Why is it necessary to verify business partners when entering the Vietnam market?

  The verification of business information of partners in Vietnam about legal status, financial capacity, technology, reputation, and experience is important but often overlooked by foreign companies seeking investment partners, or business cooperation partners in Vietnam. If done systematically, the verification and evaluation of partners’ business information for the purpose of trading goods, or investment or cooperation will help foreign businesses avoid dealing with the business not as described, or the businesses partners having unsuitable capacity or even committing fraudulent activities. The cooperation with these wrong business partners in Vietnam might also result in business cooperation not being achieved, for example, the quality of the goods is inappropriate, the goods are not received on time, or the payment is made without receiving the goods, or the investment project is not as fruitful as proposed.

The verification of customer and business partner information can be assigned to professional consulting companies with the advantage of local knowledge, available information channels, or expertise.

In order to conduct the assessment of customers, business partners, and investors, foreign companies need to provide the basic information necessary for the assessment. The information about the partners needs to be objective. The information about the partners should be specific, and instructive which orientates the action and decision of the requester. When conducting the assessment, information about the business partners will need to be compared and verified from different sources if possible  to help have a more objective view, even visiting the business location might be required.

What to be verified when entering market to work with Vietnam partners?

Legal status of the company includes business license, practising certificate, background check of Board of Directors, fulfillment of tax payment obligations, litigation, trade disputes, and causes (if any).

The type of business includes joint stock company, limited liability company with one member or multi-members, partnership company, family company.

Financial capacity includes financial situation, revenue, profit, share value, stock price fluctuation, the increase or decrease of tax obligation, financial difficulties or bankruptcy status, experts’ assessment of the company’s operational capacity and development prospects.

Expertise and technology includes the level of technology compared to other enterprises in the industry, management team, skilled staff, and business network in the region and the world.

Business and management experience includes operation duration, the field of activities, implemented projects.

What is the methods to be chosen when conducting background check of a company?

Before conducting business partner verification, the professional consulting companies in Vietnam with qualified consultants will consider the specific level and scope of the information to be verified, the source of information, the approach to information depending on the level of requirements of the client, the size and importance of the project, and the local culture.

Public sources could be consulted from target company websites, business directories, chambers of commerce and industry, industry associations, stock exchanges, and public financial statements.

Other sources includes contacting the state competent authorities, meeting at the company’s office, visiting production and business places, learning about business activities and cooperation possibilities; acquiring information through government service; collecting information through stock investors.

Further informal verification methods includes contacting businesses operating in the same industry, competitors or partners who have co-operated with the company (especially in large projects), the network of businesses, banks, etc.

After collecting information from different sources, it is necessary for the business consultants in Vietnam whom help making assessment of Vietnam partners for foreign company entering Vietnam to compare and synthesize sources to make comprehensive assessments of the target company being verified, combining background check of individuals of stake holders, public sources or through secondhand information about company for the client’s further decision making process.

Source: https://www.antconsult.vn/news/why-is-it-necessary-to-verify-business-partners-when-entering-the-vietnam-market.html

Can Gio - The Potential Land for Tourism Investors

  According to the plan of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), by 2020, the number of visitors coming to Can Gio will reach 6 million. That is really a good sign for the Vietnam tourism industry.

HCMC welcomes 30 million tourists a year. Just to find out how to bring these visitors to Can Gio as Pattaya attracts visitors from Bangkok, Can Gio will boom over Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet to become the leading tourist center of Vietnam.

Located only 50 kilometers from the center of Saigon, the four sides are covered by rivers and sea, and owns more than 30,000 hectares of mangroves that have been recognized by UNESCO as the world biosphere reserve. Can Gio is considered to have the potential to become a leading tourist center of the area.

If compared to the leading paradise of the Thai region such as Pattaya, Can Gio is not inferior in terms of natural conditions, such as the quality of the beach, the area of forest, river and mountain... Even Can Gio has more advantages in geographic location: While Pattaya is 100 km far from Bangkok - Thailand's largest tourist center, Can Gio is just 50 km from Ho Chi Minh City.

However, to date, the "billion dollars" potential of Can Gio has not been awakened. As if every year HCMC welcomes about 30 million visitors, Can Gio attracts only 3% of visitors from HCMC (1 million visitors).

Starting from 2017, the obstacles of Can Gio real estate and tourism have begun to be resolved.

On traffic, Can Gio Bridge started construction will solve traffic congestion connecting HCMC with Can Gio. When the two bridges were completed, the time to travel from the center of Saigon to Can Gio was only about 30 minutes instead of 1.5 - 2 hours as before.

In terms of entertainment, the two billion-dollar entertainment complexes of Vingroup and Tuan Chau with a scale of up to thousands of hectares with five-star resorts, golf courses, casino, entertainment area... will become two destinations attracting millions of tourists from HCMC to visit and spend money. In addition, there is La Maison De Can Gio project of Phuoc Loc Company.

We can see that the number of visitors coming to Can Gio as planned in 2020 will be up to 6 million guests. But the number of large scale hotels in this area is not available now, so investing in resort complexes is seen as an opportunity for investors.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

Source: https://www.antconsult.vn/news/can-gio-the-potential-land-for-tourism-investors.html

US Investors Continue Pouring Capital into Vietnam

 Vietnam has become an attractive destination for US investors, up to now, the United States ranks 9th among countries and territories set up company in Vietnam with foreign direct investment.

Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, Uber... are well-known US companies that deploying expansion investment projects in Vietnam. In addition, such names as Exxon Mobil, Cargill, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer... have become familiar, not only because of the huge capital brought into Vietnam, but also help to increase production capacity, contributing to Vietnam's export growth.

Presently, thanks to the good relationship between the two countries, the investment and business environment in Vietnam has been improved. Many US businesses have signed large contracts with Vietnamese enterprises, concentrating on the fields such as oil and gas, information technology, animal feed and electronics.

According to information from the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham), many US businesses are working with the authorities to expand their projects in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the big names that have long presence in Vietnam also urgently deploy expansion plans. Cargill Vietnam Co., Ltd is expanding its operations in Vietnam, in addition to the successful field of animal feed production. It is expected that by the end of this year, Cargill will put into operation a 10 million USD warehouse at Phu My port in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

Cargill also plans to work with the Ministry of Transport on investment in the northern port project to expand its range of operations in many investment sectors in Vietnam.

Dow Chemical, a large US chemical company, after more than 20 years of operation in Vietnam, the company is intending to expand its operations in 2017. Dow Chemical is cooperating with many companies in Vietnam in the fields of agricultural chemicals, biotechnology and services. Furthermore, with long-term investment commitments, in addition to raising capital, Dow Chemical is ready to assist Vietnam in developing a national list of chemicals for research and development.

Statistics show that, up to May 2017, US businesses have invested in 834 projects in Vietnam, with total registered capital of 10.2 billion USD, ranked 9/116 countries and territories that have investment projects in Vietnam.

Moreover, according to an AmCham survey of 100 US companies in Vietnam, 72% of respondents said that Vietnam's investment environment was improving, much better than Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei.

US investment capital flows into Vietnam are no longer tied up in some areas of high profitability as before. Presently, some conditional business areas such as casino, entertainment... are expected to attract more capital from US businesses.

For example, Time Warner Inc., the world's leading media and entertainment company, is also looking for direct investment opportunities in Vietnam.

So far, most of the key businesses in Vietnam are having the presence of major US investors, typically oil and gas sector with famous names such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron; Boeing, ADC-HAS Airport in the field of aviation; Information technology with Microsoft, Intel, Apple, HP; Electrical appliances with General Electric, General Atlantis and AES...

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

Source: https://www.antconsult.vn/news/us-investors-continue-pouring-capital-into-vietnam.html

Game on Mobile Phone Industry in Vietnam

  About 3-4 years ago, the world's game industry is undergoing a very big transformation, witnessing the rise of mobile gaming which outperformed the traditional platforms such as PC or console. In Vietnam, the gaming industry also falls in line with the world trend, many new companies or even large organization had developed mobile game.

In 2015, internet users in Vietnam reached 45 million, accounting for 48.4% of the total population of 93 million. The smartphone users reached 24 million, accounting for 25.8% of the total population, of which 9.3 million of mobile gamers and players loaded fee rate was 45%, reaching ARPPU index (average revenue average per player) is $ 27.71 (619.000 VND).

Until the end of 2015, the number of smartphone devices in Vietnam has reached $37 million, accounting for 52% the total number of mobile devices in the country. It can be seen from the General Statistic Office that from 2012 to 2015, 10 million devices have entered Vietnam’s market each year. Besides, Vietnam's market has not come to saturation, so the potential growth for mobile gaming devices will continue to stay strong for at least 5-10 more years.

In terms of proportion of smartphone users based on age, the largest groups is from the age of 16-34 years old which accounted for 80% in 2015. In this group, the users from 16 - 24 years old take up to 45%. Besides, it can be noticed a remarkable rise of user groups of the age of 16-24 since this percentage rose from 20% in 2013 to 45% in 2015, indicating a huge change of demand of smartphone and purchasing power of smartphone.

If classifying users according to operating system, Android is still the most popular operating system in Vietnam in 2015 which accounted for 60% of users, followed by the 25% of iOS and Windows phone has the smallest market share of 15%. However, Windows phone showed significant change in 2015 when compared to 2014 (4%).  It indicates the development of a new market alongside iOS and Android. This is a unique point in the Vietnam mobile gaming market compared to other countries.

In terms classification depending on by device users and gender, smartphone devices still dominated completely with 90.3%, while tablet only accounted for 9.7%. In terms of gender, the rate does not differ hugely with 58% male and 42% female.

Smartphone game market value in Vietnam in 2015 reach $ 116 million (2,592 billion VND), the growth rate was 39.75% compared with 83 million dollars (1,854 billion VND) in 2014.

In terms of marketing channel for mobile gamers, social network such as Facebook channel remains an ideal place to promote game which accounted for 45%, followed by the local ad network (Admicro, Nova Ads ...) accounting 30%, while Google and PR normally accounts for respectively 15% and 10%. Thus, both domestic companies that wish to penetrate the market will be highly recommended to use the ad unit local to achieve optimum efficiency.

In a paid form of payment, Vietnamese users can mainly use the phone (85%) to pay for the mobile gaming, followed by domestic bank card (10%) and Visa / MasterCard (5%). Thus, the mobile game usually have good links with the network provider of mobile phones in Vietnam. It is due to the fact that the users have not had the habit of using cards.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.