IMPORTING BUSINESS AT BEN THANH TRADING SERVICE JOINT STOCK COMPANY

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY
HO CHI MINH CITY CAMPUS

GRADUATION INTERNSHIP REPORT
Major: International Business Management
IMPORTING BUSINESS AT BEN THANH TRADING
& SERVICE JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Internee: Tran Thong Tu
Student ID: 1201017440
Class: K51CLC2
Supervisor: MB. Tran Quoc Trung

Ho Chi Minh City, November 2016
Internship Report Code: 311


SUPERVISOR’S REMARKS

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Ho Chi Minh City, November 2016

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INTERNSHIP ORGANIZATION’S REMARKS

Organization’s legal name: .................................................................................................
Address:...............................................................................................................................
Tax code: .............................................................................................................................
Main business sectors: .........................................................................................................
We hereby confirm that Mr./Ms. .........................................................................................
has completed an internship at our organization from ............................(DD/MM/YYYY)
to……………………(DD/MM/YYYY).
- For his/her attitude:
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- For his/her perception of the organization’s activities:
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- For the data illustrated in the report (Please confirm the accuracy of the data):
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- Other remarks:
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Signature
(Please write the full title, sign and seal)

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CONTENTS

4


LIST OF ABBREVIATION
ABBREVIATION
Ben Thanh TSC
C/A
CEO
CFS
CIF
CY
ECUS
FOB
FCL
L/C
T/T
VAS
VAT

FULL WORDS IN LENGTH
Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company
Certificate Of Analysis
Chief Executive Officer
Container Freight Station
Cost, Insurance, and Freight
Container Yard
Electronic Custom Software
Free On Board
Full Container Load
Letter of Credit
Telegraphic Transfer
Vietnam Accounting Standard
Value Added Tax

5


LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES
NO.
NAME OF TABLE/FIGURE
PAGE
1
Figure 1.1: Organizational hierarchy chart of Ben Thanh TSC
6
2
Table 1.1: Statistics of employees by gender and qualification in
9
3
4

2013-2015
Table 1.2: Statistics of business outcome in 2013-2015
Table 1.3: Percentages of revenue from Imports and Commercial

10
12

Trading in 2013-2015
5

Table 1.4: Tasks, Implementations, and Achievements of the Author

14

from September to December, 2016
6
7

Table 2.1: Import turnover at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-2015
Table 2.2: Percentages of main imports at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-

15
16

8

2015
Table 2.3: Market structure of imports at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-

17

9

2015
Table 2.4: Mode of transport used at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-2015

19

6


PREFACE
Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company is one of the medium-sized
companies which does business in Commercial Trading, Service Trading, and
Financial Investment. After nearly a decade of establishment and development, the
company has earn a high reputation in industrial and household equipment
importation which accounts for more than 50% of their total revenue. With the
expectation of approaching and having clear vision of the company’s business, I
decided to choose the topic “IMPORTING BUSINESS AT BEN THANH
TRADING & SERVICE JOINT STOCK COMPANY” as my field study subject
with the aim of finding out international payment procedure of those products and
presenting solutions to better this procedure.
The structure of the research consists of 3 following sections:
Chapter One: Introduction of Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company.
Chapter Two: Importing activities at Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock
Company from 2013 to 2015.
Chapter Three: Recommendations to improve importing activities at Ben Thanh
Trading & Service Joint Stock Company.
Accomplishing this report, the writer would like to highly express my gratitude to

the Board of Director of Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company for
always being patient and helpful to guide me during my internship. At the same
time, I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor, MB. Tran Quoc Trung,
for his dedicated and detailed guidance.
Being aware of the importance of the thesis, the writer did work hard. However, due
to time constraints and lack of experience, mistakes are unavoidable. Therefore, the
writer hopes to receive your precious feedback for a better report.
Sincerely thanks,
Tran Thong Tu

7


CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION OF BEN THANH TRADING &
SERVICE JOINT STOCK COMPANY
1.1.

