LookAtVietnam Bridge – Vietnam Investment Review spoke with business leaders and economic experts who participated in a forum on the roles and qualifications of chief executive officers in Vietnam.

* Ho Duc Hung, director of the Economic Development Institute at HCM City Economics University

Vietnamese CEOs have plenty of basic knowledge but still lack professional skills. Thus, they should engage in self-directed studies to improve their ability.

Vietnam is also short of professional CEO-training schools, as well as intensive training programmes and books. Existing programmes are no longer advanced enough to meet the needs of Vietnam’s current business climate and the international standards to which its enterprises are held.

At the same time, foreign CEOs, despite their skills and experience, still do not have enough of understanding of Vietnam’s realities.

Living and working conditions for foreign CEOs in Vietnam are still behind those found elsewhere, discouraging optimum performance. We should find solutions to these problems in order to attract and retain top-level talent.

* Le Phuoc Vu, chairman of Hoa Sen Group

The essential characteristics of a CEO are honesty, responsibility, knowledgeability and experience in management. Whether or not to hire a foreign CEO is a choice that depends on each enterprise’s type of operation and scale. For Vietnamese enterprises now, I think, it makes more sense to recruit domestic CEOs.

We must consider CEOs as managers rather than employees. We should connect the interests of the outside-hired CEO with those of the company in order to improve CEOs’ efficiency and performance. I advocate the policy that CEOs be eligible to buy company shares and attend shareholder meetings.

We should consider CEOs as full members of family companies rather than isolated managers.

* Duong Xuan Giao, director of NetViet Co Ltd

Many Vietnamese companies now lay out the red carpet for foreign CEOs. Because the country is on the path of integration with the world economy, foreign leadership is seen as an advantage.

The biggest problem facing a Vietnamese company when it hires a foreign CEO is that they have to pay the CEO a high salary.

Therefore, enterprises should "cut their coat according to their cloth", basing the decision to hire a domestic or foreign CEO on demand and financial capacity.

Foreign CEOs are still weak in their understanding of the Vietnamese market and the country’s legal system and culture, particularly entrepreneurial culture. However, we can overcome this deficit if from the beginning we have assistants and consultant groups helping them.

* Nguyen Hoang Dung, Business Administration Institute, HCM City

CEOs and Vietnamese company owners must understand each other in order to work together. Vietnamese owners should consider the employment of a CEO as an investment, and they have to accept the attendant risks. They must be wise enough to choose a suitable CEO as well as provide their CEO with favourable working conditions. CEOs in turn must also demonstrate their capability and productivity.

In training CEOs, Vietnam does not meet the requirements of companies because we lack teachers with full theoretical and practical knowledge. I think that Vietnamese CEOs should therefore take it upon themselves to enlarge their social and economic. Rather than focusing exclusively on developing technical know-how, CEOs and aspiring CEOs should cultivate the conceptual skills and perspectives required to understand and engage macro – level problems.

(Source: Viet Nam News)