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VDF Report
Supporting Industries in Vietnam
from the Perspective of Japanese
Manufacturing Firms
June 2006

No.2 (E)[Policy Note Back Number]
No.1 Vietnam at the Crossroads: Policy Advice from the Japanese Perspective
Kenichi Ohno
December 2003
No.2 VDF Report: Supporting Industries in Vietnam from the Perspective ofJapanese Manufacturing Firms(Japanese & Vietnamese version available)
June 2006c Vietnam Development Forum
Contact:
Vietnam Development Forum
Suite 401, Hanoi Central Office Building
44B Ly Thuong Kiet St., Hanoi, Vietnam
Phone: 84-4-936 2633 / Fax: 84-4-936 2634
Email: hellovdf@vdf.org.vn
Website: http://www.vdf.org.vn/
Vietnam Development Forum Tokyo
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan
Phone: 81-3-6439-6000 / Fax: 81-3-6439-6010
Email: vngripsnet@grips.ac.jp
Website: http://www.grips.ac.jp/vietnam/VDFTokyo/index.html

VDF Report:
Supporting Industries in Vietnam
from the Perspective of Japanese Manufacturing Firms

Vietnam Development Forum

June 2006

In early 2006, the Vietnam Development Forum (VDF) organized a series ofhearings between the Ministry of Industry (MOI) and Japanese manufacturingfirms operating in Vietnam1. Through these hearings, the MOI team, which wasdrafting the supporting industry master plan, directly exchanged informationand views with the concerned Japanese firms.
The targeted sectors were Japanese assemblers and parts suppliers belonging toelectricals and electronics, motorbikes, and automobiles 2. These were importantsectors for the development of supporting industries, as well as the sectors
specifically mentioned in the Japan-Vietnam Joint Initiative. We sent letters to all
Japanese FDI firms operating in Vietnam in these sectors, which numbered 55.
Among them, we were able to hear from 32 firms, which included 15 electricaland electronics firms, 14 motorbike firms, and 9 automobile firms 3. By region,
19 firms were located in the North and 13 firms were located in the South. In
addition, we visited one Vietnamese assembler, two Vietnamese parts suppliers,and one Taiwanese parts supplier, all of which had business relations with Japanese assemblers. We also heard opinions of Japanese industrial experts.
Hearings were conducted from late February to early April 2006. Intensive hearings were organized in the week of March 6 in the North, and in the week ofMarch 13 in the South. Different hearing styles were used, from formal meetings to factory visits, informal exchange and email correspondence, to adapt tothe preferences and time constraints of the companies. In semi-structured interviews, we generally inquired about the current situation of parts localization anddesired policy measures for supporting industry promotion. We also received
comments on the draft supporting industry master plan, if any. All information
was treated as confidential and no company name was to be released.
1 Participants from VDF were Kenichi Ohno (project co-leader), Mai The Cuong, Ngo Duc Anh,

Junichi Mori, Pham Truong Hoang, and Kohei Mishima. Participants from MOI were Nguyen
Anh Nam (team leader), Mai Tuan Anh, Pham Gia Thuc, Pham Tung Lam, and Duong HongQuan.
2 Hearings with Vietnamese firms and firms of other nationalities, including China, Taiwan, Korea
and EU, were conducted separately by MOI without our help.
3 These add up to 38 firms due to overlapping. Six firms supplied parts to both automobile assemblers and motorbike assemblers.

1This report is compiled by VDF using the inputs from the interviewed firms.
VDF takes full responsibility for its content. No statement or analysis in thisreport should be construed as a consensus view among Japanese FDI firms. In
fact, opinions often differed among the three sectors, and even among firms
belonging to the same sector. Arguments presented below are majority views, orcommon denominators, among Japanese FDI firms operating in Vietnam, as
selected by VDF.

1. Current Situation of Local Procurement
Vietnam’s supporting industries are relatively undeveloped. For Japanese FDI
firms in manufacturing, Vietnam’s local procurement ratio was 22.6% in 2003,
while those of Malaysia and Thailand were 45% or higher 4. However, theprogress of local procurement differs significantly across the three sectors studied.
The motorbike sector is most advanced in localization, with the average local
procurement ratio of 75% 5. This figure includes internal parts production byassemblers, sourcing from local suppliers, and sourcing from FDI suppliers in
Vietnam. Although motorbike assemblers continue to stress the importance ofdeveloping supporting industries further, the degree of their localization ismuch higher than the other two sectors.
In the electrical and electronics sector, local procurement is rising at some FDI
firms. In 2002, most consumer electronics assemblers were unable to domestically source even relatively simple plastic and metal parts. But now, one TV
assembler reports that it is able to buy virtually all plastic parts from (mainlyFDI) suppliers in Vietnam. At present, local procurement for TV seems to range
from 20% to 40%, depending on the producer 6. Similarly, a computer device producer said that it had increased the number of domestic suppliers from 7 in 2002
to 45 in 2006. As a result, local procurement of this firm rose from 5% in 2004 to
30-40% in 2006. However, there are other producers who continue to have low
local procurement. One TV assembler still maintains complete knock-down(CKD) production because imported parts are cheaper than domestic parts.
4 According to JETRO, local procurement of the manufacturing sector in 2003 was 47.9% in Thai-land, 45.0% in Malaysia, 38.3% in Indonesia, and 28.3% in the Philippines. See Japan External
Trade Organization, Japanese-Affiliated Manufacturers in Asia (ASEAN and India): Survey 2004.
5 This figure was provided by a motorbike assembler during the intensive hearing week.
6 Junichi Mori, “Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization: Increasing
Positive Vertical Externalities through Collaborative Training,” Master Thesis, Fletcher School,
Tufts University, 2005 (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/research/2006/Mori̲MALDThesis̲010406.pdf).

