Nghiên cứu xây dựng và phát triển thương hiệu Tập đoàn Công nghiệp Hóa chất Việt Nam VINACHEM

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH
---------------------

CHU PHƢƠNG LINH

RESEARCH ON BUILDING AND DEVELOPING THE
BRAND OF VIETNAM NATIONAL CHEMICAL
INDUSTRY GROUP - VINACHEM

NGHIÊN CỨU XÂY DỰNG VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN
THƢƠNG HIỆU TẬP ĐỒN CƠNG NGHIỆP HĨA
CHẤT VIỆT NAM - VINACHEM

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH

HÀ NỘI - 2019


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH
---------------------

CHU PHƢƠNG LINH

RESEARCH ON BUILDING AND DEVELOPING THE
BRAND OF VIETNAM NATIONAL CHEMICAL
INDUSTRY GROUP - VINACHEM

NGHIÊN CỨU XÂY DỰNG VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN
THƢƠNG HIỆU TẬP ĐỒN CƠNG NGHIỆP HĨA

CHẤT VIỆT NAM - VINACHEM

Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh
Mã số: 60 34 01 02
LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH

NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. PHẠM VĂN HỒNG

HÀ NỘI - 2019


DECLARATION

The author confirms that the research outcomes in the thesis is the result of
author’ independent work during study and research period and it is not yet
published in other’s research and article.
The other’s research result and documentation (extraction, table, figure,
formula and other document) used in the thesis are cited properly and the
permission (if required) is given.
The author is responsible in front of the ThesisAssessment Committee,
Hanoi School of Business and Management, and the laws for above-mentioned
declaration.

Hanoi,

May 2019

Chu Phuong Linh

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility
to complete this dissertation. I want to thank Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group
for giving me the permission to do the necessary research work and to use Vinachem
data.
I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Pham Van Hong PhD, Vice Dean of
Hanoi School of Business and Management - Hanoi National University whose
help, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all the time of
research for this dissertation.
Besides my advisor, I would like to thank to MBA studying course and the
team of HSB’s lecturers and supporting staffs. Without partcipating the course, as
well as the caring and responsibility of them, I could not have opportunity to access
and absort the useful knowledge for framing my comprehensive understanding
about business administration.
Especially, I would like to thank my family for all the support and
encouragement not only during this Master course, but also my life.

Hanoi,

May, 2019

Chu Phƣơng Linh

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION .........................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ii
ABBREVIATION ......................................................................................................vi
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................vii
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL OF BRAND BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT 9
1.1. Overview of Brand ............................................................................................... 9
1.1.1. Concept and characteristics of the brand ......................................................... 9
1.1.2. The role of the brand ....................................................................................... 12
1.2. Processing of brand building and development ................................................. 14
1.2.1. Building brand vision ...................................................................................... 14
1.2.2. Brand Positioning ........................................................................................... 15
1.2.3. Brand identity system ...................................................................................... 17
1.2.4. Brand communication ..................................................................................... 22
1.2.5. Brand Assessment.......................................................................................... 288
1.2.6. Brand Protection ............................................................................................. 28
1.3. The basic elements ensure the successful branding ........................................... 29
1.3.1. Leaders ............................................................................................................ 29
1.3.2. Commitment of Leadership ............................................................................. 30
1.3.3. Products .......................................................................................................... 30
1.3.4. Resources of businesses .................................................................................. 31
1.3.5. Internal Communications ................................................................................ 31
Summary of Chapter 1 .............................................................................................. 33
CHAPTER 2: CURRENT SITUATION OF BUILDING AND DEVELOPING
THE BRAND OF VIETNAM NATIONAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY GROUP –
VINACHEM ............................................................................................................. 34
2.1. Overview of Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group - Vinachem ............ 34
2.1.1. The process of formation and development .................................................... 34

