PHÂN TÍCH VÀ ĐÁNH GIÁ MƠI TRƯỜNG KINH DOANH QUỐC TẾ TẠI VIỆT NAM Analysis of international business environment in Vietnam Introduction: Globalization, international economic integration leading to international business are external tends today International business environment brings many opportunities to companies such as development of products beyond national borders, access to widely international markets, even more easy-going and favorable markets than domestic ones; access to more stable and cheaper sources of materials; access to cheap and rich sources of labor force in under-developing and developing countries; prolongation product cycle; reduction of investment expenses in new researches, technologies, and machineries, expense in training employees…; risk diversification in economic – political disability; more profits through oversea investments, high reputation in international market Such issues aim to optimize corporate finance This is the motivation for companies to participate in international business activities Apart from such advantages, international business also poses many difficulties, challenges and risks such as political risks caused by political instability; different legislation from local country and changes of policies in business environment; differences in culture, taste in invested countries; monetary and exchange rate policies…Those factors require care and seriousness from companies in their management They should learn, grasp and valuate customers’ taste, legal basis and institution, cultural features, micra-economic trend, financial monetary system, political risks in countries they want to invest before their investment Therefore, access to multi-national market and international financial infrastructure create strategic options in new competition but at the same time companies have to face the increasing flexibility and diversity Within the scope of this thesis, we mention international business environment to international companies in Vietnam, helping them to understand more Vietnamese business environment in order to make appropriate investment decision to Vietnam Analysis of international business environment in Vietnam: To help international companies to have sufficient and objective look at and assessment on international business environment in Vietnam in order to appropriate investment decision, we should fully, properly evaluate strong and weak points, advantages and disadvantages of international business in Vietnam: I Strong points of international business in Vietnam: Large population and potential market: Vietnam’s population is large with quite fast population growth rate At present, Vietnam has a population of about 100 million This is a big and potential market as its economy is quickly developing with GDP growth rate of 8-9% for many years Even in the world economic crisis, Vietnam’s GDP was still 5-7%/year People’s income is increasing and purchase power is improving High rate of young population within working age: Vietnam’s population growth is quick Its rate of employment within working age over 15 years in 2011 was 58/5/%(51398,4/87840) – Source: General Statistics Office Every year, dozen of thousand of young people graduating from vocational schools, colleges and universities attend working market, producing a huge source of work force, helping foreign investors to find their employees Vietnam’s work force learns quickly, works creatively, enthusiastically and has passion in new technologies This is Vietnamese tradition and cultural beauty and also the advantage of Vietnam’s work force Vietnam is an agricultural country that underwent dozens of years of war, subsidy economy with over 70% of population working in agriculture Recently, it has transformed into a market economy, participated in international economic integration with cheap and rich workforce The current minimum wage is 1,050,000 VND/month The minimum wage in the highest sector is only 2,000,000VND/month Features of Vietnam’s work force are a competitive advantage, shaping certain attraction to foreign investors who are seeking to invest in places with low labor cost It helps foreign investors to reduce product cost, increase competitiveness and optimize financial investment profits Quite stable politics: Vietnam’s political institution is stable Over decades under the sole leadership of Vietnamese Communist Party, such institution has remained unchanged with very few political instabilities, riots, racial and religious conflicts, terrorisms causing social disorders Stable politics and society establish confidence, stability for companies, in general, and international companies, in particular, in Vietnam to operate and limit risks resulted from social disorder Vietnam is still among poor countries and has taken part in international economic integration There are many potential areas not uncovered Those are free and fertile lands for international investors to implement their investments, operate with high profits such as telecommunication, banking, hospitability, tourism and leisure Yearly GDP growth rate requires the demand on consumption of materials, goods and services for socio-economic development: With its yearly GDP growth rate, it requires a huge source to provide for economic development Backing the past years, public sector has considerably invested in infrastructure with large scale such as the National Highway No 1, 2, … opened and upgraded Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang, Can Tho airports…ports…big hydropower plants, built many new and modern urban zones, trading centers…for production and business of big companies Such factors form a big market for product, goods and service consumptions International investors in Vietnam