DKSH provides extra reach for firms

Claire Burgess

DKSH and Roland Berger have jointly launched a Market Expansion Services report. According to Roland Berger, Market Expansion Services (MES) is predicted to have an average annual growth exceeding 11 per cent in Asia-Pacific, just behind Latin America at close to 13 per cent. Claire Burgess, DKSH Vietnam general director, gives VIR the inside story.

What is DKSH’s strategy for tapping into the potential of Vietnam as an emerging economy in Southeast Asia to provide your world-renowned market expansion services?

Vietnam is a high potential market with long-term political stability and the large source of young, dynamic and skillful labour. Consequently, we aim to lean on the strengths of Vietnam by investing in infrastructure and capitalising on human capital to establish market reach. At the same time, we distinguish ourselves in the market with the quality and the variety of our services. As a group, we are known for  our winning combination of solid international reputation and local know-how. With the infrastructure that we have established in Vietnam over the years, we are in a very good position to exploit our corporate strengths to assert our position as a leading player in the MES industry here and emulate our great success elsewhere in the region.

DKSH’s business activities are organised into highly specialised business units, consumer goods, healthcare, performance materials and technology. So what are the issues specific to Vietnam that DKSH anticipate foreign investors are likely to encounter when they decide to enter or expand their market to this country?

Complex regulatory and legal systems are some of the issues that cause foreign investors the biggest headache when working in Vietnam.  The rules of the game, complex as they are, can be subjected to changes at any time, making it difficult for long-term planning or strategising. Even well-established companies in Vietnam may find this a challenging issue, let alone those who plan their entry into this market. We also find that many investors are seduced by the short-term potential profit and neglect to build and implement a strategy that enable sustained growth in the market.  The job of MES providers like us is to help the investors to penetrate the market in the most effective and profitable manner with the least possible risk.

In what way will DKSH help investors deal with the above issues?

As a pro-active MES provider with deep historical roots in Vietnam, DKSH understands country-specific issues that may impact on our partners’ business and provide them with strategic consulting on how to live and grow within the boundaries of the local regulatory and legal systems.
Besides, our ties with, and understanding of the country mean that DKSH is able to anticipate openings and capture emerging opportunities to enable our clients to plan for tomorrow’s developments, but profit from today’s conditions.     

How can DKSH prove the prominent quality of its market expansion services so investors will have no other choice but to select DKSH as a trusted MES provider?

With our vision to be the world’s leading MES provider with a focus on Asia, and in Vietnam specifically, DKSH has been implementing its strategy for growth in which we continuously strengthen and extend our service offerings to ensure long-term success for our customers and clients.  In practical terms this means successively improve efficiency and effectiveness of our processes to best serve our business partners and focus on growing existing markets and existing business units where we can leverage our leadership position for the benefits of our business partners.

This well thought out and relatively simple strategy has enabled us to develop and offer a range of customer-centric solutions that are highly valued by our clients.   Moreover, our clients have the advantage in optimising our comprehensive network in 35 countries in the world. They can take references from many success stories we have had with various clients in the world and assess the opportunities that we offer as well as take comfort in having a partner of regional and global credibility.

Right from the beginning, we aimed to become the proactive and resourceful partner that our valued clients can trust in handling over the non-core part of their business to us. We think we have achieved that aim.

What is DKSH’s business and investment plan for Vietnam in the time to come?

We are pleased to inform our new investment to strengthen our presence in northern Vietnam with the new state-of-the-art distribution centre. This is the important investment showcasing our long-term commitment in development plans in Vietnam, complimenting the modern distribution centre we have in the south.