HCM CITY — Companies that want to enter the global supply chain should show initiative and make concerted steps to enhance their capacity and growth, Dr Shantanaru Bhattacharya of Singapore Management University said at a forum held yesterday in HCM City.

“They should not passively wait for the government to help their growth,” he said.

Bhattacharya spoke at a seminar on the global supply chain held by the Business Association of High-Quality Việt Nam Product Companies.

“Việt Nam is perfectly positioned to be the next manufacturing hub in Asia,” he said, adding that the country has a huge advantage in location and cost as well as human capital.

However, the training level of the workforce remains at a basic level, and employees lack the skills to quickly adapt to work, he added.

Both Vietnamese and foreign employers have had to spend more capital to retrain their employees, he said.

Small- and medium-size enterprises, which account for large proportion of businesses in Việt Nam, have also faced difficulties accessing domestic and foreign finance.

He said the Vietnamese government should create stable policies to develop the manufacturing economy.

Zulkifli Bin Baharudin, executive chairman at Indo Trans Logistics Corp in HCM City, said that many Vietnamese were not good at teamwork.

However, team skills help companies improve, which, in turn, makes it easier to enter the global supply chain.

Many Vietnamese enterprises represent only a small part of the global supply chain, according to a representative of Việt Nam Supply Chain.

For example, in the garment sector, local companies’ contracts are primarily for sewing and cutting designs for their partners, she said.

If employees have higher skills, companies can more easily move up the global supply chain, she added.

At the forum, the Business Association of High Quality Việt Nam Products Companies signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Management University to provide a general non-binding framework of collaboration between the parties.

Co-operation will include management practice in Việt Nam and the Mekong Delta region, and assistance in research and exchange of academic publications and information.

The partners will also engage in joint research projects and academic activities. —VNS