dao duc kinh doanh o vn

8/4/2019 Dao Duc Kinh Doanh o VN

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VNH3.TB5.219

O C KINH DOANH TI VIT NAM -THC TI V GII PHP

TS. Nguyn Hong nh

i hc Ngoi thng - H Ni

1. Gii thiu chung

1.1 Khi nim vo c kinh doanh

Nghin cu v o c l mt truyn thng lu i trong x hi loi ngi, bt

ngun t nhng nim tin v tn gio, vn ha v t tng trit hc. o c lin quan tinhng cam kt v lun l, trch nhim v cng bng x hi. o c trong ting Anh lethics, t ny bt ngun t ting Hy Lp ethiko v ethos, ngha lphong tc hoc tp qun.

Nh Aristoteles ni, khi nim trn bao gm tng c v tnh cht v cch p dng. Vvy, o c phn nh tnh cch ca c nhn v trong thi i ngy nay th c th ni ln ctnh cht ca mt doanh nghip, v doanh nghip chnh l tp hp ca cc c nhn.

o c kinh doanh l mt khi nim khng c m cng khng mi. Vi t cch lmt kha cnh lun l trong hot ng thng mi, o c kinh doanh lu i nh chnh

thng mi vy. Trong b lut Hammurabi t khong 1700 TCN, c quy nh v gi c,thu quan, cch thc hot ng thng mi v c hnh pht h khc cho nhng k khng tunth. c thc coi l bng chng cho s n lc u tin ca x hi loi ngi phnnh ranh gii o c cho cc hot ng kinh doanh. Trong tc phm Politics (ra i vokhong nm 300 TCN), Aristoteles ch ra r rng nhng mi lin h thng mi khi bn vqun l gia nh. Gio l ca co Do Thi v Thin Cha gio, v d nh trong Talmud(nm 200 sau Cng nguyn) v Mi iu rn (Exodus 20:2 - 17; Deuteronomy 5:6 - 21), u a ra nhng quy tc o c c p dng trong hot ng thng mi.

Tuy nhin, vi t cch l mt khi nim mang tnh hn lm, o c kinh doanhcng mi ch tn ti c khong bn chc nm trli y. Nh nghin cu o c kinhdoanh ni ting Norman Bowie l ngi u tin a ra khi nim ny trong mt Hingh Khoa hc vo nm 19741. K t, o c kinh doanh trthnh mt ch ph

bin trong cc cuc tranh lun ca cc lnh o trong gii kinh doanh, ngi lao ng, cccng, ngi tiu dng cng nh cc gio si hc M, v t lan ra ton th gii.Tuy nhin, khng phi tt c nhng nh nghin cu, cc tc gi v din giu c chungquan im vo c kinh doanh. Trc ht, gia kinh doanh v o c lun c s muthun. Mt mt, x hi lun mong mun cc cng ty to ra nhiu vic lm lng cao, nhng

1 Marcoux, A.M (2006), The concept of business in business ethics, Journal of private enterprise, April 1, 2006.


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mt khc, nhng cng ty ny li mong mun gim bt chi ph v nng cao nng sut laong. Ngi tiu dng lun mong mun mua hng vi gi thp nht cn cc cs thngmi li mun c li sut cao nht. X hi mong mun gim nhim mi trng, cn cccng ty li mun gim ti a chi ph pht sinh khi tun th cc quy nh v bo v mitrng trong hot ng sn xut ca h. Chnh t ny sinh xung t khng th trnh

khi trong quan nim vo c kinh doanh, do khc bit v li ch ca cng ty vi li chca ngi lao ng, ngi tiu dng v ton th x hi. V tt c nhng iu i lp ni trnl tt yu nn cc nh qun l buc phi lm sao cn bng li ch ca cng ty vi li chca cc cng (shareholders) v nhng ngi c quyn li lin quan (stakeholders), baogm nhn vin, khch hng v ton th cng ng2.

Cho n nay, cc nh nghin cu a ra rt nhiu khi nim vo c kinhdoanh, trong khi nim sau c thc coi l n gin nht: o c kinh doanh lnhng nguyn tc c chp nhn phn nh ng sai, nhm iu chnh hnh vi ca cc

nh kinh doanh3. nh ngha ny kh chung chung, v th cng b qua nhiu nhn t quantrng, v d nh: nhng loi hnh vi no nhng nguyn tc o c c thiu chnh; Haynhng ai c thc coi l nh kinh doanh v hnh vi ca h cn c iu chnh nhth no?

thc c s phc tp ca vn , gio s Phillip V. Lewis t trng i hcAbilene Christian, Hoa K tin hnh iu tra v thu thp c 185 nh ngha c ara trong cc sch gio khoa v cc bi nghin cu t nm 1961 n 1981 tm ra o ckinh doanh c nh ngha ra sao trong cc ti liu nghin cuv trong thc ca cc nh

kinh doanh. Sau khi tm ra nhng im chung ca cc khi nim trn, ng tng hp li va ra khi nim vo dc kinh doanh nh sau:

o c kinh doanh l tt c nhng quy tc, tiu chun, chun mc o c hoclut lcung cp chdn vhnh vi ng xchun mc v strung thc (ca mt tchc)trong nhng trng hp nhtnh4.

Nh vy, theo khi nim ny, o c kinh doanh bao gm nhng vn sau:

Quy tc, tiu chun, chun mc o c hoc cc lut lc a ra thc hin

nhm ngn chn cc hnh vi sai nguyn tc o c.V d nh: Nu Lut Lao ng ca mtquc gia quy nh ph n c quyn ngang vi n ng trong cng vic, s c th ngn chns phn bit gii tnh ca nhng ngi thu lao ng khi tuyn dng.

Hnh vi ng vi o c - hnh vi c nhn ph hp vi l cng bng, lut php vcc tiu chun khc; hnh vi c nhn phi ng vi thc tin, hp l v trung thc. Mt

2 Vickers, Mark R., Business Ethics and the HR Role: Past, Present, and Future, Human Resource Planning,

January 1, 2005.3 Brenner, S. N. (1992), "Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions". Journal of Business Ethics, 11,391-3994 Phillip V. Lewis (1985), Defining 'Business Ethics': Like Nailing Jello to a Wall, Journal of Business Ethics 4

(1985) 377-383. 0167-4544/85/.15


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ngi lm kinh doanh lun phi lu l mi ngi u phi c trch nhim vi nhng huqu xut pht t hnh vi ca mnh. Ngha l, ngi khng c php lm bt kiu gc th khin hnh nh ca h b lung lay.

Strung thc - mi cu ni, mi hnh ng ca hu phi mang tnh thc t hoc

th hin s tht. C tha ra v d, nh Li mu ca nhng quy tc trong x hi cacc nh bo chuyn nghip c ghi: Chng ta tin vo skhai sng x hi nhmt ngitin phong ca cng l, cng nhtin vo vai tr ca Hin php trong tm ra stht v mt

phn quyn li ca x hi l c bit stht.

iu kh khn nht trong nghin cu o c ni chung v o c kinh doanh niring, chnh l xc nh ci g ng v ci g sai. iu c coi l ng n v mt o lvi ngi ny c th khng ng vi ngi khc; nhng iu hm nay cn ng th mai thnh sai. Lewis t tn n l Trng hp c trng - nhng tnh hung m s lng

tng trong suy xto l c nhn cn n phn quyt mang tnh o c. V d: Hip hiY t Hoa K thng qua nguyn tc hot ng khch quan ca h l phc v nhn loi viton th s tn trng phm cch con ngi. Nhng bc s iu tr phi quan tm nkhng ch c nhn ngi bnh m cn n ton x hi. Nh vy, bt k hnh vi nokhng v mc ch nng cao sc khe v hnh phc ca c nhn v cngng sccoi l phi o c.

Ferrels v John Fraedrich c mt cch nh ngha khc vo c kinh doanh: theo o c kinh doanh bao gm nhng nguyn tc cbn v tiu chun iu chnh hnhvi trong thgii kinh doanh. Tuy nhin, vic nh gi mt hnh vi c th l ng hay sai,

ph hp vi o c hay khng sc quytnh bi nh u t, nhn vin, khch hng,cc nhm c quyn li lin quan, h thng php l cng nhcngng5.

