Báo cáo tốt nghiệp: Analysis of Cambodian people’s demands for Viettel telecoms services”

1. Introduction to the research topic: Humans need communication, from the early period of history, a variety of means of communication has been used for people to contact with each other such as signals, radio, television and so forth. Which is now an integrated part of a society, which is important in any communication process? The answer, actually, is information. In every kind of communication, transferring information is considered as the most important function. In terms of economics, information has been found as a fundamental element for the efficient growth of an economy. “The electric transfer mode, which includes broadcasting and telecommunication, plays a very important role in information management” (Abolarin Damilola Oluwatobi 2006) Telecommunication provides a lot for the world. “Not only does it create these things as a product of itself, it benefits and enhances the whole world market by creating a tighter community and allowing for quicker reaction time and exchange of information”(Jake Rose 2007). Besides comfortable and useful products, telecommunication also brings services, which are able to connect people in the shortest and best convenient way. Development in telecommunication provides helpful research and foundation for other technologies also. Recognizing the increasing important role of telecommunication, especially in the case of tightening the relationship among countries all over the world, telecommunications operators of many nations are competing to build up their own network in other countries. Therefore, it is crucial for marketers and investors to discern how potential customers perceive the advantages of their telecoms network and how to attract a large number of customer using their products and services. In order to gain the competitive advantage, it is vital for organization to spend time as well as money focusing on customers and their demand in particular. According to Pham Tan, customer’ demands, relate to the requirements of customers before, in, and after using or buying products of a company. Therefore, it will be a big mistake if a business, especially a business that wants to invest into foreign countries does not take customers into consideration and does not pay attention to their demands. Viettel is not an exception, existing as a big telecommunication corporation in Vietnam and realizing the difficulties in saturated domestic market as well as the necessity to penetrate to other foreign market, it has its own steps and strategies to do business across borders. From the above background, I have chosen for myself the topic: “Analysis of Cambodian people’s demands for Viettel telecoms services” in the hope that some findings and recommendations of my report could be a reference for Viettel in analyzing the demands of customers in Cambodia in order to best meet their requirements.

This Internship Report is the result of thirteen weeks of doing internship atViettel Corporation, doing writing during the spring of 2010 It has been aninteresting and learning experience In fulfilling this report, I would like to give myspecial thanks to many people for their significant helps, contributions, andrecommendations during my writing process

First of all, I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to mysupervisor, Principal lecturer M.A Ha Thi Kim Anh for her patient guidance,encouragement and excellent advice throughout my study

Secondly, my sincerely thanks are given to all of my lecturers at the NationalEconomics University for providing me with knowledge and instructions during mytime at university

Thirdly, I would also like to give my heartfelt thanks to the authors whoprovided me with valuable books for my report

Fourthly, I am thankful to Ms Nguyen Thi Hoa, Header of InternationalRelations Department, Viettel Global, JSC, for her comment and positive spirit thathelped and inspired me in writing

Last but not least, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to

my beloved family and friends for their moral support and patience during my study

