Growth Rate of Value Added by Each Service Sector Group to Service Sector Growth, 2003-2007 16

Table 3. Growth rate of added value of each service sector group to the growth of the service sector, 2003-2007 16



2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Growth rate (2004 prices)

Service area

6.54

6.45

7.26

8.48

8.29

8.68

Market-oriented business services

6.57

6.3

7.31

8.67

8.39

8.79

Career Services

7.62

7.82

7.66

8.08

8.09

8.35

Public administration management services

3.90

5.25

5.91

7.20

7.57

8.22

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Growth Rate of Value Added by Each Service Sector Group to Service Sector Growth, 2003-2007 16

The added value of the market-oriented business services group increased by about 8.79% in 2007 (2006: 8.39%) 20 . In 2007, the market-oriented business services group contributed 79.40% or 6.89 percentage points to the growth rate of the added value of the service sector. Industries in the market-oriented business services group had a higher growth rate than the general growth rate.

The group's main sectors are hotels and restaurants; transport, telecommunications and tourism; and finance and insurance. Wholesale and retail trade accounts for more than 40% of the added value of the service sector, which is estimated to have increased by 8.67% over 2006 18 .

Notably, the tourism and finance and insurance industries have seen a continuous increase in the number of tourists to Vietnam in the past three years compared to previous years. According to the General Statistics Office, the number of international tourists to Vietnam in 2007 was estimated at 4.23 million, an increase of 18% compared to 2006 (2006: 3.584 million, an increase of 22% compared to 2005 (2005: 3.47 million), an increase of 45.86% compared to 2005).

2004 (2004: 2.9 million people) 18. In the first 4 months of 2008 alone, the number of

International tourists to Vietnam reached 1.7 million arrivals, up 16.1% over the same period last year .


http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=413&thangtk=12/2007

19 Market-oriented business services, Career services and Public administrative management services 20 The group of market-oriented business services is the group of commercial activities "providing services", 1 of 4 groups of commercial activities stipulated in the 2005 Commercial Law. The 2005 Commercial Law stipulates: "Commercial activities are activities aimed at making profits,

including buying and selling goods, providing services, investing, promoting trade and other profit-making activities.”

Regarding the finance and insurance industry, although its proportion is not large, accounting for more than 5% of the added value of the service sector, the finance and insurance industry had a high growth rate in 2007 compared to other service industries, with an increase of 8.82%, and the value of 1% growth in the added value of this industry group continuously increased (in 2002 it was 60 billion VND, in 2007 it was 88 billion VND) 18 .

Regarding foreign direct investment, foreign direct investment has continuously increased at a rapid rate over the past three years (See Table 4).

Table 4. Foreign direct investment from 2004 to April 22, 2008

Unit: Million USD



2004

2005

2006

2007

Quarter I/2008

1. Number of new projects

679

771

797

1445

194

2. Total registered capital

4019

5072

9093

20300

7 600

-New level

2084

3900

7570

17860

7226.5

-Increase

1935

1825.8

2360

2440

371, 4

3. Total capital implementation

2850

-

-

-

3150

[Author's synthesis]

Through Table 4, it can be seen that the total registered foreign direct investment capital has made a leap from 4019 million USD in 2004 and 5072 million USD in 2005 to 9093 million USD in 2006 and 20300 million USD in 2007. 18 In the first quarter of 2008 alone, the total registered capital of foreign direct investment projects (both newly licensed and increased capital) is estimated at 7.6 billion USD, an increase of 41.4% over the same period last year, including the capital of 194 newly licensed projects reaching 7226.5 million USD, an increase of 52.9% and the increased capital of 64 projects reaching 371.4 million USD, a decrease of 42.7%. Total foreign direct investment realized in the first four months of 2008 is estimated at 3.15 billion USD, up 26% over the same period in 2007 .

About the logistics situation

Vietnam's logistics activities have made significant progress in the past three years but are still on a small scale. According to Trade Magazine No. 32,

As of April 2007, Vietnam currently has over 1,000 enterprises registered to do business in the logistics industry, but only about 800 enterprises are actually operating. Of these, about 18% are state-owned enterprises, 70% are limited liability companies, private enterprises; 10% are unlicensed delivery units; and 2% are foreign-invested companies . 21. In Ho Chi Minh City, on average, every week there is a logistics enterprise established or an enterprise adding a logistics function . 22. In the business records of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment, there are currently 46 companies registered to do business in logistics services that are operating.

In the area, most of them are small and medium-sized companies with capital ranging from several hundred million to several billion VND . 23. The emergence of a series of freight forwarding and logistics companies in recent times has partly demonstrated the rapid development and quite vibrant activities of this industry and the positive impact of the framework regulations on logistics in the Commercial Law.

