Private enterprises want to develop: Must do business responsibly and respect the law

(PLVN) - The private economic sector (SES) contributes significantly to GDP, accounting for about 40-50% and has the potential to reach 70% in the future. The SES is currently creating the majority of jobs for society, accounting for about 85% of total jobs in the economy. However, the vast majority are still small and micro enterprises (SMEs), with limited competitiveness. It is time for this force to reach out and develop...

Báo Pháp Luật Việt Nam•21/04/2025

Think big, do big...

According to the assessment of Lawyer Ha Dang Luyen - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, in recent times, the Vietnamese private economic sector has made a breakthrough in nearly 40 years of innovation, especially in the period of 2018 - 2022 with the number of newly established enterprises and annual registered capital increasing. The private economic sector has made remarkable progress, becoming one of the indispensable driving forces of Vietnam's economic development in the integration period. However, there are still many challenges in terms of level, structure, quality and corporate governance...

First of all, according to Lawyer Ha Dang Luyen, the technological level of the private economic force is still weak, labor productivity is not high and the ability to access global value chains is limited. In addition, the structure of private enterprises in the current economy is still unbalanced in various fields. Private enterprises are currently mainly concentrated in the service, trade and construction sectors, while the processing and manufacturing industries, high-tech agriculture , and science and technology account for a very low proportion; There is a lack of large enterprises with international competitiveness and leading value chains in the process of developing the international economy;

The development quality of private enterprises is uneven. There are some enterprises that have grown strongly and expanded to international markets (such as Vingroup, Masan , Thaco...), but most of them still operate on a small scale, lack professionalism, and are difficult to expand. Many enterprises do not have original technology, and the potential to digitize and green their business activities is limited; The ability to connect and participate in the global value chain is still weak;

Corporate governance is not effective. Many enterprises do not separate ownership and management rights, and are managed in a family-style manner; financial transparency, risk management, legal compliance and business ethics are not given due importance. This affects the ability to attract investment and develop sustainably.

Commenting on the advantages of the private economic system, Mr. Pham Van Hoc - Chairman of the Board of Directors - General Director of Viet Medical Development Company Limited emphasized: "Private economic systems in general and private enterprises in particular, not only in Vietnam but also in most of the world, have always shown a pioneering role and contributed real values to the economy. Private enterprises in Vietnam have grown very quickly in the past few decades, for many reasons, the first of which must be mentioned is the attention through many "unleashing" policies of the State, the open policies have become more evident since the 6th National Party Congress in 1986. Private economic systems and private enterprises are closely linked to each individual or each enterprise, enterprises live, investors live and vice versa...".

According to Mr. Pham Van Hoc, currently, KTTN has many favorable opportunities for development. However, there are still many challenges. Specifically, in Vietnam today, the proportion of enterprises doing trade and services is still large, while the proportion of enterprises participating in the production of goods is very modest; The proportion of small and medium enterprises is the majority, but the connection and sharing among the business community is also limited. "To develop as expected, I think it is time for enterprises to think big, do big, do business responsibly and respect the law!" - General Director of Viet Medical Development Company Limited said.

Need more effective, transparent and fair support policies!

In fact, we all know that policy and mechanism barriers have hindered the "growth" of private enterprises, but there are no drastic and effective solutions. According to Pharmacist Nguyen Xuan Hoang - Chairman of International Medical Consulting Company Limited (IMC): For the private economic sector to develop as expected, there must be a policy to support their development. Specifically, what support will be given to newly-joined enterprises? In fact, most enterprises really need support in taxes, land, finance, etc. But newly-started SMEs do not have collateral to be required to mortgage before being given loans. "In my opinion, there should be a credit unit to assess the level of enterprises and then lend them at that level. A newly-opened enterprise only needs to borrow a few hundred million, so we should lend them. Sometimes we have to accept risks (bad credit, bad debt, but at a micro level), just need to create a fulcrum for them to have confidence, that the State has stepped in".

The Chairman of IMC shared: When he opened a company in Germany, the German Mayor invited representatives of banks, the environment, real estate... to his house to see what his needs were so they could support him. The loan procedure is also very simple, but requiring them to have collateral to lend capital is very complicated. For example: If a business has an order with a partner, it should be considered as collateral and create conditions for them to borrow. In addition, it is necessary to establish creative startup funds to support business development; Or support an accountant who can work for 5-7 businesses. When that business is large, the business will hire its own accountant. Regarding training, the State must also have a way to support businesses. For example: Lending a sum of money for businesses to pay for training costs for personnel and management. In particular, the State must send out a message to communicate to the whole society that excellent private enterprises that do well must be honored and rewarded...

