Firms ‘should draft sustainability plans’

Businesses should build long-term strategic management plans for sustainability to ensure economic and ecological efficiency and social responsibilities, a forum was told.

At the forum on “Strategic Management: Short term view vs Sustainability” co- organised by VIET NAM Holding Limited (VNH) and the Viet Nam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD) in Ha Noi yesterday, Doan Duy Khuong, vice president of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and co chairman of VBCSD, said that profit maximisation and sustainable development were objectives in many companies.

“Sustainability is considered one of the critical factors in business development as it is specified in the nation’s 2011-20 socio-economic strategy plan,” Khuong said.

The Government established a national committee for sustainability in 2009 in order to help the country achieve its sustainable development goals, said Khuong, adding that the VCCI also set up the Viet Nam Business Council for Sustainable Development last year to help businesses move towards sustainability.

“Vietnamese companies should build their business strategy aimed at making a profit while also protecting the environment,” he said.

Chairperson of the VNH Min Hwa Kupfer said: “Four years after the global financial crisis, there still remain some uncertainties here in Viet Nam and abroad and it is tougher for companies to remain successful and competitive without a well-considered long-term view.”

Nguyen Quoc Khanh, a VNH board member, said it was ever more pertinent for investors around the globe to be able to identify and invest in these long-term winning enterprises.

Khanh suggested that such long-term winners would be those who had integrated the idea that sustainability required financial performance but also proper management of the long-term environmental, social and governance risks into their strategic management plans. – VNS

Tags: Vietnam companies, Vietnam enterprises