in National Economics University

TRAN THI HUYEN TRANG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT i

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ii

INTRODUCTION iii

1 Introduction to the research topic iii

2 Rationales iv

3 Research questions iv

4 Methodology iv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

I General view of Viettel Corporation 1

1 Introduction to Viettel Corporation 1

2 Business Philosophy 2

3 Development attitudes 2

II Problem 2

III Research questions 3

IV Methodology 4

V Scope of the report 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 5

I Introduction 5

II Theories overview 5

1 Business across borders 5

2 Characteristics affecting consumer behavior 6

3 Definition of customer satisfaction 7

4 Market penetration strategies 7

CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 9

I The telecommunication market in Cambodia 9

1 The factors impact on the telecommunication market in Cambodia 10

1.1 Political factor 10

1.2 Cultural factor 11

1.3 Developmental Factors 12

1.3.1 Economics Factor 12

1.3.2 People’s living standards factor and intellectual levels factor 13

2.Evaluation of the potential of telecommunications market in Cambodia 15

2.1 For mobile sector 16

2.2 For fixed-line sector 16

2.3 For internet sector 17

2.4 Conclusion 17

II Demands on using Viettel Telecoms services of Cambodian people 18

1 Supplying ability of Viettel in Cambodia market 18

1.1 In mobile sector 18

1.2 For internet sector 23

1.3 For fixed-line sector 23

1.4 Promotion programs and customers service 24

2 Evaluation of Metfone supplying ability 26

2.1 The strengths of Metfone of supplying telecoms products and services 26

2.1.1 Market share and various products 26

2.1.2 Price 27

2.1.3 Customer service 28

2.2 The difficulties of Metfone of supplying telecoms products and services 28

2.2.1 Fierce market competition 28

2.2.2 BTS and ADSL activation due to lack of electricity 28

CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS 29

I For fierce market competition 29

1 Improve customer’s service 29

2 Surmount electricity shortage 30

3 Apply promotion and suitable price 30

II For BTS and ADSL activation due to lack of electricity 32

III Conclusion 32

CONCLUSION 33

BIBLIOGRAPHY 34

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report aims at analyzing the demand of Cambodian people for usingViettel’s telecommunication services in general and for Viettel TelecomsCorporation’s services in particular in order to find out whether Viettel has satisfiedthe customers or not and how to best meet the requirements of them In this report,data and information have been collected and analyzed to find out what Cambodianpeople need

The report has been prepared and written in the period of 15 weeks of mydoing internship at Viettel Telecoms Corporation All my data mentioned in thisreport are collected from Viettel’s reports on telecoms market in Cambodia as well

as information from the government’s websites

This report is consisted of 4 chapters Chapter I gives general formation aboutViettel Telecoms Corporation such as business fields, business philosophy anddevelopment attitudes In addition, the main problem of that Viettel is encounteringhas been pointed out Chapter II provides the theoretical framework of this study.Chapter III analyzed the Cambodian telecoms market, the supplying ability ofViettel telecoms and the demand for using Viettel services of Cambodian people Inthis chapter, the advantages and disadvantages of each package of Viettel applied inCambodia have been evaluated Chapter IV gives some recommendations for theimprovement of Viettel’s services as well as products in the hope that theserecommendations would make some contributions to the development of Viettel inCambodia under the brand name of Metfone

Due to the shortage of time and experience of the author, this report may havesome mistakes All the contributions are welcomed

1 Introduction to the research topic:

Humans need communication, from the early period of history, a variety ofmeans of communication has been used for people to contact with each other such

as signals, radio, television and so forth Which is now an integrated part of asociety, which is important in any communication process? The answer, actually, isinformation In every kind of communication, transferring information is considered

as the most important function In terms of economics, information has been found

as a fundamental element for the efficient growth of an economy “The electric transfer mode, which includes broadcasting and telecommunication, plays a very important role in information management” (Abolarin Damilola Oluwatobi 2006) Telecommunication provides a lot for the world “Not only does it create these things as a product of itself, it benefits and enhances the whole world market by creating a tighter community and allowing for quicker reaction time and exchange

of information”(Jake Rose 2007) Besides comfortable and useful products,

telecommunication also brings services, which are able to connect people in theshortest and best convenient way Development in telecommunication provideshelpful research and foundation for other technologies also

Recognizing the increasing important role of telecommunication, especially inthe case of tightening the relationship among countries all over the world,telecommunications operators of many nations are competing to build up their ownnetwork in other countries Therefore, it is crucial for marketers and investors todiscern how potential customers perceive the advantages of their telecoms networkand how to attract a large number of customer using their products and services Inorder to gain the competitive advantage, it is vital for organization to spend time aswell as money focusing on customers and their demand in particular

According to Pham Tan, customer’ demands, relate to the requirements ofcustomers before, in, and after using or buying products of a company Therefore, itwill be a big mistake if a business, especially a business that wants to invest intoforeign countries does not take customers into consideration and does not pay attention

to their demands Viettel is not an exception, existing as a big telecommunicationcorporation in Vietnam and realizing the difficulties in saturated domestic market as

well as the necessity to penetrate to other foreign market, it has its own steps andstrategies to do business across borders

From the above background, I have chosen for myself the topic: “Analysis ofCambodian people’s demands for Viettel telecoms services” in the hope that somefindings and recommendations of my report could be a reference for Viettel inanalyzing the demands of customers in Cambodia in order to best meet theirrequirements

2 Rationales:

In the growth of global economy and integration along with fierce competition

in telecommunication market in Vietnam, it is essential for Viettel Corporation toexpand to foreign markets Cambodia is one of the two first foreign markets whichthis military corporation want to penetrate into It is the fact that customers are theforemost important element needed to be considered by any enterprise orcorporation in doing business Taking care of customers also means satisfying theirdemands or desires Therefore, doing research on Cambodian people’s demand isone of the fundamental steps for Viettel to expand investment in this market

