Say you want to run a bus service between Hanoi and Haiphong. You will get to know many bureaucrats from many government agencies. Instead of GE Capital or GMAC, Vietnam has loansharking. The state bank has had a regulation forbidding making loans to people that are only guaranteed by their salaries. If you don't own your own profitable company and want a new refrigerator or motorbike, better find a loanshark.
Foreign investors have their own special miseries.
You can manufacture your widgets in Vietnam, but you aren't allowed to set up your own retail network to distribute them. As for project finance, try financing a factory when you aren't allowed to borrow against the land your building sits on, something investors in other countries take for granted. The good news is that Vietnam's leaders understand this, at least in an intellectual sense. The leaders talk the free-market talk, but they are walking slowly. Last year, Vietnam negotiated a liberalizing trade accord with the United States.