Brief history

1.1.1. Establishment history

Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company has been established on April
21st, 2004 under Business Registration Certificate No. 4103002274, so-called as
Ben Thanh General Trading Company formerly, a State-owned Enterprise belonged
to Ben Thanh Corporation.
Name of Company in Vietnamese: CÔNG TY CỔ PHẦN THƯƠNG MẠI –
DỊCH VỤ BẾN THÀNH
Name of Company in English: BEN THANH TRADING & SERVICE JOINT
STOCK COMPANY
Name in abbreviation: BEN THANH TSC

Logo:
Address: 2 – 4 Luu Van Lang Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh
City
Tel: (84-8) 38 223 390

Fax: (84-8) 38 291 389

Email:
Website: www.benthanhtsc.com.vn
Authorized Capital: VND 106,000,000,000.00 (One hundred and six million
Vietnam Dong)
1.1.2. Development Process

In 1992, Ben Thanh General Trading Company was established under People's
Committee’s Decision No.22 on September 29th, 1992 on the formation of 3 state

8


trading corporations: District I Gerneral Trading Company, Ben Thanh Market
General Trading Company, Dan Sinh Market General Trading Company.
In 1997, Ben Thanh General Trading Company became part of Ben Thanh General
Company under People's Committee’s Decision No. 7448 on December 26th, 1997.
On December 16th, 2003 the People's Committee of Hochiminh City enforced the
decision No.6425 has transformed Ben Thanh General Trading Company into Ben
Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company, which does business independently.
On April 21st, 2004 Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company has
officially gone into action under Business Registration Certificate No. 4103002274
issued by the Department of Planning and Investment of Hochiminh City on April

21st, 2004.
In 2007, Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company was eligible for being
a public company and officially registered the State Security Commission of
Vietnam in June 2007.
On April 14th, 2010 Ben Thanh Trading & Service Joint Stock Company has
officially listed on Hochiminh City Stock Exchanges for the first time.
1.2.

Functions, missions, and organizational structure and human resource

management
1.2.1. Functions

Ben Thanh TSC performs a number of prime functions, as follows:
The first function is commercial and service trading. The company sells the goods
and services in the national market in order to provide the customer with high –
quality goods and services at the reasonable price. The goods include:
-

Textile fabric, garment products, leather and leatherette products, household
appliances products, souvenirs, cosmetics, toys, lacquer paintings, products made

-

from rattans, bamboos and leaves, types of embroidering products.
Materials, finished-products metals and semi-finished products used in construction

-

and manufacture, irons, steels, aluminums, paper pulps, papers.

Cool electrical products, household appliances and hand-held electrical instruments,
types of locks, mechanical devices and spare parts for Argo - industry - fishery, fire

9


protection and prevention devices, telecommunications and mechanics equipments
for manufacture.
And the services consist of:
-

Restaurants and hotels trading.
Leasing and renting out offices, apartments, Jewelry Trading Centers.
Trading real estate, import and export services, brokerage services.

The second function is investment. Until now, the company has contributed its
investment capital into enterprises right at the beginning of establishment and
participates directly or indirectly in management to ensure the profitability of its
investment capital. Areas essentially invested by the company are finance, banking,
commerce, services, tourism, hotels, trade centers, office buildings for lease,
education, health, manufacture and so forth.
The last function is importation. So far, the company has imported several
commodities, but focused on 3 major products including air conditioners, steel,
household appliances. The purpose of the company is providing products of highreputation manufactors, satisfying the customers’ demand, and thereby, enabling the
company to carry out the first function better.
1.2.2. Missions

So as to fulfil three functions above effectively, Ben Thanh TSC also conducts a
number of missions, as follows:
The first mission is setting up a business management system conform with the

company’s conditions, and financing an injection of capital for commercial and
service trading smoothly.
The second mission is building up and making process schemes related to trading
business, importation, and the company’s activities. Making market researchs both
nationally and internationally entails that all of the company’s business will be done
effectively.
The last mission is doing all legal duties to the State such as paying taxes in due
course, complying laws and policies of the State, and ensuring necessary conditions
of saving materials, labour safety and hygiene, and environment protections.
In addition, the company is responsible for improving conditions of workplace,
labour arrangement, and taking care the living standard of their employees.