V nh ngha ny c nhiu phn trng vi nh ngha ca Lewis nhng li th hinr rng hn nhng ngi c lin quan n o c kinh doanh, nn sc s dng trong

bi vit ny. Theo nh ngha ny, o c kinh doanh c rt nhiu im chung vi s tunth lut php, trch nhim ca doanh nghip vi x hi, nhng vn c lin quan nquyn li v ngha v v mt o l gia cng ty vi cng: nh trch nhim y thc, sosnh khi nim c ng (shareholders) vi khi nim ngi c chung quyn li(stakeholders)iu ny c ngha l o c kinh doanh khng ch bao gm vic tun th

php lut m cn quan tm n vic bo v quyn li cho nhng ngi c lin quan nhot ng ca doanh nghip v quyn li ca cng ng.

1.2. Phng php v mc ch nghin cu

Bi vit ny nhm nghin cu nhng vn sau y: (1) o c kinh doanh l g vn c im g khc bit vi quan nim chung vo c kinh doanh Vit Nam? (2) Thctrng o c kinh doanh Vit Nam hin nay v (3) Gii php nng cao o c kinh

5 Ferrels and John Fraedrich , Business ethics- Ethical decision making and cases, Houghton Mifflin Company,

2005.


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Tuy nhin, k t khi Vit Nam tham gia quc t ha, c nhiu phm tr mi cxut hin nh: quyn s hu tr tu, an ton thc phm, nh cng, th trng chngkhon v v th khi nim o c kinh doanh trnn ph bin hn trong x hi. Qua ktqu phn tch cc s liu iu v nhng ti liu thu thp qua sch bo, chng ta c th rt rac nhng kt lun sau v thc trng o c kinh doanh Vit Nam.

2.1. Nhn thc ca ngi Vit Nam vo c kinh doanh

Cho n nay, c rt t sch chuyn mn vo c kinh doanh c xut bn VitNam, v hu ht l c dch t sch ca M. Cun sch u tin v ti ny c xutbn Vit Nam c l l cun: WHAT'S ETHICAL IN BUSINESS? by Verne E.Henderson, ca Nh xut bn McGraw - Hill Ryerson. Cun sch ny c dch gi HKim Chung dch l o c kinh doanh l g? v c Nh Xut bn Vn ha pht hnhthng 11 nm 1996. Tuy nhin, ni dung cun sch kh mh, khng y , nn khng

gy c nhiu s ch trong gii nghin cu Vit Nam. Thi gian gn y, do p lcca tin trnh ton cu ha, c kh nhiu bi bo trn cc bo v tp ch nh: Chng ta(Tp ch lu hnh ni b ca cng ty FPT, website: www.chungta.com) hay bo Din ndoanh nghip (t thi bo cho gii doanh nhn Vit Nam do Phng Thng mi v Cngnghip Vit Nam - VCCI pht hnh, website: www.dddn.com.vn) v mt s bo v tp chkhc nh: Saigon Times, Thi bo kinh t Si Gn, bo Lao ng, etc. Nhng cc bi bony thng ch dng vic nhn nh v nhng s kin gn y Vit Nam c lin quann o c kinh doanh hoc cung cp v mt s v vic trn cc sach bo nc ngoi, chkhng tin hnh kho st hay a ra mt khi nim c th no vo c kinh doanh. Hu

ht cc trng i hc, Cao ng dy v kinh doanh Vit Nam u cha c mn hc ny,hoc nu c cng ch dng hnh thc mn t chn. Trong ni dung ca cc mn hc clin quan nh kinh doanh quc t hay qun tr kinh doanh cng cha cp n khi nimny, hoc nu c th ni dung cng qu s si. V d, trong gio trnh mn Vn ha kinhdoanh ti mt trng i hc Kinh tVit Nam c ginh mt chng cho o c kinhdoanh nhng li coi o c kinh doanh l vic tun th php lup trong kinh doanh! Quannim nh vy l qu hn hp, cha nh gi ht tm quan trng ca khi nim ny. Do p lcca tin trnh ton cu ha, cc phng tin thng tin i chng Vit Nam cp kh nhiun vn ny nhng li khng a ra c mt khi nim chun mc no. Chnh v vy,

mc d thng c nghe vo c kinh doanh nhng cch hiu ca ngi dn, ca ccdoanh nghip v vn ny cn kh mh. Thc trng c th hin kh r qua ktqu ca cuc iu tra. 40/60 s ngi c hi thng xuyn nghe nhc n nhng vn lin quan n o c kinh doanh, 20/60 i khi nghe nhc n vn ny. Lu l cuciu tra ny c tin hnh H Ni, th v l thnh ph ln th hai ca Vit Nam, nncon s ny cha phi l cao. Nhng khi c hi v quan nim, th no l o c kinhdoanh, 55/60 s ngi c hi cho o c kinh doanh l tun thng php lut, ch c5/60 ngi c hi cho o c kinh doanh l bo v quyn li cho khch hng v khng

ai cho o c kinh doanh phi bao gm c hai khi nim trn! Chnh s hiu bit mh nyvao c kinh doanh dn n nhng thiu ht trong thc thi ca doanh nghip.


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2.2. Trch nhim ca doanh nghip vi x hi (corporate social responsibility - CSR)

tm hiu vn ny, chng ti tp trung vo 2 kha cnh, trch nhim ca doanhnghip vi cht lng hng ha v vn bo v mi trng. Cu hi th nht v vn ny c t ra l: Doanh nghip slm g nhn c thng tin l c mt shng ha ca

mnh b k xu tro i vi nhng hng km cht lng, m bng hnh thc bn ngoikhng c kh nng phn bitc, c thgy tc hi cho ngi tiu dng?. Cu hi nyda trn mt tnh hung c tht l nm 1981, mt ngi bnh tm thn cho thuc cvo mt s l thuc gim au nhn hiu Tylenol do Johnson & Johnson (J&J) sn xut v

by bn cc quy hng bn thuc trong nhng siu ththnh ph Chicago. S kin trn lm by ngi thit mng v cnh st khng bt c th phm. Mc d v vic ngtic ny ch xy ra Chicago v b phn an ninh cho rng ngi th phm ch cho thucc vo mt s l Tylenol by bn nhng siu th ny, ban lnh o J&J cngquyt tin hnh thu hi kim nh ton b 31 triu l thuc Tylenol phn phi khng

chM m ton th gii, v theo J&J, khng c g bo m l th phm ch b thuc cvo cc l Tylenol lc by bn, m khng b vo trong lc sn xut hoc trc khi c

phn phi. Ton b chi ph thc hin quyt nh trn l 100 triu USD. Tuy nhin, s thhin trch nhim x hi cao ca cng ty Johnson & Johnson cng thm chin dch PRngn gip Tylenol ginh li v tr trn thng trng ch trong vng 6 thng. Nhng trongcuc diu tra ca chng ti, ch c 42 ngi , chim 42%, chn phng n Thu hi ngayton b l hng, chp nhn thua thit vkinh t, 50 ngi, chim 50% chn phng nl Thng bo ti ni bn, v ngi tiu dng tquytnh, thm ch c 8 ngi, chim8%, chn phng n Khng lm g c, v khng phi li ti cng ty ca mnh!

Cu hi th hai l: Cho bit quan im ca bn, khi mt cng ty XK sang th trngEU nc tng c t l cht 3 - MPCD nm trong phm vi cho php ca Lut Vit Nam,nhng li vt gp nhiu ln t l cho php ca EU? cng da trn mt s kin c tht lnm 2002, nc tng ca Chinsu, mt cng ty kh c ting Vit Nam, b Cquankim nghim cht lng thc phm ca B pht hin c cha cht 3 - MCPD - mt cht cha hc c th gy bnh ung thng vt v con ngi - mc 86 mg/ kg, trong khi ,tiu chun ca EU ch cho php mc 0.05 mg/ kg, tc l gp gn 200 ln. Nhng cng tyChinsu tuyn b khng chu trch nhim v h khng XK nc tng sang B. Sn phm

c thc mt cng ty no khc ti xut sang hoc l hng nhi. Hn na, tuy hm lng3 - MCPD trong nc tng ca h cao hn mc quy nh ca EU nhng li nm trong

phm vi cho php ca Vit Nam! S kin ny ln u tin cnh bo cc cquan chcnng v ngi tiu dng Vit Nam v tc hi ca cht 3 - MCPD trong nc tng, mt sn

phm vn c coi la an ton v sn xut tu tng, l sn phm t nhin. y chnh lyu t chm ngi cho scandal nm 2007 v vic 90% doanh nghip sn xut nc tng Vit Nam b cquan chc nng tuyn b vi phm VSATTP, do hm lng cht 3 - MCPDvt qu mc cho php, gy iu ng cho ngnh cng nghip ny. K t, ton th cc

doanh nghip sn xut nc tng u c yu cu phi dn nhn: Khng c 3 - MCPDln sn phm ca mnh.


