500 biggest Vietnamese enterprises have skill and spirit to overcome raging waves

The “economic downturn storm” has put hard pressure on Vietnamese enterprises. However, the 500 of the biggest Vietnamese enterprises can survive the storm, develop strongly and get ready to go to the open sea.

Evidence can be seen in the latest report on VNR500, the top 500 Vietnamese enterprises released yesterday November 25. The most outstanding characteristics of the 2010 VNR500 are the flare-ups of the private economic sector, the continued leading role of the state economic sector, and the effective investments of the foreign invested sector.

Go ahead, despite difficulties

Most of the leaders of enterprises, when talking with VietNamNet’s Vietnam Economic Forum, said that 2010 is really a difficult year for businesses, a year when the “economic downturn storm” has shown its devastation. However, the enterprises are still strong and brave enough to overcome all difficulties.

The leading 20 enterprises in the 2010 VNR500 have met the requirements to join the club of enterprises with a turnover of one billion dollars. More importantly, the gap between Vietnamese enterprises and global enterprises has gradually narrowed, as the top 50 enterprises in the 2010 VNR500 and in terms of turnover can be listed in the Forbes 2000 (the 2000 biggest enterprises worldwide).

Vu Dang Vinh, General Director of Vietnam Report, said that the 2010 VNR500 witnessed the appearance of “new faces”, though 20 percent of enterprises have been weeded out from the list.

The 2010 VNR500 sets higher requirements on enterprises: to be eligible they have to have a minimum turnover of 1.2 trillion dong instead of 1 trillion dong as required in 2009, and they must have a minimum of 500 billion dong instead of 400 billion dong.

The enterprises in 2010 VNR500 operate in different fields, especially in finance and banking, securities and real estate. Many real estate firms have reaped the fruits of their labor after 2-3 years of investments.

The old remedy still can bring good effects

Big difficulties have forced enterprises to adjust their production and business plans and restructure their investments by focusing on their advantageous business fields. In other words, enterprises have understood that they need to muster strength on the fields they expect to bring the highest efficiency instead of making investments everywhere else.

This is not a new remedy at all, but it still can bring results. Many enterprises which were once too ambitious and expanded their operations into different business fields have to restructure their businesses.

Thuy Linh International Trade Company is an example. The company’s General Director Nguyen Anh Linh said that anticipating difficulties, the company only set a modest target of obtaining 10 percent growth rate in turnover in 2010 instead of 25-30 percent.

In 2010 a noteworthy strategy of Thuy Linh is that instead of concentrating on turnover, the company prioritizes the restructuring of business fields and focuses on the products which can bring high turnover. The products include ones for which the company is the exclusive distributor in the north.

“We believe that the company’s development will be sustainable only when we can obtain stable profit,” said Linh.

According to Bui Trung Kien, Deputy General Director of ABBank, said that the bank anticipated difficulties in 2010 and could draw up suitable business plans. Therefore, though having grown with high growth rate, ABBank still can meet the requirements to ensure the safety of its operational plans.

By October 31, 2010, the bank’s total assets had reached 36,796 billion dong, fulfilling 105 percent of the 2010’s yearly plan. Its pretax profit had reached 604.5 billion dong, fulfilling 96 percent of the yearly plan.

There will be Vietnamese enterprises of international stature

Vinh from Vietnam Report affirmed that 2010 VNR500 can truly reflect the business results of enterprises and the “health” of the national economy.

The 2010 VNR500 shows the consistency with the V1000 ranking – the list of 1000 biggest corporate income tax payers. It is understandable: when enterprises operate well and make profit, they pay high taxes to the state.

The fact that Vinamilk has become the first Vietnamese enterprise listed among 200 best enterprises in Asia Pacific ranked by Forbes Asia magazine (Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion) shows the strong development of Vietnamese enterprises.

Vinh said that many other Vietnamese enterprises may be named on the list if considering figures on profit, growth rate, debts and prospect. However, there exists a problem that the database about Vietnamese enterprises is still insufficient and open. – Vietnamnet

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