Entrepreneurship is important in the daily business environment and is plays a crucial role in economy. Entrepreneurship is an interesting topic as it deals with the behavior of the firm entrepreneur and the entrepreneurs main competencies. This study interviews three (3) wellknown entrepreneurs in Vietnam to understand their work experiences to develop sophisticated analyses and solutions to pursuing innovative solutions in today’s fastpaced, global, and highly competitive environment.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP This study interviews: TRUNG NGUYEN COFFEE CORPORATION, VINACAFÉ BIEN HOA JOINT STOCK COMPANY, HIGHLAND COFFEE INTRODUCTION: Entrepreneurship is important in the daily business environment and is plays a crucial role in the world economy Entrepreneurship is an interesting topic as it deals with the behavior of the firm entrepreneur and the entrepreneur's main competencies During the last 15 years, Vietnam has exemplified a successful transitional economy Since it implemented Vietnam Enterprise policy, the government has recognized entrepreneurial activities as an essential element of economic growth Every year, the Government organizes a meeting between high-ranking governmental officials at the ministerial level, headed by the Prime Minister, and entrepreneurs of both state and private enterprises The meeting allows for an exchange of information, answers questions raised by the business community, and clarifies the development strategy and action steps of the government, both internally and externally Another meeting with foreign entrepreneurs is also held annually The aims of those meetings are to discover and discuss more efficient measures to support entrepreneurship in Vietnam Private entrepreneurial activities have increasingly played an important role in investment, export and import, domestic trading and services, job creation and contribution to the state budget The private sector has been formally recognized as a crucial element of the multisector market economy oriented to socialism in Vietnam However, entrepreneurship in Vietnam is positioned at the starting point of the race This study interviews three (3) well-known entrepreneurs in Vietnam to understand their work experiences to develop sophisticated analyses and solutions to pursuing innovative solutions in today’s fast-paced, global, and highly competitive environment 1 TRUNG NGUYEN COFFEE CORPORATION 1.1 An Entrepreneur – Mr Dang Le Nguyen Vu: Mr Dang Le Nguyen Vu was born in 1971, at Nha Trang City, Vietnam He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Trung Nguyen Coffee He was named the "King of the Vietnam Coffee" by the National Geographic Traveller and Forbes Asia - In 1996, Mr Dang Le Nguyen Vu founded the company Trung Nguyen coffee in - Buon Ma Thuot In 1998, Trung Nguyen company first opened cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, expanding business franchise model, from which the cafe franchise Trung Nguyen - appear everywhere across the country Since 2000, Trung Nguyen brand names and Dang Le Nguyen Vu is very well known Vietnam and most other coffee-growing nations, Mr Vu points out, are poor, tropical countries that typically receive only $1 out of every $20 earned in the global coffee industry, with the bulk of profits going to the likes of Nestlé and Starbucks “Why should we just follow that order?” he asks With Trung Nguyen now exporting to 60 countries and reaching deeper into China and the U.S., Vu says, Vietnam can keep moving up in the multibilliondollar industry’s value chain Mr Vu was a high school student in 1986 when Vietnamese authorities recognized that central economic planning wasn’t working in a nation devastated by decades of warfare and dependent on a weakening Soviet Union A country of rice paddies was importing rice to feed the hungry Vietnam’s reforms, known as Doi Moi, have moved its economy in fits and starts toward what its government calls “market-oriented socialism.” Mr Vu has a model plantation that aims to increase the quantity and quality of Vietnam’s coffee by employing an irrigation system from Israel and special fertilizer from Finland A goal is for Vietnam, the world’s top producer of harsher, cheaper Robusta beans, to boost acreage for smoother, pricier Arabica Mr Vu has also mentioned the possibility of making coffee products right in the US, because in his thoughts, conquering a market does not simply mean to bring products to the market Also according to Mr Vu, Trung Nguyen’s turnover increased by 32 percent in 2012 to $200 million Vu hopes the figure would be double in 2013 thanks to the higher demand for packed coffee from the Chinese and South East Asian markets, before it rises to one billion dollar by 2016 1.2 Trung Nguyen Coffee Corporation: Trung Nguyen is a Vietnamese business group involved in the production, processing and distribution of coffee Trung Nguyen is the largest domestic coffee brand within Vietnam, and exports its products to more than 60 countries, including major Asian markets such as Japan and Singapore When Dang Le Nguyen Vu and his friends started Trung Nguyen coffee in 1996, they soon realized