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C l do v vic ny qu ni ting nn quan im ca ngi c hi trong cuciu tra ny r rng hn. 33% s ngi c hi cho l Vi phm lut php, 25%cho l Vi phm o c kinh doanh v 42% cho l vi phm c hai! Khng ai coi doanhnghip l khng vi phm. Nhng kt qu ny vn cho thy s mh trong phn nh gialut php v o c kinh doanh, v y ng ra l doanh nghip vi phm c hai, do khi

XK hng ha vo nc no phi tun th quy nh ca nc .

Cu hi v trch nhim ca doanh nghip vi mi trng cng da trn thc t l cnhiu doanh nghip nc ngoi u t vo Vit nam li dng nhng yu km trong quynh v bo v mi trng ca Vit Nam s dng nhng cng ngh sn xut gy nhimmi trng, nh hng n sc khe ca ngi lao ng v dn c, nhm tit kim chi ph.Cc v d cho vn ny rt ph bin Vit Nam nh: cc nh my dt khng c thit blm sch khng kh, gy bnh phi cho cng nhn v c dn xung quanh, nh my da giys dng x nc thi gy nhim ngun nc, cc cng ty xy dng khng che chn cng

trnh gy nhim cho khu vc, khng c thit b bo h cho ngi lao ng dn n t l tainn lao ng cao.Trong trng hp ny, doanh nghip tuy khng vi phm lut php nhngr rng c tnh vi phm o c kinh doanh, v h hon ton thc c tc hi ca hnhvi ny. Nhng quan im ca ngi c hi y li kh bao dung v n ha! Tr li chocu hi: Cho bit quan im ca bn v vic mt cng ty nc ngoi n lp nh my Vit

Nam li dng s lng lo trong nhng quy nh v mi trng ca Vit Nam?, ch c75% cho l Khng thchp nhn c, h vi phm o c kinh doanh, cn 25% licho l Bnh thng thi, kinh doanh cn bit tn dng chi. Kt qu ny cho thy thc tl vn mi trng cn t c quan tm Vit Nam v ngi Vit Nam cn qu l thucvo lut php khi nh gi vo c kinh doanh ca doanh nghip.

2.3. Vn shu tr tu (Intellectual property) Vit Nam

y l vn nng, khng chVit Nam m cn hu ht cc nc ang phttrin khc. Tnh trng vi phm SHTT trn lan Vit Nam c nhiu nguyn nhn. Trc ht,cho n u th k XX Vit Nam l nc nng nghip lc hu, nhng thnh tu v cc sn

phm cn bo h nh kiu dng cng nghip, pht minh, hu nh cha c, nn khng ccc quy nh v bo h SHTT. Hn na, l nc c nn vn ha trng tp th, ngi Vit

Nam khng c truyn thng bo h shu c nhn. Trong thi phong kin v c thi ktrc hi nhp Vit Nam, cc nh nghin cu, vn ngh s, u sng bng lng ch lut

php khng quy nh ch bn quyn tc gi, th lao cho tc gi rt t i v quan nim lphi phc v tp th. Vn ny chc tht st ra sau nm 1991, khi Vit Nam thamgia vo tin trnh hi nh p v nht l sau nm 1997, khi Vit Nam k Hip nh TRIPS.

Nhng vi thi gian qu ngn ngi, ch hn 10 nm so vi lch s bo h hng trm nmca cc nc u - M, thc v bo h quyn SHTT ca ngi dn Vit Nam cn rt ssi. Mt l do na cho vic vi phm SHTT trn lan Vit Nam l nguyn nhn kinh t. Khithu nhp ca ngi dn cn qu thp, trong khi gi c cc sn phm c bn quyn li qu

cao v rt ph bin th kh c th hy vng SHTT sc tn trng. Mt v d v vn nyl v vic xut bn cun sch v cu b ph thy Harry Potter ca J.K. Rowling, mt tc


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phm vn hc thiu nhi rt c a chung Vit Nam. Thng 8 nm 2007, cng vi thiunhi trn ton th gii, tr em Vit Nam rt hi hp chmong tp 7 v cng l tp cui cngtrong B sch ny: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, nhng lc ch c bn tingAnh. Cng vi phong tro hc ting Anh, vic c sch bng nguyn bn ngy cng ph

bin hn. Hn na, nu mun c bn dch cc em s phi chchng 6 thng na. Nhng

cc bc cha mVit Nam li bt trc mt tnh th nan gii nu h mun bo v bnquyn. Gi ba ca quyn sch ny l 38 USD, trong khi thu nhp bnh qun u ngi caVit Nam nm 2007 chmc trn 600 USD v gi sch lu ch c khong 7 USD6.

Mt cch vi phm SHTT kh ph bin Vit Nam l vic cng ty c tnh t tn chonhn hiu hng ha ca mnh tng t mt nhn hiu ni ting c trc trn trnh lut

php v gy nhm ln cho ngi tiu dng. V d cho tnh trng ny qu nhiu, nh Hongdav Honda, La Vierge v La Vie, Kt quiu tra v vn ny khng nh cho nhnnh trn v SHTT Vit Nam. tr li cho cu hi: Cho bit quan im ca bn vvic

mt cng ty ctnh t tn nhn hiu hng ha ca mnh gn ging vi mt nhn hiu hngha ni ting ?", ch c 16 ngi cho l Vi phm lut php, 37 ngi cho l: Vi phm oc kinh doanh, v 47 ngi cho l: Khng vi phm g c v khng hon ton ging. ngch l trong s 47 ngi khng cho l vi phm, c 8 ngi sinh vin, l nhm ngi t nhiuc c hc v vn ny, chng t SHTT cn l vn nan gii Vit Nam trong thi gianti.

2.4. Quan h gia ch doanh nghip v ngi lao ng

Thi gian qua, nh cng ang l mt vn nng Vit Nam. Theo thng k, tnm 1995 n nay ti Vit Nam xy ra hn 1.000 cuc nh cng ln nh. Ch tnh ringtrong qu 1/2007 xy ra 103 cuc nh cng ti 14/64 tnh, thnh ph vi hn 62.700lt cng nhn lao ng tham gia. Nhiu nht l ti ng Nai vi 35 cuc, tip n l BnhDng 22 cuc, Tp.HCM 26 cuc... trong 98/103 cuc nh cng l do l do kinh t7.Cc nguyn nhn chnh dn n nh cng bao gm:

- Ngi lao ng khng hi lng vi iu kin lm vic, mi trng nhim, cngc lao ng khng c thm tra, an ton lao ng km, khng c kim tra sc khe nhk cho nhn cng v tnh trng tai nn ngh nghip kh ph bin.

- thu ht u t nc ngoi, Lut u t Vit Nam a ra mc lng ti thiu rtthp (ch c 35USD/thng trong Lut TNN 1997) nn mc d khng lm tri lut phpnhng mc lng cc doanh nghip tr cho lao ng vn rt thp so vi mt bng gi c. Vth, ngi lao ng khng hi lng v khng trung thnh vi doanh nghip.

- Xut thn t nng dn, hu ht ngi lao ng thiu kin thc v Lut Lao ng vthiu k nng lm vic trong mi trng cng nghip nn nanwg sut lao ng thp v cnhng phn ng tri php lut khi c xung t.

6 Accountants face up to the moral maze, Ian Fraser, The Financial Times 2nd of January, 20087 Dung Hieu, ng x khi x y ra nh cng, http://www.vneconomy.vn, 13/11/2007


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iu ng ngc nhin l tnh trng ny xy ra khng chcc doanh nghip t nhntrong nc, c coi l t vn v khng am hiu lut php, m cn rt ph bin nhiudoanh nghi p c vn u t nc ngoi, c bit l i Loan v Hn Quc. Theo VinCng nhn v Cng on thuc Lin on Lao ng Vit Nam, trong 10 nm qua c 878cuc nh cng xy ra ti cc doanh nghip FDI, chim 70,7% tng s cuc nh cng

Vit Nam.

