LookAtVietnam – State-owned publishing houses have been urged to switch to new business structure model for five years since Viet Nam ratified the Berne Convention, but this process has been tardy and beset with challenges.

Readers browse a book exhibition at HCM City’s Youth Culture House. State-owned publishing houses are finding it difficult to switch to a new model since Viet Nam ratified the Berne Convention.

The model as an one-member limited company has thus far been considered the best solution, providing the publishing houses with independence in operation, capital mobilisation, human resources development, and decision making rights on expanding production.

However, publishing houses have faced challenges with the new model.

The challenges involve three basic relationships after the switch – between the publishing house and its owner and management and between the publishing houses – says To Huy Rua, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Popularisation and Education.

A single stakeholder would step in and take control of the publishing house in case it had insufficient capital and had to raise further capital.

But a publishing house is not a merely enterprise doing business, it also bears political and cultural responsibilities to serve the society, which cannot be ensured by pursuing commercial interests.

Setting up a new management board becomes a complicated issue since the hierarchy is not clear: whether it is the board of directors or editors-in-chief, as defined by the Publishing Law; or the chairman of the company that owns the publishing house, under the Enterprise Law, who would hold the highest position in the new company.

With the switch to the new model, there would be many publishing houses sharing the same function, for instance the Literature Publishing House, Culture and Information Publishing House and Writers’ Association Publishing House, causing unhealthy competition in various fields, according to Rua.

Other officials speaking at a conference held early this month to discuss issues relating to the new model stressed that the switch was necessary.

“The most proper way to build a strong publishing house to meet the market’s needs is to switch to the model,” said Quach Thu Nguyet, director of the Youth Publishing House.

Nguyen Kiem, director of the Publishing Management Department, agreed with Nguyet, saying persisting with the State-owned model would be a step backward.

Several publishing houses were reluctant to switch because they were not equipped to raise the required capital of VND30 billion, with some able to furnish only a tenth of this amount.

However, Kiem affirmed the switch to the new model would be necessary for publishing houses to become more competitive during a time when Viet Nam integrates further into the international economy.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News