3 Research questions:

In this internship report, the key question “How to best satisfy Cambodiancustomer’s demands for using Viettel Telecoms services?” will be absolutely solved

4 Methodology:

The desk-study method is mainly used during the time of writing this

internship report In other words, this method is assessment of existing data, an

investigation of the available facts and figures relevant to the report The detailsinformation which is related to this method will be illustrated in Chapter I

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

I General view of Viettel Corporation:

1 Introduction to Viettel Corporation:

Viettel Corporation is a state-owned enterprise, which was established underthe decision 336/QD-QP in 27/07/1993 granted by The Ministry of NationalDefense and the decision 43/2005/QD-TTg in 02/05/2005 by the Prime Minister Transaction name: Viettel Corporation

Address: No 1 Giang Van Minh street- Ba Dinh district- Hanoi City

Tel: (84-4) 6255 6789

Fax: (84-4) 6299 6789

Website: http://www.viettel.com.vn

This corporation does business in the following fields:

 Providing Posts and Telecommunications services

 Developing software products for electronic, telecommunications,communication technology, Internet

 Producing, assembly, repairing and trading in electric, telecommunicationselectronic, communication technology and wireless electric receive – transmittingequipments

 Constructing posts and telecommunications, communication technology,electrical transmission works

 Doing surveys, developing posts and telecommunications, informationtechnology projects

 Training human resources for posts and telecommunications industry

 Investing in infrastructure, real estate, hotel, travel, warehouse and transportation

 Importing and exporting equipment for electronic andcommunication, information technology projects

 Producing pulp and paper products, carton

 Pressing and printing services

 Producing cards for post and telecommunication industry, servicesindustries

During 20 years doing business in telecommunications industry, Viettel has beengained many achievements and some international as well as national awards including:

 Most well-known Brand in Post – Telecom – IT Industry, Vietnam awardelected by consumers

 The first Vietnamese operator to invest directly overseas

 No.1 mobile operator in Vietnam with nation-wide GPRS coverage, 11million subscribers base and one of fastest growing mobile operator worldwide(Wireless Intelligence)

 No 1 transmission infrastructure

 No 1 distribution channel in Vietnam

 A business’s foundation is social development, Viettel commits to reinvest insociety through cohesion between business activities and charity activities

 Colleagues must behave honestly and maintain the mutual assistance in order

to build up the success for Viettel

 Focusing on doing business based on customers’ orientation

 Developing rapidly and continuously reforming to adapt to the market

II Problem:

In the growth of global economy and integration along with fierce competition

in telecommunication market in Vietnam, it is essential for Viettel Corporation toexpand to foreign markets As a company dealing with foreign invesment projectsfor the purpose of expanding to new markets and spreading brandname as well asprestige and reputation of Viettel, Viettel carefully carries out step by step offoreign investment process Customers play an increasingly important role inmarket establishment, even in the existing or new market Therefore, catching theirattentions, meeting their demands are the desire of any enterprise Pham Tan

supposes that a firm cannot have loyal customers without having satisfiedcustomers Moreover, statistics show that growth in market share is stronglycorrelated with customer satisfaction Many enterprises have been making a serious

mistake that they “only make great efforts to take care of customers in the first period” ( Pham Tan 2009) until customers are familliar with their products or

services but foget the importance of maintaining and improving relation betweentwo sides In the concept of taking care customers, this mistake brings, actually,disappointed fellings to customers There are many reasons why customers left thebusinesses, partly because of high prices, the changes in interest but the majority ofcustomers said they stopped using a product or service of the company because theydid not receive the proper care, or their complaints were not resolved quickly

“Doing business doesnot dislike struggling in war, if you let yours customers’ hands down, your competitors, immediately take them and even unfortunately the chance will be taken away by yourselves”( Ibid) Thorougly perceving the

importance of customers, Viettel Corporation always sets target of servingcustomers as the foremost important task To attract customers and keep them alongwith company as loyal customers, Viettel has been conducting a lot of researcheswhich aim at catching their needs and any changes in their demands In that process,the analyzing of customers’ demands always is considered as the most importanttask

Cambodia is one of the two first foreign markets which this militarycorporation wants to penetrate into It is the fact that customer is the foremostimportant element needed to be considered by any enterprise or corporation indoing business Taking care of customers also means taking care of their demands

or desires Therefore, doing research on customers’ requirements or Cambodianpeople’s demands is one of the fundamental steps for Viettel to expand investment

in this market

III Research questions:

The key question is “How to best satisfy Cambodian customer’s demands forusing Viettel Telecoms services?’’ To answer this core question, it is essential toanswer the following three questions:

i How many Cambodian customers are using Viettel Telecoms services?ii.What is the number of Cambodian customers, who are expected to useViettel Telecoms services in the future?

iii What should Viettel do to best satisfy Viettel’s current customers andattract potential customers?