Mt v din hnh cho vn ny l sng ngy 25 thng 7 nm 2007, khu chxut Linh Trung I (qun Thc, thnh ph H Ch Minh), mt cuc biu tnh ca 1300cng nhn din ra ti cng ty Danu Vina (cng ty 100% vn Hn Quc) v chnh schlng bng bt h p l ca cng ty ny. T thng 7 nm 2007, cng ty tng lng thm50.000 ng (khong 3 USD) cho cng nhn lm t 1 n 5 nm v 70000 ng (gn 4USD) cho cng nhn lm t 5 n 7 nm. Tuy nhin, vic tng lng ch p dng chonhng cng nhn k hp ng t thng 7 trv trc ca cc nm, cn nhng ngi k hp

ng t thng 8 tri th khng gii quyt. Ngoi ra, cng ty tr tin chuyn cn mc25.000 ng/thng l qu thp, ba n gia ca tr gi 4.000 ng khng bo m cht lng;cng ty khng c nh xe, khng c ch giy dp dn n xe h, mt dp; phng vsinh thiu nc... nh hng n sc khe v s an ton ca ngi lao ng.

Kt qu ca mt cuc iu tra ca Vin Cng nhn v Cng on nm 2007, ctin hnh cc a phng t p trung nhiu cng ty vn u t nc ngoi nh H Ni,thnh ph H Ch Minh v cc tnh ng Nai, Bnh Dng, B Ra - Vng Tu, Vnh Phc,Bc Ninh v Hi Dng, cho thy cng nhn ti 45% cc cng ty FDI than phin v lng

thp, ti 16% cng ty, cng nhn phi lm thm giqu nhiu (c doanh nghip lm thmn 500 - 600 gi/nm). Hu ht cc cng nhn cc cng ty c vn u t nc ngoinhn mc lng ch khong t 800.000 VND (50USD) n 1.000.000 VND (62 USD) mtthng. Nh vy, ch c 30% cng nhn cng ty FDI c th trang tri c chi ph cucsng. nng cao thu nhp hng thng cho chi tiu hng ngy, 42,5% cng nhn phi lmthm gi, c bit l nhng ngi lm trong ngnh may mc v thuc da8. trong nhiu xnghip may mc, t l n cng nhn lm vic thm gi ln ti 55%, nhiu ngi lm 16hmt ngy n khi ngt xu, nhng cng chc ngh hm , hm sau phi i lm tip nukhng mun bui vic!9. y l mt hnh vi khng th tha thc!

Trong vng ba nm k t 2007 trv trc, hn 20% cng nhn cc cng ty FDIkhng c tng lng, mc d theo lut php, c ba nm cng nhn phi c tng lngmt ln. K c khi c tng, mc tng cng t hn quy nh. Rt nhiu x nghip cngkhng thc hin nhng iu ghi trong hp ng vi cng nhn v cc hp ng lao ngtp th, nh mc tng lng, gilm vic v cc trcp x hi, bao gm ngh php nh k,au m, tnh trng mang thai v n b cho tai nn lao ng. Cho n nay, ch 50% cng ty

8 Laodong Newspaper No 76, www.laodong.com.vn 04/04/20079 http://www.vnn.vn/xahoi/laodong/2005/11/512631/


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FDI k hp ng lao ng tp thm bo li ch cho ngi lao ng, iu dn n btng gia ngi lao ng v ch.

gii quyt tnh trng ny, Vin t chc mt cuc thanh tra gt gao v a ranhng hnh pht cng rn cho nhng cng ty vi phm lut lao ng, bao gm c thiu cung

cp bo him y t v bo him thn th. Vin cng ngh Nh nc sa i Lut Lao ngv cc lut c lin quan xy dng khung php l cho nh cng, bo vc quyn lica c ngi lao ng ln ch x nghip10. y l mt vn cn c sm gii quyt

bo v quyn li cho ngi lao ng v nng cao tnh hp dn cho mi trng u tVitNam, nhm thu tht cc nh u t nc ngoi.

C l do vn quan h ch - th c cp nhiu trn cc phng tin thngtin i chng, nn trong cuc iu tra ca chng ti, kt qu tr li kh kh quan. Lut phpVit Nam quy nh ch doanh nghip khng c quyn t chi nhn lao ng n vi l do

ang nui con nh, lao ng n c con nh di 3 tui c quyn i lm mun 1h vkhng b buc phi lm thm gi. Nhng trn thc t, quy nh ny chc tun th ticc cquan nh nc v t c ti cc doanh nghip t nhn hay FDI. Khi c yucu pht biu quan im v vic Mt doanh nghip tchi ti p nhn lao ng nangnui con nh hoc buc lm thm gikhi lao ng nang nui con di 3 tui, 25% sngi c hi cho l vi phm lut php, 66,67% cho l vi phm o c kinh doanh v chc 5 ngi (chim 8.33%) cho l khng vi phm, v mi ngi lao ng c ngha v lmvic nhnhau. Nh vy, chng ta c th cho l mc d cn nhng hn ch v nhn thcnhng i a s ngi tham gia iu tra c thc tng i r rng v vn ny!

2.5. Ngha v v trch nhim vmto c ca doanh nghip vi cc nh u t(The moral rights and duties between a company and its shareholders)

y l vn cn rt mi mVit Nam do th trng chng khon Vit Nam cnrt non tr (cha y 10 tui) nn nhng quy nh v tnh trung thc trong bo co ti chnh,cng khai thng tin vi cc nh u t ca doanh nghip, vn cn cha cht ch. V vy,thi gian qua xut hin hin tng cc doanh nghip a ra nhng thng tin cha chnhxc trc li, gy lao ao cho nhiu nh u t.

V vic nghim trng u tin l vic Joint stock Bien Hoa Confectionery Company(Bibica) gian di trong vic khai bo kt qu kinh doanh nm 2002 v 6 thng u nm2003. Bibica l mt trong 21 cng ty ng k ln sn u tin Vit Nam v l cng tynim yt u tin trong ngnh bnh ko. V vy, cc nh u t trng i rt nhiu vo linhun ca cng ty sau khi nim yt. nng cao nng lc cnh tranh trn th trng, thigian ny cng ty ng lot trin khai cc d n u t mi nhm mrng sn xut - kinhdoanh, u t pht trin cc sn phm mi (bnh trung thu, Layer Cake, chocolate), xydng Nh my Bnh ko Bin Ha 2 nn s nngn hng gia tng. Thm vo , ginguyn liu u vo tng nhanh, tnh hnh nhn s trong b phn Ti chinh - K ton c

10 Bo Lao ng s 76, www.laodong.com.vn 04/04/2007


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nhiu bin ng lm gia tng thm cc kh khn cho cng ty. Trc tnh hnh , cng tycn thu ht thm cc nh u t gia tng vn nn a ra mt bo co ti chnh khngchnh xc. Khi v vic vl, cc cng c bit nm 2002, Cng ty l 10,086 tng(tng ng 7.500.000 USD), gn gp i con s l 5,4 tng m cng ty tng cng

b11. Hu qu l gi c phiu Bibica st th thm, gy thit hi ln cho cc cng. Cng

thi im , Bibica phi i mt vi hnh pht v vi phm lut qun l chng khon ca yban chng khon nh nc (SCCI) v ri vo tnh trng gn nh ph sn.

Nhng do li nhun trn th trng chng khon qu ln, nn nhng v vic tngt vn ti p din. Thin Vit l mt cng ty chng khan mi thnh lp u nm 2007,nhng c cc nh u t ht sc quan tm v Nguyn Trung H, Ch tch ca ThinVit l Ph TG ca mt cng ty hng u Vit Nam v trong giy tng k kinh doanh,Phm Kinh Lun, mt chuyn gia ni ting trong lnh vc ti chnh, c nu tn vi tcch l Tng Gim c ca Thin Vit. V vy mc d cha nim yt nhng c phiu ca

Thin Vit c cc nh u t sn lng. c bit, t khi Ban Gim c Thin Vit ara thng tin l h k hp ng lin doanh vi Goldman Sachs, mt tp an ti chnhhng u ca M, thm ch Thin Vit cn a ra bn tha thun hp tc vi ch k caCh tch Goldman Sachs v Thin Vit vi cc phng tin thng tin i chng, th nn gic phiu ca Thin Vit tng rt nhanh, gp nhiu ln so vi gi nim yt. Tuy nhin, chvi ngy sau cc phng tin thng tin i chng cung c p thng tin rng GoldmanSachs t chi hp tc vi Thin Vit:

Edward Naylor, Gim c b phn truyn thng ca Goldman Sachs chu ,

trong email gi cquan thng tn Vit Nam, nhn mnh rng Goldman Sachs khnglin kt vi cng ty chng khan Thin Vit.

