Hitachi powers up to plug into Vietnam

Hitachi’s representative offices were established in Vietnam years ago. Why did the company now decide to set up Hitachi Asia Vietnam?

According to the latest survey conducted by Jetro on business operation of Japanese companies in overseas markets, Vietnam is still ranked as one of the top destinations for doing business. For Hitachi, Vietnam is really an attractive and important market.

Our representative offices were opened in Ho Chi Minh City in 1994 and in Hanoi in 1996. Now it’s the  right time for us to expand to a wide range of business in Vietnam, so the establishment of the new company would help us complete our business goals in this market.

Japanese firms are looking to Vietnam as an attractive destination for setting up manufacturing. What industries in Vietnam turn Hitachi on?

Hitachi has been well-known as a home appliance company in Vietnam via our branded washing machines and refrigerators. But I think many Vietnamese people don’t know that Hitachi is an infrastructure company. We would like to change that concept. With the Vietnamese government’s goal of 7-8 per cent economic growth annually and the strategy to become an industrialised nation by 2020, we see that Vietnam is in need of many social infrastructure projects in power, transportation and water treatment fields, in all of which we are very keen on investing.

Specifically, Hitachi has bid for Ho Chi Minh City’s subway system No1 and now we are waiting for the local authorities’ final decision. In Hanoi, we are now at the prequalification stage for the capital’s elevated rail lines No1 and No2.

In power sector, as Japan was selected as the partner of the Vietnamese government to develop the nuclear power plant No2 in central Ninh Thuan province, we are looking for the opportunity to take part in this project. As an infrastructure development company, we are also looking for potential domestic partners and good industrial parks in Vietnam to invest in.

For the manufacturing field, Hitachi is now operating a cable production facility with the initial investment capital of $27.3 million in northern Hai Duong province. We have had plans to expand the capacity of this facility so as to improve the production connectivity with our operating factories in China and Thailand.

In the context of Vietnam’s current economic slow-down, what does Hitachi expect in terms of the revenue growth in Vietnam?

I would like to share that Hitachi’s overseas revenue at present accounts for 41 per cent of the group’s total. In our global business strategy, the ratio will be leveled up to more than 50 per cent to the group’s targeted revenue of $100 billion in 2015. For the Vietnamese market, frankly speaking, our business revenue at the moment is very small, so we are trying to improve that via the business expansion as I have said above.

Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative (HYLI) is among Hitachi’s human resources development supportive programmes in Asia. How has this initiative benefited Vietnamese students?

Established by Hitachi in 1996, HYLI is a regional thought-leadership and corporate social responsibility programme which aims to identify Asia’s future leaders. Vietnam has actively participated in HYLI and every year four outstanding Vietnamese students below the age of 28 are chosen to participate in HYLI.

General speaking, the initiative offers Vietnamese students an opportunity to discuss regional economic and social infrastructure issues with prominent regional opinion leaders from the private, public and academic sectors. The students from seven participating countries will also work together to present their ideas about how these issues can be addressed.