have more original advantages than domestic ones in all areas: Their grater capital, more modern technologies, more advanced management…are factors that make them successful in Vietnam market II Weak points: Vietnam is still among poor countries and has taken part in international economic integration Although many attempts have been made to improve business environment, infrastructure, to gain economic development at high level and certain achievements, Vietnam has just got rid of poverty and its business environment still remains many limits such as: Poor and limited infrastructure: Despite its attempts to considerably improve infrastructure, to upgrade, to widen and to build many roads, bridges, airports, ports such as: upgrading and widening the whole route of the National Highway No from Lang Son to Ca Mau, National Highway No from Hanoi to Hai Phong, National Highway No from Hanoi to Lao Cai, Ha Giang, National Highway No 18, opening Ho Chi Minh road, road linking Hanoi and Dien Bien; widening Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Da Nang, Can Tho airports and Hai Phong, Sai Gon, Da Nang ports…, its traffic infrastructure is still poor and limited This has not met the demand, expectation for economic development, in general, and for foreign investors, in particular Traffic in many regions is not convenient In big centers like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, people face traffic jams, old-fashioned railway, no big railway or highways Backward infrastructure is an important factor that reduces efficacy of international investors, raising concerns in their consideration of investment to Vietnam Legal framework: For the past years, Vietnamese Government has made its best attempts in order to create more convenient legal framework for international investors in Vietnam Such attempts range from issuance of Law on Foreign Investment to unification of laws on enterprise with Law on State-owned enterprises in order to create a fair playground for any companies without distinction of company types Taxation system is improved in accordance with that in developed countries Income tax is replaced by value added tax Policies in import tariff, special consumption tax, corporate income tax are renewed Policies on personal income tax are issued and renewed Vietnamese legislation has been more completed and advanced than ever However, Vietnamese legislation on management of companies, in general, and international companies in Vietnam is still unsound and insufficient Many laws are overlapping, asynchronous with unclear contents Policies are not persistent Business environment is not transparent All those factors challenge companies to consider their long-term strategies, making a big barrier to international companies to Vietnam Administration: Vietnam is heavily administrative A common saying for any transactions is “Any red seals?” To fix a procedure, a company may go through many agencies, levels, doors with mountains of papers According to 2013 Business Environment Report in Vietnam released by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation in the morning of October 23 rd in Hanoi, Vietnam’s criteria for construction permits was in 28 th rank with 11 procedures, 110 days and an expense of 67% per capita income (1,260 USD) In criteria of tax payment, Vietnam was in 138 th rank with 38 turns of tax payment, 872 hours for tax payment each year Complicated administrative formalities go though many processes, levels, doors, consuming a lot of time and efforts of companies, even removing business opportunities of many companies Actually, it is a big barrier for international companies to consider whether they should invest in Vietnam or not Widespread corruption - a national disease: A report on Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) released on May 03rd, 2012 in Hanoi revealed that corruption in public administration continued to be alarming This report was made by cooperation between Vietnam Fatherland Front, Centre for Community Support Development Studies (CECODES), People’s Petitions Board under the Standing Committee of National Assembly and the UN Development Program in Vietnam on the basis of collecting data from interviews with 13,642 people nationwide The survey revealed that corruption was a prominent problem in sectors and industries measured by PAPI More specifically, in terms of bribery practices in public sector, many people stated that bribery practices were present in public health care (31%), in public employment (29%), in application of land use right certificate (21%), for more attention of teachers to their children at schools (17%) and in application of construction permits (16%) Moreover, 13% of interviewed revealed that public officials used budget for their personal businesses Such investigations are at national level They did not greatly change in data got from surveys in five centrally-controlled municipalities compared to data in 57 other provinces This partially reflected the widespread extent of corruption and bribery practices in all cities and provinces In terms of corruption control in local government, interviewed people stated that the level in which local governments strictly resolved corruption was quite low Nationwide, just 22.95% of participants said that their local governments were strict in resolve corruption discovered This rate was highest in Hanoi (50.66%), and lowest in Bac Lieu (5.39%) Ms Pratibha Mehta, permanent coordinator of the UN in Vietnam said that PAPI was “an objective and sharp tool in monitoring public administration performance and providing public services” “PAPI helps Vietnam’s policy makers and the international development community to understand opinions, desires and experiences