Indian Businesses Consider Vietnam as a New Investment Destination | ANT Consulting

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam – India diplomatic relations and 10 years of strategic cooperation between the two countries, Mr P. Harish, Ambassador of India to Vietnam said that the two countries’ cooperation is very nice, many Indian businesses are considering Vietnam as a new investment destination in the region and choose to set up business in Vietnam.

India and Vietnam relationship have been developing very strongly since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1972. The two countries advanced their relationship into strategic partnership in 2007 and then became comprehensive strategy in September 2016, when the Prime Minister of India visited Vietnam. This cooperation framework includes security, defense, economic and cultural cooperation, high-level delegation exchanges and people-to-people exchanges.

In terms of trade, bilateral trade has increased tenfold, from 1.15 billion USD in fiscal year 2006 – 2007, to 10.1 billion USD in fiscal year 2016 – 2017 (according to Indian data). The two countries’ leaders have set a bilateral trade target of 15 billion USD by 2020. India is among the top 10 trading partners of Vietnam and Vietnam is India’s fifth largest trading partner in ASEAN region.

Regarding investment, Vietnam currently has 136 Indian projects, with a total registered capital of about 1.28 billion USD, including capital from India through third countries, mainly focusing on areas as oil and gas, renewable energy, minerals, agricultural product processing, information technology and automotive components. The latest project of India in Vietnam is the instant coffee processing project of Tata Coffee Company in Binh Duong province, with a total registered capital of 63 million USD.

In order to achieve this goal, Vietnam and India need to work more closely in strengthening the exchange of business delegations and encouraging investment in one another, to promote trade.

In addition, Vietnam and India are expected to strengthen connectivity in aviation and sea line. Expected this year, Vietjet will open direct flights to India. Furthermore, linkage in the banking and finance sectors is also accelerating. Also, India has also strengthened its projects in Vietnam in the areas of human resource development, IT capacity building, English language teaching and science and technology.

With such a multidisciplinary approach, we can realize a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and explore the potentials of two nations.

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FDI Is Expected to Flow into Vietnam After the Covid-19 Epidemic | ANT Consulting

The Covid-19 epidemic is also considered an opportunity for Vietnam to receive faster flows of foreign investment, especially capital flows away from China.

According to the Director of Foreign Investment Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment), a large US corporation is planning to invest a multi-billion-dollar project in Asia. The two locations they considered were China and Vietnam. Given the situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in China, it is likely that they will choose Vietnam. In March, they will make a final decision…

A group of Korean and US investors interested in LNG power projects in Vietnam is probably one of the rare foreign business delegations coming to Vietnam at the time of the outbreak of Covid-19. On February 11th, they went to the Government Office and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work on this content.

Without hiding ambition, according to representative of Korean investors consortium including Korea Gas Corporation, Southern Korea Electric Company, Hanwha Group… – they want to invest into LNG port and gas power plant projects in Vietnam. Even in addition to the electricity sector, these investors also want to invest in other areas in Vietnam.

The fact that foreign investors still coming to Vietnam at this time proves the attraction of Vietnam. The postponement and cancellation of investment promotion trips of foreign investors is only momentary.

In addition, according to the National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast, the Covid-19 epidemic showed that the world was too dependent on China.

Having similar views, the New York Times also forecast that the flow of foreign investment from China to Vietnam to avoid US taxes could be accelerated by the Covid-19 epidemic.

According to the representative of JETRO Hanoi Office, in order to disperse risks, 122 Japanese enterprises asked by JETRO said that they decided to relocate their production in China and the place to be moved to the top is Vietnam.

Vietnam is at the top of the list, with 42.3% of the 122 businesses mentioned above have chosen. Following Vietnam is Thailand (20.6%), Philippines (18.6%) and Indonesia (16.5%). Japanese enterprises moving away from China not only because of trade war, but also to evade the increasing input costs in this market.

