'A country where everyone works has no reason not to develop'

That was the observation and assessment of a Russian businessman when he came to work in Vietnam a few years ago, and reality proved him right.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company - shared at the forum - Photo: T.DIEU

The story was shared by Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company (BSR) - at the 2024 Annual Forum on Culture with Enterprises, with the theme "Doing Business in a Multicultural Environment" organized by the Vietnam Association for Development of Corporate Culture on the afternoon of November 10 in Hanoi.

Learn how foreigners work in Vietnam

With the topic "Doing business in a multicultural environment", Mr. Hoi shared the lessons he learned from working with foreign partners, seeing how they integrated into Vietnamese culture when they came to our country to do business.

He told the story of his Russian friend a few years ago. Wanting to build a strong cooperative relationship and build "teammates", he invited this businessman to eat at a restaurant.

However, this friend expressed his wish that Mr. Hoi would take him to eat at small restaurants, allowing him to go into the nooks and crannies of Vietnam.

This person sat drinking rice wine with Mr. Hoi and eating traditional Vietnamese dishes. He learned how to work effectively in such a multicultural environment.

After observing the lives of Vietnamese people, he told Mr. Hoi that he believed that in 15-20 years Vietnam would be very developed.

When Mr. Hoi asked the reason for that belief, the Russian businessman said he noticed that many Vietnamese people were considered unemployed, but in fact all Vietnamese people worked.

An old man sitting at a coffee shop selling drinks, an unemployed man taking his motorbike to the street to work as a motorbike taxi, an old man helping his children and grandchildren clean up a grocery store… are all work.

And he firmly believes that a country where everyone works has no reason not to develop.

Speakers shared at the 2024 Annual Forum on Culture with Businesses - Photo: T.DIEU

Another case, Mr. Hoi's company once did business with a foreign partner. When building the factory, there were times when the construction progress was very difficult.

Foreign partners told Mr. Hoi that they could not find any way to speed up the progress, and it was very difficult for Vietnamese workers to be satisfied.

Mr. Hoi suggested that they should organize a team building. The partner listened and organized a huge team building night. Immediately after that, the project progress doubled.

Mr. Hoi concluded: working in a multicultural environment requires promoting the spirit of cooperation, having internal strength with a solid knowledge base, good foreign language skills, and knowing how to use team building appropriately to increase cohesion, trust, and work efficiency.

Mr. Hong Sun - Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam - shared at the forum - Photo: T.DIEU

What can we learn from Korea?

From the perspective of foreigners working in Vietnam, Mr. Hong Sun - Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam (KOCHAM) - commented that Vietnamese businesses have great potential to develop internationally. However, for Vietnamese businesses to go global, there are still many limitations from language, culture, etc.

Korea is currently very successful in bringing music, movies... to the world, but this success is not accidental, it was planned by the Government decades ago.

A small and medium enterprise does not dare to go abroad, it really needs the state budget to support and accompany the enterprise.

Along with reaching out to the world, Vietnam also needs to improve its business environment further to attract more foreign investment. What needs to be done soon is to attract and retain foreign investors to Vietnam with a transparent and convenient visa policy.

Mr. Sun said the crime rate for foreigners in Vietnam is extremely low, but it is extremely difficult for foreigners to enter Vietnam. Applying for a long-term visa is relatively difficult for foreign investors.

There are businesses that have invested tens of billions of dollars in Vietnam but still cannot be granted long-term visas.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-dat-nuoc-ai-ai-cung-lam-viec-thi-khong-co-ly-do-gi-khong-phat-trien-2024111022381017.htm