of people Then we will learn specific lessons in reducing corruption, improving efficacy of public management, increasing people’s satisfaction in the public administration apparatus” According to 2013 Business Environment Report in Vietnam released by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the morning of October 23rd in Hanoi, in criteria of tax payment, Vietnam was in 138 th rank with 38 turns of tax payment, 872 hours for tax payment each year Total tax rate counted for 34.5% to tax rate of corporate income tax of 25% as regulated All proved corruption in Vietnam Monetary and financial policies + Monetary policy: Vietnam’s monetary policy has been in regular changes, instable causing instability and high inflation According to Forbes, inflation among the highest rates in Asia made production cost escalade and profits of companies reduce Since 2008, Vietnam’s Consumption Price Index (CPI) has exceeded 20% for many months due to excess of import to export and continuous devaluation of Vietnamese dong This fact causes difficulties to companies that produce and sell their products at a place and in access to foreign currency In response to high inflation, Vietnam has implemented the tightening monetary policy, increased compulsory reserve to banks, reduced credit growth rate, and caused tight money As a result, companies find it very difficult to access credit capital They have to get loans at rate of 14-16%/year for short-term loans and at 14.5-17% for longterm loans, even 23%/year at some points of time Due to the tightening monetary policy, banks in Vietnam have to face unpaid debts and insolvency of companies Total bad debts of banks in Vietnam are about over 200,000 billion VND This fact is called a Coagulation blocking the economic blood vessel According to 2013 Business Environment Report in Vietnam released by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the morning of October 23rd in Hanoi, Vietnam’s criteria in credit capital was ranked 40th in the world Exchange rate risk to international investors in Vietnam poses a big problem It is because Vietnam’s weak economy, high inflation, high dependence of economy in export and import Besides, Vietnamese dong is always devaluated in comparison to USD, EURO For example, inter-bank exchange rate between VND and USD determined by the State Bank of Vietnam was 16,061VND/USD on January 01 st, 2007, 20,870VND/USD on November 30th, 2012 (source: the State Bank of Vietnam) As a result, exchange rate deviation between January 01 st, 2007 and November 30th, 2012 is 1.299 times (30% higher) + Under-developed financial market: Legal institution for financial activities is not sufficient, asynchronous Many types of financial activities that have been present in developed countries for hundreds of years are not present or not popular in Vietnam’s financial market Many forms of international financial and monetary activities that facilitate companies to mobilize capital, to insure risks… are not applied in Vietnam such as additional contract for money (termed contract, future contract, currency selection right, insurance tools for exchange rate risk…) Asynchronous and instable financial and monetary markets produce a big barrier for international investors in their consideration of investment or business in Vietnam Some tax policies are not favorable to international business in Vietnam: although tax policies show some positive new changes, their procedures are still low and not satisfy expectations of companies, in general, and foreign-invested companies, in particular Tax rate of corporate income tax is high Oversea profit transfer is charged Corporate income tax is adjusted to decrease from 32% to 28% and 25% at present However, this type of tax still remains quite high compared to that in other countries In Thailand, such tax is dramatically dropped from 30% to 23% In Japan, Korea or Taiwan, such tax for small and medium companies is just 17% High corporate income tax means reduction of profit to companies, which also creates a barrier for foreign investors when they want to invest in Vietnam Trade balance and impacts of global financial crisis + For the past years, Vietnam’s trade balance has been unbalanced in the direction of excess of export (commercial value of import is higher than commercial value) Data of current account of Vietnam from 1997 to 2008 was as follows: Chart: Structure of Vietnam’s current account from 1997 to 2008 Source: CEIC Database The chart shows that the status of Vietnam’s current account is mainly affected by the status of trade balance due to goods transactions that count for high ratio in total income and expenditure of current accounts (accounting about 70%-85%) While current transfer of net current capital (including sponsor and national oversea currency exchange) present positive influences on current account Recently, Vietnam’s import and export are affected too fast and strongly by the accession to WTO Despite quite quick growth of export ratio, it has not caught up with import growth rate when tariff barrier is gradually removed This causes foreign goods enter Vietnam strongly while it is not easy but long to promote export rate Increase of import is resulted from other factors such as demands of the economy It was this situation that put deficit to Vietnam’s trade balance, up to 13.67% compared to GDP in 2008 Additionally, according to economic experts, the deep root of of such situation is export capacity of Vietnamese goods when it is not actually involved in regional and international supply chain Added values in goods for export are still low Because export focus is only put on some main jobs, the economy is easily vulnerable at external “shock” While, demand of import for processing