In the international market, it is forecasted that the flow of international investment into China and investment from China to foreign countries will face difficulties in 2020, even possibly sharply decline in the first quarter of 2020. The Covid-19 epidemic, if combined with geopolitical risks, trade war risks… also makes the global political, economic and social environment even more uncertain, promoting defensive psychology, shrinking, thus weakening investment motivation.

This is an opportunity for Vietnam to have policies to attract investors who are intending to narrow production in neighboring countries and invest in Vietnam. Investment promotion units should proactively work with foreign investors who have plans to invest in Vietnam to discuss, orient and unify the preliminary investment procedures.

Besides, in the long term, it is necessary to continue improving the investment and business environment, amending policies and strategies to attract foreign investment.

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Vietnam: The World Largest Smart Phone Manufacturer | ANT Consulting

Samsung has become the largest investor in Vietnam by setting up factory to produce electronics products in Vietnam and then export to more than 50 countries in the world.

According to Mr Hyun Woo Bang – Deputy General Director of Samsung Vietnam, the cheap and abundant labor source is not the main reason leading to the decision to expand Samsung’s investment in Vietnam.

In a recent meeting with the Ministry of Information and Communications, a leader of Samsung has revealed that each 100 employees in the mobile segment of Samsung, there are 80 Vietnamese. Currently, the corporation is employing around 130,000 employees in Vietnam.

In 1995, Samsung started to invest in Vietnam, so far has been 21 years. Since 2008, Samsung has formally invested in mobile phone manufacturing factory. Currently, Samsung has about 130,000 Vietnamese workers. There were so many people questioning if Samsung invested in Vietnam because of cheap labor. However, labor is not the most important factor. In terms of labor resources, Vietnam is not the richest country in comparison with India. Regarding labor costs, there are many other countries in the region also having cheaper labor costs than Vietnam. The quality of Vietnam’s labor is also not the best in comparison with surrounding countries.

Samsung invests in Vietnam is a strategic decision of the corporation based on the economic developments, tax policy, stable political factor, labor sources, the ability to import raw materials…

So far Samsung has invested nearly 15 billion USD in Vietnam. The two largest projects of Samsung in Vietnam are Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) with an area of 110 ha in Yen Phong, Bac Ninh and Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) on an area of 170 ha in Pho Yen, Thai Nguyen. These two factories are producing and assembling mobile phone, tablet and phone components. Products from these factories will be exported to more than 50 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition, Samsung has recently invested more than 3 billion USD in Samsung Display (Bac Ninh); 300 million USD in R&D center specialized in researching and innovating new products.

In 2015, Samsung exported about 32.5 billion USD and two factories in Bac Ninh has provided 200 million mobile phones globally. In 2016, the factory in Ho Chi Minh City and Samsung Display will continue to go in operation with great outputs providing to the global market.

Vietnam has become the largest smart phone manufacturing headquarter in the world. Samsung has 9 factories and investing in many countries, but their investment in Vietnam is the largest.

In many countries around the world, the business environment of Vietnam is very stable. Perhaps because of large investments, Samsung always get the support from the Government and local authorities. Currently, there is a shift of capital flows of multinational corporations from one country to another. Therefore, Vietnam should base on the new context to offer attractive strategy accordingly.

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Risk Management In Enterprise | ANT Consulting

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.

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Da Nang- Tangier (Morocco) cooperates in economic field | ANT Consulting

On April 14th, 2021, representatives of Da Nang city had an online meeting with representatives of Tangier city (Morocco) on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1961-2021).

At the meeting, representatives of Da Nang city shared the characteristics, potentials and similarities in the field in the development orientation of two cities, by this meeting, the two cities will continue to promote cooperation in a number of areas such as tourism, transportation, and trade. In addition, Da Nang is implementing the goal of both coping with epidemics, socio-economic development, promoting the image of the city as a safe destination for investors and tourists.

Specifically, in the field of tourism, is is encouraged cooperation between tourism and travel businesses. At the same time, parties are suggested to coordinate to organize tourism product survey teams, to connect tourism of the two cities; promote, advertise and introduce the image of Da Nang to Moroccan citizens.

