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Firms struggle in US market
Vietnamese exporters are still having difficulties achieving success in the US market, says Sorin Witzman, adviser of HR Consulting Services from the US.
Witzman spoke on how to successfully penetrate the US market at a seminar held by Amcham Viet Nam on Wednesday in HCM City.
It was aimed to help Vietnamese exporters pursue international contracts, respond to customer demands and increase profits from international trade.
Witzman is an international executive adviser in the field of quality programmes and solutions. He shared his experience in helping companies improve their product and process quality, which can lead to much higher rates of market share growth in tough markets like the US.
Witzman attributed the problems facing Vietnamese exporters to a lack of knowledge regarding customer expectations and behaviour in new markets.
He said Vietnamese companies often lacked a record to show experience and expertise. German companies, meanwhile, kept records weighing up to 15kg to show their business experience to customers.
Most new companies failed to penetrate the US market because of poor customer service, he said. An identification of the quality needs of the end-users was required to ensure improved product quality.
Also, US and EU companies are reluctant to do business with companies that do not show knowledge of local quality regulations, according to Witzman.
To ensure the quality of imported goods, the US had federal and state regulations and quality standards.
Bryan Phan, CEO of HR Consulting Services, said most US companies required exporters to have their representative offices in the US because they did not want to have to call Vietnamese exporters at midnight to ask about a product error or sue someone who was in another country.
The US companies only wanted to do businesses with firms who had an office in the US.
Witzman said that more than 18 years after the reactivation of trade with Viet Nam and almost 11 years after the ratification of the original Bilateral Trade Agreement between the two countries, some firms, both locally owned and foreign invested, were having difficulties getting goods into the USA.
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