IV Methodology:

The desk-study method is mainly used during the time of writing thisinternship report Most of materials are extracted from relevant books, articles anddocumentations in both English and Vietnamese The data, concepts, theories andfigures are collected to analyze the demands of Cambodian customers for ViettelTelecoms services Documentation is used as primary sources of information informs of books, articles and websites to collect data for this report, as well asbackground information about the organization

V Scope of the report:

According to the requirements of writing internship report, this report is consisted

of about 33 pages Therefore, the content of this report only focuses on analyzingthe demands of Cambodian people for using Viettel Telecoms services and givingout some recommendations

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

I.Introduction:

Chapter I gives an over view of Viettel Corporation as well as the existingproblem that Viettel need to solve That problem is related to analyzing Cambodiancustomers’ demand for Viettel telecoms services in the case of Viettel wants toexpand its market by investing to foreign countries It can be said that any issuerelated to the key element of market -“customers” is so crucial and is concernedabout by any business There are a plenty of ways and methods businesses havedone to make analysis of customers’ demands in order to catch up with any changes

in their interest

In this chapter, theoretical framework, I would like to point out the theories

applied in my report, which includes chapter “Business across borders” (National Economics University 2009), “Characteristics affecting consumers’ behaviors” (Philip Kotler and Gary Amstrong 1996), “Definition of customer satisfaction” (Ibid) and “Market penetration strategies” (Statistics Publish House 2008).

II Theories overview:

1 Business across borders:

This chapter refers to 6 forms of separations in doing international business,including political separation, physical separation, relational separation,environmental separation, development separations and cultural separation Theseseparations can be considered as the fundamental factors affecting each country’seconomy In part I of my report, I apply three out of 6 factors mentioned above inthe purpose of finding out whether the Cambodia telecoms industry is potential ornot and there is any space for Viettel’s penetration The three factors are politics,culture and development

“The political borders be drawn on maps create the most obvious form of separation Each nation has its own government that establishes and enforces its own laws” (National Economics University 2009:8) That is the way to protect the country from any invasion by “unwanted people, products, financial transactions, and even ideas” (Ibid) “Outward flows tend to cause less concern than inward flows, however, many governments do try to prevent so-called capital flight and all governments outward flows of income to verify that relevant taxes have been paid”

(Ibid) National government also creates a number of regulations that specify whatgoods and services can be sold and how they are to be produced in their countries.

“There were 74 countries in 1950 and there are about 220 today” (Ibid) respect the

increased importance of political separation in doing international business

“Not all differences in the behavior of people from different countries can be attributed solely to differences in natural environment or wealth Instead, there is

an important role played by social interactions” (National Economics University

2009:18) This form of separation is easy and interesting to talk about informally

but very “difficult to analyze rigorously” (Ibid) Differences in culture have

important effects on the employment relationships at overseas affiliates of

multinational enterprises In general, it may be so difficult to “simply replicate practices that work well in one country to another country” (Ibid) This content is

needed to be considered by any enterprises want to do business across borders.Rules of the road, manners, languages, currencies, systems of measurement orproduct interfaces, and so forth must be taken into consideration The way peoplebehave in life partly implies the way they think and act in work generally and dobusiness particularly Telecommunications supplies services in telephone, internet,broadband, mobile, which are related to distance communication, on the other side,

it also means creating relationship and bringing people closer and closer Therefore,taking care of behavior of people, or communication culture in details, and nation’sculture in overview, of the country want to penetrate into, is the fundamentalrequirement for any enterprises doing business in telecommunications field

For the developmental factors, economics, people’s living standard andintellectual levels are composed the main content Each country has differenteconomy as well as the form of economy and unlike law code related to doingbusiness, which put strong effects on business result of any enterprises People’sliving standards as well as intellectual levels of citizens also are needed beconsidered for any enterprises