In the transport sector, Da Nang side hopes that Tangier will support Da Nang in calling for businesses and investors of Tangier to invest in a PPP component (public-private partnership) of Lien Chieu port project to cooperate. Besides, invest in logistics centers according to the approved planning and support investment in marinas, inland water ports.

In the field of trade, the side of Da Nang city proposed the two parties to exchange and provide information on trade fair and prestigious events of the city; information on import and export enterprises; trade policy mechanism, etc. for imported goods to support trade connection, promote goods export – import.

Besides, two cities will support enterprises to research, learn and access each other’s goods market; connect businesses in the raw material supply chain to boost exports of potentially complementary products, coordinate in organizing or assisting enterprises to survey the market, creating conditions for all parties to arrange stalls or send goods for introduction at their local product introduction centers.

Bases on the proposals of Da Nang, the representative of Tangier city shared, Tangier is a locality with infrastructure for tourism and transportation. Tangier wants the two cities to concretize ideas of cooperation to connect tourism. At the same time, to create favorable conditions and optimize strengths to develop fields that both cities are interested in. In addition, the representative of Tangier city hopes that apart from the aforementioned fields, the two cities will be able to cooperate in the fields of technology, environment and sustainable development.

By the meeting, the two parties also expected that in the coming time, with the efforts of cooperation and economic development, investors from Tangier will make investment in Da Nang, to apply for investment certificate, to set up company, in order to make the most of the incentives investment in Da Nang, in order to reap its economic benefits.

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Da Nang – Singapore To Cooperate for Development | ANT Consulting

On May 12th, 2021, the representative of Da Nang city had a webinar with representatives of Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore on economic development, which the seminar was attended by nearly 200 companies from different industry whom are potential investors from Singapore, interested in setting up company in Vietnam.

During the seminar, the representative of Da Nang city introduced the investment and business environment, and preferential policies and investment opportunities of Da Nang city in the fields of high technology, information technology, high-quality services (health, education, logistics). The seminar received the sharing of experience when investing in Da Nang as well as the support of the city government from one of the largest Singaporean investors in Da Nang, and financial solutions when investing in Vietnam from some Singapore experts.

The representative from Singapore Business Federation highly appreciated the potential of the city’s business investment environment and proposed Da Nang city to establish the Da Nang Information Center (Da Nang Desk) located at the Vietnam Connection Center at the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) to connect Da Nang with Singapore companies.

Da Nang City is inviting Singaporean investors and businesses with financial and technological capabilities to learn about the business investment environment and cooperation opportunities in the city. The representative of Da Nang City highly appreciated the proposal to set up Da Nang Information Center in Singapore and assigned the Investment Promotion and Support Committee to propose a model, serving as a bridge to support the environment and business investment opportunities of Da Nang to Singaporean enterprises in particular and international in general; thereby further promoting the investment cooperation relationship between Da Nang and Singapore in the coming time.

Singapore is one of Vietnam’s most important trade and investment partners. In 2020, despite being affected by Covid-19, Singapore invested in 248 projects in Vietnam with a total capital of nearly 9 billion USD, making it the leading country in foreign investment in Vietnam. Accumulated to the end of 2020, Singapore is the 3rd largest foreign direct investor in Vietnam after Korea and Japan with a total of 2,629 projects and a total registered capital of more than 56.5 billion USD. In 2020, the total two-way turnover between Vietnam and Singapore reach over 6.7 billion USD, of which the export value of Vietnam’s goods will reach 3 billion USD and the import value will reach USD 3.7 billion.

Singapore is one of the key markets for investment attraction of Da Nang, currently the city has 28 Singapore FDI projects with a total registered capital of more than 838.4 million USD, ranking 2nd in the list of more than 50 countries and regions, territory, accounting for about 22% of total registered investment capital.

Da Nang City hopes that many investors from Singapore will invest in Da Nang to help the city achieve its goal of becoming the largest financial center in Vietnam. And the Singaporean investors can enjoy the best incentives from the city to get the best return on their investment from establishing company through foreign direct investment or making investment through M&A with local company. However, it is always important to undertake background check, search the reputation of the local company, local director and have full assessment on the business and financial risks in cooperating with local partners.

