[Vnbiz] 'Listening Americans' will prosper in Vietnam

[Phan, Tai]

'Listening Americans' will prosper in Vietnam
Anthony Salzman

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 



 


Four decades after we Americans got things terribly wrong in Vietnam, we're on the verge of a chance finally to get things right. I'm not talking about politics, though politically we're still subject to inane references to Vietnam. Instead, I'm talking about economics, about blooming new market opportunities and a chance for U.S. business to come out among the flowers instead of the weeds. 

On Nov. 7, the World Trade Organization invited Vietnam to become the body's 150th member, allowing the Southeast Asian nation entry to wider foreign markets. 

On Thursday, President Bush will travel to Hanoi for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Clearly, Vietnam is a country on the make. 

For the last several years, the country's economic growth has averaged 7.5 percent, one of the fastest rates in the world and a rate that the prime minister expects to continue this year and next. The literacy rate is 93 percent. There are 84 million people in Vietnam, and the prevailing wage is just two-thirds that of China's. Intel is building a $300 million chip assembly plant in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park outside Ho Chi Minh City, an investment that is likely to triple, according to news reports that started circulating last week. 

Vietnam is now Brazil's main competitor in the production of robusta coffee. And funds are being raised in London and Zurich with designs to privatize the country's many state-owned enterprises. An inviting new market for American products and manufacturing, to be sure. Accession to the WTO will be tantamount to an adrenaline shot for this country. 

I've been living and working in Vietnam since 1992, and I'm concerned about my American colleagues and their prospects for success here, especially when I look at the ways in which the Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans and even many Europeans are doing business with the Vietnamese. Too often, we Americans parachute into countries with answers that fit our pre-existing ideas: on history, on democracy, on time, on trade negotiation, on the power of American brands. The more that American businessmen travel with questions, prepared to listen and learn, the better American interests will be served. 

The Vietnamese have been far better at leaving behind the hostilities between our two countries of 40 years ago. More than half of the population was born after the war ended in 1975. For them, and for Vietnamese veterans, the war is ancient history. In the United States, on the other hand, an all-too-vocal minority still smolders over our failure to win the war. I'm continually amazed by the remarks of U.S. government officials who believe that Vietnam must do more on the human-rights and MIA-fronts before Vietnam should be granted permanent normal trade relations. Human-rights issues are a challenge everywhere, but no more so in Vietnam than in many other countries where the United States already maintains permanent normal trade relations. 

As we deepen our commercial relations, our corporate representatives should learn what our government trade negotiators have overlooked: Negotiating with the Vietnamese requires more than bravado. It requires homework, as well as an appreciation of the true value the other side assigns to our propositions. Negotiation also requires an understanding of our own bottom line, as well as a commitment to continue negotiating until the ink is dry. For example, the difference in wealth between our two nations (a senior Vietnamese official might earn only $200 per month) means time at the negotiating table is more valuable to Americans. Hence, we feel the squeeze of time more acutely than the Vietnamese. I have my own strategy for dealing with this dynamic: I bring my pajamas to negotiations, to show that I'll be there all night, all week, or all year, if necessary. Perhaps this isn't practical for all American negotiators, but trust me: Patience at the table will yield the best results here. 

I stress this because patience is different from our trade negotiators' typical approach, which seems to be full-throttle efforts to finish negotiations as soon as possible, before our key negotiators rotate to new positions in the government. In a greenfield market such as Vietnam, where there is plenty of fertility, but no precedent for commercial success, Americans must recognize that American brands are not known here. Coke? Yes. But this is a market that's been closed off to most U.S. brands for 30 years. When I first introduced Caterpillar products to Vietnam, they thought I was in the pet food business! 

We got past this; Vietnam became the only Asian country where "CAT" outsells Komatsu, the Japanese heavy equipment manufacturer. But it took years of cultural immersion before I was equipped to make that happen. I learned the language and I'm continually learning the people. 

For many in American business, the president's visit to Vietnam is the first step down this same path. We've amply shown we can buy from Asian markets; selling to them will require a different approach -- an approach that celebrates the virtues of patience, perseverance and cultural savvy. We don't want to come back to Vietnam as Quiet Americans, but it wouldn't hurt if we started this new chapter as Listening Americans. 

Anthony Salzman is founder of New Markets PTE, a holding company that owns V-TRAC, the sole Caterpillar dealer in Vietnam, as well as leasing and other nationwide distribution companies built during his 14 years in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and co-founder of the World Bank's Vietnam business forum.