The largest freight forwarding and warehousing association in Vietnam today is VIFFAS (Vietnam Freight Forwarders association). Currently, VIFFAS has 83 official members, 21 associate members, of which 53 are members of FIATA. In the past three years, the number of official members of VIFFAS has increased by 13 members, an increase of 18.57% compared to the total number of members in 2005, once again demonstrating the remarkable growth and development of Vietnam's logistics services. [Author's own synthesis]

In terms of scale, Vietnam's freight forwarding companies are currently small and medium-sized, with only a few relatively large state-owned companies such as Vinatrans, Vietrans, Viconship, etc. According to VIFFAS, out of about 800 freight forwarding companies in Vietnam, there are only about 10 large-scale enterprises, with investment capital of over 100 billion VND, the rest are only at 2-3 billion VND, and some enterprises have investment capital of only a few hundred million VND, operating scatteredly and fragmentedly. Vinatrans is



21 Vietnamnews e-newspaper: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn , accessed on May 10, 2008

22 Website of Hanoi Department of Trade: http://www.hapi.gov.vn , accessed on May 10, 2008 23 Website of Vietnam Freight Forwarding and Transport Association: http://www.viffas.org.vn List of members, accessed on May 10, 2008

The largest state-owned enterprise in the field of freight forwarding and warehousing, but the charter capital of this company is only at 3,000,000 USD 24 .

According to statistics, there are currently 59 foreign maritime representative offices in Vietnam operating in the maritime and logistics services sector 25. Some companies have been licensed to switch to 100% foreign capital such as Maersk Vietnam Ltd. Some have established joint ventures with a maximum foreign capital contribution of 51% such as Ahlers, Vina Logistics, Dragon Logistics, Logitem, FLDC... The rest mostly operate in the form of representative offices such as APL Logistics, Nippon Express, BeeLogistics, Uti Worldwide Co., Ltd, Panalpina World Transport Co., Ltd, Kintetsu World Express Co., Ltd... APL is a typical logistics company in Vietnam, established in 2003, with 63 employees. The volume of goods transported in 2005 was 17,206 TEU (35).

In the Vietnamese logistics market, domestic freight forwarding companies only account for a very small market share. According to statistics, logistics services for nearly 90% of all types of import and export goods and nearly 100% of the volume of construction are provided by foreign container shipping lines 26 .

On the situation of commercial franchising activities

On June 14, 2005, the Commercial Law 2005 was issued, which included provisions on franchising. Next was Decree No. 35/2006/ND-CP dated March 31, 2006 of the Government detailing franchising activities; Circular No. 09/2006/TT-BTM dated May 25, 2006 guiding the registration of franchising activities. In which franchising activities are described quite specifically. Currently, according to regulations when establishing



24 Website of Vinatrans Transport and Logistics Company: http://www.vinatrans.com/vn/aboutus.asp , accessed date: May 10, 2008

25 List of foreign maritime representative offices: http://www.vietnam- ship.com/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=129&CatID=40Date of access: 10/05/2008

26 Prof. Dr. Nguyen Nhu Tien. Topic: Logistics and its application in transportation service businesses in Vietnam . Foreign Trade University, Hanoi.

In a franchise relationship, the parties must register with the Department of Trade for domestic franchises and register with the Ministry of Trade for franchises from abroad to Vietnam or from Vietnam to abroad. The transfer fee as prescribed is an amount agreed upon by the parties and is not subject to any restrictions from the state. This is an economic relationship, the parties must carefully calculate when establishing the relationship, in addition to calculating the value of tangible assets, the price calculation must also consider the "brand price" of the franchise.

Thanks to the significant contribution of open legal regulations, franchising activities in the past three years have been very active with the participation of both international and domestic brands. KFC, a strong brand in both brand value and franchise efficiency from the US, has now developed 46 stores in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Can Tho, Vung Tau 27 . In the near future, KFC wants to "expand" its fried chicken stores to many other localities.

Following KFC is another fried chicken and fast food brand: Lotteria. In Ho Chi Minh City, one can clearly see the fierce competition between these two brands. Next, Jollibee, Pizza Hut, Gloria Jean's coffee... are pulling the Vietnamese market into the franchise map of powerful international brands.

Domestic brands, Trung Nguyen, Kinh Do, Pho 24, Highland... have been implementing the franchise business method very well. Trung Nguyen has about 600 stores nationwide 28 , Pho 24 has received over 50 stores 29 Kinh Do, Highland have also achieved similar impressive figures.

Domestic brands are also starting to take advantage of their bold franchising to international markets and have achieved initial success.


27 List of KFC restaurants: http://www.kfcvietnam.com/nhahang.phpAccess date: 10/05/2008 28 Trung Nguyen distribution system:, access date: 10/05/2008 http://www.trungnguyen.com.vn/vn/distribution.aspx?c=114

29 Pho 24 Website: List of Pho 24 restaurants: date of access: May 10, 2008 http://www.pho24.com.vn/store_location.php?quocgia=1

Pho 24 franchise stores are operating effectively in the Philippines and Indonesia, and will soon expand to Korea and Singapore. The domestic franchise price is 7,000 USD and the foreign franchise price is 12,000 USD, not including the operating fee of 3% of the total revenue of each transferred store, showing the huge profit from franchising for this No. 1 pho brand in Vietnam 30 . Trung Nguyen Coffee also has franchise stores in many countries. This is also one of the brands that helps foreign customers "recognize" Vietnam.

