According to experts, the influence of Covid-19 pandemic has shadowed the entire global economy and provoked deeper impact in comparison with the recession of 2008. Thus, apart from identifying the pandemic situation and coming up with adaptive plans, this is the time for enterprises’ leaders to reconsider the expenses’ problem, enterprise model, organization structure, personnel issue and even partnerships in order to convert “challenge” into “opportunity” and aim for sustainable development once the pandemic storm passes.
This is also the main content that was discussed at the online conference with the subject: “COVID-19: Entrepreneurs join hand to overcome challenges” co-organized by COLORBOND® – The premium coated steel brand of BlueScope and VnExpress, livestreamed in the last Friday evening, March 20th, 2020.
According to experts, this crisis helps enterprises adopt a different mindset. It is sustainability that enterprises always have to well prepare beforehand. Mr. Vo Minh Nhut, President of NS BlueScope Vietnam, said that enterprises that want to develop sustainably should not wait for the crisis to reform but always prepare definite plans. Firstly, enterprises must manage cash flows, inventories, customer receivables and payables to suppliers… Secondly, enterprises must have a healthy balance sheet and an appropriate investment portfolio. That is, on considering investment portfolio evaluation, we need to be cautious in calculating the IRR (internal rate of return) to measure the level of risk of future investments. Besides, enterprises always have plans for developing new markets and new customers to not be passive when a crisis occurs.
The initiative of NS BlueScope is also what Vissan has done for many years. Mr. Phan Van Dung, Deputy General Director of Vissan Joint Stock Company, said that on a yearly basis, Vissan stocks up raw materials that can be used for a whole year and for each product, the company chooses from 2 to 3 suppliers to ensure uninterrupted production.
It can be seen that the outbreak of Covid-19 has caused many difficulties and heavy losses for enterprises. To lessen the impact of this pandemic, many enterprises have decided to lay off their staffs, pushing a great number of employees out of the workforce. For example, a footwear company in the Ho Chi Minh City recently announced that more than 1,000 employees would be laid off due to orders cut by 70%.
“I will not choose to lay off workers in this period” in the view of Mr. Vo Minh Nhut, President of NS BlueScope Vietnam. This crisis is only short-term so the company came up with many scenarios and solved short-term problems. Regarding the short-term solutions from NS BlueScope Vietnam, the first is to ensure safety for staffs and their families through the arrangement of some employees working from home, some working in 2 shifts for different meal times… Secondly, if sales fall, employees and employers voluntarily reduce unused leave days together or can advance their next year annual leave. These solutions will have the least impact on the workers’ lives”. Thirdly, in the short term, the company will cut some marketing costs and will not hire new employees or replace employees instead of laying off employees during this period.
With the same opinion, Mr. Phan Van Dung, Vissan Joint Stock Company thinks that this pandemic is short-term but not long-term and with good disease control and prevention like Vietnam, it will be contained soon. For Vissan, the company has increased its capacity of the processed food segment due to rising demand and reduced supply of fresh food. Along with that, Vissan has moved workers from the fresh segment to the processing segment. Although these workers are not yet skillful, the training will be more efficient than recruiting from outside.
Mr. Pham Phu Truong said, recently the HCMC Young Entrepreneurs Association conducted a quick survey on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey showed that the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises took the initiative in response with 58% reducing business scale, 52% finding new markets and 45% reducing investment scale to overall, 90% of the respondents say after 3 – 6 months when the pandemic is over, they will be ready for a revival. One good thing is that despite difficulties, 90% are willing to support other enterprises to overcome.
The mall reduced leasing fee when Covid-19 occurs
“Currently the Young Entrepreneurs Association is discussing how to open forums where people are connected to overcome the crisis, enhance solidarity among enterprises, like landlords offering discounts to tenants, tenants offering discounts to buyers… Thus, the high solidary spirit helps to overcome difficulties, Mr. Truong said about the plans that the Association would implement.
Realizing solidarity is very important and helps businesses to go further, Mr. Vo Minh Nhut said he has implemented many sharing solutions with customers and partners. Specifically, for customers working on industrial projects, the company will hare with investors about the economic context and the vision so that they keep their spirit up, not panicking. In retail segment, NS BlueScope has coordinated with their store network to deliver 10,000 anti-epidemic boxes to consumers…
BlueScope’s staff contribute 1 day’s salary to support the campaign
“The Government of Vietnam is doing a good job of fighting the pandemic, but the Government alone cannot do it and needs the cooperation of businesses and employees. This cooperation will create a great potential for the economy. For our company, we have a program to contribute 1 day’s salary, deducting the corresponding amount from the employee’s salary to contribute to this campaign”, Mr. Nhut added.
For food sector, according to Mr. Kao Sieu Luc: “As soon as ABC created dragon fruit bread, there were enterprises in the industry asking to share the recipe”. Mr. Luc was ready to help them because not only does the bakery enterprise exist, but it also helps farmers to have outlet for their products. “If we do that, the whole industry will have a coordination and develop together“, Mr. Luc said.
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