[Vnbiz] Misc

[Craig Stevenson]

  INSIDER'S VIEW *VIETNAM*    *Section: *THE WORLD

*Vietnam* is growing rapidly but, unlike China, it does not have the same
pool of human resources on which to draw, Alex Clegg writes

*Vietnam is the second fastest *growing economy in the world after China,
even though its population is far smaller, at just over 80 million.

In October this year, *Vietnam* is likely to be made a member of the World
Trade Organisation and there is widespread talk of a 'new wave' of foreign
direct investment into the country. Chambers of commerce, journalists and
politicians talk a great deal about the pressure this growth is going to
place on *Vietnam's* fragile and under-developed infrastructure. However,
the biggest issue for many in the marketing world is not transportation and
power supply, but human resources.

Who is going to make all this growth continue to happen? The Vietnamese are
young and dynamic; 60 per cent of the population is under 30 and they have
never had it so good. The mood and energy the past ten years of rapid
economic growth has created pervades most walks of life.

*But the supply of qualified talent *is not keeping up, probably nowhere
more so than in the field of marketing and communications.

To address this issue, *Vietnam* is again following in China's footsteps.
However, while China was able to turn to its countrymen and women in Hong
Kong, as well as members of its huge diaspora, for advice on how to build a
market economy and compete internationally, *Vietnam* has a much smaller
overseas talent pool from which to draw.

The overseas Vietnamese, *Viet*-kieu as they are known, are almost
exclusively those who left *Vietnam* by boat during and after the
*Vietnam*War. Some left when they were very young and have few
memories of their home
country. But they represent a valuable resource that combines cultural
awareness, good education and a lifetime's experience of a more developed
market. In 1986, 8,000 Vietkieu visited *Vietnam*. In 2004, 430,000 came,
and Vietkieu now remit around $3 billion to relatives in *Vietnam* each
year.

*However, the situation is more *complicated than it seems. Many parts of
the overseas Vietnamese community are still vehemently opposed to Communist
rule. Relations between Vietkieu employees and local Vietnamese can also
become strained, with both sides dismissing one another as 'not
understanding'. Being a returnee is not always easy and many Vietkieu
describe finding themselves in a confused state where they neither feel
neither Vietnamese nor American.

Unlike China, *Vietnam* is not brimming with foreign students feverishly
studying Vietnamese and eager to make it in the new land of opportunity. As
the market develops and globalisation drives its roots deeper into the soil
of their parents' homeland, Vietkieu will increasingly find they fly back to
their homeland business class.
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