2 Characteristics affecting consumer behavior:

Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal andpsychological characteristics For the most part, enterprises cannot control suchfactors, but they must take them into account In my report, I would like to apply thetwo factors such as personal and psychological characteristics to analyze thedemands in using Viettel telecoms services of Cambodian people

In personal factors, I narrow down my research in three elements as age and

life-circle stage, occupations, personalities and self-concept “People change their goods and services they buy over their timelines.” (Philip Kotler and Gary

Amstrong 1996:150) The enterprises have to define their target markets in terms of

life-cycle stage and develop appropriate products and plans for each stage “A person’s occupation also affects the goods and services bought.” (Ibid) Trying to

identify the occupation groups and specialize in marking products needed are so

crucial for businesses “Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to one’s own environment” (Philip Kotler and Gary Amstrong 1996:153) Thus, in order to

understand customers’ behaviors, the businesses must first understand therelationship between personalities and self-concept with their effects to consumersbuying decisions

3 Definition of customer satisfaction.

“Customer satisfaction with a purchase depends on product’s performance relative to a buyer’s expectations A customer might experience various degrees of satisfaction If the product’s performance falls short of expectations, the customer

is dissatisfied If performance matches expectations, the customer is satisfied The last one is if performance exceeds expectations, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted.” (Philip Kotler and Gary Amstrong 1996:572) The work of businesses

herein is defining the level of expectation to best meet the desire of each consumer

In this report, I would like to apply this theory to find out the satisfaction level ofCambodia customers in the field of telecommunication, especially of Vietteltelecoms services in order to best meet the customer’s demands

4 Market penetration strategies:

In this part, I would like to apply the theory related to the choice of market

penetration “Beginning to penetrate into a new market requires a long-term plan and great efforts Before deciding the target customers in that market, it is essential

to analyze market’s characteristics, other competitors and chances to enter that market” (Statistic Publish House 2008:35) Finding out information through

internet, joining exhibition, market researching and paying attention to thedifferences in business culture, etc are the fundamental steps, which are necessary

to carry out In my report, I also would like to apply “Methods of price setting in the

market”, which is included in this theory “Your major objective in the market is

how to offer your product with the price that is not higher than other competitors’ prices However, for the best sake, you should set the price at a lower level especially in the penetration time That method is called – setting penetration price- that means trying to gain the customer’s favor due to your attractive product.

(Statistic Publish House 2008:37)

Here is the list of the most important theories that play big role in my writing.Thanks to them, I have clear orientation though this internship report in order toanalyze the difficulties that Viettel is facing with and find out some solutions tosolve those problems

CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

I The telecommunication market in Cambodia:

In the situation of wide effects by the global economics integration, it isessential for Vietnam enterprises, in general and Viettel Corporation, in particular toexpand and cooperate with foreign businesses On the own way in doing businessand developing brand name, bringing the fame and prestige of Viettel to the world,this military corporation choose the neighbor country, Cambodia, which has a lot ofcommon characteristics with Vietnam to invest and expand market

Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia of incredible beauty, with famous ancient

temples, and a special history Each year, Cambodia “receives millions of tourists”

(Central Intelligence Agency’s website 2010), who come to enjoy the country’sawesome sights, especially Cambodia’s Angkor Vat- one of the Seven Wonders ofthe World In terms of tourism, Cambodia becomes more and more well-known up

to time In the sense of economy, “Cambodia remains one of the world’s least developed nations, with limited natural resources and a heavy dependence on foreign aid” (Kassim Chin Humanity Foundation’s website 2007) However, this

country has put significant efforts to overcome any obstacle In recent years, theCambodia economy has gained numerous achievements In the word of economy,

“Cambodia is in 13 th position in the latest set of business environment ratings for the Asia Pacific region” (Business Monitor International 2010:13).