10


In short, with respect to three above-mentioned funtions, the company has to
accomplish three particular missions to develop in a sustainable way over time.
1.2.3. Organizational hierarchy chart

Figure 1.1: Organizational hierarchy chart of Ben Thanh TSC
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF SHAREHOLDERS
THE BOARD
OF
THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS

GENERAL DIRECTOR

DEPUTY

GENERAL
DIRECTOR

DEPUTY GENERAL
DIRECTOR

Financial
Division

Development and
Research Division

Personnel Administration Division

Personnel
-Organization
Department

Business Division

Administration
Department

Business
Department

AFFILIATED
UNITS OF THE
COMPANY

Investment
Service
Department

ENTERPRISES
CONTRIBUTED CAPITALS
OF THE COMPANY

11


(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Hierarchy chart of
management)
1.2.4. Functions of main departments
 The General Assembly of Shareholders

The General Assembly of Shareholders is the most dominant department in Ben
Thanh TSC, including all of the shareholders have rights to vote. The General
Assembly of Shareholders is responsible for discussing and approving some annual
financial reports, reports of the General Assembly of Shareholders and the board of
Supervisors on situations of business and management of the company; determining
several approaches of long-term development of the company; amending and
supplementing regulations of the company; and appointing and dismissing the
Board of Directors and the Board of supervisors under current regulations of the
company and existing laws of the State.
 The Board of Directors

Business operations and other activities of the company through the administration
and instructions of The Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is the deparment
which stands up for full absolute rights to retain all of the rights on behalf of the

company, except for the rights which are belongs to the General Assembly of
Shareholders.
 The Board of Supervisors

The Board of Supervisors is the department which the General Assembly of
Shareholders votes for. It is the division which is on behalf of shareholders to
control every business operations of the company, manage and run the company.
The Board of Supervisors is comprised of 3 people which the General Assembly of
Shareholders stands to elect. The term of office of the Board of Supervisors is no
more than 5 years.
 General Director

The General Director or the CEO is an executive who has overall responsible for
overseeing all administrative functions in business operations of the company,
directly supervise and be the advisor for all divisions as well as departments about
business goals, strategies and financial issues of the company. Also, the General

12


Director answerable to the General Director for the performance of his/her duties. A
major part of the Gerneral Director involves leading and directing Deputy General
Directors.
 Deputy General Director

The Deputy General Director is in charge of organizing and performing activities of
each department on denominated functions and missions and carrying out other
missions under the arrangement of the General Director.
 Personnel Administration Division

The Personnel Administration Division acts as an advisor for the General Director,
assists the General Director in the management of human resource, labour – salary,
and administration. Taking charge of the Personnel Administration Division is the
Director of this Division, who is answerable to the General Director for the
performance of his/her Division.
 Financial Division

The Financial Division acts as an counsellor for the General Director, assists the
General Director in the assessment of business performance, financial situation,
accountancy, and the management of capital and assets. Taking charge of the
Financial Division is the Director of this Division, who is answerable to the General
Director for the performance of his/her Division. The Chief Account of the
company is in charge of organizing accountancy, entering in the accounts, make
financial reports under the VAS and relevant regulations of the State.
 Research and Development Division

The Research and Development Division acts as an advisor for the General
Director, assists the General Director in market research, planning development
strategies of the company, stimulating investment and commercial trading,
managing and developing the information-technology of the company. Taking
charge of the Research and Development Division is the Director of this Division,
who is accountable to the General Director for the performance of his/her Division.
 Business Division

The Personnel Organization Department acts as an counsellor and demonstrator for
the General Director, assists the General Director in the business field. Taking

13

charge of the Research and Development Division is the Director of this Division,
who is accountable to the General Director for the performance of his/her Division.
 Affiliated Units of the Company:

Affiliated Units of the Company hold a function of directly doing business in
suggested plans and orientations of the Company. They also play as advisors for the
General Director, assists the General Director in running business operations, in the
management of capital, private supplies, products, assets in each unit of the
company. The Chief Executive (Director) of affilated units of the company is an
executive who has overall responsible for overseeing all administrative functions in
business operations of each unit, and is accountable to the General Director for the
performance of his/her own unit.
1.2.5. Human resource

Table 1.1: Statistics of employees by gender and qualification in 2013-2015
Employees

Categories

Gender
• Male
• Female

2013

A
m
o
u
nt

9
7
2
2
3

2014
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
(
%
)
3
0
.
3
1
6
9
.
6

14

A
m
o
u
nt

2015
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

A
m
o
u
nt

(
%
)

1
0
2
2
2
3

3
1
.
3
8
6
8
.
6

P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e
(
%
)