iii


2.1.2. Organizational structure and business lines of Vietnam National Chemical Group37
2.1.3. Business Results ............................................................................................ 3740
2.2. Current situation of brand building and development at Vietnam National
Chemical Industry Group .......................................................................................... 41
2.2.1. Building Brand vision ..................................................................................... 42
2.2.2. Brand Positioning ........................................................................................... 43
2.2.3. Brand identity system ...................................................................................... 44
2.2.4. Brand Communication .................................................................................... 47
2.2.5. Brand Protection ............................................................................................. 52
2.3. Situation of factors to ensure successful branding of Vietnam National
Chemical Industry Group .......................................................................................... 53
2.3.1. Leader ............................................................................................................. 53
2.3.2. Commitment of Leader .................................................................................... 56
2.3.3. Products .......................................................................................................... 57
2.3.4. Resources ........................................................................................................ 63
2.3.5. Internal communication .................................................................................. 65
2.4. Evaluation of brand building activities of Vietnam National Chemical Industry
Group ......................................................................................................................... 67
2.4.1. Results ............................................................................................................. 67
2.4.2. Limitations and causes .................................................................................... 68
Summary of Chapter 2 .............................................................................................. 70
CHAPTER

3:

SOME

SOLUTIONS

TO

IMPROVE

BUILDING

AND

DEVELOPING BRAND OF VIETNAM NATIONAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
GROUP - VINACHEM ............................................................................................ 71
3.1. Orientation and objectives of Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group...... 71
3.1.1. Vision: ............................................................................................................. 71
3.1.2. Mission ............................................................................................................ 71
3.1.3. Branding goals up to 2025 .............................................................................. 71
3.2. Solution to improve brand building of Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group73
3.2.1. Solution to improve branding apparatus of Vinachem ................................... 73

iv


3.2.2. Solutions to identify target market and brand positioning ............................. 75
3.2.3. Solution to design brand identity system......................................................... 76
3.2.4. Solutions to improve communication and trade promotion activities ............ 78
3.2.5. Other solutions ................................................................................................ 82
3.2.6. Implementation plan of proposed solutions .................................................... 82
3.3. Some recommendations ..................................................................................... 86
3.3.1. For the State .................................................................................................... 86
3.3.2. For Vietnamese chemical enterprises ............................................................. 87

Summary of Chapter 3 .............................................................................................. 88
CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................... 89
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 90

v


ABBREVIATION

Vinachem

: Vienam National Chemical Industry Group - Vinachem

SXKD

: manufactoring business

VCB

: Vinachem Group Brand

CBCNV

: Employees

CP

: Goverment

NNL

: Human resource

VN

: Vietnam

vi


LIST OF FIGURES, TABLE

Figure 2. 1 Organizational structure of Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group ....37
Figure 2.1. Business results of Vietnam National Chemical Group period 20162018 ...........................................................................................................................41

Table 2. 1. Customers’ assessment of “clean” culture ..............................................44
Table 2.2 Evaluate the popularity of new customers with culture ............................44
Table 2.3. Evaluation of Vinachem's brand identity system .....................................46
Table 2.4 The situation of expenses for brand communication activities of
Vinachem in the period 2016-2018 ...........................................................................47
Table 2.5. Expenses for promoting and advertising Vinachem products in the period
of 2016 - 2018 ...........................................................................................................49
Table 2.6. Evaluation of accessibility to information about Vinachem ....................51
Table 2.7. Comments of customers and partner about Vinachem ............................51
Table 2.8. Evaluation of Vinachem products ............................................................59
Table 2.9. Prices of some exported products for domestic consumption by
Vinachem ..................................................................................................................60
Table 2.10. Prices of some products of type 2 consumed on the domestic market of
Vinachem ..................................................................................................................61
Table 2.11. Prices of some chemical products of some chemical companies across

the country .................................................................................................................62
Table 2.12. Customer’s assessment of Vinachem’s staff.........................................64
Table 2.13. Evaluate the satisfaction level of staff and employees with activities
Vinachem personnel organization and management ................................................66