It can be said that, Viettel is the first telecommunications corporation of ourcountry penetrating into foreign market, in detail, Cambodia and Laos, being apioneer brings also advantages and disadvantages for Viettel To be successful,Viettel has to overcome the barriers and strengthen its existing advantages when itperceives it self’s role in international business, especially in the field of

telecommunications There are a number of factors that “collectively affect on global business” (National Economic University 2009:8), including political

separation, economical separation, cultural separation, developmental separationand so forth Understanding these factors is essential for firms attempting to dobusiness across borders

1 The factors impact on the telecommunication market in Cambodia: 1.1 Political factor:

According to Business across Borders theory, “Each nation has its own government that establishes and enforces its own law” (National Economics

University 2009:8) More than 200 countries in the world, means there are existingmore then 200 politics system and different law codes These political regimes inturn effect to the stability of society as well Continuing in this set, the society isstable or not affects a lot to the development of economy, especially in the sense offoreign investment because this mostly is considered as the prerequisite condition.Any activities related to foreign countries should take those nations’ laws intoconsideration fore mostly Therefore, getting knowledge of politics system of thenew country, new market is one of the key steps to open the door of success indoing business in general and in telecommunications market, in particular

Cambodian politics is “wide known by period of Khmer Rouge genocide” (Central Intelligence Agency’s website 2010) which caused spread disruption within the country This is a regime of “constitutional monarchy” (Ibid) Moreover,

Cambodia is a member of the United Nation and the Association of Southeast AsiaCountries The Central Intelligence Agency says that the country has politicalstability from the 1990s to now This stability in politics system brings the Asiacountry a variety of chance to cooperate and receive investment from othercountries The telecommunications market of Cambodia in recent years is on the

trend of development and seems to expose “The government also opens the door for foreign businesses” (Business Monitor International 2010: 16) and call for

investment in all fields, especially in telecommunications, the yield needs updatingnews and modern technologies Quelling all rebellions and disorders in society,bringing peace to the country, all citizens as well as the economy also means bringthe chance of development to the nation Cambodia is considered as one of the mostopen economies in Asia region (Business-in-Asia.com 2010) The three events,Cambodia Event ICT and Telecom World Expo 2009, and the event with content

“Building the sustainable IT industry and telecommunications in Cambodia”, (IDGCambodia’s website 2009) both were held by the Post and Telecommunicationsdepartment, Cambodia’s National ICT Development Authority (NiDA) and

International Data group (IDG) Through these events, the organizers wished tocontribute to the development of IT and telecommunications field of Cambodia, callfor the investment from other countries as well as to share ideas and experiencetogether These can be considered as the most important economics events held in lastyear, marking the new turning point in the telecommunications market of Cambodia.Obviously, the diplomatic relationship as well as political solidarity betweenVietnam and Cambodia is quite close and steadfast That, actually, helps boost thecooperative deals and enhance relation In the context of developing the traditionalrelations between Vietnam and Cambodia, Cambodian tends to use goods andservices of Vietnam, and Vietnam enterprises have more chances of getting

potential market partners with this neighbor country “ The government and people

of Cambodia always open to welcome and look forward to the Vietnam enterprises, committed to the good feelings, preference for Vietnam’s enterprises to invest and set up business in Cambodia”, Mr Leewood Phu, Director of National IT and

secretary-general for Cambodia’s National ICT Development Authority (NiDA)said, (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 2009)

To sum up, the politics factor is one of the foremost important elements should

be considered by any firms desire for invest and expand market to foreign countries.Although some black characteristics in Cambodia politics system in the past whichbrought bad effects to the development of Cambodian economy, the economy ofthis Asia country has its own turning points on the way of development with thebrighter face in politics system as well as the society

Cultural factor:

Differences in culture have important effects on the employment relationships

at overseas affecting multinational enterprises In other words, this issue can be bestdescribed in the idiom “When you come to Rome, do as Romans do” Learning theway to adapt to new environment, new culture is also learning the way to surviveand even make more profits in any circumstances Rules of the road, manners,languages, currencies, systems of measurement or product interfaces, and so forthmust be taken into consideration The way people behave in life partly implies theway they think and act in work generally and do business particularly.Telecommunications supplies services in telephone, internet, broadband, mobile,

which are related to distance communication, on the other side, it also meanscreating relationship and bringing people closer and closer Therefore, taking care

of behavior of people, or communication culture in details, and nation’s culture inoverview, of the country want to penetrate into, is the fundamental requirement forany enterprises doing business in telecommunications field

With the common characteristics of Asian culture, the country of Cambodiahas its own norms and regulations Let’s take an example of the talking way of

Cambodian people You should “talk so smoothly and softly, just express your emotion at home, not at public places” (Khuon Bora 2008:45) It is forbidden in the

country possesses Angkor Vat- one of the Seven Wonders of the World if

somebody “behave uncontrollably” (Ibid) like “throwing something, holding hands, or strong beating table during talking” (Ibid) Moreover, in terms of greeting, if you meet someone with higher rank than you, “bow your head as low as possible” (Ibid) till under the belt position of that person and pay attention to “take off your shoes and hat whenever entering the temples” (Ibid) These differences in

culture, actually, creates distinguish style in doing business of Cambodian people,especially in the field of telecommunications which fore mostly needs smooth andsoft behavior in contacting with other people but still needs strict regulation tomaintain and develop the business