9
5
2
1
2

3
0
.
9
4
6
9
.
0


9

2

6

1
1
1
3
5
7

.
.
.
4
5
5
7
3
5
Qualification
4
0
4
• Higher education
5
8
9
2
2
2
• Lower education
8
8
8
7
7
5
6
4
2

6
5
3
.
.
.
2
6
4
5
2
1
3
1
3
1
3
1
 Total
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
7

0
(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Human resource
management)
Table 1.1 indicates that there was a considerable fluctuation in a number of
employees and two dominant trends in the period of 3 recent years. Specifically, the
number of employees increased slightly by 1.56% from 320 people in 2013 to 325
people in 2014. However, this figure decreased further by 4.06% in 2015 compared
to the year 2013 due to the fact that there was 18 employees reach the age of
retirement.
By gender, there was a difference in the rate between men and women from 2013 to
2015. Female always remained a high level of less than 70%. This was due to the
fact that office work usually does not attract any attention of male. The majority of
employees was women, except for some positions suitable for men such as
accountants, salesmen, and so on.
By qualification, lower education (2013 – 86.25%; 2015 – 82.41%) accounted for a
larger part of the education of human resource in the period of 3 years, but the trend
of them is going down by 3.84%. In contrast, the company saw the slightly growing
trend of employing higher education staff (undergraduates and postgraduates),
which went up from 13.75% to 17.59% after 3 years.
Besides the above-mentioned statistical analysis of data, there are two big
drawbacks of labour force which require great concentration of the company.

15


First, many employees expose severe limitations on professional skills in English.
High workload requires employees to be excellent in not only professional
knowledge but also professional skills in English when dealing with foreign
partners, especially Chinese manufacturers. Thus, every year the company recruits
many employees, but hardly anyone of them are influent in English, especially for

management positions. Therefore, it is difficult for them to communicate some
issues in sales contracts to Chinese suppliers. Moreover, while expanding importing
scale, the company requires a high level of demand of salesmen who are good at
both English and Chinese skills. However, employing them is relatively difficult
because most of salesmen in Vietnam master just English, and few of them have a
deep understanding of Chinese.
Second, it emerged that miscommunication that frequently occurs among division
as well as departments at the company. Every year, the company increases imports
of high-value commodities, with billions of VNDs per consignment imported. The
Business Department, which is in charge of making an order for the imports, has to
arrange a schedule of importation monthly and order at least 4 months before the
company deliver the goods to their customers. Therefore, periodic reporting of the
inventory and the next-month sales plan has to be detailed, up-to-date, and correct
up to 95%. Otherwise, without merely a small amount of goods, for example 10
kilograms of material, the company would remake an order and use an express
delivery service in order to catch up the sales progress, because a one-month plan in
which the amount of goods fails to meet sales expectations results in the collapse of
other-month plans. When a mistake happens, it will be a headache problem for
employees among departments to fix all of the expected sales plan. It will also cause
many troubles and losses for the company, not only increasing the cost but also
reverse the suggested plan.
In summary, human resource of Ben Thanh TSC who went for the trend of higher
education and higher level of women enabled the company to become flexible,
dynamic and met their business requirement. However, the company should take
fair treatment policies and appropriate educational programs so as either to

16


encourage their employees to work more efficiently or prevent them from

unexpected incidents.
1.3.

Business situation
Table 1.2: Statistics of business outcome in 2013-2015
Criteria
(Unit: million VND)
2013
2014
2015

Net
reven
ue

Expe
nse

331,8
02
323,8
45
328,3
92

272,5
19
274,6
74
280,5

83

Profi
t
after
taxes
45,27
0
39,35
8
37,99
5

2
Percen
100.7
0
tage
97.60
86.94
9
1
(%)
4
–
2
Differ
2,155
0
ence

7,957
5,912
Gr
1
ow
3
th
2
Percen
rat
101.4
102.1
0
tage
96.54
e
0
5
1
(%)
5
–
2
Differ
4,538
5,909
0
ence
1,363
1