vii


INTRODUCTION
1. The urgency of the subject
In the development of the world economy in general and Vietnam's economy
in particular, when goods are produced more and more, competition between
suppliers is also increasingly fierce, the role of brand is very important for
businesses participating in the market. Branding is one of the most important factors
contributing to creating competitiveness, attracting customers, creating business
prestige and really is an important asset of the business. While foreign enterprises
have long been aware of the extremely important role of the brand, have focused on
investment, brand promotion and achieved great success, only a few years ago, after
a series of Vietnamese trademark cases that have been violated at home and abroad,
Vietnamese businesses are more interested in branding. Building a brand for
yourself is becoming an urgent issue for Vietnamese businesses, especially since
our country joined the World Trade Organization.
During the integration period today, the chemical industry in the country is
still in the stage of growth and development, chemical enterprises are facing
difficulties in quality competition, product prices and must catch up with high
management and technical skills of countries in the region and the world ... In the
production of detergents, paints and ink ... multinational corporations are
dominating the market and the Domestic enterprises mainly only process for them
with the desire to have a part in the market to survive.
Vietnam National Chemical Group (hereinafter refered to as VINACHEM) is

a multi-owned enterprise, in which state ownership is dominant, operating under the
model of Parent Company - Subsidiary, established under Decision No. 2180 TTg
dated 23 December 2009 by the Prime Minister on the basis of reoder and
reorganizing Vietnam National Chemical Corporation, managing forty-one
subsidiary companies and 5 foreing joint ventures with over 30,000 employees in
some fields such as: fertilizers, pesticides, detergents, rubber products, paint and
petrochemicals,

drycells

and

storage

batteries,

and

basic

chemicals

(vinachem.com.vn, 2018). Most Vietnamese chemical enterprises are small and
1


medium-sized, so they are currently subject to direct and fierce competition from
foreign corporations with financial potential as well as modern technologylevel and
development strategíe. This requires domestic chemical enterprises to make more
efforts in production to find their own way. Moreover, until now, Vinachem does not

have any plans to develop their Group brand, although some Vinachem subsidiary
company brands have developed significantly and hold high positons in Vietnamese
market. So most people know Vinachem’subsidiary company brands, but they are
unfamiliar with Vinachem Group brand. Therefore, researching and developing a
strong brand, building Vinachem brand is becoming ever more important as Vinachem
faces an increasingly global and competive marketplace. Due to that reason, I chose the
topic "Research on building and developing the brand of Vietnam National
Chemical Industry Group - VINACHEM" as my master's thesis topic.
2. Overview of research situation
2.1. Foreign research situation
In recent times, there have been a number of authors studying abroad on
brands published through publishing books and doctoral dissertations such as:
- Thi Thu Huong Luc, PhD thesis, web branding at Vietnamese manufacture
enterprises, University of Fribourg, March 22nd, 2013: “Lục Thị Thu Hường (2013).
- Al Ries &Laura Ries (2002, 2009), with: The 22 Immutable Laws of
Branding and 11 Immutable Laws of internet Branding. Both books are translated
in Vienamese, published by Knowledge Publishing House, 2010.
- Robert D. Kintigh (2012), How to Brand Yourself Online, Truth Mastery, 1
edition (December 21, 2012): The book is about new opportunities for businesses,
especially small businesses with the opportunity to build their own brand without
being too dependent on the budget.
The content of these studies refers primarily to some new issues in branding.
Besides, the research methods of these works mainly focus on synthesized methods
- statistics, collation - comparison, case method and few works using social
investigation method. However, these studies have not mentioned fully and
comprehensively the contents necessary for the building and developping of brands
2


of enterprises, especially those affecting the process of building and developing

brand of these businesses.
2.2. Research in the country
In the country, the research on the brands of enterprises has some researches:
- Tran Thi Anh Tuyet (2010), "Strategy to build and develop the trademark of
Trong Duc Electronics Center", Master's thesis in economics, Hanoi National
Economics University. This study focuses on systematizing the theoretical basic of
brand, the project has focused on assessing the status of developing the brand name
of Trong Duc Electronics Center of Duong Trong Duc Co., Ltd. in the past time
through customer surveys. In order to evaluate the factors affecting the brand of
Trong Duc Electronics Center. Basic for brand building through identifying the
company's brand vision and goals to build a branding strategy. Provide solutions to
build the brand name of Trong Duc Center.
This study focuses on systematizing the theoretical basis of the brand,
assessing the status of business operations
- Nguyen Van Tam (2012), "Building the Co-opmart brand of the association
of commercial cooperatives in Ho Chi Minh City", Master's thesis in economics, Ho
Chi Minh City University of Economics. This study focuses on systematizing the
theoretical basis of brand, assessing the status of business activities of Co.opmart
supermarket and orienting to build and develop the brand of Co.opmart supermarket
by position analization of factors affecting brand. Based on the development goal
to raise solutions for developing brand Co.opmart supermarket.
- Le Thi Ngoc Trinh (2014), "Building brand of Vinh Tien Group", Master's
thesis, Hong Bang International University. The topic of the author Le Thi Ngoc
Trinh focuses on assessing the status of branding of the company through the status
of branding and trademark registration. Besides, the author also assesses the status
of brand development of the company's products through brand promotion
activities. Thereby assess the achievements and failures of the company's brand
building and development activities to offer solutions to build and develop the
company's brand in the future.
3