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Overall, the current localization level is still far below what Japanese firms desire
for attaining competitiveness. Even for manufacturers who have raised local procurement of plastic parts significantly in recent years, finding electronics parts,
molds, and metal processes such as pressing, forging, and plating, remains very
difficult. An assembler of home appliances said that it could not find any highvalued components in the domestic market. Although this firm has achieved a
local procurement ratio of 70% in terms of number of parts, its localization is only
30% in value. This implies that localization has been concentrated in low-value
parts only.
As for the automobile sector, progress is slowest among the three sectors, withlocal procurement ratios of 5-10% 7. While some bulky or labor-intensive parts,
such as seats and wire harnesses, have been localized, most other parts continue
to be imported. Furthermore, automobile manufacturers in Vietnam are currently beset with serious short-term problems such as second-hand car imports, thespecial consumption tax, and related uncertainty in the domestic market 8. These
prevent auto-makers from making long-term strategic plans. Compared withmotorbikes, automobiles in Vietnam are at much lower level of demand size anddevelopment, which severely limits strategic options to overcome these problems. Within the automobile sector, trucks and buses have higher local procurement ratios than passenger cars, because upper-structure of buses (passenger
areas) and trucks (cargo storage) can be built locally by Vietnamese companies.

2. Key Factors and Relations for Competitiveness
By the standards of Japanese manufacturing, competitiveness depends on quality, cost and delivery (QCD). For Japanese parts producers in Vietnam, the crucial aspects that need to be improved are cost and delivery, while quality guarantee is taken for granted. To reduce cost and quicken delivery, a healthy development of supporting industries is essential.
In mechanical assembly-type manufacturing, which is considered in this report,
parts cost looms large in the total production cost of final assemblers. For
instance, one consumer electronics assembler said that parts accounted for 80%of the production cost while labor accounted for only 2%. More generally, the7 Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (JASME), Management Informa-tion Vol. 323, 2004, in Japanese (http://www.jasme.go.jp/).
8 The special consumption tax on passenger vehicles rose from 40% to 50% in January 2006, and theimport ban on second-hand passenger cars will be lifted on May 1, 2006. Domestic new car sales
in the first quarter of 2006 fell 32% compared with the same period last year due to the wait-andsee attitude of consumers.

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parts cost usually occupies 70-90% compared with the labor cost of less than 10%.
Thus, cost competitiveness cannot be attained unless the cost related to partsprocurement is reduced. By importing Malaysian or Thai parts, producers in
Vietnam incur additional costs in transportation, storage and handling. Unlessmost parts are made in Vietnam, they cannot compete effectively against
Malaysian or Thai assemblers who can use these parts without additional costs.
Furthermore, Japanese assemblers require high-frequency, on-time delivery ofparts in order to minimize inventory and production lead-time. Normally, daily
or even hourly deliveries are required. Unlike some Vietnamese firms whichhold large inventories as a safety buffer, Japanese firms always consider inventory as a cost to be avoided as much as possible. To achieve zero inventory, Toyota developed the Just-In-Time system (also known as the kanban system) in the
1950s, which has spread widely to other Japanese firms. Quick and frequentdelivery is impossible if parts are imported every few months, or if it takes days
to bring parts to the factory. For this reason, final assemblers want suppliers to
be located near them. One Japanese consumer electronics company recently visited Vietnam to consider the possibility of building a factory there, but gave up
the idea after observing the weaknesses of supporting industries in Vietnam.
For Vietnamese parts suppliers, on the other hand, the most crucial aspects thatmust be improved are quality and delivery. Even if their parts are cheap, Japanese assemblers will never buy them unless these two factors are guaranteed. At
present, there is a significant gap between Japanese assemblers and Vietnamese
suppliers regarding the acceptable standards in quality and delivery, which will
be discussed later.
Supporting industries consist of both FDI firms and Vietnamese firms. Realistically, parts localization must begin with first attracting a large number of FDI
suppliers to Vietnam, followed by a gradual strengthening of Vietnamese suppliers. FDI firms must inevitably be a large part of supporting industries in theearly stage of Vietnam’s industrialization.
Demand size is the pre-condition for attracting FDI suppliers to Vietnam. Largedemand is absolutely needed for cost reduction and FDI attraction, which aremutually related. Without sufficient demand, parts makers cannot lower production cost (see below for the reason) and become competitive. Therefore they will
not invest in Vietnam. Overcoming the demand size problem must be the top
priority in the development of supporting industries.
Once this problem is solved, our survey has shown that there are four additional
4Figure 1. How to Achieve Agglomeration and Competitiveness in Parts Industries
Industrial human Stable policy Tariff & tax Three Elements ofenvironment
resources
policies
Competitiveness

FDI inflow,
cost reduction

Cost
FDI
Suppliers

Demandsize
Domestic demand(to assemblers)｛

Parts export

Delivery
Local
Suppliers
Quality
Overcoming information &perception gaps

areas that must be enhanced in order to accelerate the growth of supporting
industries: (i) high-quality industrial human resources, (ii) attractive tax and tariff policies, (iii) stable policy environment, and (iv) overcoming the informationand perception gaps between FDI assemblers and Vietnamese suppliers.
Basic relationship among demand size, the development of domestic suppliers(both FDI and Vietnamese), and the three elements of competitiveness is illustrated in Figure 1. Four areas that must be improved are also shown in the figure. The remainder of this report will explain these components in detail.

