From: Nhan Tran <tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com>
Subject: NEWS/VN: US companies in for a shock in VN
Originator: anh@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Organization: SCV Relay
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:05:53 GMT


12/16

AMERICAN COMPANIES IN FOR A SHOCK IN VIETNAM

    By Kathleen Callo
    HANOI, Dec 16, Reuter - American companies now permitted to open offices in
Vietnam are in for a shock when they try to do business in the isolated
communist state, foreign executives said on Wednesday.
    Vietnamese businessmen and officials often conduct business negotiations
like guerrilla warfare, and bicycle-driven rickshaws are the closest you get to
a taxi, they said.
    Even the most basic efforts by foreign companies -- such as trying to make 
a profit -- set off alarms for the Vietnamese, who only recently replaced 
decades of orthodox communism with a new hybrid of market economy under a 
socialist label.
    "The mentality here is that if the foreigner is making a profit, then he
must be exploiting us, ripping us off," one senior Vietnamese economic advisor
to the government and ruling Communist Party said recently.
    Washington announced on Monday that American companies could hire staff in
Vietnam and sign contracts to take effect once Washington lifts the trade
embargo it imposed on Hanoi in 1964.
    But foreign executives say contracts signed after pain-staking negotiations
are sometimes ignored by Vietnamese when another foreign firm comes along and
offers more money.
    Vietnamese ministries often make competing claims about having sole
authorisation to deal with foreign investors.
    American companies can expect a courteous welcome by most Vietnamese
officials and businessmen, who want U.S. technology and capital, admire U.S.
corporate performance and display little bitterness over the Vietnam war, they
said.
    But the same fierce independence, pride and determination that helped this
small country chase out the armies of China, France, Japan and the United 
States in the last 1,000 years can make business difficult.
    "It's like Vietnam is the new girl on the block now, with everyone rushing
in to try to meet her," says one foreign journalist.
    Even getting around can be an adventure.
    Americans are the only nationals who can't use credit cards, since
Washington bans U.S. financial institutions from transactions with Vietnam.
    Americans are also banned from bringing to the United States more than $100
in gifts or goods from Vietnam.
    "Do you think U.S. customs will believe I paid 50 cents for each of these
silk blouses?" asked an American university professor who exceeded his shopping
quota while teaching free-market economics to Vietnamese officials in Hanoi.
    American businessmen, like other foreigners, officially need Vietnamese
police permits to travel outside Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, or from one 
province to another.
    Hanoi is one of the world's few capitals with no taxis, although local 
firms now rent out Japanese imports by the hour or day. The closest thing to a 
taxi is a bicycle-driven rickshaw, which the Vietnamese call a "cyclo."
    Cyclos in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, have a suspension system and
are usually polished and clean, while Hanoi's rustic version looks like a cross
between a wheelbarrow and wheelchair.
    They transport everything from businessmen to squealing pigs or corpses.