- Huynh Thi Thuong (2014), "Building a brand of Goldmilk milk powder of
Van An Manufacturing and Trading Co., Ltd.", Master thesis, Dong Bang
International University. The content of the project, in addition to systematizing the
theoretical basis of the brand, the project has focused on assessing the brand
development status of Goldmilk milk powder in the past time. At the same time,
through the factors affecting the brand, vision, mission, core values and goals of the
Goldmilk brand such as: market segmentation status and target market
identification, brand positioning, current brand development strategy, the status of
implementing brand development policies. And most importantly, this essay has
evaluated the results and brand protection through customer surveys. Since then
give some solutions to build and develop Goldmilk milk powder brand.
- Phung Viet Quang (2013); "Developing brand Viglacera - Viglacera
Corporation" master’s thesis in business administration, Danang University. This
thesis focuses on assessing the status of Viglacera brand development of Viglacera
Corporation in the past time. At the same time, through the factors affecting the
brand, vision, mission, core values and goals of the Goldmilk brand such as: market
segmentation status and target market identification, brand positioning, current
brand development strategy, the status of implementing brand development
policies. Since then give some solutions to build and develop Viglacera brand of
Viglacera Corporation.
- Doan Van Sinh (2013); "Developing the brand of Petrol Petrolimex, master
thesis in business administration, Danang University." The topic has taken steps to
build and develop Petrolimex brand of Petrolimex Danang Gas Company in recent
years. Petrolimex Gas market of Petrolimex Da Nang Gas Co., Ltd. joined the
market very early, had a wide distribution system, large-scale and methodical
facilities and good financial ability, high quality products. .... However, Petrolimex
Da Nang Gas Co., Ltd is still competitive with many difficulties, developing
inadequate with its potential and advantages. Strengths, advantages of products and

Petrolimex Gas brand are not well -known and selected to use. Since then give

4


some solutions to develop Petrolimex brand of Petrolimex Danang Gas Company
Limited.
- The article "Vietnam brand development to the global" published in Vietnam
Entrepreneur magazine April 5, 2019 by Huong Loan shows that Vietnamese
businesses are very actively building brands, creating images of businesses and
products on the domestic and international markets. We strongly believe that, in the
near future, there will be Vietnamese brands that are widely known in the global
market.
- The article "Development of Vietnam's agricultural product brand based on
regional and regional exploitation" published in Finance magazine April 28, 2019
by Assoc. Nguyen Quoc Thinh shows the current situation of brand development of
Vietnamese agricultural products, analyzes favorable factors as well as presents
some problems and difficulties in developing trademarks for Vietnamese
agricultural products.
- Article "Helping Vietnam's brand to develop sustainably" published in Nhan
Dan newspaper on April 19, 2019 by Le Thi Binh. The article analyzed in the
process of increasing integration of Vietnam into the world economy today,
outstanding competitiveness is a decisive factor for the success of enterprises in the
market. Brand is a valuable intangible asset - showing the most comprehensive and
focused strengths of businesses to make a difference compared to competitors.
Meanwhile, most Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized, most have
not had much investment conditions for branding. Therefore, supporting branding
of goods and services of enterprises to increase added value, promote exports, as
well as enhance the ability to identify goods and services on the market is extremely
necessary. necessary in the process of integration and development of the country.