that they needed to reach the public with their new brand Borrowing money from family and friends, they set up a coffee shop in a busy commercial area of Saigon Now the company boasts a network of more than 1000 company owned or franchised shops in a number of countries, and the signboard of a Trung Nguyen cafe is one of the most prominent features in the streetscape of every Vietnamese city Every Trung Nguyen Cafe offers customers a wide choice of coffee blends that served in Saigon Style From that small beginning, Trung Nguyen Coffee Company has become the dominant producer of branded gourmet coffee in the country At the centre of Trung Nguyen's core philosophy is a desire to improve the lives of the people of the highlands As a result, Trung Nguyen does not purchase green coffee beans as a commodity All beans for Trung Nguyen's world class production facilities come from contract growers In turn for Trung Nguyen purchasing the crop, at well above commodity traders prices, each grower must meet all the protocols set down by EurepGAP, a Swiss based standard for socially and environmentally sustainable agriculture Trung Nguyen's branded coffees are already found in 43 countries, and they have earned the nickname 'the Starbucks of Asia" for their successful creation of a chain of more than 1000 coffee shops , as well as distributors covering Asia, Europe, North America and now, Australia The Vietnamese and Trung Nguyen in particular, blend their coffees to provide a range of tastes and caffeine levels 1.3 Trung Nguyen Products and Services: Trung Nguyen Coffee has some kind of the luxury products and the standard products to serve the diversity demand of the customer - Legendee Brand – The great coffee for the entrepreneur: One of the world's most famous coffees, the Legendee is a unique enzymatically-treated coffee that releases flavors often bound in the beans and not released under ordinary processing The "Legend" has to with stories about natives who drank a brew from washed coffee beans that had been partly digested by small furry animals that don't really have a counterpart in the Western world (a civet more than a "weasel") - Kopi Luwak Coffee: The "real" civet coffee (called Kopi Luwak in Indonesia) is incredibly rich, mellow and chocolaty This obviously low-volume, expensive coffee encouraged experiments by Trung Nguyen that were performed by a staff of European scientists who eventually found natural enzymes that duplicate this process and leaves the weasels (civets) to blissfully go their own way Trung Nguyen was the original pioneer of this process and it has not been duplicated by any other coffee maker The process produces a coffee unlike any other in the world, with a wide range of rich flavors and - virtually no bitterness Besides that, Trung Nguyen Coffee also provide some kind of the roasted coffee such as - the ground coffee, bean coffee and the Tet gift set for the souvenir Instant Coffee: having some kind of products like G7 coffee, G7 Cappucino and Passiona VINACAFÉ BIEN HOA JOINT STOCK COMPANY 2.1 Mr Doan Dinh Thiem - Chairman of the Board of VINACAFE: Mr Doan Dinh Thiem is Ph.D in Economics holds the position of Chairman of the Board Members of Company Limited - Vietnam Coffee Corporation At the Extraordinary General Meeting 2011, Mr Doan Dinh Thiem was elected to the Board of Vinacafé Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company Mr Doan Dinh Thiem served as Director, Head of Innovation and Enterprise Management Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2004 to 2008 Prior to that Mr Thiem was Chief Inspector Ministry of Agriculture in 2004 According to Mr Doan Dinh Thiem, Chairman of the Board, said the Vinacafe Board made vision in 2016 that will dominate the Vietnam's coffee market with 80% market share in instant coffee and 51% market share in roasters coffee According to Mr Doan Dinh Thiem, the Bien Hoa Vinacafe goals will bring to market new products, making coffee became a popular drink and the Vietnamese is use the Vinacafe products every day 2.2 Vinacafe Mission and Core Values: - Mission: Vinacafé Bien Hoa will make market and sell unique, high quality brands of beverage and food products that satisfy consumers at home and abroad They will this by understanding the needs of their consumers, customers and other stakeholders - and by operating within a clearly defined set of values Corporate Objective: The Vinacafe overarching corporate objective is to deliver sustained and superior financial returns to their shareholders They will measure our achievement of this by comparison with peer companies 2.3 Viancafe History: - In 1977, Vietnam successfully produced instant coffee: In two-year celebration of Vietnam unifying, the first soluble coffee came out in the happiness of all engineers and workers Two previous years, they had been days and nights working together to take over the plant operations The year of 1977 marked a milestone for Bien Hoa Coffee Factory, as well as for Vietnam coffee industry: the first Vietnam produced - soluble coffee In 1983 – The birth of Vinacafé brand: During 1980s, Bien Hoa Coffee Factory focused on technical research