3. Why Demand Size is Important
Large demand size is crucial for supporting industries because they require relatively large minimum orders to enter the market. This reflects the fact that, generally speaking, supporting industries are more capital-intensive than final
assembly, which tends to be highly labor-intensive. One auto parts supplier stated that supporting industries would develop naturally even without any promotion policy, if there was a sufficient demand.
Supporting industries such as molding, metal processing and plastic injection
require expensive machines and a relatively few workers compared with assembly. Moreover, these machines are indivisible (one cannot purchase one-tenth ofa machine). Once machines are installed, the capital cost for the factory is thesame whether they are operated 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, or only part5

Figure 2. Declining Unit Cost in Supporting Industries
Unit cost
Capital-intesive

Labor-intensive

Production volumeof the time. Thus, the unit capital cost (total capital cost divided by the numberof products produced) declines inversely with the volume of production. For
example, a factory making 600,000 plastic parts per year is likely to enjoy efficiency while a factory producing only 2,000 parts per year can hardly survive.
That is why FDI parts makers need assurance that there is a large demand (orthere will be a large demand in the near future) before investing in Vietnam.
This is in sharp contrast to final assembly which relies on a large amount of
unskilled labor without any sophisticated machines. For such operation, the unit
cost is almost constant since there is no sunk capital cost. To double the production volume, all that is needed is to use twice as many workers, tables, tools, andexpand the factory space accordingly.
In the motorbike sector, domestic demand in Vietnam reached 2.02 million units
in 2004, ranking third within ASEAN after Indonesia and Thailand 9. It is normally said that many motorbike parts suppliers begin to enter the market if the minimum order exceeds 200,000 to 300,000 units 10. A domestic demand of 2 million
units per year is sufficient to entice a number of FDI parts makers to come toVietnam and compete with each other. Indeed, motorbike assemblers are now
able to source many metal and plastic parts from both FDI and local suppliers.
However, they still import engine parts or produce them in-house.
9 The Vietnamese figure comes from the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Industry (unpub-

lished data). Within ASEAN, the largest motorbike market is Indonesia (3.08 million in 2003) followed by Thailand (2.11million in 2005). See Kohei Mishima, “The Supplier System of Motorcycle Industry in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia: Localization, Procurement and Cost Reduction
Processes,” in Kenichi Ohno and Nguyen Van Thuong, eds, Improving Industrial Policy Formulation, Vietnam Development Forum, 2005, p.215.
10 Mishima, 2005, p.218.

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The domestic market of consumer electrical and electronics is growing rapidly,
but its absolute size still remains small compared with other ASEAN countries.
For example, the annual sale of TV is around 1.4 to 1.5 million sets in Vietnam,
while Thai consumers buy 2.2 to 2.4 million sets per year 11. If exports are also
included in calculating the market size, Vietnam looks even smaller. Vietnam
produced 2.2 million TV sets in 2003 12, whereas Malaysia produced 9.9 million
sets and Thailand produced 6.5 million sets in 2004 13. Because of the small market in Vietnam, Japanese parts makers prefer to export parts from their existing
factories in Malaysia or Thailand to Vietnam, rather than taking the risk toinvest in Vietnam. While some plastic suppliers have already entered the Vietnamese market, there are few electronic parts suppliers because the latter
require larger minimum orders. One TV assembler said that its sister factory in
Malaysia could purchase almost 100% of the parts domestically, including electronic components, but that remained impossible in Vietnam.
Small demand size is far more serious an issue for the automobile industry. In
2005, domestic demand for new passenger cars was about 35,000 units while
Thailand produced over 1 million cars. According to one car manufacturer, aminimum order of 400,000 units is necessary to enjoy scale merit, which isroughly the market size of Indonesia or Malaysia. Despite the small market,
Japanese car makers have maintained their production facilities in Vietnam
because they expected growing demand in the future in a country with a population of over 80 million. However, many Japanese car assemblers are disappointed that demand for new cars has been shrinking in recent years due to policy
reasons, such as the rising special consumption tax and the liberalization of second-hand car imports. In addition, they are concerned that worsening traffic congestion and accidents may impede the healthy growth of the car market. Moreover, without proper policy, increased traffic would cause environmental damage, especially air pollution, as severe as in Bangkok or Jakarta.

4. The Possibility of Export
One way to overcome the problem of small domestic demand is to find export
markets. For parts suppliers, this can be done indirectly by supplying to domes11 Figures provided by a consumer electronics assembler during the intensive hearing weeks. Since
the number of TV manufacturers is almost the same in Vietnam (7 companies) and Thailand (6companies), the average market size for each assembler is smaller in Vietnam than in Thailand.
12 General Statistics Office, Statistical Yearbook 2004, Statistical Publishing House, 2005, p.339.
However, production of 2.2 million looks too large in comparison with the domestic market of 1.41.5 million sets (note that Vietnam exports very few TV sets).
13 News Net Asia, Beat China: The Manufacturing Sector in ASEAN, 2005, p.75, in Japanese.

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Figure 3. Possibility of Export
VietnameseParts Supplier
Assembler