In general, the above articles have introduced the concept of brand, brand
characteristics, brand components, brand role, building orientation and brand
development. However, at the moment there is no author who studies the brand in
the chemical industry, so the study of the topic: "Research on building and
developing the brand of Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group 5


VINACHEM" is not overlapped with other research projects and has high practical
significance.
3. Research objective of the topic
- Systematize the theoretical basis of branding, research and business brand
development;
- Analysis of the status of building and brand development at Vietnam
National Chemical Industry Group – VINACHEM;
- Proposing some solutions to perfect the research and brand development at
Vietnam National Chemical Group - VINACHEM
4. Objective and scope of the research
4.1. Subjects of the research
The objective of this dissertation aims to help build a Vinachem Group brand
strategy suitable for Vinachem in the future through researching existing models.
4.2. Scope of the research
- Spatial scope: A typical research thesis at Vietnam National Chemical
Industry Group – Vinachem.
- Scope of the content: The thesis focuses on researching the contents of
construction research and brand development activities at Vietnam National
Chemical Group including: Building brand vision; Brand Positioning; Building a
brand identity system; Marketing activities; Brand evaluation; Protection and brand
development
- Time scope: Information and data used to evaluate brand research and
development activities at Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group were

collected in the period from 2015 to 2017. Awards proposed solutions to 2025,
vision 2030.
5. Research method
5.1. Methods of synthesizing, analyzing and comparing existing data:
The thesis uses traditional research methods, analysis and synthesis of
secondary data according to the system approach. Secondary data include:
information data from reports, website, internal documents, research works at
6


Vietnam National Chemical Group - VINACHEM. Reference information related to
the brand theme of domestic and international organizations and researchers. Study
syllabus, references, specialized journals, in-depth studies in the field of
construction and brand development.
Descriptive statistical methods are used to describe the basic characteristics of
data collected from empirical research in different ways. Descriptive statistics and
inference statistics provide simple summaries of patterns and metrics. This method
is used to describe the basic characteristics of statistical data from a variety of
sources. The thesis uses this method to reflect the basic situation, information about
the situation of building and developing the brand of Vietnam National Chemical
Industry Group through absolute, relative and average numbers, shows in tables,
data tables, graphs and diagrams.
Comparison method is a method to consider the analysis criteria by relying on
comparing data with some basic criteria to clearly see the variation or difference of
each analysis criteria. This standard may be an indicator of this period compared to
the previous period, the business results of this year and other years ... This method
has two forms: absolute comparison and relative comparison. The absolute
comparison based on the difference of the two comparative indicators is only the
basis of the analysis and the basic criteria. Relative comparison is the ratio (%) of
the analysis period compared to the original indicator to indicate the level of

completion. In this thesis, the author combines both relative and absolute
comparisons. This combination will complement each other, help authors have
specific targets on volume and value, and see the growth rate of the number of air
routes, fleet ...
Reasoning method - deductive reasoning, deduction from the general to the
particular. - Inductive reasoning: To gain new knowledge, it must go from private
information to a general conclusion. This method allows the use of specific
premises, which are accepted knowledge to gain new knowledge.
5.2. Method of survey
- Sampling: The author surveyed 160 different subjects including 15 leaders,
7


15 middle-level officials, subsidiary companies of the Group, the rest are partners
and customers.
- Design survey questionnaire:
Part A: General information about individuals investigated. This section
provides general informations such as:
+ Personal information: Vinachem experts, Leaders of Vinachem, Vinachem’s
Parner, Customers, Subsidary company, …
+ Some other informations ...
Part B: Surveying factors affecting brands
In this section, the author relies on the 7P service marketing model to ask
questions related to the brand identity and product system; price policy; distribution
channel; promote (mainly provide information to customers ... people, processes,
facilities). From there, analyze the level of brand identity, customer loyalty to
VINACHEM brand. Besides,it also offers solutions to overcome problems that
VINACHEM are facing.
- Handling research results:
After the questionnaires were collected, the author proceeded to remove

unsatisfactory votes by mathematical statistical methods. The author uses Excel
software to calculate the average value to describe the aspects of the survey, the
percentage (%) to clarify the elements of the survey sample according to survey
criteria. Research results are presented in the dissertation in the form of numbers,
billboards ...
6. The structure of the thesis
In addition to the opening, the conclusion. The thesis is structured into 3
Chapters including:
Chapter 1: Theoretical basis of brand building and development
Chapter 2: Current situation of building and developing Brand of Vietnam
National Chemical Industry Group - VINACHEM
Chapter 3: Some solutions to improvebuilding and developing brand of
Vietnam National Chemical Industry Group- VINACHEM
8


