The Hanoi Young Business Association (HYBA) and Swedish Trade Council recently held a seminar at Hanoi to discuss CSR in Vietnamese business.
About 50 Vietnamese entrepreneurs, as well as representatives from the Embassy of Sweden in Hanoi, the Swedish Trade Council, IKEA, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Bac Viet Steel Group shared their views on sustainable business as a competitive advantage for Small and Medium sized enterprises.
The Ambassador of Sweden in Vietnam, Mr Staffan Herrström stressed that the “Swedish model” of doing business, which is based on the idea of close cooperation between the state, employers and workers, has made Sweden a home of so many products and companies with worldwide reputation.
He said, “Sweden’s success has been built on our companies’ commitment to acting as responsible players at home as well as abroad where they are established. By doing this, in a fair way, companies have been able to continue to be competitive. Naturally, as human beings, we never want our children to live in an environment which is polluted by any company and as customers, we never want to buy any products whose manufacture destroys our environment.”
The Ambassador also said that the Sweden’s Government places a strong emphasis on CSR. Swedish companies are committed to promoting CSR among their businesses abroad as well as at home. Because Vietnam is a growing market, Swedish enterprises are keen to invest and do business and this is an especially fertile collaboration because of Vietnam’s solid position in manufacturing.
The potential for collaborations between Vietnamese and European companies is huge but in order to stay competitive Vietnamese businesses should focus on CSR. Aspects of CSR such as ethics, working conditions, labour rights and sustainable business solutions especially will go a long way in paving the way for Western investments.
This applies not just to Vietnamese businesses but also businesses all over Asia. Asian industry is predominantly fueled by SMEs which collectively are a potential hothouse for CSR initiatives. Several industry leaders that I have met in Asia have said that in order to boost business, companies should start focusing on CSR.
Asian business comes with its own unique set of environmental challenges that is needs to be addressed. These issues are easy to take into account at the early stages of development. Environmental impacts can be managed in such a way that they absorbed into the cost of doing business rather than continue to be treated as externalities. Principles of modern environmental economics can be incorporated into early stages of business growth in order to make CSR ‘business as usual’.