goods for export, contributing to infrastructure development… has accelerated for the past years The unbalance of trade balance leads to foreign currency insufficiency for import, foreign currency reserve in order to ensure stable economic development + Impacts of global financial crisis to Vietnam’s economy: The world economic crisis brings many negative impacts to Vietnam such as: difficult export reducing 1.7% of GDP; high interest rate, great losses of companies, reduction fo FDI, gold price boom drawing capital to gold; increase of credit risk insurance and increase of exchange currency risk and exchange rate fluctuations - In term of workforce: + Low technology qualification, low management skill, few skilled workers + Low work principle, under Asian habits, wet rice culture – agricultural production + Strike: for the past years, more and more strikes of workers have happened for demand of wage improvement According to domestic press, there were 978 strikes in 2011 compared to 541 in 2007 Strikes for demand of wage improvement delay production and business activities of companies, increase wage costs, wage, reduce profits of investors -Purchase power to products and services is limited due to people’s low income and the taste of people with high income towards export products of high quality and reputation III Advantages: Vietnam is calling for foreign investment Therefore, many policies that attract and create favorable conditions for foreign investments are carried out They include: - Completing legal framework on foreign investment in order to help them invest in Vietnam, creating an equal mechanism with Vietnamese companies - Establishing a series of industrial parks, processing and exporting zone in order to attract foreign investment - Implementing tax policies so that they can attract foreign investors + Exempting or reduce land rent for investors in difficult areas where no or rare Vietnamese investments + Creating tax barrier to protect foreign investors in Vietnam tax rate of import tariff, special consumption tax should be high to imported products and goods that can be made domestically Exemption or low tax rate of import tariff, special consumption tax to imported accessories, parts that serve assembly and production in Vietnam + + Encouraging the import of made-in-Vietnam products by preferential tax policies: it should apply tax rate of 0% for output VAT; input VAT of companies is deducted while no output VAT is applied Those measures will reduce costs of companies, promote price competitiveness of made-in-Vietnam products for export - Due to its recent accession to international integration, there have been many potential areas of production and business that have not or rarely been invested - Vietnam owns various natural resources for production and business demands at site of companies such as minerals, agricultural products, forestry products… - Some basic input factors for production and business are still partially protected, subsidized though their selling prices such as electricity, water or are free of use charge such as traffic infrastructure invested by the state budget This helps investors to lower cost and increase profits - Business environment is extensively improved such as legal framework, administrative reform, anti-corruption IV Difficulties: - Vietnam has rich culture and history with 54 different ethnic groups Each region, ethnic group has its own cultural features and customs Consequently, it is not easy to access, learn fully cultures, customs of ethnic groups, regions in order to set out appropriate production and business plans - Legal framework is asynchronous, not tight, which sometimes the leak for public servants to annoy companies -Administrative formalities are still very complicated, through many steps, procedures, consuming time, raising costs, even causing companies to miss their business opportunities - Language barrier: Foreign language of both public servants and employees is limited Most part of employees does not know how to use English (the most popular foreign language) or knows very little, not sufficient for their communication Almost public servants know how to use English, but still not sufficient for their studies or communication at work Like in other countries, foreign investors will meet the following risks for their investments in Vietnam: 10 Exchange rate risk: As mentioned above, the exchange rate between VND and USD has increased by 30% from 2007 to 2012 This is one of the important risks for any investment in Vietnam Policy risks due to political changes made by the State or the Party Investment is long-run activity that has been prepared for many coming years Therefore, changes in policy may cause accidental problems Policies can be right today but wrong tomorrow Particularly, Vietnam is still under its renovation, transforming from administrative and subsidy management into market economy, under its international integration As a result, its management mechanism is always under changes Many laws that were passed yesterday change today, particularly policies on VAT, import tariff, special consumption tax, corporate income tax directly involving and affecting companies Such policies may change projects of many companies from profits to losses, or even bankruptcy (for instance, foreign automobile companies in Vietnam will face difficulties as the Government allows import of old vehicles, reduces import tariff to imported vehicles or raises tax on transfer of properties, vehicles registration fee, traffic fee, vehicles keeping fee, forcing vehicle buyer to have parking space available prior purchase) Or wage changes without any notices or plans bringing difficulties to companies Legal risk: It is still unclear in