Gn y chng ti c mt cuc gp mt khng chnh thc mang tnh cht thmd nhchng ti thc hin vi cc cng ty chng khon khc, bc thvit. Cho nnay, i din ca Thin Vit v Goldman Sachs mi chgp mt trong cc bui gp thmd nhGoldman Sachs vi cc cng ty chng khon khc Vit Nam.

Khi c hi vbn tha thun hp tc vi chk ca c hai bn m Thin

Vit a ra cho cc phng tin thng tin i chng, ng Naylor ni rngGoldman Sachs i khi k nhng tha thun tng tvi nhng cng ty chng khontnhn khi tp on ang tm kim cc chi kinh doanh Vit Nam, GoldmanSachs c th thm nhp c vo th trng Vit Nam. Tha thun khng thc coi l bng chng vmt slin kt ca 2 cng ty12

Thm vo , ng Phm Kinh Lun cng cho bit ng cha h k H lm vic choThin Vit. V vy, Thin Vit b pht nng bi Trung tm giao dch chng khan thnh

ph H Ch Minh (HSTC) v y ban chng khon nh nc v a ra thng tin khng r

11 2002 Vietnam Investment Review Ltd12 http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2007/03/670242/


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rng v khng ngay thng. Ngi thit hi nhiu nht y chnh l cc nh u t, nhngngi b thu ht bi nhng thng tin sai lch m Ban Gim c cng ty Thin Vit a ra.

Nhng nhng v vic nh vy vn c nguy c xy ra bt c lc no v lut phpcng nh thc ca cc nh kinh doanh Vit Nam v vn ny cn cha y . Trong

kinh doanh vic g p kh khn hay ri ro l kh thng xuyn. Khi g p tnh hung ny,nhng cng ty uy tn trn th gii thng chn cch thng bo rng ri cho cc cng ku gi s hp tc ca h nhm gip cng ty vt qua kh khn. Mc d tim n nhiu riro nhng cch ny gip cng ty gic lng tin ca cc nh u t, v thot khi nguy c

b b ri khi thng tin bi l. Nhng trong cuc iu tra ca chng ti, tr li cu hiKhi mt dy chuyn sn xut trong cng ty b hng, dn n sn lng sn xut b suy

gim, nhng nu thng tin ny b l ra ngoi, cphiu ca cng ty sb mt gi nghimtrng, th cng ty nn lm g?, ch c 42% s ngi c hi chn cch thng bo rng richo cc nh u t, 50% chn cch Km githng tin mt thi gian tm cch sa cha

dy chuyn sn xut v 8% chn cch Khng thng bo gi c cho n khi bt buc! Mcd kt qu ny l kh kh quan,v n 92% s ngi c hi khng c nh che giuthng tin, t ra l trong mt thi gian nhng y cng l mt thiu st trong nhn thc cadoanh nghip Vit Nam.

3. Mt s gii php nhm hon thin o c kinh doanh Vit Nam3.1.nh gi vthc trngo c kinh doanh Vit Nam

Do iu kin thi gian v thng tin nn chc chn bi vit ny cha th trnh by

c ht cc kha cnh vo c kinh doanh Vit Nam. Tuy nhin, qua nhng v dthc t v kt quiu tra nu trn, bc u chng ta cng c tha ra mt s nhn xtsau v thc trng o c kinh doanh Vit Nam:

Hiu bit ca nh kinh doanh cng nh ngi dn Vit Nam ni chung vo ckinh doanh cn rt hn ch, hu ht u gn khi nim o c kinh doanh vi tun th

php lut trong kinh doanh. Cch hiu ny thu hp ng k phm vi p dng o ckinh doanh, hn na ti mt quc gia m h thng pht lut cha y v cht ch nhVit Nam th cch hiu ny cng lm thc vo c kinh doanh kh pht huy tc dng.

thc ca ngi dn v nhng phm tr nh: Trch nhim ca doanh nghip vi xhi, Quan h gia ch doanh nghip v ngi lao ng, Ngha v v trch nhim vmto c ca doanh nghip vi cc nh u tcn kh mh, l thuc vo lut php chcha thc c trch nhim ca nh kinh doanh vi khch hng v x hi. Mt t l caonhng ngi c hi t ra bng, ch chu thc thi trch nhim khi b bt buc ch chachng hnh ng v li ch x hi.

im yu km nht trong nhn thc ca ngi Vit Nam th hin qua cuc iu tra

ny chnh l thc v mi trng v v vn shu tr tu. iu ny cng trng hp vinhng kt quiu tra ca LHQ v nhng ngun thng tin khc. V lu di y l vn cn c lu gii quyt m bo s pht trin bn vng cho Vit Nam


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Tuy nhin, cuc iu tra cng cho thy mt s tn hiu ng mng v tng lai cao c kinh doanh Vit Nam. Trc ht, 100% s ngi c hi tng c nghe vo c kinh doanh. Mc d khi nim o c c truyn t cn mh nhng ch ringvic ngi dn c quan tm nhu hn ti vn ny cng l mt tn hiu ng mng.Mt kha cnh ng mng na l kt qu tr li ca khi sinh vin, d phn ln l sinh vin

nm th nht, tc l cha c o to nhiu v kin thc chuyn mn, nhng chnh xchn nhiu so vi khi doanh nghip. Hu ht sinh vin thng xuyn nghe ni vo ckinh doanh (17/20 ngi c hi), cao hn hn so vi t l chung (85% so vi 67%). T lsinh vin cho o c kinh doanh l bo v quyn li cho ngi tiu dng cng cao hnnhiu so vi t l chung (35% so vi 8%). Trong tnh hung 3, tr li cu hi v phnng ca doanh nghip vi vic hng ca cng ty b k xu nh tro, khng sinh vin nong vi phng n Khng thng bo g c v khng phi l li ca doanh nghip, sovi 8% t l chung. Trong tnh hung 6, khi tr li cu hi v vic mt cng ty nc ngoin lp nh my Vit Nam trn trnh s lng lo trong nhng quy nh v mi trngca Vit Nam, khng sinh vin no ng vi phng n Doanh nghip c php tndng chi so vi 25% t l chung. Nhng trong tnh hung s 7 v s kin mt dychuyn sn xut trong cng ty b hng, dn n sn lng sn xut b st gim nghimtrng, nhng nu thng tin ny b l ra ngoi, cphiu ca cng ty sb st gim nghimtrng, mc d c ti 65% sinh vin cho l doanh nghip cn Thng bo rng ri cho cccngku gi shp tc ca h nhm gip cng ty vt qua kh khn so vi 42% tl chung, nhng li c ti 3 sinh vin (chim 15% so vi so vi t l chung l 8%) cho lnn Khng thng bo gi c cho n khi bt buc. Kt qu ny c th bt ngun t vic th

trng chng khon cn qu mi mVit Nam, cc em li l sinh vin nhng nm unn nhng hiu bit v trch nhim ca doanh nghip vi th trng ny cha nhiu. Tngt nh vy, trong cu s 8 v quan im trc vic Mt doanh nghip tchi tip nhn laong nang nui con nh hoc buc lm thm gikhi lao ng nang nui con di 3tui, cng c ti 40% sinh vin cho l vi phm lut php so vi 24% t l chung, nhngvn cn 15% so vi 8% t l chung cho l Khng vi phm v mi ngi lao ng phi cngha v lm vic nhnhau!y c l l kt qu ca vic thiu hiu bit v lut lao ngv thi quen p dng my mc nhng nguyn tc v bnh ng gii, vn c tuyn truynrt ph bin Vit Nam. Mc d kt quiu tra v hai kha cnh ny cha cao, nhng nhn

chung, nhn thc ca khi sinh vin vo c kinh doanh r rng cao hn v th hin mttinh thn trch nhim tt hn so vi kt quiu tra chung.

Vi s mu iu tra cn t i nhng nhng kt qu kho st ban u ca khi sinhvin, nhng nh kinh doanh tng lai, cng c th coi l tn hiu kh quan v nng cao nhnthc ca gii doanh nhn Vit Nam trong thi gian ti.