CHAPTER 1
THEORETICAL OF BRAND BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

1.1. Overview of Brand
1.1.1. Concept and characteristics of the brand
1.1.1.1. Concept of the brand
Brand is one of the important factors contributing to maintaining, expanding
and developing domestic and foreign markets for businesses, improving trade
civilization, contributing to combating unfair competition. In the context of
international economic integration of our country, businesses are facing fierce
competition, especially when many foreign goods penetrate into Vietnam market.
Therefore, it is very necessary for businesses to build a brand for their goods and
services. Discussing brands has many different points of view:
* From traditional point of view:

According to David Ogilvy author in OnAdvertising book: "Brand is the
intangible asset of the product: Name, packaging, price, development history,
product reputation, and how it is advertised. "
According to the American Marketing Association: "Brand is a name, design,
logo, or any other feature to distinguish this seller's product or service from another
seller's products and services."
According to Jay Baer, "Branding is the art of organizing what you want
people to think about your company with what people often think of your
company."
And vice versa, according to author Cheryl Burgess - Blue Focus Marketing author
of The Now Revolution: "Branding is the reason for consumers to choose products"
"Your brand is whatever your customers say about it ...", Neil Feinstein - True
North.
According to Jeffrey Harmon - Orabrush, "Attention is a scarce resource."
Brands are experienced marketers created to win the battle for consumer attention. ”

9


Definition of the World Intellectual Property Organization (W/PO):
"Trademark is a sign (tangible and invisible) specifically to identify a product or a
certain product that is produced or provided by an individual or an organization. For
businesses, brand is the concept in consumers about products and services with
signs of enterprises attached to the surface of products and services to affirm quality
and origin. Branding is an important intangible asset and for large businesses, the
brand value of the business accounts for a significant portion of the total value of
the business. ”
Phillip Kotler said: "A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design or a
combination of all of that, to identify a person's goods and services. sell or group of
sellers and to distinguish from competitors. ”

* From general point of view:
According to Ton That Thuyet Thiem: "The brand includes everything that
customers / markets / society really feel about businesses or / and products services provided by businesses that want to communicate. to your partners ”
According to Nguyen Quoc Thinh and Nguyen Thanh Trung: "Brand is
primarily a term used in marketing; is a set of signs to distinguish these goods and
services of this production and / or business establishment from goods and services
of the same type of another enterprise, an image of a kind and a group of goods
chemistry or service or business in the minds of customers ”
According to An Thi Thanh Nhan - Luc Thi Huong: “The brand is the sum of
all material, aesthetic, physical and emotional factors of a product including the
product itself, name, symbol, image and all representations of that product,
gradually created over time and occupy a clear position in the minds of customers.
The product, from a general point of view, is only a component of the brand,
primarily providing benefits to meet the needs of consumer functions.
* From legal point of view:
According to Article 4, Section 16 of the Intellectual Property Law:
"Trademarks are signs used to distinguish goods and services of different
organizations and individuals"
In general, through all of the definitions above, we can see that most of the
10


definitions and concepts of branding are always associated with goods and
businesses that are associated with trading and business activities. However, it is
not enough to just encapsulate the brand terminology within the scope of trade.
Therefore, according to the author, the term brand should be expanded, not only
for business organizations but also for social organizations.
With the scope of research of the topic, the author understands: "Brand is a
collection of signs (both tangible and invisible) that customers / public feel
through the experience of consuming products / services through mutual