4
(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Business Activities of Ben
Thanh TSC)
Table 1.2 shows data on net revenue, expense, and profit before/after taxes in Ben
Thanh TSC starting from 2013 to 2015. Generally speaking, Ben Thanh TSC
witnessed a fall in net revenue and profit and a rise in expense.
With regard to the net revenue, the number decreased by 3,410 million VND from
331,802 million VND in 2013 to 328,392 million VND in 2015 in spite of an
increase by 4,538 million VND from 323,845 million VND in 2014 to 328,392

17


million VND in 2015. In a different pattern, there was a steady downward trend in
both profit before taxes and profit after taxes, with a drop of 11,474 million VND
and 7,275 million VND respectively in the studied period. However, there was a
moderate growth of 8,064 million VND in the expense between 2013 and 2015.
In the period of 2013 – 2014, the growth rate of net revenue and profit went up by
nearly 2.5% and approximately 13% respectively for some reasons. First, in
commercial trading industry, because of the complication of East Sea situation, a
number of travelers reduced incredibly and thereby several services in service
trading industry were negatively affected. Second, in real estate service, some
customers suggested to cut down renting costs and the office releasing on 186 – 188
Le Thanh Ton Street suspended in order to build a hotel there.
In the period of 2014 – 2015, the growth rate of net revenue went up by nearly 1.5%
because there was a rise in selling a wide range of import products such as steel,
electrical appliances in commercial trading industry. However, the figure of profit
continued to go down by approximately 3.5% for some reasons. First, in service
trading industry, a number of visitors continued to fall and thereby, some of their
related activities such as eating, shopping are negatively affected from March to

June in 2015. Second, in financial investment industry, Ben Thanh TSC restructured
banks and reform their business activities in Ben Thanh East Center. Last, real
estate releasing had difficulty due to the maintenance of gold trading stands on 186
– 188 Le Thanh Ton Street from April to July in 2015.
To sum up, Ben Thanh TSC saw a downward trend in both revenue and profit and
an upward trend in expense from the early 2013 to the lately 2015. It means they are
warning signals for the company’s business and they need to be improve in the
future.
1.4.

Importance of imports to the development of Ben Thanh TSC
Table 1.3: Percentages of revenue from Imports and Commercial Trading in
2013-2015

013

18


Percen
-tage (%)

Value

28.09

95.77

86.34

277.4

100
323.8
(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Business Activities of Ben
Thanh TSC)
Table 1.3 represents the revenue and proportion of imports and commercial trading
industry between 2013 and 2015. Generally speaking, imports has played an
important role in Sales Business Department in particular and in the development of
Ben Thanh TSC in general.
As can be seen, there was 2 primary trends in this table: an upward trend of import
business and a downward trend of commercial trading industry (as analyzed in 1.3);
however, the growth of import business will be mainly discussed. During the
studied period, the value of imports increased sharply by nearly 20%, while its
value remained almost the same at about one third of total value. The main reason is
that Ben Thanh TSC has been in close cooperation with international manufacturers
and dealed with a stable number of national customers. The promotion of
importation not only contributes significantly to total revenue of Ben Thanh TSC,
but also facilitates Ben Thanh TSC penetrate into globalization, which is one of
important goals of Ben Thanh TSC.
However, to achieve their long-term goals, Ben Thanh TSC need to continuously
diversify a wide range of imports, identify target markets, and search for potential
customers.
1.5.

Competitive advantage of Ben Thanh TSC compared to other companies
of the same industry

In every business field, Ben Thanh TSC has gradually attained their position
compared to other enterprises of the same field in the same area.

In commercial trading field, there are a great deal of large trade centers at Ben
Thanh market and Dan Sinh market. These are well-known markets of Hochiminh