Businesses that have successfully applied franchising in recent years are accelerating by multiplying stores. Kinh Do Company has opened 30 Bakery stores, with plans to have 100 stores and expand its business model into Kinh Do coffee, cake and fast food stores. Tapio pearl milk tea has opened 10 stores and is launching a new model called Grand Tapio - selling fast food with 31 .

In summary, up to now, in Vietnam there are some very successful franchise systems and some are on the rise but in general they are still very modest. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 100 foreign franchise systems in Vietnam: Dilmah Tea, Sofitel Hotel, Hilton, Sharaton, Metro Cash & Carry, Bourbon, Parkson (Malaysia), etc.

II. Implementation of the 2005 Commercial Law


1. Advantages and results

1.1. Contributions of the 2005 Commercial Law

After nearly three years of implementing the 2005 Commercial Law along with sub-law documents detailing and guiding its implementation, Vietnam has achieved many results in the field of commercial activities, making an important contribution to economic development.


30 Franchise activities: http://www.pho24.com.vn/franchising.php

31 Website specializing in franchising: date of access: May 10, 2008 http://www.vietfranchise.com/index.php?Module=Business&Action=view&id=2&Itemid=40

domestic and international economic integration. The significant contributions of the 2005 Commercial Law are specifically reflected in the following points:

1.1.1. The 2005 Commercial Law contributes to institutionalizing the Party and State's policies and guidelines.

BOX 1. Party and State policies and guidelines 32

The Resolution on the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2006-2010 approved by the 11th National Assembly at its 9th session on June 29, 2006 clearly states the economic targets for the 5-year period 2006-2010 as follows:

- Increase domestic product in 2010 at comparable prices by more than 2.1 times compared to 2000. GDP growth rate 7.5% - 8%/year, striving to reach over 8%/year.

- Export turnover increased by 16%/year

- Annual social investment capital reaches about 40% of GDP

To achieve the above targets, the Resolution also clearly states the directions and tasks:

Proactively integrate more deeply into the region and the world economy. Effectively implement commitments with countries and international organizations on trade, investment, services and other fields. Prepare well the conditions to implement commitments after our country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO). Take advantage of favorable conditions, promote advantages, limit adverse impacts in integration to increase attraction of capital, technology and advanced management experience.

Create a favorable environment for business development; focus on improving the quality and efficiency of production and business activities of enterprises; rapidly increase exports, attract capital and technology, especially high technology to reduce production costs and improve business competitiveness. Complete the arrangement, innovation and equitization of state-owned enterprises according to the provisions of the Enterprise Law.

Unrestricted development of enterprises of different economic sectors, reaching about 500 thousand enterprises by 2010.



The Commercial Law has once again institutionalized the Party and State's trade policies and guidelines in the new period - the period of deep integration.


32 Resolution on the 5-year socio-economic development plan 2006 - 2010, Ministry of Industry and Trade website

Trade: http://portal.mot.gov.vn/chienluoc/index.asp?page=5&recs=20&tieuchi=3&ma=2 , accessed on May 10, 2008

into the world economy and join the World Trade Organization WTO; ensure the feasibility of legal regulations.

This is reflected in the following points:

The 2005 Commercial Law has recognized the equality before the law of traders of all economic sectors. Article 10 of the 2005 Commercial Law stipulates: " Traders of all economic sectors are equal before the law in commercial activities ". This provision comes from our country's commercial policy of creating equal business conditions for all economic sectors. In addition, the 2005 Commercial Law abolishes the provisions on commercial policy in the 1997 Commercial Law, which are no longer suitable for commercial practice. This amendment is also an institutionalization of the principle of equality before the law among economic sectors. Because the provisions on trade policy in the 1997 Commercial Law apply separately to each economic sector, showing discrimination between economic sectors (preferential support policies for cooperatives or discriminatory provisions between foreign-invested enterprises and domestic enterprises).

The 2005 Commercial Law has shown a trend of expanding the right to do business, recognizing the right to freely do business in all fields that are not prohibited by law. Article 6, Clause 2 of the 2005 Commercial Law stipulates: " Traders have the right to conduct commercial activities in all sectors, in all areas, in all forms and by all methods that are not prohibited by law" . In addition, the concept of commerce is approached according to the true nature of commerce, that is, associated with "activities for profit purposes" and the scope of regulation in a broad sense has created conditions for the development of the market economy and international economic integration of Vietnam. Indeed, the Law's expansion of new regulations on a number of new commercial activities such as the purchase and sale of goods through commodity exchanges, general service provision activities, bidding for services and goods, franchising... has clearly demonstrated the Law's contribution to institutionalizing the right to freely participate in commercial activities that are not prohibited by law, and in accordance with general international regulations.

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