interaction between customers / the public or decoding messages from suppliers of
products / services or created in other ways to distinguish goods, services or
groups of goods and services of this supplier with other suppliers or to
differentiate between suppliers ”.
* Differentiate between Brand and Trademark:
So far, the term "trademark" and "brand" are mentioned a lot on the mass
media, on economic exchanges and business administration and on the internet
environment. The brand views are mainly in the following six directions:
First, identify "brand" with "trademark", with this view of building and
developing "brand" and " trademark " as one.
Secondly, there is only the term "brand" without the term "trademark", in this
respect, mainly the arguments given are based on the provisions of relevant laws. In fact,
the laws of Vietnam and many countries do not stipulate the term " trademark " but
instead the term "brand". However, the term " trademark " is also mentioned in a number
of relevant legal documents of Vietnam, typically the 2012 Advertising Law.
Thirdly, "trademark" is the transformation from "brand" after being registered with
the state management agency for trademarks and commercialized on the market.
Fourth, "brand" and " trademark " are different, "brand" is a tangible element
while "trademark" the invisible element. With this understanding, building "brand"
and "trademark" are two different activities.
Fifth, "brand" and "trademark" are just terms translated into Vietnamese
purely. In fact, in English only the terms “Trademark - nhãn hiệu thương mại”,
11


“Tradename - tên thương mại”, “Companyname - tên công ty” hay “Label - tem
nhãn”, so the translation Art into Vietnamese with the term "brand" is not really
meaningful. The term brand is adapted from the English term "Brand" with the
meaning "deep imprint".
Sixth, "brand" is a broad concept including "trademark", with this view,

building "brand" also includes the construction of "brand". And this is also the
author's point of view in this thesis.
1.1.2. The role of the brand
1.1.2.1. The role of brand for businesses
Firstly, a good brand can help businesses set up a high price system and
less dependence on advertising and promotion programs. While for brands that are
not well-positioned, they often have to use a lot of promotion policies to support
sales. Thanks to the high price policy, the company will increase profits when the
volume of products consumed increases, the selling price is different. Thus, the
added value is due to the brand brought to the business.
Secondly, the brand helps businesses maintain traditional customers, while
attracting new customers, potential customers, and even customers of businesses that
are competitors. In fact, consumers are often attracted to, desiring to buy well-known
brand goods because they want to be appreciated, want to be stylish in their
consumption.
Third, the brand will help businesses reduce expenses for trade promotion
and marketing activities. Brand is also an effective marketing and trade promotion
tool of enterprises to attack targeted markets, support enterprises to implement
penetration policies and expand markets.
Fourthly, the brand brings certain competitive advantages for businesses, creating
barriers to help businesses have conditions to defend and oppose other competitors.
Normally, famous and reputable brands will create a solid foundation, bring sustainability
in competition and easily create trust from customers and partners.
Fifth, a strong brand will create a foundation for development through
brand expansion. Sony is a typical case, the company has relied on Sony brand to
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expand into the field of laptops with Sony Vaios brand name, or into games like
Sony Play Station ... A strong brand will reduce spending. communication fee is

very much when expanding the brand.
Sixth, thanks to the famous brand, the process of distributing products of
enterprises is conducted more smoothly and more efficiently. Similar to
customers, the points of sale are more apprehensive when distributing unpopular
products. Besides big brands will easily receive the cooperation of distributors in
marketing programs.
In addition, branding is the most effective tool against market erosion over
time, the brand is only meaningful to the business in the market when it plays a
big role for consumers.
1.1.2.2. The role of brand for consummers
Firstly, the brand plays a role in creating consumer confidence in the
prestige, quality and price of goods they choose to consume. The brand helps
consumers know the origin, quality, reputation, utility, ... of the product, believing
that the goods have been verified and accepted by the majority of consumers over
time. Thus, the brand helps the market set up a balanced information channel for
consumers, so that consumers do not have to spend much time searching and
considering buying products that they have.
Second, the brand will contribute to protecting the legitimate interests of
consumers. The brand is always protected by the State to prevent fake and
counterfeit products to deceive consumers.
Third, the brand encourages consumer psychology of goods and services with
famous brands. In the elite society of high-income consumers, they are not only
willing to pay for the value of the product but also pay for their satisfaction when
purchasing a well-known brand. If a person uses a BMW or Mercedes car, they will
feel completely different from other normal cars, feel they become more important,
more stylish and these emotions will increase. User satisfaction for the product.