3.2. Mt sxut nhm pht trin v hon thin o c kinh doanh Vit Nam

Qua nhng v d thc t v s liu thu thp c v trng o c kinh doanh Vit

nam, chng ta c th thy mc d c mt s tn hiu kh quan, nhng hiu bit vo ckinh doanh ca c gii tr thc v gii doanh nghip Vit Nam u c nhng thiu st


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nghim trng. Nhng thiu st ny khng nhng gy tc hi cho ngi tiu dng, cho ccnh kinh doanh, cho x hi m cn nh hng nghim trng n hnh nh ca doanh nghip,lm doanh nghip kinh doanh thua l v lu di snh hng n hnh nh quc gia trn thtrng quc t. gii quyt vn ny, tc gi xin mn dn a ra mt s xut sau:

Trc ht, cn nghin cu bsung, hon thin khung lut php Vit nam nhmto csphp l vng chc cho o c kinh doanh

y l bin php tin quyt, v lut php chnh l khung d thy nht cho o ckinh doanh. Cn hon thin cc B Lut c lin quan nh Lut u t, Lut Lao ng, LutDoanh nghip, Lut Bo v Ngi tiu dng, Lut Mi trng Mt nguyn nhn quantrng cho tnh trng yu km ca o c kinh doanh Vit Nam hin nay xut pht t sthiu hon thin trong php lut Vit nam. Nu lut php quy nh cht ch hn, hp l hns trnh c tnh trng doanh nghip n vo s shca lut php m trn trnh ngha v

o c ca mnh. Mt v din hnh cho vn ny l Lut bo v ngi tiu dng. Vaqua, ti Hi tho Thc trng thc thi php lut bo v ngi tiu dng v nh hng xydng Lut Bo v quyn ngi tiu dng do Cc Qun l cnh tranh (B Cng thng)va t chc ti H Ni, ng Hank Baker (i din D n Star Vit Nam) khng nh, ngitiu dng Vit Nam cha c m bo quyn li khi s dng cc hng ha, dch v. a svn trng chvo lng tt ca ngi bn hng khi mua cc sn phm trn th trng.Theong Baker : Khi gp mt sn phm khngng , chng ta vn hy vng mnh smay mnly li c tin. Trong khi , trn th trng li c qu nhiu ngi bn hng khng ctm vi hng ha mnh bn ra. Hu qu cui cng l ngi tiu dng phi chu thit thi.

Mt trong nhng nguyn nhn ca tnh trng trn l php lut v bo v quyn li ca ngitiu dng ti Vit Nam cha c thc thi mt cch hiu qu. Theo b V Th Bch Nga,Trng Ban Bo v ngi tiu dng (Cc Qun l cnh tranh), hin ch c hai vn bn quy

phm php lut lin quan n vn ny l Php lnh Bo v quyn li ngi tiu dng(nm 1999) v Nghnh 55/2008/N - CP ngy 24/4/2008 quy nh chi tit thi hnh phplnh ny. Tuy nhin, b Nga cho bit, cc quy nh ca php lnh li cha pht huy chiu lc trn thc t. Quyn v trch nhim ca ngi tiu dng ang c quy nh rtchung chung. Cc quy nh mi chc gi tn m cha i su phn tch bn cht c thca cc quyn v trch nhim . V d, iu 8 ca Php lnh c ghi : ngi tiu dng

c bo m an ton v tnh mng, sc khe v mi trng khi sdng hng ha, dchv... nhng li khng quy nh quyn ny c th hin nh th no trn thc t? Ngitiu dng phi lm g c m bo an ton? Ngoi ra, cn tn ti nhng bt cp trongquy nh v quyn v trch nhim ca t chc, c nhn kinh doanh hng ha, dch v. LutBo v Ngi tiu dng cng khng quy nh cc ch ti x l hnh vi vi phm ca tchc c nhn kinh doanh hng ha, dch v nh cn, ong sai, thng tin v dch v hng hathiu trung thc... iu 16 ca Php lnh quy nh, tchc, c nhn sn xut, kinh doanhhng ha, dch v phi gii quyt kp thi mi khiu ni ca ngi tiu dng vhng ha,

dch v ca mnh khi chng khngng tiu chun, cht lng, slng, gi c cng bhoc hp ng giao kt. Tuy nhin, trnh t, th tc ra sao, hu qu php l m c nhntchc phi gnh chu khi khng thc hin yu cu ny nh thno li khngc ni


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ti, b Nga phn tch. C mt ti cuc Hi tho, i din Cc Qun l cnh tranh cng chorng, nhng quy nh v quyn v trch nhim ca ngi tiu dng trong cc vn bn quy

phm php lut hin hnh vn cn mang tnh cht ngh quyt, cha thc sm bo cch cho vic thc thi cc quyn ny. Theo i din Cc Qun l cnh tranh, nhng hn chtrong cc vn bn quy phm php lut khin cho ngi tiu dng Vit Nam cha c

bo v tt nht v quyn li. Tuy nhin, ng Hank Baker t quan ngi rng, nu d lutvn c thit k theo cch c l tp trung x pht hnh vi vi phm, th hiu qu bo vngi tiu dng khng cao. Theo ng Hank Baker, yu cu t ra lc ny i vi thc tVit Nam l cn c lut v hi tng cng vai tr ca cc hi trong cng tc bo vngi tiu dng. Nu khng nhanh chng sa i nhng thiu st ny th quyn li cangi tiu dng vn cha c m bo, hay nh ng Hank Baker tha nhn: Ti khngthch l ngi tiu dng Vit Nam!13.

Cn nng cao nhn thc vo c kinh doanh Vit Nam

Cn lu l khng ch cc nh kinh doanh, cc nh nghin cu mi cn nm ckin thc vo c kinh doanh m c x hi cn thc iu ny. Vi vy, trc ht cc

phng tin thng tin i chng nn tin hnh ph cp cc kin thc vo c kinh doanhnhm nh hng hnh vi ca ngi dn, ngi dn c th nm c nhm t bo vquyn li cho mnh v gim st hot ng ca doanh nghip. Tip theo, cc cquan Nhnc chu trch nhim qun l, hng dn doanh nghi p nh B Cng thng, PhngThng mi v Cng nghip Vit nam, SK hoch - u tcc tnh, Thnh ph cnquan tm ph bin nhng kin thc chung nht vo c kinh doanh. Vic ny c th tin

hnh bng nhiu cch nh t chc cc lp hc cho doanh nghip vo c kinh doanh,chn la dch v xut bn mt s sch c uy tn ca nc ngoi v ti ny Nn lu lsch cho doanh nghip cn ngn gn, nhiu tnh hung thc t, kiu Cm nang vo ckinh doanh chng hn Cc Trng Cao ng, i hc khi Kinh t cng cn a nidung vo c kinh doanh vo chng trnh o to ca mnh, c th di dng mt mnring hay gi vo cc mn hc khc nh qun tr nhn s, nghip v kinh doanh V bnquyn ca cc sch kinh doanh thng t v dch thut khng d dng, nn c th tranh ths trgip ca cc t chc nc ngoi m bo hiu qu cho vic lm ny. Mt v dcho cch lm ny l s kin thng 3 nm 2008, Trung tm Thng tin thuc i s qun Hoa

K ti trcho Nh Xut bn Tr dch v xut bn cun Business Ethics: A ManualFor Managing A Responsible Business Enterprise In Emerging Market Economies ca cctc gi Igor Y. Abramov, Kenneth W. Johnson and Donald L. Evans, Nh xut bn DianePub Co mi pht hnh thng 5 nm 2004, mt cun sch c nh gi l c uy tn tronggii nghin cu. y l mt cch lm hay, trn th gii hin nay c kh nhiu t chc c uytn vo c kinh doanh nh Hip hi Quc t v Kinh doanh, Kinh t v o c (The

International Society of Business Economics and Ethics - ISBEE), c thnh lp t nm1989, c tr schnh M, v l cquan chu trch nhim t chc cc i hi vo c

kinh doanh 4 nm 1 ln. Nu tranh thc s trgip ca h lu hnh v ph bin

13 http://dantri.com.vn/kinhdoanh/Nguoi-tieu-dung-Viet-am-chiu-qua-nhieu-thiet-thoi/2008/6/236945.vip


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nhng ti liu c cht lng v vn ny s tit kim c kinh ph v ph bin cnhng kin thc tin tin nht.