Developmental Factors:

Economical factor:

Each country has different economy as well as the form of economy andunlike law code related to doing business, which put strong effects on businessresult of any enterprises In the country of Angkor Vat, a number of laws related toeconomics activities are issued but lacking of implementation guideline (Cambodia-Accounting and Auditing‘s website 2007)

Obviously, this carelessness in making-law and carrying out process causesnumerous confusion as well as difficulties for citizens in doing business legally The

open trade policy along with the Agreement of Peace in Cambodia in 1991, “the relation of Cambodia with financial assistant businesses, especially in private sector has been enhanced” (Business Monitor International 2010:34) This partly brings out

and inner Cambodia businesses chances to enter the gate of Cambodia market

According to The Cambodia Daily Weekend, on average, Cambodia receives

$500 million each year from donors (in 2006, the number was $ 601 million) Tosay about economy of a country, it is not enough without mentioning theinfrastructure and services system besides the legal system and law code Theinfrastructure here is still weak and transportation system contains lot of problems

To clearly illustrate that, many roads are not paved, especially in rural and remote

areas, “poor irrigation system and health service have not been improved” (Central

Intelligence Agency’s website: 2009) In addition, prices of fundamental elements

needed for people’s survival like water, “electricity are higher compared with other neighbor countries in the region” (Ibid) That can be considered as one barrier for

foreign business when deciding whether invest in Cambodia or not However,everything has two sides, both pros and cons of this economy bring it worthy result

In telecommunications field, in 2008, “Cambodia has 45,100 main lines of telephone in use, in the rank of 165 comparison to the world, and 4237 million mobile cellular, in the rank of 93 comparison to the world and 74000 internet users, ranks at 162 to the world” (Ibid).

As of early 2009, there were 8 companies providing mobile telephony servicesand at least 12 companies providing internet access

People’s living standards factor and intellectual levels factor:

After nearly 3 decades of civil war, Cambodia puts all its strengths and efforts

to integrate with global economy However, this country of Angkor Vat still has a

long road needed to pass The people here work major on agriculture, and “around 36% of residents have living cost under $1 per day” (Business Monitor

International 2010: 45) The gap between the rich and the poor in urban area withrural one is larger and larger day by day It is easy to see the difference between therich and poor from the following table:

Consumer expenditure per capita, US$ 252 323 340 371 422 484Poorest 20%, expenditure per capita 86 110 116 126 144 164Richest 20%, expenditure per capita 625 801 844 920 1,047 1,199Richest 10%, expenditure per capita 877 1,124 1,185 1,291 1,469 1,683Middle 60%, expenditure per capita 183 235 247 270 307 351

Purchasing Power Parity

Consumer expenditure capita, US$ 1,620 2,110 2,211 2,320 2,424 naPoorest 20%, expenditure per capita 551 717 752 789 824 naRichest 20%, expenditure per capita 4,017 5,233 5,482 5,754 6,011 naRichest 10%, expenditure per capita 5,636 7,343 7,693 8,074 8,435 naMiddle 60%, expenditure per capita 1,177 1,533 1,606 1,686 1,761 na

E means estimated, na means not available Source: Business Monitor International 2010: 45

Clear and large distance between the rich and the poor and many levels insociety makes the telecoms market in Cambodia more various Therefore, providingand serving customers with lowest living’s standard till the ones at higher levelsproperly are the foremost task of any telecoms enterprises

In terms of intellectual levels of Cambodian people, the literacy level of citizenshere counts from residents, who can read and write, in the age of 15 and over There are

73, 6% of the whole population can read and write, male accounts for 84, 7% and the female accounts for 61, 1% (2004 latest) ( Central Intelligence Agency’s website 2009) This country spends “just 1.7% of GDP on education expenditures, in the rank of 172 compared to the world” (Ibid).

It is essential for any telecoms enterprises which have desire to penetrate tothis market to take this matter into consideration This market is just suitable withthe business having the long-term investment strategy and customer-basedobjective For the businesses just want to get profit as much and fast as possible,Cambodia seems not to be favorable

Table of consumption and stratification