19


City; thus, revenue and profit from these trade centers rise stably over time, which
makes it a individual advantage of Ben Thanh TSC.
In real estate investment – service field, Ben Thanh TSC has managed to make use
of more than 30 business sites with total area of approximately 6,000 m 2, which is
located in the center of Hochiminh City. With these benefits, in the long term, Ben
Thanh TSC has concentrated on building a chain of Ben-Thanh-TSC labelled
skyscrapers to exploit their full potential. Ben Thanh TSC finished the first building
in 2005 and the nineteenth in early 2015, most of which are situated at the heart of
Hochiminh City. In the next 5 years, Ben Thanh TSC planned to construct 6 service
– commercial skyscrapers in District 3, which increase their total projects up to 25.
This is an advantage that Ben Thanh TSC ensures their profit and spreads their
investments beyound the current network of business.
In service trading field, Ben Thanh TSC has been facilitated to flourish considerably
in the present economic climate. When metropolis-updating projects and
transportation infrastructure construction in Hochiminh City were put into use,
several enterprises, especially Ben Thanh TSC, have been given a lot of golden
opportunities to develop real estate services in the strategy of city planning.
Being a member of Ben Thanh General Company (Ben Thanh Group), Ben Thanh
TSC has a sustainable history of establishment and development. Not only that,
with experienced human resource, which have a deep understanding of service –
trading field, Ben Thanh TSC has also build up a lot of relationships with partners,
customers, relevant agencies, and so on both nationally and internationally. Hence,
it is an honor for Ben Thanh TSC to receive Certifications of the Minister and the
Labour Order, Second class due to their excellent performance in their business.

1.6.

Intern’s activities during internship period

Duration of the internship: 3 months from September 1 st, 2016 to December 1st,
2016, with 40 hours/week equitable to 5 days/week.
Address of internship organization: Ben Thanh TSC, 2 – 4 Luu Van Lang Street,
Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

20


Listed in the Table 1.4 are tasks, how to them, and what the author/the intern has
learned about the company during the internship:
Table 1.4: Tasks, Implementations, and Achievements of the Author from
September to December, 2016

TA

DO RESEARCH IN

OBSERVE THE EMPLOYEE’S TA

TAKE PART IN W
REPLY TO CUSTOMERS’ QUESTIONS
(Source: Composed by the author)

21

CHAPTER TWO: IMPORTING BUSINESS AT BEN THANH TRADING &
SERVICE JOINT STOCK COMPANY FROM 2013 TO 2015
2.1.

Importing business at ben thanh trading & service joint stock company
from 2013 to 2015

2.1.1. Import turnover

As analyze in 1.4, the importance of importation is indisputable in business
operation of Ben Thanh TSC. Therefore, it is necessary for us to investigate an
aspect of importation; that is import turnover to find out how import value increase
over the years, and why Vietnam has trade deficits.
Table 2.1: Import turnover at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-2015
Year

Value (billion VND)

Growth rate (%)

2013
93.10
2.87%
2014
95.77
15.82%
2015
110.92
(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Business Activities of Ben
Thanh TSC)

Table 2.1 gives information on the growth rate of import at Ben Thanh enterprise
through out the period of 3 years 2013 – 2015. Obviously, the value of imports has
risen over time. Particularly, the import turnover in 2014 reached 95.77 billion
VND, increasing by the revenue of 2.67 billion VND compared to the figure in
2013 (93.1 billion VND). It means that the import value grew mildly 2.87%
between 2013 and 2014. It is due to the fact that Ben Thanh TSC had some
negotiation problem with some of familiar steel manufacturers and decided to cut
down on steel imports; not only that, electrical accessories were not in the list of
imports of Ben Thanh TSC until 2015. However, from 2014 to 2015, the import
turnover went up by 15.15 billion VND with respect to 15.82% which is almost
sixfold than the growth rate between 2013 and 2014. The reason behind this is Ben
Thanh TSC has found new steel exporters and potential customers for solving steel
importation thanks to some Multilateral Agreements such as ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC), Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and so on.

22


In short, Ben Thanh TSC in 2014 – 2015 put on the better performance of
importation than they did 2013 – 2015, which makes a big contribution to the
company’s revenue and profit. This positive signals indicates an ever-increasing
growth rate of import turnover in the period of 2016.
2.1.2. Import structure

Table 2.2: Percentages of main imports at Ben Thanh TSC in 2013-2015
2013

Items
(Unit: billion
VND)

Air
conditioners

Steel

Household
appliances

V
a
l
u
e
2
3
.
8
5
0
.
3
1
0
.
7

Others

8

.
3

Total

9
3
.
1

2014

Pe
rce
n
ta
ge
(%
)
25.
6

54

11.
5

8.9

10

0

V
a
l
u
e
2
8
.
9
3
4
.
6
1
5
.
7
1
6
.
6
9
5
.
8

2015

Pe
rce
n
ta
ge
(%
)
30.
2
36.
1
16.
4

V
a
l
u
e
3
0
.
6
5
6
.
1
1
9
.

