Vietnamese exporters 'need to think global'

HCM City (VNA/VNS) - Exporters should have long-term vision, think globally and
market their products aggressively during the ongoing economic crisis, experts told
a two-day international buyers-suppliers meeting opened in Ho Chi Minh City on March
18.

Organised by Global Source, a company that brings together global buyers and
suppliers, the event has attracted some of the world's biggest buyers of a range
of products from the US, France, Germany and Hong Kong.

Minesh More, Global Source's South Asia sales manager, said skilled workers,
value addition to products, cheap labour and a weak currency were the country's
biggest advantages compared to its Asian competitors.

"How many local enterprises are fully aware of how a depreciated dong can enhance
their exports in the context of the Chinese Yuan rising against the US dollar?" he
added.

The country was also lucky to have a large number of more skilled but cheaper
workers than China , given that skilled labour is the most important factor for
any exporting country, the manager said.

Additionally, China was focusing on manufacturing the same designs in bulk for a
long time, while Vietnam was adding value to its products, he said, giving the
example of embroidered cloth items.

So, buyers were shifting from China to Vietnam , he said, especially with China
reaching saturation level and moving up to more knowledge-intensive development.

This, in turn, would benefit Vietnam which is still in the first phase of
labour-intensive manufacture and would take 10 years to reach saturation level.

The manager identified "soft" products like textiles, footwear, garden and outdoor
ware, household stuff and home accessories among others as having the highest
potential for sectors.

Tough times did not mean retailers would stop buying and selling, he said. They
would merely look for better sources of supply, the manager said, stressing that the
melt-down could be a big opportunity for manufacturers who how to market their
products.

"We cannot wait until things get better to adverse, which is what is widely
perceived here. In fact, tough times mean we definitely have to adverse and
advertise aggressively."

Minesh said Vietnamese suppliers should "grab all possible opportunities to face
buyers" and they should make themselves available everywhere buyers look, be it
print and online materials or trade shows.

But he said Vietnamese enterprises were not good at marketing themselves and did not
know how to do it right.

The manager was critical of most Vietnamese businesses who "think they are competing
against themselves, or with neighbouring countries like Laos , Cambodia or
Thailand .

"They should think beyond that and place themselves in the global competition."

They also lacked long-term vision as evidenced in their marketing priorities, namely
how much money they could make and how many contracts they could sign, he said.

"They should have a vision for 10 years and more, and they should think of how many
markets they can reach or how they will expand."

Minesh said his organisation had grown with Samsung, LG, and Huyndai, who had
started as normal exporters and not as the big international brands they are
today.-Enditem