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| Jeff Mclean (C), general manager of UPS Vietnam, at the function held yesterday at the Sofitel Plaza Saigon in District 1 to announce the fifth UPS Asia Business Monitor 2010 - Photo: Nhan Tam |
For economic sectors, the construction industry will continue to boom as 53% of Vietnamese SMEs believe that this sector continues to be the country’s key growth industry this year, followed by IT (36%) and leisure and tourism (28%).
In the medium term for between three and five coming years, local SMEs still place the top choice on the construction industry as the key economic pillar with 53%, followed by agriculture (29%), leisure and tourism (29%), and IT (26%), according to the fifth UPS Asia Business Monitor (ABM).
The survey, outsourced to the independent research organization TNS in Hong Kong by the logistics service provider UPS, was conducted between March 11 and April 20 this year. This is the first time Vietnam participated in the annual UPS ABM, which also covers other markets like Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Vietnamese SMEs also cast an optimistic view on the Asia-Pacific region, with some 59% believing that the Asia Pacific economy would continue to grow while 9% of them expect a decline and the remaining 32% expect the economy to remain the same.
Jeff Mclean, general manager of UPS Vietnam, said that the Vietnam survey results would greatly assist the company in how to better meet the needs of local SMEs as they compete in the global market.
However, he added that despite the prevailing positive growth sentiment, Vietnam seems to be the least optimistic regarding workforce projection in the region. An overwhelming 61% of those surveyed intend to reduce their workforce, while none of them plan to increase their workforce.
“They have optimistic views about the future, but they still feel worried,” Mclean told the Daily after the function to announce the survey, adding that they just want to take advantage of current human resources to overcome the difficulties.
The survey also showed that although the Vietnamese economy is expected to grow this year, local entrepreneurs still encounter challenges as about 7 out of 10 Vietnamese SMEs say that their top business concern is costs.
The second biggest concern is the high interest rate while competition is the third biggest concern.
UPS ABM 2010 surveyed 1,351 decision-makers of SMEs between March 11 and April 20 this year. SMEs are defined as companies with fewer than 250 employees. Respondents were from a range of industries such as electronics, construction, food and beverage, services, manufacturing, automotive, garments and textiles, IT, tourism and hotel, healthcare and pharmaceuticals and others.
