VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese businessmen still do not pay much attention to popularizing their brands in the world. This explains why to date, Vietnam still has not had any internationally recongnised brand names, according to Dr. Phan An from the Marketing and Management Institute VMI.

Brands not the same as advertising

To date, many Vietnamese enterprises still have been following the traditional way in doing business. They have been mostly spending money on tangible assets, such as factories, land and workshops. Meanwhile, intangible assets such as intellectual property, technology and product ownership, and brands do not receive appropriate attention.

That explains why the value of intangible assets jaccounts for less than 20 percent of the total value of enterprises’ assets. This is also true for the enterprises listed in VNR500, the list of top 500 Vietnamese enterprises.

However, in the context of global economic integration, when the stiff competition has led to the price decreases of less well known products, Asian enterprises in general, and Vietnamese enterprises in particular, have to step by step, change their viewpoints about branding.

Managers of big enterprises have realized that instead of competing by accepting lower profits, they can increase their profits by investing more in branding.

A question has been raised of why Vietnam still does not have internationally recognised brand names . To date, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) has been the only Vietnamese business named in the list of the 200 best enterprises in Asia-Pacific released by Forbes Asia in 2010.

Unlike the businessmen in the West, many Vietnamese businessmen remain very conservative in drawing up the strategies on making investment in intangible assets, including brand development. Branding in Vietnam is considered as a kind of marketing: the spending on branding is considered a spending item of marketing budget, and branding is considered a work of the marketing division which is not highly appreciated in businesses.

Because of the specific characteristics of Vietnamese enterprises (many enterprises belong to the state or to families), managers keep short term vision in branding. Vietnamese enterprises only popularize their brands in the world market when they export their products to the world.

Another obstacle to the brand development is the diversification of business fields. As enterprises have been trying to expand their business into different fields, it is very difficult to set up reasonable strategies on building clear and specific brands.

From businesses’ brands to international brands

Most Vietnamese big businessmen hesitate to appear on mass media, and they only appear on mass media when they cannot refuse to. Meanwhile, they should take full advantage of the opportunities to introduce and popularize their brands, not only in Vietnam, but in other countries.

The story about Nissan Motor is a typical example which shows how an unprofitable enterprise can become prosperous within just five years.

In 1999, Nissan incurred a big loss of $19 billion and in 2000, it announced the loss of $6.2 billion. At that time, French Renault bought Nissan and appointed Carlos Ghosn as the Chair and then CEO of the group. By 2004, Nissan’s turnover had increased by 10.8 percent with 3388 cars sold, while the profit was $861.2 billion

Ghosn realized that spending cuts was a main part of the business recovery plan, but it was not enough to succeed. A plan was designed to mobilize all possible sources to build the brand and bring Nissan’s products back on the path of sustainable development. Customers buy Nissan’s products not because of the high quality and reasonable prices, but also because of the feeling about the brand brought by Nissan:the luxury of the cars and the good designs.

A country is represented abroad not only through its diplomatic agencies, but the role can be taken bythe enterprises, which have operation in foreign markets, or Vietnamese people in general.

Malaysia and Petronas brand is another typical example. The brand is considered the “ambassador” of the country, and Petronas has been playing a big role in helping improve the image of Malaysia in the world.

Phan An