to develop standard processes for the factory, while continued to export soluble coffee as required by the Government Along of addressing on product packaging, in 1983, the name Vinacafé was incorporated and - seen on Eastern Europe market The year of 1983 marked the birth of Vinacafé brand In 2004 - Vinacafe Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company: On 29th December, 2004, Bien Hoa Coffee Factory, a state enterprise transferred into a joint stock company Beloved the brainchild – Vinacafé brand, the founders have set a new name for the company, Vinacafé Bien Hoa J.S Company (Vinacafé BH) This was the “new page” of the Company history Vinacafé BH re-planned strategy, re-written the mission and vision and identified new core values in the context of Vietnam more integration to the World 2.4 Vinacafe Products and Services: The company is mainly known for its Vinacafé brand of coffee products, including both ground coffee suitable for filters and instant coffee Vinacafé's "3-in-1" line of instant coffee, which approximates the taste of Vietnamese cà phê sữa by combining coffee with non-dairy creamer and sugar in a single packet, has been quite successful in both domestically and internationally Vinacafe "3-in-1" is a registered brand in 60 countries throughout the world Its coffee products have been awarded the title of "Highest Quality Vietnamese Product" since 1995 The original Coronel Coffee Plant in Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai Province, was designed for an output of 80 tons of instant coffee per year To meet growing domestic and international demand, a second processing plant was built, coming into operation in 2000 This second plant has a designed capacity of 800 tons of instant coffee per year A third processing plant, based in the town of Long Thanh, Đồng Nai Province is expected to begin operation in 2012 This new plant, with an expected output of 3,200 tons of instant coffee per year, followed an investment of USD 26 million; up to 70% of the production will go for export VIET THAI INTERNATIONAL JOINT STOCK COMPANY - HIGHLAND COFFEE 3.1 Mr David Thai – the Founder of Highland Coffee: Mr David Thai was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and moved to the US in 1979 Thai graduated from the University of Washington in 1995 with a double major in Business Administration and Comparative History of Ideas Mr David That is the Founder cum Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company – Highland Coffee Mr David Thai is the founder of Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company (VTI) He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company Thai has spent the last 12 years devoting his time and resources, in the Vietnamese market, on developing and understanding the retail industry's landscape, consumer segments, development trends and cultures Thai has played a pivotal role in the growth, expansion and strategic positioning of the Company's Highlands Coffee brand As a cultural symbol, Highlands Coffee has been instrumental in shaping Vietnam's modern branding and retail environment As Chief Executive Officer, Thai drives the development of the Company's strategic growth plans In 1978, Mr David Thai moves to Seattle Series of entrepreneurial ventures at an early age combined with witnessing the rise of Starbucks provided Mr David Thai the motivation to move to Vietnam and get into coffee In 1996, Mr That moves to Hanoi, Vietnam Spends a year studying Vietnamese language and culture, while busy operating his first cafe, "Au Lac", located on Hoan Kiem Lake In 2000, Mr Thai achieves another "first" when registers the private company as a joint stock company Vision to one day list on the stock exchange Launches packaged roast and ground "Highlands Coffee" brand through high end hotels and supermarkets And in October, 2002 - The first Highlands Coffees opens in Ho Chi Minh City and a week later the first outlet opens in Hanoi 3.2 Highland Coffee Brand: Highlands Coffee is all about great coffee Whether that's in their coffee shops throughout Vietnam, a pack the customer has bought at the supermarket or a cup the customer has had in a leading hotel or restaurant The Highland strives to serve the perfect cup, every cup Highlands Coffee brand launched into high end hotels and supermarkets in 2000 via packaged Roast & Ground coffee They opened their first café in October 2002 Now with over 50 cafes in Vietnam, Highlands Coffee is looking forward to sustained growth as the development of the nation continues - Highland Mission – The difference ways:As a lifestyle brand the Highland coffee believe in serving people rich experiences, based around coffee Those rich experiences come from doing everything really well Such as roasting and serving the finest coffee, providing a comfortable and vibrant environment to meet and of course, serving their customers with a smile, warmth and a genuine desire to please It is the Highland coffee philosophy that makes the difference in how their deliver the experience As a proudly Vietnamese brand, the Highlands Coffee philosophy is about combining the best of the fast paced international