Cn c nhng bin php khuyn khch doanh nghip nng cao o c kinh doanhca mnh

Chng ta cn thc rng, khng c ranh gii cnh no o c m o c l mtphm tr m con ngi lun cn vn ln t n n. Rt kh kim sot o c v nvt xa hn vic tun th php lut rt nhiu. Vi o c kinh doanh, vn cn phc tphn v vic tun tho c trong ngn hn thng khng em li li nhun cho doanhnghip, trong khi li nhun mi l mc ch chnh ca doanh nghip. V vy, cc cquanhu quan cn c nhng bin php khuyn khch doanh nghip c thnh tch trong oc kinh doanh nh trong cc gii Sao Vng t Vit, Bng Hng Vng c tha vicc thnh tch trong o c kinh doanh l mt tiu chun xt. Cc cquan thng tin i

chng c thng bi tn vinh nhng doanh nghip t tiu chun ny Ngc li, cc cquan qun l cng cn c bin php pht nhng doanh nghip vi phm o c kinh doanhvi mc pht tng xng. Khng th tip tc tnh trng doanh nghip buc ngi lao nglm thm gi16 - 20h/ngy hng tun lin n mc lao ng ngt xu m ch b pht vitriu VND; Cc doanh nghip vi phm quy nh bo v mi trng nh x ha cht ra snglm c cht hng lot, ngi dn khng c nc sinh hot, etc. m li c cho php tiptc hot ng trong khi tm bin php x l.

Cng nh vn ha, o c ni chung v o c kinh doanh ni ring l nhngphm tr phc tp, cn nhiu thi gian v cng sc hon thin v pht trin. L mt qucgia ang pht trin, mi tham gia vo tin trnh ton cu ha, nhng phm tr nh vn hakinh doanh, o c kinh doanh cn kh mi mVit nam. c bit trong thi gian ti,chnh ph Vit Nam ang c ch trng nng cao trnh nhn thc cho ngi dn vdoanh nghip v cc vn c lin quan n hi nhp KTQT v ton cu ha. B Gio dcv o to cng ang khuyn co cc trng i hc v Cao ng cn i mi chngtrnh o to cho ph hp vi trnh chung trn th gii. C c nhng yu t thun liny v truyn thng o c lu i ca ngi Vit Nam, hy vng l trong thi gian ti,nhn thc ca ngi VN v DDKD s nhanh chng c nng cao, gp phn duy tr s pht

trin bn vng v nng cao cht lng i sng cho ngi dn Vit Nam .


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Business ethics in Vietnam Reality and solution

Dr. Nguyn Hong nh

Foreign Trade University in Hanoi

1. Introduction

1.1. What is Business ethics?

The study of ethics is an ancient tradition, rooted in religious, cultural, andphilosophical beliefs. Ethics is concerned with moral obligation, responsibility, and social justice. The word ethics comes from the Greek words "ethikos" and "ethos," meaningcustom or usage. As employed by Aristoteles, the term included the idea of character and

disposition. Thus, ethics reflects the character of the individual and more contemporarilyperhaps, the character of the business firm, which is a collection of individuals. Businessethics is either ancient or very new. Being considered as moral reflection on commerce,

business ethics is probably as old as trade itself. In the Code of Hammurabi (1700s B.C.)was a prescription for prices and tariffs and laying down both rules of commerce and harsh

penalties for noncompliance. It could be the evidence of civilization's earlier attempts toidentify the moral contours of commercial activity. Aristotle's Politics (300s B.C.) addressesexplicitly commercial relations in its discussion of household management. Judeo -Christian morality, as expressed in, e.g., the Talmud (200 A.D.) and the Ten

Commandments 4 (Exodus 20:2-17; euteronomy 5:6-21), includes moral rules applicable tocommercial conduct.

However, as a discrete, self-conscious academic discipline, business ethics is barelyfour decades old. Prominent business ethicist Norman Bowie dates its first academicconference to 1974i. Since that time, business ethics has become a topic of populardiscussion by American business executives, employees, shareholders, consumers, andcollege professors. After this, the study of business ethics has expanded widely to almost allcountries in the world. Unfortunately, not all the instructors, writers, and speakers agree

with one another about what business ethics is. Firstly, there is an inherent conflict between business and ethics. Although society wants companies to create many well-paying jobs,those same organizations want to limit compensation costs and raise productivity levels.Customers want to purchase goods and services at low prices, but businesses want tomaximize profits. Society wants to reduce pollution levels, but businesses want to minimizethe cost that environmental regulations add to their operations. Then, from that arising anatural, unavoidable tension in the term "business ethics" - a tension that stems fromconflicts between the interests of companies and their employees, customers, and the greatersociety. Because these conflicts are fundamental to the nature of business, managers must

continuously and consciously balance the needs of the organization and its stockholders


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with the needs of other stakeholders, including workers, customers, and the largercommunityii.

The simplest definition is business ethics are considered as Accepted principles ofright or wrong, governing the conduct of businesspeopleiii. the definition is rather general,

lacking some essential issues, such as: which kind of conduct the 5 principles can govern?Or who are the businesspeople, and how should their conduct be governed?

Being aware of the complexity of the issue, Professor Phillip V. Lewis from AbileneChristian University, USA has collected and surveyed 185 definitions of business ethics,appeared in textbooks and articles from 1961 to 1981 to find out, how is 'business ethics'defined in the literature and by business people. After fixing the areas of agreement amongthose definitions, he synthesized a definition of business ethics as following: Businessethics is rules, standards, codes, or principles which provide guidelines for morally right

behavior and truthfulness (of an organization) in specific situations

iv

. According to thedefinition, business ethics can comprise those issues:

1. Rules, standards, codes or principles as moral guidelines that, if followed, willprevent unethical behavior. For instance: if the labour law prescribes that women have anequal right in working as men, it could prevent employers from gender discrimination inseeking employees.

2. Morally right behavior individual actions that conform to justice, law, oranother standard; individual actions in accord with fact, reason, or truth. A business person

just constantly deals with the central issue of what consequences will result from his or heractions. That is, she or he must not engage in any practice that would tend to corrupt theintegrity his or her position.

3. Truthfulness statements and/or actions that conform to facts or that have theappearance of reality. For example, the Preamble of the Code of Ethics of the

Society of Professional Journalists in USA states: "We believe in public enlightmentas the forerunner of justice, and in our Constitutional role to seek the truth as part of the

public's right to know the truth."The most difficult part in studying ethics in general and business ethics in particular

is to define, what is right or wrong, because what may be ethically right to one person, maybe wrong to another; what today could be considered as right, tomorrow could be wrong.Its named by Lewis as Specific situation occasions

Of personal moral dilemma calling for ethical decisions. For example, theAmerican Medical Association has adopted as its principle objective rendering "service tohumanity with full respect for the dignity of man". The responsibility of the physician

extends "not only to the individual but also to society". Thus, any participation in a situation


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that does not have "the purpose of improving both the health and the well-being of theindividual and the community" would be the result of an unethical decision.

Ferrels and John Fraedrich have another idea for the definition of business ethics,herein stated: Business ethics comprises the principle and standards that guide behavior in

the world of business. Whether a specific action is right or wrong, ethical or unethical, isoften determined by investors, employees, customers, interest groups, the legal system andthe communityv

Because the definition is overlapped with Lewiss definition in most of parts but itrepresents more clearly, who is involved in business ethics, it will be applied on that paper.In that way, business ethics in that mean have many common shares with law compliance,corporate social responsibility and issues regarding the moral rights and duties between acompany and its shareholders: fiduciary responsibility, stakeholder concept v. shareholder

concept, etc. It means that business ethics include not only obeying the rules but alsoprotecting also protecting the benefits of people concerned with the activities of enterprisesand benefits of the community.

1.2. Research methodology and questions:

The specific research questions addressed in this article are (1) what is businessethics definition in compare with business ethics understanding in Vietnam? (2) How is

business ethics application in Vietnam nowadays; and (3) How is the perspective of business ethics application in Vietnam in coming period? Previous research on these

questions has been lacking. Even though recently there are many research and articles aboutVietnam, but most business writers and professionals concentrated in analyzing itseconomic successes. Some articles mentioned business ethics but none of them provided a

broad view of business ethics application in Vietnam.

Data for this study were gathered from both primary and secondary sources.

Selected textbooks and articles in the management area were reviewed. Textbookswere selected from four areas of management: business, business ethics, marketing and

international business. Articles were selected from Business Premier Source, database,mainly from 2000 up to now. A brief questionnaire was distributed to a random sample ofbusinessmen and students, studying in Foreign Trade University in Hanoi, Vietnam. Therewere about more than 10 questions in the questionnaire, asking from: Have you ever heardof business ethics?, What is your business ethics in your opinion? to respondents opinionabout some special situations.