Large
ExportVolumeSmall Local
DemandINDIRECT EXPORT

FDI
Parts Supplier

DIRECT EXPORT
tic assemblers who may export finished products in large quantity, or directly
through parts export.
In electrical and electronics, bulky finished products such as washing machines
and refrigerators may not be suitable for export, unless domestic products are
sufficiently low-cost to offset high logistics cost associated with exportation. On
the other hand, compact products such as computer peripherals and hi-fi stereos
are normally produced in one location and distributed to the global market. For
instance, one computer device assembler in Vietnam exports 1.2 million printers
per month under the privileges of being an export processing enterprise (EPE).
Another consumer electronics manufacturer, which currently focuses on thedomestic market, has a plan to convert its factory into an export base, provided
that policy environment improves to make cost reduction possible.
The most desired policy for cost competitiveness in electrical and electronics isthe reduction of parts tariffs to zero, or at least to a level lower than the Common
Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) on finished products (5% or less). Several
consumer electronics manufacturers stated that further tariff reduction on partsand materials was necessary for survival and preparing brighter future plans.
However, a number of the manufacturers added that, even with zero parts tariffs,
domestically assembled finished products would still be slightly more expensive
than those produced in Malaysia or Thailand. This was due to high logistics costof having to import a large number of parts. One consumer electronics assembler hoped to reduce such logistics cost by rearranging the flow of imports forminimum inventory and quick delivery. This might be effective in the short run,but increasing local procurement was more preferable in the long run. If final
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assemblers expand production strongly, existing suppliers will receive larger
orders, and it will be also easier to invite more FDI parts makers to invest in
Vietnam.
Another way to increase export is through direct parts export. For this, again, it
is essential that parts in question be internationally competitive. Only those parts
that satisfy the following conditions can be considered for export. First, theymust achieve cost competitiveness by using Vietnam’s comparative advantage ―diligent and cheap labor ― to a full extent. Second, parts and materials used inparts production must be low-cost, and their tariffs must also be zero or very
low. Third, the product must be relatively compact and high-value. Fourth, there
should be an efficient logistics system to minimize the financial and time cost ofexport. In sum, exportable parts must be labor-intensive, compact, and highvalue. Moreover, they must be parts that do not require strict Just-In-Time delivery. In Vietnam, wire harnesses for cars, which fit this description, are now
directly exported in large volume. But such parts are still very few.
One important thing to remember is that decision to export is not in the handsof the Japanese general director in Vietnam. Output, imports and exports of eachoverseas subsidiary is part of the global strategy of Japanese multi-national corporations (MNCs). They are decided by the headquarters in a way that contributes to the positioning of the entire business group in the global value chain
and production network. Cost competitiveness is absolutely necessary to be
selected by the headquarters to be an export base. Many Japanese firms in Vietnam, especially those without an EPE license, do not think that they currently
have production cost low enough to be an export base. That is why they urgently request a further reduction of import duties on parts and materials. While
CEPT tariffs on finished products became 5% or less in January 2006, many
imported parts from non-ASEAN countries are still subject to Most Favored
Nation (MFN) tariffs higher than 5%. Recently, import tariffs on electronic parts
were lowered in response to the request of Japanese and Korean assemblers in
Vietnam, but the average parts tariff still remains at 6.6% 14.
Similarly, when a Japanese subsidiary in Vietnam proposes to export parts
directly, such a plan must be consistent with the overall global strategy of theheadquarters. Japanese wire harness companies initially came to Vietnam tosupply to assemblers in Vietnam. They subsequently turned to export markets,
because the domestic market was too small for profitability ― and this re-orientation was approved by the headquarters.
14 News Net Asia, February 14, 2006, in Japanese.

95. High-quality Industrial Human Rresources
Once the demand size problem is somehow overcome, the most crucial factor
for the long-term development of Vietnam’s manufacturing industries is the fostering of Meisters, a German term for highly skilled masters of manufacturing.
In Vietnam, industrial weaknesses are often attributed to the lack of financial
resources to buy modern equipment. However, the majority view among Japanese firms is that high-quality industrial human resources are much more important than high-tech machines. One Vietnamese firm supplying plastic parts toJapanese and American firms remarked that highly-skilled workers, not newmachines, were essential, and second-hand machines operated by good workers
were superior to brand-new machines operated by poor workers. Similarly, aJapanese expert stated that simple assembly or routine machine operation could
not generate international competitiveness, because anyone in any country
could do it. Another Japanese expert stressed the importance of professional
spirit to pursue 100% product quality at all times, without stopping at 99%.
According to him, this one-percent gap was the source of difference between
competitive FDI suppliers and uncompetitive local suppliers.
There are different types of Meisters contributing to various types of manufacturing processes. They include:
Line leaders who can manage and improve the entire production process ina factory, rather than just one skill. In Japanese, such workers are calledtanoko (multiple-skilled workers).
● Very experienced molding engineers who can design, produce and adjust
moldings for perfection, and who can feel even minute differences of several
microns with their hands.
● Super assemblers in cell production who can assemble a whole product byhimself or herself, and therefore can suggest the way to improve thedesigns of individual parts for efficient assembly.
●

While the importance of human resource development is widely talked about,the precise reason why this is so important is not well recognized or shared.
High-quality industrial human resources are essential in advancing manufacturing beyond the levels reached by Thailand and Malaysia (“breaking the glassceiling”), as well as in coping effectively with the China challenge.
From the perspective of business architecture theory, Prof. Takahiro Fujimotoof Tokyo University argues that ASEAN countries, especially Thailand and Vietnam, should master integral manufacturing, rather than imitating China’s modu10

Figure 4. Modular Manufacturing vs. Integral Manufacturing
Modular manufacturing

Integral manufacturing

Parts interface

Parts are common and can beused for any model

Each product has unique parts,
specifically designed

MeritsQuick results and flexibility

Endless pursuit of quality

Demerits

No differentiation, excess entry,
low profit, lack of R&D

It takes much energy and time toachieve results

Institutional
requirement

Openness, quick decision
making, flexible outsourcing

Long-term relations, building
internal skills & knowledge

Performance

Time

Time

lar manufacturing. Integral manufacturing requires parts to be designed uniquely for each product, which are mutually adjusted continuously for high performance. In contrast, modular manufacturing uses common parts which are put
together in flexible combinations to create new products quickly. For developing
countries, modular manufacturing is easer to implement but has associateddrawbacks such as oversupply, depressed prices, low profitability, and the lackof incentive for technological improvement 15.
Japan is a country of integral manufacturing, but faces high wages and an aging
population. In 2007, many experienced workers will begin to retire (the so-called“year 2007 problem”). Japan is desperately seeking a young, developing country
partner in integral manufacturing but has found none so far. On the other hand,
ASEAN countries need high skill building beyond simple assembly, in order tosustain growth and compete with China. If Vietnam learns to become such apartner, with long-term vision and strong aspiration for high quality, Japan and
15 Integral manufacturing in developing countries is an issue drawing much attention in Japanese

academic circles. It is also one of the hottest research topics at VDF in both Hanoi and Tokyo.
See K. Ohno, The Economic Development of Japan: The Path Traveled by Japan as a Developing
Country, GRIPS, 2006, pp.213-216, and K. Ohno, “Integral Manufacturing: The Way Forward for
Vietnam,” in VDF, Industrial Policy Formulation in Thailand, Malaysia and Japan: Lessons for
Vietnamese Policy Makers, forthcoming in July 2006. In addition, VDF is organizing a symposium with Prof. Fujimoto’s research team in July 2006 in Tokyo.