Regarding this issue, Lawyer Ha Dang Luyen said that, over the years, although the State has always affirmed the important role of the private economy, in reality, the legal system is still unstable, constantly changing, causing difficulties for enterprises in adapting and making long-term plans; The mechanism of asking and giving still exists, causing many SMEs to have to "run procedures" instead of focusing on production and business. Although currently, management agencies have been reducing administrative procedures for enterprises, this change is still quite slow and not really thorough; Policies are not consistent and transparent, creating inequality between the private sector and state-owned enterprises or foreign-invested enterprises.

Talking about strong enough solutions for businesses to break through, Mr. Pham Van Hoc proposed: “For businesses to develop further, we hope that the Party and the Government need to issue more open and flexible policies, creating conditions for businesses to develop. According to Mr. Hoc, up to now, many legal documents or sub-law documents stipulate in great detail the order, procedures, time limits for receiving, resolving, and handling requests, recommendations, and proposals from businesses, but there is no regulation to handle when people or competent state agencies remain silent, do not resolve or do not resolve on time. This leads to many proposals from businesses falling into silence, lasting from one to several years, even forever, and in the end, businesses have to give up and give up.

It is time for us to mention the phrase "Public responsibility", which means that when receiving proposals and recommendations from enterprises within a certain period of time, the competent state agency must respond yes or no, there is no such thing as wanting to handle it, not wanting to respond, or ignoring it when it is difficult" - Mr. Hoc emphasized.

The second issue that Mr. Hoc believes must be considered is the consistency and principle of benefiting enterprises and people. Accordingly, when a competent state agency has decided to resolve the proposals of enterprises, if through inspection and examination, violations are discovered, the person and the state agency must be dealt with first, not just the enterprise. For example: In land allocation, when the Provincial People's Committee legally allocates land, the enterprise starts construction, when inspection and examination discovers violations and reclaims them, the enterprise is fined, loses assets, while the state agency and the person performing the wrongful act do not have to bear any responsibility.

Regarding the principle of benefiting enterprises, in the context of many overlapping and inconsistent normative documents, there are documents that are beneficial to enterprises and vice versa that are still in effect, the application of which document is also a matter of concern. "In my personal opinion, I think these are "loopholes" from the State, while there is no time to adjust for consistency, we must apply normative documents that are still in effect and are more beneficial to the people and enterprises" - Mr. Pham Van Hoc suggested.

Lawyer Ha Dang Luyen - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association:
Lawyer Ha Dang Luyen.
“To realize the expectations of General Secretary To Lam on promoting the private economic sector, it is necessary to implement a number of key solutions such as: Strong institutional reform, reviewing and eliminating overlapping, contradictory legal regulations that hinder enterprises; Ensuring the stability, transparency and predictability of the business legal system; Creating an equal competitive environment; Eliminating unreasonable privileges and incentives for state-owned enterprises; Increasing fair access to resources, especially land, credit and market information; Perfecting policies to support private enterprises; Promoting programs to support startups, innovation and digital transformation; Having specific policies to support private enterprises to improve their competitiveness and international integration; Improving the quality of law enforcement; Minimizing the situation of “hot above, cold below”, ensuring that policies are effectively implemented at the local level; Strengthening responsibility, transparency and supervision in the activities of public authorities...
For the private sector to truly become an important driving force of the economy as the spirit of the Central Resolution has proposed, the prerequisite is a transparent, fair and favorable legal environment - where all enterprises, regardless of ownership form, can develop sustainably!
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoang - Chairman of International Medical Consulting Company Limited (IMC):
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoang.
“When the Party and State officially recognize the role of private enterprises in the development of the country's economy, there must also be effective support measures so that private enterprises can feel secure in doing business and developing.”
Mr. Pham Van Hoc - Chairman of the Board of Directors - General Director of Viet Medical Development Company Limited:
Mr. Pham Van Hoc.
“To show respect for businesses, we wish to be heard more, wish to have more forums for businesses to both do business and have the opportunity to contribute their intelligence, awareness, and experience to the State, especially in building and perfecting institutions and laws. If the National Assembly has more delegates who are business owners, in the government system there is more participation of investors, businesses..., then the policies and laws of the State will be more practical!”