VietNamNet Bridge – The
report on Vietnam’s
fastest growing enterprises (FAST500) was officially released on March 30,
2011. The report shows the health and vitality of the Vietnamese business
community, especially private businesses.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Minh Hong

The FAST500
report releasing ceremony took place in the morning of March 30 with the
participation of Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Minh
Hong, the international marketing expert Professor John Quelch, now Dean of the
China Europe International Business School CEIBS, former Associate Dean of Harvard Business School.

Managers of
60 enterprises, representing the FAST500 Club, attending the ceremony and
received the FAST500 certificates directly from Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh
Hong.

The impressive breakthrough made by
retailers

The top
five enterprises with highest growth rates include Nguyen Kim Trade Joint Stock
Corporation, Sabeco Song Hau Trade Joint Stock Corporation, Dong A Joint Stock
Company, The Gioi Di Dong Joint Stock Company, and Thien Quang Joint Stock
Group.

Retailer
Nguyen Kim has become the leader in the FAST500 thanks a very impressive growth
rate of 673 percent. The retailer who ranked fourth in top 500, The Gioi Di
Dong, has a high growth rate of 300 percent and it is now holding 10 percent of
the mobile phone market share. Other enterprises, including Dong A, Thien Quang
all have large distribution networks that cover many provinces and cities
nationwide and have products exported to many markets, including the EU,
Africa, Laos and Cambodia.

Le Thao
Trang, Marketing Director of The Gioi Di Dong, said that the distribution
chain’s total turnover in 2010 reached three trillion dong, increasing by 15
percent over 2009. The chain expects to obtain a turnover of six trillion dong
in 2011.

“The reason
that put The Gioi Di Dong into the list of the top five businesses with fastest
growth rates is simply that in the last few years, we have been continuously
expanding the market. The number of supermarkets has increased from 40 to 80
located in 30 cities and provinces. Besides, we have always paid attention to
heighten the service quality,” Trang said.

Businesses should listen to
consumers

While VNR500,
the report on the 500 Vietnamese biggest enterprises, and V1000, the report
about the 1000 biggest tax paying enterprises, show an overall picture about
the scale and the contributions of Vietnamese enterprises to the national
economy, FAST500 is considered the ruler that measures the dynamism and
flexibility of Vietnamese enterprises.

The
database that serves the ranking of FAST500 includes the figures and documents of
the four-year business period (2006-2009) of enterprises. The noteworthy thing
is that the business environment in the four years was rather complicated: Vietnam
officially joined WTO, then witnessed a hot development period, and then
witnessed economic downturn due to the global crisis, and it then it began a
recovery process. Therefore, the enterprises listed in FAST500 can be seen as
the enterprises with high vitality and flexibility.

Talking
with FAST500’s enterprises, Professor John Quelch said that enterprises should
consider consumers as their wives or their bosses, because if there is no
customer, enterprises will have no turnover. Therefore, enterprises should
listen to consumers and well understand them.

Congratulating
FAST500’s enterprises, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hong said FAST500 by
VietNamNet and Vietnam Report makes new progress in accessing and ranking
enterprises in Vietnam.
The honor for fastest growing enterprises will create a new driving force that
helps enterprises better themselves.

Deputy
Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet Pham Anh Tuan said that FAST500 will be released
every year in the future in order to recognize and respect the achievements of
the enterprises that have high and effective growth.

VietNamNet