11Vietnam can form a strategic alliance in integral manufacturing. In such a case,
the Japanese government and business community will surely assist Vietnam
through ODA and technical assistance. Other ASEAN countries are already asking for such help 16.
To supply a large number of high-quality engineers, existing programs should
be enhanced and new programs should be added through both public and private effort. The following measures were suggested by Japanese firms andexperts.
First, existing training programs should be fully utilized. For example, one molding supplier has sent five Vietnamese workers to Japan for training with the support of the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS), a Japanese
official agency. One automobile parts supplier has sent most of its middle-classengineers and managers to its group factories in ASEAN under its own training
program. In addition, many Japanese firms organize internal competition suchas the QC Circle Olympics and the Skill Olympics, in which workers belonging
to the same business group in different countries meet in one place to compete
for high performance.
Second, the Vietnamese government should support training programs offeredby firms. The draft of the supporting industry master plan proposes to subsidize
50% of the cost incurred by the training activities of individual firms. ManyJapanese firms welcomed this proposal. One company asked for the precise definition of “training and education.” It wanted to know whether all types of training, both external and internal, would be supported.
Third, a system to promote and certify industrial Meisters should be established. Japan has Meister systems at national, prefectural (provincial), and firmlevels, which together encourage good engineers to do better and be sociallyrecognized. For example, one of the top companies in Japan (an electronic
device manufacturer) has an internal Meister system for lens polishing, painting,and electrical wiring. Meister candidates are nominated by each department,
who are classified into three ranks A, B, and C. The company then sends Aranked engineers to the Meister license offices of the central or local government. If they successfully receive Meister certificates from the government, thefirm will additionally award them with internal Meister titles and a bonus of
16 Thailand is linking up with Ota Ward of Tokyo, an area with many high-tech SMEs, to transfer

manufacturing skills. In Indonesia, Japanese FDI firms set up a new association in Jakarta tostrengthen the molding industry in February 2006.

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500,000 yen (about US$4,200). Meisters in this company are required to train
two successors for two years.
Fourth, collaborative training programs between FDI firms and local suppliers
should be encouraged. Such programs promote technical transfer to local firms,
and provide opportunities for both sides to know each other and work together.
One of the most successful programs in collaborative training is the Penang
Skills Development Centre (PSDC) in Malaysia 17. During our survey in Vietnam, many Japanese firms expressed interest in participating in such programs.
They hoped that practical vocational training, if properly conducted, would
increase the supply of skilled workers and slow down wage inflation. A numberof Japanese firms said that they would send their experienced engineers as
instructors or make their equipment available for such training, if the government made serious effort to initiate such programs.
Fifth, practical engineering education must be strengthened in high schools,
industrial colleges, and universities. A motorbike parts supplier complained thatthe results of sending their workers to Japan for training were less than expected, because Vietnamese workers lacked basic skill and knowledge for absorbing
advanced technology. One computer device assembler proposed that the government should pay more attention to basic but highly demanded skills such as
production engineering and efficient factory management, rather than pursuing
flashy words like IT, high-tech, biotech, etc. An electronics component producer
also suggested bolstering practical skills and knowledge in molding and pressing with precision.

6. Job Hopping as an Impediment to Skill Development
One important issue related to human resource development is job hopping. For
integral manufacturing, engineers with high skills and deep knowledge of the
production process must stay in one firm. However, Vietnamese workers who
are trained by the company or have acquired some skills often move to anothercompany in search of higher salaries or better working conditions. This prevents accumulation of highly specific skills and reduces incentives for companies to train their workers. Even in labor-intensive garment production and foodprocessing, job hopping causes problems for personnel management. But for
supporting industries which rely on experienced engineers and expensive
machines, job hopping is fatal. Admittedly, this phenomenon is not unique toVietnam; many developing countries report high job turnovers.
17 Mori, 2005, Chapter 4.

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In Vietnam, several Japanese molding companies aim to establish an integrated
manufacturing system within a factory from design to marketing. They train
their workers to become full-fledged engineers who know A to Z in making
molds. However, their plans are often frustrated by middle-class engineers quitting without mastering high-level technique. One Japanese expert criticized thistrend since workers were losing the opportunity to become excellent engineers
for short-term gains.
In Vietnam at present, there seem to be two macro reasons for increased job
hopping. First, an increased inflow of FDI is creating labor shortages, especiallyin localities where FDI is concentrated. An automobile parts supplier in the
North said that, as the industrial zone in which the company was located was
getting fully occupied, rising labor demand began to cause a high job turnover
and wage increase. The second reason is a shift in economic structure. In andaround Ho Chi Minh City, service industries are expanding rapidly and absorbing a large amount of workforce. An electronic parts maker in Ho Chi Minh City
said that the average turnover of first-year employees had increased dramaticallyin recent years, from less than 1% to 40-50 % at present.
However, not all firms report high job hopping. Among the firms we visited,some said they had kept their workers successfully with very low turnovers,
even less than 1% per year. One reason seems to be location. An automobile
parts supplier in the suburbs of Hanoi explained that it was located in an area
where labor demand had not risen very much and where most of the workers
were local, not migrant, with no intention of moving far. Another reason seems
to be employee policy. A plastic parts supplier described its worker incentive
programs, such as generous benefits, transportation allowance, and delicious
lunch. Workers tend to be loyal to companies which treat them well. The salarylevel is often not the decisive factor. It is necessary to study the conditions underwhich workers stay longer with one company, to minimize unnecessary job hopping.