world with the traditional charm and traditions of Vietnam The Highland coffee wants our customers to feel comforted from the reassurance that comes with traditional and trusted values Highlands strives to make the customers feel a part of the modernization of Vietnam, while delivering the comforting unique cultural aspects and traditions that Vietnam is known for 3.3 The Highland Coffee Products and Services: Highland commitment: Their commitment to quality starts at the green bean selection process where they only work with suppliers having the finest Grade A beans - - International Coffee Blends: • Espresso-Full City Roast: A lightly dark roast coffee blends of Arabica & Robusta • beans that release a strong body and a tangy aroma Espresso-Cinnamon Roast: A lightly colored roast that imparts full coffee • freshness with a light bodied taste Espresso-Arabica Supreme: Roasted to the same color as the Full-City Roast, this • 100% Arabica coffee has a top grade smooth taste Espresso-Decaffeinated: Less than 0.1% caffeine A light bodied, soft taste suitable for any time of the day Traditional Vietnamese Blends: • Gourmet Blend: This blend combines the finest Arabica and Robusta beans roasted to their individual peak flavors combine with selected flavors The • resulting taste is distinctive in body with aromatic sweetness Traditional Blend: This blend of Arabica and Robusta beans perfectly captures the spirit of a traditional Vietnamese roast By complementing the beans with selected flavors, the coffee delivers a bold taste and irresistible aroma, with hints of a rich buttery body • Heritage Blend: Processed similarly to the Traditional Blend, but using only Robusta beans, the Heritage Blend has a strong and intense flavor with a creamy body SWOT ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION 4.1 Trung Nguyen Coffee Corporation: Strength (S) Weakness (W) Simple production technology Less Inability to meet seasonal orders capital investment, quick returns Some products beyond quality Understand domestic market control Brand reputation Using old marketing strategy The management has Moderators Financial is not strong enough have the ability, ambition and vision compared to foreign companies Owning the exclusive manufacturing technology Showing national pride Opportunity (O) Threat (T) New technology, easy access Pressure from competitors International integration, Vietnam is Requirements for quality coffee entitled to the benefits of trade growing liberalization The demand for coffee in the world growing 4.2 Vinacafé Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company: Strength (S) Weakness (W) Get support from the Government The great difficulty of capital Understand the Vietnam market Poor facilities, outdated technology There is prestige in Vietnam market Made mostly raw form, not high by leading a unit of Vietnam’s coffee quality industry The research, development and Good quality coffee marketing have not been enough attention Lack of skilled professional’s team Opportunity (O) Threat (T) New technology, easy access Pressure from competitors International integration, Vietnam is Requirements for quality coffee entitled to the benefits of trade growing liberalization The demand for coffee in the world growing 4.3 Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company- Highland Coffee: Strength (S) Weakness (W) 10 New style of mixed culture between It looks so premium that many the West and the East customers seem reluctant to enter while they can afford Western style need time to be suitable brand name for Highlands Staffs are friendly and professional for Vietnamese lifestyle High cost in materials and operating Highlands follows a modern and system effective management Depends much on foreign material Opportunity (O) Threat (T) New technology, easy access Pressure from competitors International integration, Vietnam is Requirements for quality coffee entitled to the benefits of trade growing liberalization The demand for coffee in the world growing Many stores in one city make good 11 CONCLUSION Today, market is more attractive and more rejection If in the previous period, the market still has many brand names such as Vinacafé (Vinacafe Bien Hoa), Nescafe (Nestle), G7 (Trung Nguyên), Highlands Coffee (Highlands- Viet Thai), Moment, Vinamilk Cafe (Vinamilk) or MacCoffee (Food Empire - Singapore), the past few years, the game gradually be rolled into few company Three well-known enterprises include Vincafe Bien Hoa, Trung Nguyên, Viet Thai- Highlands Coffee 12 ... Thiem, the Bien Hoa Vinacafe goals will bring to market new products, making coffee became a popular drink and the Vietnamese is use the Vinacafe products every day 2.2 Vinacafe Mission and Core... has many brand names such as Vinacafé (Vinacafe Bien Hoa), Nescafe (Nestle), G7 (Trung Nguyên), Highlands Coffee (Highlands- Viet Thai), Moment, Vinamilk Cafe (Vinamilk) or MacCoffee (Food Empire... Buon Ma Thuot In 1998, Trung Nguyen company first opened cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, expanding business franchise model, from which the cafe franchise Trung Nguyen - appear everywhere across the