1

Pe
rce
n
ta
ge
(%
)
27.
6
50.
6
17.
2

17.
3

5
.
1

4.6

10
0

1
1

0
.
9

10
0

(Source: Ben Thanh TSC, Annual Report 2013 – 2015, Business Activities of Ben
Thanh TSC)
Table 2.2 gives information on the growth rate of import at Ben Thanh TSC through
out the period of 3 years 2013 – 2015.

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In terms of air conditioners, there was a sharp rise in their imports from 2013 to
2014; in particular, in 2013, the revenue of air conditioners was 23.8 billion VND,
while in 2014, the number was 28.9 billion VND, increase 21.43% compared to
2013. However, there was a slight increase from 2014 to 2015. The revenue was
30.6 billion VND in 2015, increase 5.88% compared to the previous year.
For steel – the largest percentage of imports, there was a rapid drop in their imports
from 2013 to 2014; in particular, in 2013, the revenue of air conditioners was 50.3
billion VND, while in 2014, the number was 34.6 billion VND, decrease 31.21%
compared to 2013. However, there was a rocket from 2014 to 2015. The revenue
was 56.1 billion VND in 2015, increase 62.14% compared to the previous year.
For household appliances, there was a steadily dramatic growth in their imports
from 2013 to 2014; in particular, in 2013, the value of air conditioners was 10.7
billion VND, while in 2014, the number was 15.7 billion VND, increase by 46.73%
compared to 2013. Similarly, the revenue was 19.1 billion VND in 2015, increase
21.66% compared to the previous year.

For others, with the emergence of hand pallet trucks, the year 2014 experienced the
sharp increase in the value, with 16.6 billion VND equitable to 17.3%. The figure
more than trippled to 4.6% in 2015 and doubled to 8.9% in 2013. Although imports
of hand pallet trucks went up, raw material decreased in numbers on account of the
company decided to cut down on imports of raw material. In fact, the State also
levied high tax, about 30% - 40%, on these kinds of import. It means that the State
has not supported this importation any more until now.
Obviously, the revenue of imported goods have increased over the years, except for
steel. Particularly, in 2014, the company suddenly cut down on imports from
Chinese steel manufacturers due to the price fluctuation of steel in China and import
more other commodities such as raw materials, hand tools, and so on. However,
steel gained back the 1st imported item in 2015 when its price became stable. Air
conditioners and household appliances, although had difficulty from the State due to
the high tax policy on these items, have steadily increased because of their high
demand in our country. Lastly, other commodities, despite their unstable supply,

24


accounted for a moderate percentage of total revenue from the importation of the
company.
Besides the above-mentioned statistical analysis of data, there are several
advantages and disadvantages of import structure which require great concentration
of the company.
When it comes to advantages of the import structure, first, there are a wide range of
imported commodities with various patterns. Those are air conditioners, steel (steel
rollers), household appliances (aluminum pressure cooker, stainless steel pressure
cooker, stainless steel cookware set, hand blender), and others (hand pallet trucks,
raw materials) (Appendix). It is convenient and easy for customers, both
entrepreneurs and households, to select and purchase one kind of products in their

demands.
Second, the expected amounts of imported goods well match the real amounts of
goods sold. Besides the goods sold, the goods in ventory still exists but with small
volume. It is due to the fact that some of the imports are articles hard to get rid of.
Taking hand pallet trucks as an example, these products require special
specifications which few factories in Hochiminh City can meet. Thus, depending on
demand of customers, this kind of product are imported once to twice in a year.
Third, the price of the imported goods is quite stable in the studied period.
However, it slight increased in the late 2015 due to the devaluation of China’s
currency Yuan. It should be kept in mind that the company mostly trades with the
Chinese exporters at the exchange rate of USD/RMB, so if the yuan is more than 10
percent overvalued against the U.S. dollar, the price of Chinese suppliers is more 10
percent expensive than the previous price they used to deal with the company.
Speaking of the disadvantage of the business items structure of the company, in
spite of a variety of patterns, it still reveals the inferiority to their rival companies in
the market. Meanwhile, their rivals has launched a new, attractive range of products
so far. Furthermore, the current exporters do not sells their products exclusive to the
company; it means that like the company, there are many importers buys the same
products from one supplier. Therefore, the company feels some concern for their

25