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With the partnership with Biwase, JFE Engineering hopes to gain more orders, including projects to expand Biwase’s existing plants and construct waste treatment plants.

JFE Engineering Japan has just spent 900 million yen (8.6 million USD) to invest in Vietnam. The Company purchase 3.87% stake in Binh Duong Water and Environment Joint Stock Company (Biwase).

This is one of the steps of JFE Engineering to tap into the demand for water treatment facilities in Vietnam.

JFE Engineering has participated in a tender to build two wastewater treatment plants in Vietnam. Both factories use Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) capital.

According to Nikkei Asia, with the cooperation with Biwase – the unit that are operating 8 water treatment plants and one waste treatment plant in Binh Duong province, JFE Engineering hopes to have more orders, including projects to expand Biwase’s existing factories and construct waste treatment and recycling plants.

JFE Engineering plans to recruit local engineers and salespeople to increase its staff in Vietnam by 10 more per year.

JFE Engineering hopes to increase annual sales in the Vietnamese market to 10 billion yen over the next 10 years from 2 billion yen in fiscal 2019.

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Korea Invested 2.7 Billion USD in Binh Duong | ANT Consulting

Korean investors have set up business in Vietnam a lot in the recent years and this country is also the third largest foreign investor in Binh Duong province with 619 projects.

At the meeting between Binh Duong People’s Committee and Korean investors held on August 16th, according to reports of Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Duong province on the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of 2017, there was positive changes. The total FDI capital reached 1.726 billion USD, equal to 123% of the year plan and increase by 51% over the same period in 2016.

Specifically, there are 97 new projects with capital of 1.034 billion USD, 62 projects adjust and increase capital of 670 million USD. The sectors attracting a lot of investors are electricity, electronics, mechanics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, trade and services…

Particularly for Korean investors, in six months of 2017, there are 16 new projects and 17 projects adjusted for capital increase. Overall, total investment reached 306 million USD. Accumulated until June 30th, Korea is the third largest foreign investor in Binh Duong (after Taiwan and Singapore) with 619 projects worth 2.694 billion USD.

With the efforts to improve the investment environment, Binh Duong is always attracted by investors, the number of foreign investors coming to the province to explore investment opportunities in the first half of 2017 continued to increase over previous years. FDI attraction results of Binh Duong is a good signal, affirming that the investment environment of the province is very attractive to foreign investors.

Binh Duong currently has 28 industrial parks with an area of 10,560 hectares and 11 industrial clusters with an area of over 802 hectares, occupancy rate reaches over 70%.

Binh Duong is still implementing some new industrial zones and expanding existing industrial parks such as Bau Bang Industrial Park (1,000 ha), Nam Tan Uyen (446 ha), approving new investment of An Lap industrial cluster (75 ha).

In the period 2016 – 2020, Binh Duong will develop up to 33 industrial parks with an area of nearly 15,000 ha.

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Italian Business Investing in Binh Duong | ANT Consulting

Ambassador of Italy in Vietnam and Binh Duong provincial leaders have attend the opening of the investment support office of Emilia Romagna (Italy) in Binh Duong.

This is the first representative office of the business community, investors of Emilia Romagna in Vietnam, which functions to create a bridge of cooperation between the two countries and promote Italian businesses to invest in Binh Duong.

On the same day in Binh Duong province, the ceremony to sign a memorandum of cooperation between Becamex IDC Corporation (under Binh Duong Provincial People’s Committee) with the Emilia Romagna region, Bonfiglioli Group and Unimore University (Italy). Content of the memorandum is to cooperate in economy, science, technology and education between the parties.

The Italian Embassy in Vietnam said Emilia Romagna is a dynamic economic region with many Italian famous enterprises in the field of manufacturing industry.

Through the opening of a representative office for the business community in the Binh Duong and signed a cooperation will open more opportunities, create the wave of investments by Italian enterprises to Vietnam in general and Binh Duong in particular.