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1.2. Processing of brand building and development
The process of brand building and development is the synthesis of the work and the
steps taken, arranged in a certain order to ensure the scientific, effective and realistic.
The process of Brand building and development is shown as following
diagram:
Building Brand vision

Brand Protection

Building the
Brand identity
system

Brand Positioning

Brand Assessment

Brand Communication

Figure 1. 1. The process of Brand building and development
Source: [10]
In fact, the implementation of brand building and development, each
enterprise has different ways and sequences of conduct depending on the views and
perceptions of each business. However, businesses that own famous brands are
enterprises that have a process of building and developing brands in a scientific and
methodical way based on sustainable branding and customer orientation.
For brand building and development activities in the traditional environment,
author An Thi Thanh Nhan and Luc Thi Thu Huong introduced the branding
process for business enterprises in general including steps :
1.2.1. Building brand vision

Brand vision provides a direction for the future, a brand's aspiration for what it
wants to achieve. Vision is an image, a vivid picture of what's possible in a future
brand. When it comes to an intention, a strategic purpose, we often visualize it with
an image of the future. The vision implies the meaning of an excellent standard, an
ideal thing. It is a choice of one of the best values of a brand. Vision also has the
nature of a uniqueness, which refers to creating something special.
Brand vision is a brief and transparent message that guides long-distance
activities for a brand. The role of vision is like a lens that converges all the power of
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a brand into one thing. Businesses through vision will be able to guide what is to be
done and what is not a brand's work.
After setting up the marketing information system and analyzing and
evaluating information, enterprises will build a brand vision. This is a brief and
transparent message, the orientation of the company's activities and also the
development orientation for the brand and product through a positioning analysis
between the present and the future. In other words, the brand vision represents the
reason for the existence of the business and the desire to rise to the position in the
market. The brand vision has some roles such as: Unifying the development
purpose of business and create consistency in leadership; orientation of resource
use; build metrics for brand development and create a premise for building
development goals; motivate employees towards common development goals.
1.2.2. Brand Positioning
The concept of "brand positioning" was first introduced by renowned brand
strategist Jack Trout in an article "Positioning is a game people play in today's metoo market place" (roughly translated: Positioning is current market games with
imitations of products) published in Industrial Marketing magazine in 1969. The
concept was then analyzed and presented by Jack and his colleague Al Ries with
many interesting examples in Positioning: The battle for your mind (McGraw-Hill
1981). Since then, the theory of brand positioning has been widely applied by

businesses around the world in building brand strategy. So what is positioning
really and what role does it play in branding a business?
Brand positioning is making a mark on products in the minds of target
customers, since they donot know the brand until they know the brand, recognize
the brand, use the brand, remember the brand and ultimately loyal to the brand.
Brand positioning is not what we do for a business or a product, but what we
do to the minds of our target customers. Positioning is essentially a "sweet" attack
aimed at deepening the minds of customers with the expectation of gaining special
customers' love through their long-term memory of the brand.

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Brand positioning is a concept within the competitive strategic category of
businesses based on an in-depth analysis of the core competencies and high
professionalism of businesses located in a constantly changing business
environment. The long-term and sustainable development of an enterprise must be
based on a true and accurate positioning platform, avoiding too high positioning,
too low or misleading or distracting consumers.
In summary, the author understands: "Brand positioning is the process of
building and communicating the typical values of your brand into the minds of your
target customers. Or, from an enterprise perspective, brand positioning is the act of
designing and synthesizing business images and offers so that it can continue to occupy
a special position that is impressive and valuable in the mind target customers ”.
Businesses must locate brands because:
Firstly, the explosion of media and the increase in the amount of communication
has profoundly affected the way people receive information. The network of overloaded
information has changed the whole communication work and affected people.
Secondly, brand positioning will lay the foundation for all strategic marketing
decisions both in the short and long term, which directly and seamlessly influence

decisions about product policies, pricing, distribution and promotion.
Thirdly, brand positioning helps businesses identify where they are and makes
customers know where they are, how can business blame customers not buying the
products in thousands of products that customers have the right to choose.
The steps for brand positioning include:
Step 1: Identify target customers:
Target customers (or target markets) are meant to be groups of individuals or
groups of people whose products are targeted. In other words, they are the ones who
can afford to buy the company's products. Therefore, determining the right object
will help to make the positioning more accurate.
For details of the company's target customer portrait can be based on 4W
analysis:
- Who: Who is user of the brand?
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