Businesses hope to "live together" safely with COVID-19 soon

Speaking at the seminar themed "Finding solutions to help businesses proactively adapt and live safely with Covid-19" organised by Vneconomy Magazine on September 10, Than Duc Viet, General Director Garment 10 Company said in recent times, the difficulties of firms are not only those of the garment industry, there are industries that use few workers, there are industries that employ workers who move frequently. The garment industry usually employs a lot of workers and we have 12,000 employees including joint ventures in other provinces and cities. He said they highly appreciate the measure "determining that we cannot fight the pandemic absolutely, we must find a way to live together but still ensure safety".

Than Duc Viet analysed, in terms of advantages, it is inevitable that we live with the pandemic, the important thing is how to behave. The biggest advantage is about thinking and thinking. From a media perspective, whether or not we have exaggerated the issue, the thinking of local authorities and businesses as well as people is affected. I agree that we must be strict so that people are not subjective, but not too serious to lead to panic.

Second, we should localise businesses that ensure safety factors to ensure production. Like May 10, according to the "three on-site" option, 50% can be produced, but the cost increases five times, the revenue decreases by half, which cannot be maintained. Regarding the implementation of "one road", workers could not pass the checkpoints.

Third, if responsibility is assigned to the locality, we should also assign responsibility to the business itself, each citizen is a soldier, each family is a fortress. Each worker is a soldier, each business is a fortress, if done well they can only maintain our business but also work to fight the pandemic with the whole country.

In terms of difficulties, the first, characteristic of May 10 is to use a lot of labour, mainly female and scattered in seven provinces: Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong, and Hanoi. With such a story, each province applies a different distance, the story is different. Some localities are open, some are closed, some are half closed, some are open, and some business leaders must agree to take responsibility if an infection occurs.

There is a need to zone businesses to ensure safety factors to ensure production. Photo: H.Diu

Change business plan accordingly

According to Nguyen Thanh Ngu, General Director of Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company, on the current difficulties, the biggest difficulty is the problem of organising the supply chain of goods - logistics in a systematic and strategic way. This is the most important link for businesses to design and stabilise production, this is also an issue businesses want the Government and related departments to focus on to systematically regulate, apply technology to solve quickly, reduce unnecessary cumbersome procedures from customs clearance to moving on the road. Businesses cannot operate "three on-site" forever; need to rotate goods, so this is the biggest difficulty.

The second difficulty is the accessibility and progress of vaccination. From a business perspective, we work according to a plan one year, 18 months in advance or a long-term strategy, all signed contracts are based on this spirit. Businesses cannot operate the way they do today, tomorrow they will not know if they will close. Currently, what is the source of vaccines and vaccination plans in the provinces and cities, what is the priority, in my opinion, it is necessary to solve social security group for the people to ensure the demand for essential goods. The second is the wellbeing of businesses, the flow of goods is like the blood vessels of the business, so it cannot be stagnant.

Nguyen Thanh Ngu said in the context of the pandemic, all businesses have changed to adapt to technology, it is thought management agencies also need to promote technology to shorten procedures. Our main activities are located in southern provinces - the current pandemic center, with the new policy of "living with the pandemic"; a correct and open view. To adapt to this spirit, Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa itself also reviewed and adjusted its business goals 2021-2022 to have a suitable approach. From a business perspective, we have to be more streamlined and restructured during the past time in terms of working methods, organisational models, production activities, etc. Up to the present stage, we have a minimalistic apparatus, adjusting investments to suit the context.

Regarding changing business methods, this is a key point in the recent period that businesses have adapted to. We have adjusted the market structure, previously we focused on the domestic market, in 2019-2020 we increase the proportion of exports to take advantage of market opportunities. In 2021, we re-adjust the domestic market, focus on the northern market, focus on modern channels, change the approach in retail, all through technology and software to interact with distributors. From here, goods are organised coherently and supply is maintained.