Thang Long IP II, Hung Yen Province Working Together to Support Businesses

Thang Long Industrial Park II (TLIPII), located in Hung Yen Province, has emerged as an attractive destination. It has always been exploring how to better support its tenants, assisting them with establishing subsidiary, applying for permissions and approvals, and getting incentives; or offering value-added services, such as gas, other energy and value-added logistics services. Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Goki Nobuta, General Director of TLIPII with regards to its operation and mission to support manufacturers in the Park. Ngo Khuyen reports.

Could you review some featured results of TLIPII in 2015 and Q1 2016? What are the lessons from the results that the company has achieved in recent years?

First, since the middle of 2015, the number of inquiries from small and medium enterprises has been increasing. At the same time, local governments in Japan just started its activities for supporting small and medium enterprises in their prefecture expanding its business overseas. So we have collaborated with some local governments. Now we have collaborated with three local governments namely Kanagawa Pref, Hyogo Pref. and Kobe City, and Hamamatsu City.

Secondly, since the end of 2015, we have noticed a trend which is that the manufacturers who have factories in either China or Thailand are looking for industrial land in Vietnam. Some of them are planning to establish a new factory in a different country in the view of Business Continuity Planning and some of them aim to go into the domestic market in Vietnam. Also several manufacturers who have already set up a factory in Vietnam are looking for additional land for developing the domestic market in the northern areas of Vietnam.

For the past 20 years of promoting the industrial park business in Vietnam, we would like to say that there have been three fads that a lot of foreign manufacturers have been  motivated to come to Vietnam so far. The first fad was in 1990s which was led by the motorbike industry. The second fad started 2000 onward which was led by the office equipment industry. The third fad was in 2010s which was led by the mobile phones industry. Now we believe that the forth fad is on the way, and many manufacturers are motivated to come to Vietnam.

Which strategy has TLIPII adopted to strongly attract investors into the Industrial Park?Our corporate mission is to support our shareholders, clients, local communities, employees, and everyone else around the world in their endeavours to achieve economic and spiritual prosperity to realize their dreams through the management and operation of this industrial park. We will support the operations of our tenants, contribute to the development of local society, look after the environment, contribute to the improvement of worker’s living condition, and maintain the social order and the safety of citizens.

The factors contributing to the success of the company are not only the appropriate strategy but also the human resources team.  How do you care for your personnel in the company?

First of all , with regards to  encouraging, motivating and supporting all members of this company, we will give them the chance to i) attend meetings in foreign countries which are organized by our shareholder,  ii) partake in lessons for professional and self-development.

Second we are doing Kaizen activities. Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement. Kaizen was originally introduced in Japan. Today Kaizen is recognised worldwide as an important activity of an organization’s long-term competitive strategy. For the Kaizen activity, we have organised several teams and each team will review processes to obtain better results; evaluate the current situation; present the data and discuss the correlation of the facts; take action to contain and correct the root causes of the known problems.

Third, we have placed great importance on Compliance issues. It is our policy that all members of our company never go against laws and regulations for pursuing profit of our company and ourselves. In order to promote compliance, we are organizing a regular seminar for all members to prevent compliance violations from occurring and to prevent all members from risk.

Could you share some features of TLIPII’s business plan as well as your expectations for the period 2016 – 2020?

We have explored the possibility of assisting all of our tenants with value-added services, such as gas, other energy and value-added logistics services. Considering that small and medium enterprises are interested in setting up a factory in Vietnam, we would like to explore how we can support them. We tend to be requested to assist them with our support for establishing its subsidiary, applying for permissions and approvals, and getting incentives.

What are your suggestions, proposals and comments to authorities on the investment and business environment of Hung Yen Province?

We would like to express our sincere thanks for the valuable support the Hung Yen government has extended to us. Whenever we have difficulties and issues, the government gives us valuable advice and take necessary actions promptly.

Considering that small and medium enterprises are interested in setting up a factory in Vietnam, we would like to collaborate with Hung Yen government to study how to attract them to the province.