definitions of right and wrong, legal and illegal in investment and business environment in Vietnam Such concepts are informally expressed As a result, a significant scandal like Vinashin can occur while a fire or debt payment can be considerer criminal activities and cannot be settled by arbitration For example, a company having joint partnership with state-owned company, the investor is not shielded and still be vetoed by Vietnamese partners as expressed in Vietnamese style So does labor dispute Micra-economic risk: This causes economic instability, high inflation, too big public debts, state budget deficit, currency devaluation resulting in increase of costs, difficulties in access to capital and credit Cultural risk Vietnam still maintains some Asian habits such as “ An important person, the whole village was by” or exclusive confidence and trust in family members from 11 political relations to appointment or bribery of family members or in outsourcing contract, material supply contract Environmental and ecological risks: Infrastructure is out of date and cannot respond to natural disasters or simply just unavailability of water or power Work force risk Vietnamese work force is not skilled and compliant with working rules Advantage of cheap work force somehow cannot compensate low working performance Work force does not strictly follow regulations like that in other ASEAN countries Recently, many strikes have happened in foreign invested companies causing production delay and causing foreign companies to raise wage, which increases unplanned cost Political risk: Change of political system, social disorders due to riots, racial and religious conflicts, terrorisms have not present but not absolutely impossible Beside the political system under the leadership of Vietnamese Communist Party in accordance with Marxism–Leninism with the near target of building socialism towards building communism, foreign investors are afraid of the nationalization of private assets including those of foreign investors when then decide to invest in Vietnam VI General assessment of international business environment in Vietnam - According to WB’s data, Vietnam’s business environment has still remained some problems for years without improvement: + At present, some of Vietnam’s criteria are underappreciated in the comparison to those in other countries in the region or in the world such as: investor protection (ranked 116th ), tax payment (ranked 151th), bankruptcy settlement (ranked 142th among 283 countries) + According to WB’s statistics, cost of time for Vietnamese companies to pay tax is 941 hours/year, much higher than the average level of other middle-income countries (350.2 hours/year) and other countries in the region (236.9 hours/year) + Duration of bankruptcy settlement in Vietnam is years Cost of time in this procedure is much longer than that in other middle-income countries (3.3 years) and other countries in the region (2.9 years) +Although Vietnam’s criterion in investor production shows improvements (6 times higher than that in 2011), it is still underappreciated, ranked 166 th among 183 12 economies With the scale from 0-10, this criterion of Vietnam just gets 2.0 points, much lower than the average level in other middle-income countries (5.5 years) and other countries in the region (6.3 years) - In 2012, among 10 individual criteria ranked to build the national rank, there are criteria ranked lower than those in 2011, including: (i) business incorporation (from 100th – 103rd); (ii) property ownership right registration (from 43 rd to 47th); (iii) credit access (from 21st to 24th); (iv) tax payment (from 129th to 151st); (v) cross border trade (65th to 68th), (vi) business bankruptcy (from 130th to 142nd) In which some criteria are much lower than those in 2011 such as tax payment (22 ranks lower); bankruptcy settlement (12 ranks lower) However, as evaluated by Bloomberg, Vietnam’s business environment has made considerable progresses in 2012 such as: criteria are assessed including: economic integration level (10%), business incorporation fee (20%), labor and input materials cost (20%), transportation cost (20%), less tangible costs (20%) and consumption level of local customers (10%) to rank 50 economies with best business environments in the world By surveying 160 economies in the world, the Best Countries for Business Ranking is released by the Bloomberg In which Vietnam is ranked 49 th in the top of 50 countries, equally to Cyprus island Particularly, Vietnam is in higher rank than other countries in BRIC group including Russia, India and Brazil Among ASEAN countries, just countries are ranked in the top 50 including Singapore ranked th, Malaysia ranked 32nd and Vietnam ranked 46th Vietnam is ranked 3rd among ASEAN countries Despite its 46th rank, Vietnam gets 36.2% of total points from 0% - 100%, while such number of the first rank country of Hong Kong is 49% Among Bloomberg’s criteria, that of Vietnam’s economic integration level gets the highest point of 64.5% and the lowest point falls in less tangible costs as this criterion assesses corruption, intellectual property protection, tax and accounting adjustment ability Vietnam gets 19.3% for this criterion Previously, in January 2012, Bloomberg predicted that Vietnam would be among 50 world leading economies in 40 years More recently, in February, Vietnam was categorized as the most potential frontier market in 2012 13 VII Some recommendations in order to create better environment for foreign investment in Vietnam Foreign investments in Vietnam for the past years have produced great benefits such as fast economic growth, labor attraction, job creation, unemployment settlement that indirectly helps to stabilize society, increase contribution