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M&A Due Diligence and Execution in Vietnam | ANT Consulting

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities in Vietnam have been rapidly increasing over the the years in value and number of transactions when Vietnam’s opening policies to attract foreign investments loosen up. The M&A due diligence and execution are therefore important steps to ensure a successful transaction.

For foreign investors wishing to take advantage with a certain level of risks in Vietnam where the cost of labour are cheap, mid-income populations are growing, and the need of capital are high, it is imporatant to find the right target companies to invest. Challenges might arise when approaching the right local companies, locating the right decision makers within the local companies, encountering differences in languages and cultures.

It is imporant that the local consultants with the understanding of the business and legal environment in Vietnam where the local companies are incorporated could be involved at an initial stage to monitor and minimize the risks, improve the effectiveness of the M&A process in Vietnam.

The Vietnam consulting company could also provide corporate intelligence and insights of the Vietnam targeted companies to have an overall evaluation of the compliance of the Vietnam companies, possible risks involved and growth potential. Financial forensic services might also be needed before other further steps. Then, the following will need to be considered when undertaking the M&A in Vietnam.

Due diligence

M&A due diligence in Vietnam is a vital step because it determines whether the M&A will succeed or not. There are some aspects that must be carefully considered:

· Financial reports

Review all the financial reports of the Vietnam targeted companies within 3 to 5 years to assess the current and future financial situation. These data needs to be audited by a reputable independent auditing company. Evaluating financial situation targets on many aspects such as the reasonable connection between the financial statements, operating and sales margin of the business in relation to the average in that industry. These data allow valuation real value of the target business.

· The cash flow

Checking the dates on invoices showing that whether targeted businesses have paid promptly or not. Term of payment may vary from industry to industry, but generally 30 to 60 days. If the money order is paid after the billing date period of 90 days or more, it means that the business owner may be struggling with cash flow. Finding out that if the clients’ inability to pay bills or not is very important.

· The staff

Determining the importance of staff for the success of the business considering work habits of employees, working time of key employees; ability to remain working after a change of the owner occurs; the incentives necessary to keep key employees; ability to easily replace key employees; the relationship of key employees with the company’s customers.

· The customers

This is the most important assets of the Vietnam targeted company. Make sure that clients are as the other tangible assets of the business. Evaluating customers on some primary aspects: the relationship with the current owner of the business, customer history with business relations and the contribution of each customer to the profits of the company; assessing that customer will leave or stay when the business having new owners; customer services and dispute of the company, the relationship of the former owner of the business with the community or the industry.

· Business location

This is especially important if the targeted company is a retail company. Does the importance of business location play a crucial role for the success of the company? How is the location of the company you plan to acquire? Is there sufficient parking lot for customers? How does the company depend on sales in the region? How is the prospects of the business in this area? Does this place have been in the process of rapid change from new residential district office building or not? Has business location become more or less desirable because of contemplated changes in surrounding area or not?

· Competitors

Considering this aspect in order to define the capacity of the targeted business in the industry, the following questions would help: who are its competitor and what are their strategies? Does the price war happen frequently? How has the competitive environment changed?

· Business registration, permits and zoning

It’s necessary to make sure that business registration certificate and other legal documents can be easily given to the buyer. It would be better to acknowledge the procedures to transfer these documents and its fee with the help of local management consulting company in Vietnam. If the targeted company is a joint-stocks company, what is the procedure for the business registration? Can foreigners own the company 100% according to Vietnam laws? Conditional investments in Vietnam need to be considered carefully by lawyers in Vietnam to avoid mishaps.

· The company image

Company image can be a significant asset and that cannot be assessed in the financial report. There are many intangible factors to consider when evaluating a company: how to serve customers, how employees answer the phone and the level of support the community or the industry.

Negotiate the price

It is important to understand the purpose and motivation of both parties. The sellers’ motivation are formed and affected by value drivers. There are two main value drivers which are approach value and avoidance value. Approach value is our purpose such as prosperity and avoidance value is the negative effect that we need to eliminate. Normally, the buyers try to find out what are the reasons why the owner wish to sell the companies. This will help the buyers plan a reasonable strategy beforehand.

