes did not allow us to cross. Kinderworld is a Singapore based company, which have been in Vietnam for 8 years. According to Mr. Ricky Tan, education is a very hot sector to be in Vietnam now. This is true as according to Caahng, Vietnamese are very prudent and practical people. If they had the money, they would rather spend it on educating themselves or their children than spend it on luxury items such as cars and jewellery.
One thing Mr. Ricky Tan said that we Singaporeans can learn from the Vietnamese is that we must step out of our comfort zone and sieze what we want.
The final program of the day was the networking dinner at our hotel with the Singapore Business Group. There were some prominent businessmen at the networking dinner from very established Singaporean companies such as Singtel, Citi Group and the ambassador to Vietnam who's in charge of commerce.
They spoke of understanding the culture, and needs of the country. How to adapt your business to capture a foreign market. They also said that Singaporeans, being so sheltered take a lot of things for granted. When the light does not work, we simply call the electrician to come and if he is late, we complain. In Vietnam however, it is very common for power to fail at least twice a week.
While infrastructure and power are still major issues, Vietnam has taken considerable steps to open its market. This can be seen by the willingness of the Vietnamese government to comply with TWO and APEC guidelines which makes business efficacy more transparent.
They told us about the difference between the two cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Hanoi as we know had little capitalist influence, whereas Ho CHi Minh had a lot of American influence, therefore Hanoi is more political centre, whereas Ho Chi Minh is the economic centre of Vietnam. It is no wonder that all these government linked companies such as Singtel and Sembcorp have representatives based in Hanoi to facilitate communication with the government.
The Vietnamese government has taken steps to redistribute the industries through out Vietnam. More and more grants are given to companies who are willing to invest North of Ho Chi Minh City. In fact the bigger projects nowadays are going to be based near Hanoi. Besides that, the advantage of shifting north is that there is less competition and have bigger opportunities.
So what are the Vietnamese perception of us Singaporeans? Generally, Singaporeans are known to be trustworthy and honourable businessmen. We conduct our business by the word and we are very cautious. While we usually take long to delibearate on the decisions, once a decision has been reached, Singaporeans are known to honour their agreement.
We were told that we as Singaporeans should uphold this good image of our nation and continue doing business with the view of helping Vietnam develop rather than just going in to make a quick buck and pulling out. Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations are one way of establishing a company brand in Vietnam.
No comments:
Post a Comment