7. Tariff Reduction and Tax Incentives
The general director of a consumer electronics manufacturer stated that tariff
reduction and tax incentives were standard policy instruments for promoting
supporting industries. Many firms we interviewed agreed. These measures arealso widely practiced in other East Asian countries for encouraging SMEs andsupporting industries.
Many electrical and electronics firms requested that import duties on parts and14

components be quickly lowered preferably to zero, or at least to less than 5%,
which was the CEPT tariff rate for finished ASEAN products. This was needed
to avoid the situation of reverse tariff structure in which tariffs on components
were higher than tariffs on finished products. Otherwise, assemblers in Vietnam
would lose cost competitiveness against ASEAN imports. ASEAN imports thatthreaten production in Vietnam are often the products of local subsidiaries
belonging to the same Japanese business group. From the viewpoint of theTokyo headquarters, there is no reason to assemble TVs and audio-visuals in
Vietnam if such assembly incurs high parts tariffs in addition to high logistics
cost. It will be more efficient to export them from the existing factories in
Malaysia or Thailand, where local parts are available and production scale islarge, to serve the Vietnamese market.
Tariff reduction will have two favorable effects. First, it enhances cost competitiveness of assemblers and may turn Vietnam into an export base of certain finished products. Second, liberalization of parts import increases intra-industry
parts trade and encourages Vietnam to specialize in the production of certain
parts to be exported globally. Advanced ASEAN countries have already actively
participated in East Asia’s production network and found certain core components to specialize in. For example, Malaysia specializes in cathode-ray tubes(CRT) and Thailand specializes in compressors used in air-conditioners andrefrigerators.
In addition, a number of firms wanted import duties on raw materials be
reduced. More than one parts supplier urged import tariff reduction on highquality industrial materials which were not produced in Vietnam. Several metalparts suppliers complained about the recent tariff increase on cold rolled steel
from 0% to 7%, to protect the new Phu My cold rolling mill in the South. This isforcing domestic metal users to raise their prices. The problem is that the quality of Phu My’s cold rolled steel is still below standard and Japanese firms must
continue to use imported cold rolled steel at a higher tariff. If the Phu My mill
improves quality and delivery speed to a level acceptable to Japanese firms, theproblem may be ameliorated.
Capacity building of customs officers is also called for. Several firms complainedthat common products available in Vietnam (steel pipe for construction, forexample) and high-tech materials unavailable in Vietnam (rare metal precisiontube for molding, for example) are charged the same tariff rate to protect the former. Japanese firms wanted popular products and high-quality industrial materials be distinguished in the tariff schedule. In some cases, different tariffs werelevied on the same product depending on the whims of the customs official in15

charge. In general, customs officers do not have sufficient knowledge to distinguish and classify fundamentally different products.
Another important promotion measure is tax incentives. Preferential tax treatment should be provided to encourage supporting industries, to both FDI and
local suppliers without regard to nationality 18. Corporate tax exemption andreduction, tax deduction for machinery purchases, subsidies for R&D, and thelike, will accelerate investment in supporting industries. Neighboring ASEAN
countries already provide such tax incentives under well-focused national campaigns for promoting SMEs and supporting industries.
For example, Thailand introduced preferential treatment for supporting industries in 1993-94. Targeted products and processes included molding, jigs, forging, casting, industrial tools, cutting, grinding, sintering, heat treatment, surface
treatment, machining centers, electronic connectors, Ni-Cd and rechargeable
batteries, and plastic engineering. Firms engaged in any of these 14 activities
were given the following privileges: (i) 8-year corporate tax exemption regardless of location; (ii) 50% import tariff reduction for machinery import for projects
located in Zones 1 and 2 (inside and near Bangkok), (iii) 100% import tariff
exemption for machinery import for projects located in Zone 3 (rural areas); and(iv) exclusion from foreign capital restriction by 1996 19.
Some Vietnamese policy makers are worried that further reduction of parts tariffs and provision of tax incentives, proposed by FDI firms, may bring negative
results. Main concerns include: (i) a decrease in fiscal revenue; (ii) how to promote domestic parts industries under zero tariffs; (iii) how to avoid the situation
where producers in other sectors demand similar special treatment; and (iv) therisk of Vietnamese producers being wiped out under the dominance of FDI parts
makers.
With regards to these issues, Japanese experts and firms replied as follows. For
the fiscal revenue effect, a detailed study on the long-term, indirect impacts oftax and tariff reduction was needed. If such policies activate FDI and growth, theoverall revenue effect might well be positive through increased income, more
traffic and port charges, income multiplier effects on other sectors, and so on.
On the second issue, it was noted that financial incentives were only one of the18 Equal treatment of domestic and foreign firms is one of the key requirements of WTO. More gen-erally, none of the policy measures considered in this report violates WTO rules.
19 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Investigation Report for Industrial Development:

Supporting Industry Sector, 1995, p. 2-2-4, in Japanese.