A research analyzes the general aspects that the buyers seeking for via conducting surveys companies’ owner who have sold or transformed their enterprises. The research results are focus on profit maximization (79%), minimization of tax payable (73%), protection of viability of the company (71%)…(Source: Acquisition Marketplace Review, 2007).

The motivation of the buyer in most cases is similar to the motivation of the seller, which is to maximize profits, expand markets, increase revenue, operating areas, areas of activity, minimize taxes…

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Benefits of Setting Up Company in Ho Chi Minh City | ANT Consulting

Ho Chi Minh City is considered as Vietnam’s economic hub. During the long history of foundation and development, the city’s economy is growing constantly and motivating the development of the country.

The city is therefore considered as a potential investment environment for domestic investors as well as foreign investors. The investment through establishing companies and conducting business activities in Ho Chi Minh city certainly promises to achieve multiple benefits. These benefits come from the following reasons.

First, Ho Chi Minh City has strategic location advantage in Vietnam. Southeast Asia Region, Ho Chi Minh City is 1,700 km south of Hanoi, 297 km east of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 881 km east of Bangkok, Thailand.

Food, glass, textiles, paper products, plastics, chemicals, building materials and machinery are produced here. Ho Chi Minh City accounts for 20% of total gross domestic product (GDP), 30% of industrial production and 40% of export products of Vietnam. The city also accounts for 33% of the national budget and 60% of foreign investment flows into the region. In the past few years, the economy have been grown at a rate greater than 10% (6% to 8% nationally).

Second, Ho Chi Minh City is home of well – qualified, abundant and young human resources.

With a population of more than 8 million, accounting for more than 10% of the total Vietnamese population, Ho Chi Minh City itself has potential employment market to make any business investment. The work force in Ho Chi Minh City was estimated to reach 4.7 million people in 2012, making up more than 50% of the total population of the city. The percentage of trained labor increased from 40% in 2005 to 55% in 2010 and was forecast to reach 70% in 2015. The percentage of labor source holding postgraduate degree is also increasing year by year and most of them tend to stay in the city after holding degrees. Ho Chi Minh City is also home to more than 80 universities and colleges, vocational schools with over 400,000 students providing an abundant trained work force.

With the above – mentioned abundant labor force, any companies set up in Ho Chi Minh City can easily recruit suitable employees in a short time..

Third, the city has modern and high infrastructure system. Namely, when setting up company in Ho Chi Minh City, the owners will benefit from the modern and comprehensive infrastructure system.

Tan Son Nhat Airport is the largest airport in the country with the capacity to accommodate 20 million people a year. From Tan Son Nhat Airport, there are 50 routes to other countries all over the world such as China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, European countries, etc.

Saigon Port serves as a gateway to the Mekong River Delta, the South China Sea (83 km away from the sea) and the Asia continent. The port has a total area of 500,000 m2 with 5 terminals meeting the international standards, and it handles about 8.3 million tons of cargo annually. Throughout the history of foundation and development of Saigon, Saigon Port plays an important role in making Ho Chi Minh City a flourishing trading center. It accounts for a fifth of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and almost a third of its industrial production.

Ho Chi Minh City is also home to industrial zones. According to the statistics of Cushman & Wakefield, the city has 18 industrial parks that are operating with a total area of 3635 ha. When investing in such industrial zones in Vietnam, enterprises can benefit from various incentive policies such as low rate tax or other incentive policies.

Telecommunication and information technology in the city is modern. The system of post and telecommunication in Ho Chi Minh meets international standard, providing fast, reliable and high quality services such as ADSL, rapid data transfer, wide broadband MAN. The Internet service in Ho Chi Minh city is also among the cheapest in the world.

Besides, the city is also considered the best working conditions. Enterprise will not be fear that it is not enough place for working. The city with the system of offices provide ideal working environment for all investors.

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Set-up Representative Office in Vietnam | ANT Consulting

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.

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