to state budget, and raise income for employees; improvement of competitive environment; access advanced science and technologies and management from other countries There are still some disadvantages apart from such advantages such as overexploitation of natural resources causing serous environmental pollution, differentiation and increase developmental gap among regions and classes; increase of social evils, diseases and possible effects or dependence on requirements of the investors However, international business and reception of foreign investment are external trends today Therefore, each country should promote its strengths and limits their negative impacts to society, economy and politics For Vietnam, in order to create a better environment for foreign direct investment, the following policies should be implemented synchronously: To quickly stabilize micra-economy, reduce inflation to one digit rate, tray to maintain inflation rate of 3-6%/year, ensure positive interest of deposit, attract sources, money, gold, human sources and reasonably and effectively exploit natural resources for socio-economic development To ensure and maintain social order and security, avoid political disorder, racial and religious discrimination, terrorism, riot, overthrow, demonstration, strike causing disorder in business of companies, especially foreign companies To continue to complete legal framework on foreign investment in Vietnam: Synchronously issuing legal system on business management, in general, and on foreign investment, in particular To create favorable and fair business environment for companies (Vietnamese state-owned companies, private companies and foreigninvested companies); to persistently and stably maintain policies to create favorable conditions for foreign investors in Vietnam To enhance administrative reform in the direction of reducing administrative formalities, to minimize time for administrative formalities, to help companies focus 14 their time and energy on production and business, to raise efficiency of investment capital To promote the combat against corruption: It is also the commitment of Vietnamese Communist Party and Government in the last session of National Assembly in November 2012 Corruption in Vietnam is popular and causes obstacles to production and business activities of companies, reducing confidence of investors To complete management system on money and finance To carry out flexible monetary policy for ensuring stability - Exchange rate policy: To apply policies that respect market, to actively carry out passive policies, that is the Government waits for trend formation in the market and then issues its policies in order to confirm such trend to pull exchange rate to its actual relation - To complete monetary and financial markets: To implement flexible monetary policies, to ensure that credit policies provide safe margin in order to strengthen the market, to develop the economy stably and avoid hot development and formation of bubbles to the economy To reform and complete tax policies: to simplify procedures in VAT, import tariff, special consumption tax, corporate income tax, oversea profits transfer tax and in customs for companies; to apply tax at a reasonable extent in order to help companies reinvest, increase after tax profits; to carry out oversea profits transfer tax reasonably in order to create more attractive competition for foreign investors in Vietnam than that in other countries in the region and in the world To promote construction, completion of infrastructure, facilitating socioeconomic development, in general, foreign investment, in particular To boost human resource training, shaping human resources of high quality, qualification and working principles Conclusion Activities in international business environment are external trends nowadays Upon determining their meanings and significance, Vietnamese Government has paid attention on attracting foreign investment, improving business environment, facilitating 15 foreign investors to operate in Vietnam At present, Vietnam’s business environment is showing more advances than the past In fact, although Vietnam has become an attractive destination for foreign investors, it still remains some problems as mentioned above However, Vietnamese Government has identified such problems and implemented remedies with determination of making Vietnam the most competitive and best country of business environment in the world Vietnam has advantages of stable politics and society, no riot, racial and religious discrimination, demonstration, cheap and huge work force, improved infrastructure, some underdeveloped economic areas, positive signs of micra-economy, gradual control of inflation, decrease of interest rate Besides, Vietnam is promoting its completion of legal system, administrative reform, anti-corruption, renewal of tax policies… All aim to create favorable, transparent and clear environment for companies, in general, and for foreign companies, in particular Therefore, at present and in the future, international should decide to invest in Vietnam as it is a destination with safety, potentials and success 16 ... assets including those of foreign investors when then decide to invest in Vietnam VI General assessment of international business environment in Vietnam - According to WB’s data, Vietnam s business. . .Analysis of international business environment in Vietnam: To help international companies to have sufficient and objective look at and assessment on international business environment in Vietnam. .. of papers According to 2013 Business Environment Report in Vietnam released by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation in the morning of October 23 rd in Hanoi, Vietnam s criteria