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factors determining parts investment. As argued above, the availability of large
demand and highly skilled engineers is more important. Supporting industries
can grow strongly even without protective tariffs if these other conditions are
met. Since parts industries also use parts, high parts tariffs may not promoteparts industries, depending on the precise structure of such tariffs.
As to the third and fourth issues, the concerns were understandable but prioritization and natural selection were inevitable. One consumer electronics assembler felt that mobilization of resources to targeted sectors was necessary anddesirable, and supporting industries, which were the base for all machineryindustries, should be recognized as a key sector that warranted special support.
In addition, elimination of a large number of Vietnamese firms, hitherto weak
and protected, is inevitable under globalization. It is part of the natural selection
process for Vietnam to become more competitive. Japanese firms expect at least
some local firms to survive and grow. Almost all Japanese assemblers hope toincrease transactions with local firms to reduce cost and diversify suppliers. For
instance, one Japanese molding firm expressed interest in increasing subcontracts with Vietnamese suppliers. Japanese firms hope to build a new system ofcooperation and division of labor with Vietnamese firms under an increasingly
open and competitive environment. The necessary condition for this is that Vietnamese firms make serious effort in QCD.
At present, FDI firms often criticize policies, and the government in turn complains about the lack of promised performance by FDI firms. This acrimonious
relationship is harmful to the healthy development of Vietnamese industries. To
improve the situation, one Japanese expert proposed a “give-and-take” deal
between the government and Japanese FDI firms, in which the former seriously
improves policies in accordance with business demands while the latter set targets for production, export, cost reduction, localization, and so on, conditionalon the implementation of good policies. The government must understand thatbusiness performance depends on not only enterprise effort but also many external factors, including policies, and that business targets should not be interpreted as commitments that can lead to penalties when they are not achieved. One
Japanese firm did not like this idea since the proposal sounded like “socialist
planning,” and some were similarly concerned that numerical targets might bindtheir businesses. However, others were open to such an idea.

8. Unstable Policy Environment
Complaints about unpredictable policies are nothing new in Vietnam. Everyone
agrees that this is perhaps the most serious impediment to FDI in Vietnam. But
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we must emphasize this well-known weakness since it is also negatively affecting the growth of supporting industries. Policy instability has three main features: (i) the lack of communication with businesses; (ii) ambiguity of the policy
purpose; and (iii) sudden implementation. The Vietnamese government was
sharply criticized when it suddenly enforced import quotas on motorbike parts
in 2002, which caused serious damage to motorbike assemblers and suppliers.
The special consumption tax on automobiles also continues to cause much confusion and chagrin. Japanese firms feel that the Vietnamese government has notlearned much from these experiences. They are afraid that similar problems will
occur in the future.
Even when we were conducting the survey, some Japanese firms were unable tomeet us since they were engulfed in new policy-related problems which had thesame features described above. Specifically, the increase in minimum wages in
February 2006 caught most Japanese firms unprepared since the government
did not give them sufficient prior information 20. Some Japanese firms in theSouth suffered wildcat strikes in the wake of confusion caused by the minimum
wage hike. Some firms also criticized the requirement that wages be raised 7%
after initial training. For some workers, short-term training is hardly enough.
For example, at least a few years of training is needed to produce good engineers. Uniform, compulsory requirement for wage increase ignores differencesamong labor types.
Japanese automobile manufacturers and their suppliers were severely hit by the
recent announcement on the liberalization of second-hand car imports which
would start on May 1, 2006. The purpose of this policy was unclear. Some producers wondered if the government wanted them to leave Vietnam, or just putting pressure to reduce car prices. The explanation that used-car imports wererequired for WTO accession was not persuasive to some observers. Automobile
assemblers tried to assess the long-term impact of this policy but implementation details were not yet revealed. Meanwhile, new car sales dropped sharply inthe first quarter of 2006 as consumers waited for price decreases in May. Some
production lines stopped.
There are two reasons why policy instability curbs the inflow of foreign parts
producers. First, unlike big-name assemblers, most Japanese suppliers are
SMEs with relatively small capital and little international experience. They havelittle know-how in coping with policy uncertainty and working with a foreign gov20 The minimum wages were raised from US$45 to US$55 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, fromabout US$35 to US$50 in smaller cities, and from US$31 to US$45 in the rest of the country.

18ernment. They are extremely afraid of any failure in the factory abroad, which
may lead to the bankruptcy of the parent company. Observing this situation, one
Japanese material supplier advised the Vietnamese government to assure Japanese SMEs with full support. Drafting a good supporting industry master plan isthe best way to do this.
Furthermore, unstable policy lowers the evaluation of Vietnam in the eyes of the
MNC headquarters. In any Japanese corporation, global strategy is made at theheadquarters, while a factory in Vietnam plays an assigned role in it. Oftentimes,
Japanese general directors stationed in Vietnam are very eager to expand theirfactories and contribute to Vietnam’s industrialization. But the headquarters usually does not care much about Vietnam, which is only a very small piece in the
global business game. This gap in enthusiasm toward Vietnam is called ondosa(temperature gap), implying that the factory in Vietnam is hot but the headquarters remains cool. General directors must get an approval from the headquarters
for expanding the factory, introducing new models, exporting to the global market, and so on. But persuading Tokyo becomes very difficult when Japanese
media are full of news about continuing policy inconsistencies in Vietnam. The
general director of an electrical and electronics assembler said that he wasdoing everything to invite group companies to Vietnam, but he could not convince the headquarters under present circumstances.

9. Information and Perception GapsFor strengthening local capability, Vietnamese suppliers must work together
with FDI assemblers. However, two problems impede fruitful business cooperation between Vietnamese and FDI firms.
The first problem is the information gap. Although most FDI assemblers aredesperately looking for local suppliers, they do not know where good Vietnamese parts makers are located. Many Japanese firms use telephone directories and workers’ personal connections to look for potential suppliers. One company said that it had to visit 100 firms to find one good supplier. All this is too
costly and time-consuming for private firms. A number of Japanese firms notedthat local suppliers did not actively approach them. Local suppliers generally do
not seem to know how to build business relations, and lack confidence to dobusiness, with Japanese firms.
One way to bridge the information gap is to create a supporting industry database. Many Japanese firms said they would welcome such a database. In fact,
several organizations, including the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Indus19

try (VCCI) and Vietbig, have already produced yellow-page-type databases, providing information on company names, contact addresses, and main products 21.
However, a mechanical listing of hundreds and thousands of companies is notenough. FDI firms want to reduce time and cost in narrowing down potential
suppliers. This requires either explicit ranking or implicit recommendations by
the database provider. Moreover, information must be accurate and updated frequently. In most databases, listed firms are asked to update information bythemselves, but it is doubtful if this can guarantee speed and objectivity. A good
database needs careful design and much commitment on the part of the database provider.
The second problem is the perception gap. Even if the two sides find each other,
there is a wide gap between what Japanese firms require as minimum standards
in quality, cost and delivery (QCD), and what local firms consider acceptable.
The Vietnamese side complains that Japanese firms are too fussy about little
things while the Japanese side rejects local parts which they say are below therequired levels. One reason for this is that local firms have had little exposure to
global market competition while Japanese firms are already fiercely competingwith American, European, Korean and Chinese firms. Another important reason
is that integral manufacturing of Japanese firms, which requires long-term cooperation and endless pursuit of perfection, is at odds with modular manufacturingof copied products practiced by most Vietnamese firms.
Vietnamese suppliers lack the knowledge of the Japanese production system.
For example, they send catalogs and product samples to JETRO or Japaneseassemblers, and expect to receive orders. But Japanese firms never accept suchcasual contacts. In the case of automobiles, designing of a new model starts at
the R&D center in Japan three years prior to mass production. Parts suppliers
are required to continuously participate in this design-in, working closely withassemblers and other parts makers. To join this system, Vietnamese firms must
send Japanese-speaking engineers to Japan for three consecutive years. In thecase of electronics and motorbikes, the situation is not as rigorous as automobiles, but assemblers still must perform quality tests and get an approval fromthe headquarters before trying new part suppliers.
One Vietnamese firm supplying key metal parts to Japanese firms said that it
21 VCCI’s Vietnam Business Directory is available in book form and CD-ROM. Vietbig, a joint-stockcompany, publishes its database in a book as well as in a website (www.yellowpages.com.vn/
index.asp). In Thailand, the Board of Investment’s Unit of Industrial Linkage Development(BUILD) is responsible for maintaining a supplier database.

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took three years to become a business partner of a Japanese motorbike assembler, a process that contained different interaction phases. Other Vietnamese
firms which supply to Japanese firms echoed that it took them about two to
three years before receiving the first order. Until then, they had to send a large
number of samples, which were rejected repeatedly, forcing them to improve
quality step by step. This was a very costly and frustrating process. But once
trust is built, Japanese firms teach them well and assure stable business relations and large orders.
Two Vietnamese firms, which have successfully built business relations withJapanese assemblers, offered three lessons for newcomers. First, top priority issincere attitude toward business. Even if initial ability is low, Japanese firms will
help them as long as general directors make serious effort to learn from Japanese and meet high requirements (similarly, a large Japanese computer device
assembler stated that it would first look at the attitude of the general director
when choosing local suppliers). Second, each firm should accurately assess andhonestly admit its weaknesses. If local suppliers cheat or overstate production
capacity or technology, the Japanese side will immediately find out and nevertrust them again. Finally, commitment to quality is crucial. The quality problem
is what FDI firms are most afraid of, because it would destroy their reputation in
the global market.

10. Industrial and Safety Standards
Finally, we would like to touch upon two additional issues not introduced earlier:quality and industrial standards and unavailability of raw materials.
Vietnam needs to create safety and industrial standards at least to the levels ofneighboring ASEAN countries 22. The current absence of industrial and safety
standards impedes the development of supporting industries in three ways.
First, importation of low-quality finished products hinders the business expansion of domestic assemblers. A consumer electronics manufacturer stated that
low-quality imported products had eroded the market of high-quality productsthat it produced. Indirectly, this also reduces local parts procurement. Second,
importation of low-quality parts and components may crowd out domestic suppliers. A tire supplier said that low-quality tires had flooded the domestic market
because Vietnam did not have a consistent standard to grade the strength oftires. Third, domestic suppliers face difficulty in establishing their own quality
standards. A Japanese motorbike parts supplier said that they followed Japan
22 For example, Malaysia has JBE SIRIM and Thailand has TISI as national safety standards.

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Industrial Standard (JIS), but Vietnamese suppliers would not adopt any quality
control system since they were not familiar with any system either at home orabroad.
Furthermore, the government should provide timely information on environmental laws in developed countries, to which Vietnamese products may be
exported. For instance, EU introduced the law on the Restriction on Hazardous
Substances (ROHS) in January 2006, which prohibited importation of products
containing any of the six substances 23. Although Vietnam has not adopted asimilar environmental restriction, most FDI firms have chosen to abide by
ROHS for domestically sold products as well as exports. As a result, they now
require Vietnamese parts and material producers to also follow ROHS. However,the latter still lack the knowledge and technology to comply. One Taiwanese
motorbike parts supplier noted that it was unable to find any local supplier oftrivalent chrome, which was to replace the banned hexavalent chrome in metal
plating, and therefore could not switch to the ROHS standard.

11. Unavailability of Raw Materials
Some assemblers and suppliers emphasized the importance of raw material
industries. As long as Vietnam relied on the imports of flat steel, plastic materials, industrial chemicals, paint, refined oil products, and so on, competitivenessin terms of cost and lead-time could not be realized against those countries that
had these materials.
However, raw material industries are extremely capital-intensive, far more sothan supporting industries which we have been considering. Before investing in
expensive equipment, there should be a sufficiently large industrial demand toensure efficient operation and low cost. According to one manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs), China could invest a huge amount in the material
industries of PCBs because it had hundreds of PCB assemblers that used them.
In Vietnam, there are only three PCB assemblers. Thus, it would take a few
decades before domestic demand for PCBs rose sufficiently to justify producing
the raw materials. Until then, tariff reduction, or even tariff exemption, on the
raw materials of PCBs is the appropriate policy.

23 Cadmium, lead, hexavalent chrome, mercury, PBB, and PBDE.

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