After excluding some unsuitable answer sheet, finally weve got 100 answers,including 80 businessmen and 20 students, who were studying from 1st to 3rd year in Foreign

Trade University in Hanoi. Some of them also had experience in working as part-timeemployee. The ratio method in description methodology was taken to analyze data in threestages. In the 1st one the answers/content of all respondents has been analyzed to provide an


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overview of business ethics in Vietnam. In the 2nd stage, only answers from students havebeen analyzed and in the 3rd one the findings earned in the two stages have been comparedwith each other to make a conclusion.

2. An overview of business ethics in Vietnam

Business ethics is a relatively new issue in Vietnam. As the other issues like businessculture, corporate culture, etc., issue of business ethics began emerging after the marketeconomy reforms were made in 1991, when Vietnam started to join in theinternationalization and globalization process. Previously, in the centralized plannedeconomy, the issues were never mentioned in Vietnam. In a command economy, all

business activities were conducted by government orders. Through such orders, ethicalconduct was considered as completely obeying the higher authorities instructions. Therewas a shortage of almost all kinds of goods, those being successful in buying goods were

really lucky, thus nobody could afford to complain about the goods quality. Because supplyexceeded demand, service quality in the distribution network was quite poor; customers hadlittle chance to complain about it. At that time, industry in Vietnam was underdeveloped,there were limited numbers of manufacturers, and furthermore nearly all of them were stateowned, thus, there was no need to consider such issues as trademarks or intellectual

property rights. Most employees were working for the state, where the discipline and bonussystem were unified and simple. There were not any strikes or labor conflicts to deal with.But since Vietnam has joined in internationalization from 1991, there were new issuescoming up such as: intellectual property rights, food safety regulations, strikes, stock

market, etc.,and thus the issue of business ethics became more popular to society. In thispaper, author would like to present some preliminary findings of business ethics in Vietnam.These findings are based on information, collected from Vietnam as well as foreignliteratures, and a mini survey, which has been done in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam from

November 2007 to January 2008.

2.1. Vietnamese awareness of business ethics issue

As above mention, business ethics is still relatively new issue in Vietnam, not onlyfor businessmen but also for intellectual people. Till now, there were very rarely booksabout business ethics, most of them were translated from American books.

Maybe the 1st academic book of this topic in Vietnam was WHAT'S ETHICAL INBUSINESS? by Verne E. Henderson, published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd in January5, 1992; the book was translated into Vietnamese by Ho Kim Chung, published in Vietnamin November 1996 by Nha Xuat ban Van hoa, but its content and translation werentadequate and didnt bring about many attentions even between intellectual people inVietnam. Recently, there were more articles on this topic, especially in Chungta magazine(an internal magazine of FPT group, a leading group of IT in Vietnam, www.chungta.com)or Diendandoanhnghiep newspaper (a newspaper for businessmen, issued by VietnamCommercial and Industrial Chamber VCCI, www.dddn.com.vn) and some other magazine


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or newspapers, such as Saigon Times, Laodong, etc. But the articles mostly discussed aboutsome recent events in Vietnam, relevant to business ethics or provided some cases, takenfrom foreign newspapers, magazines, without any deeper research of business ethics or

business ethics definition. In most Vietnamese high schools and universities, business ethicsisnt taught as a subject in their curriculum or only as an elective subject. Business ethics is

not even mentioned in the texts of other related subjects, such as international business orbusiness management. However, sometimes it is mentioned, but done so very sparingly. Themost common thinking about business ethics is that its compliance with the rules! In mostVietnamese high schools and universities, business ethics isnt taught as a subject in theircurriculum or only as an elective subject. Business ethics is not even mentioned in the textsof other related subjects, such as international business or business management. However,sometimes it is mentioned, but done so very sparingly, as business ethics is to comply withthe rules! This misconception and very short idea on what business ethics are leads to anarrow and underdeveloped idea of what business ethics should be concerned with.

Recently, under pressure of globalization, Vietnamese mass media mentions businessethics quite frequently, but it doesnt provide any official definition. As a result, eventhough people often hear about business ethics, their understanding of the issue is still veryvague. The fact is shown quite clearly in the survey findings. 66/100 (66%) of thosesurveyed answered that they had heard regularly about business ethics, while 34/100 (34%)sometimes had heard about business ethics. We should note that the survey was conductedin Hanoi, the capital and the second largest city in Vietnam, where the percentages cant beconsidered very high. But to answer the question: What is business ethics in youropinion?, 91/100 (91%) considered business ethics is complying with the rules, only9/100 (9%) said business ethics is protecting customers right; none of them considered

business ethics should be both: complying with the rules and protecting customers rights.

The vague understanding of business ethics is the main reason leading to the shortageof business ethics enforcement in practice.

2.2. Corporate social responsibility

To study the issue, we are focusing in two dimensions: Corporate responsibility ofproduction quality and corporate responsibility in environment protection. The 1stquestionwas set up as: What would you do, if your company gets the information that in one lot ofcompanys production, some one has switched fault production, harmful for consumers,with true one but no one can recognize the fault production by outward aspect?

The question is based on a true story in Chicago in 1981. Someone put poison insome bottles of Tylenol pain reliever produced by Johnson & Johnson (J & J) that were

being sold in supermarkets in the Chicago area, causing the death of 7 people. Policemannever found the person responsible. Although this scandal happened only in Chicago andsecurity authorities thought that the person only put poison in some Tylenol at thosesupermarkets, the managing board at J & J insisted on withdrawing all 31 million bottles of


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Tylenol bottles distributed not only in the US but also all over the world for verification.This decision cost USD $100 million but the high social responsibility along with aneffective PR campaign helped J&J earn back its market share in 6 months. But in oursurvey, only 42 people, equal to 42%, chose the variant: To withdraw immediately the

production, despite a finance loss, 50 people, equal to 50% selected the variant: Put a

notice up in every selling place and let the customers make the decision to buy or not; and8 people, (8%), decided on the variant: "Do nothing, because it is not the companys fault!

The 2nd question is: What is your opinion, when a Vietnamese company exports soybean sauce with a 3-MPCD rate that complies with Vietnamese regulations but exceeds EU

permissible levels many times over? It is also based on a fact that in 2002, a Belgiumnewspaper warned its citizens against using Vietnamese-made Chinsu soy sauce, because ofan analysis made by the Belgian Food Quality Agency indicated the soy sauce contained 3-MCPD a chemical contaminant known to cause cancer in animals and kidney damage at

an unacceptably high level of 86 mg/kg, exceeding the EU permitted level of 0.05 mg/kgnearly 200 times over the limit. But Chinsu denied its responsibility because they saidChinsu didnt export soy sauce to Belgium. The soy sauce could have been re-exported toBelgium by another company or it could have been an imitation. Moreover, a 3- MCPD ratein Chinsu soy sauce exceeded the EU regulations but remained within Vietnameseregulations! This incident has alerted the appropriate Vietnamese authorities and consumersto the harmful effects of 3-MCPD in soy sauce. The production used to be considered verysafe because of its natural origin. It is also a fact leading to a scandal in 2007, when 90% ofthe Vietnamese soy sauce producing enterprises was found guilty by the appropriateauthorities for violating food safety regulations by exceeding the permitted 3-MCPD levels.This incident has almost ruined the industry in Vietnam. Since this time all soy saucecompanies are required to put a statement on every product: No 3-MCPD in their productto ensure customers of the safety of the product. Perhaps due to this well known fact, theopinion of surveyed people for the question is more straightforward. 33/100 peopleconsidered it as Law breaking, 25 people said: Business ethics violation and 42 peopleconsidered it: Violation in both! No one considered it a nonviolation. But the findings alsoindicate a vague delimitation between regulation and business ethics, because in fact the

company violated both, business law and ethics, due to fact that when a company exportsgoods to any country, they should obey the rules of that country.

The question of the responsibility of entrepreneurs on the environment can be foundin the facts on numerous foreign companies investing in Vietnam taking advantage of thevague and loose regulations on environmental protection, using technologies that pollute theenvironment, affecting the health of workers and the community to reduce costs. There areinnumerable examples of this problem: textile mills without proper cleaning devicesaffecting workers and people in the surrounding communities, subsequently, suffering from

lung diseases; footwear factories releasing waste water, polluting water sources; to name afew. Companies do not have enough protection equipment for their workers, leading to ahigh rate of work related accidents. In these cases, although companies do not break the law,


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they violate business ethics intentionally as they are conscious of the consequencescompletely. However, the opinions of respondents are quite tolerant and moderate.

Answering the question if a foreign company comes to Vietnam to establish a factoryto take advantage on the vague and loose environmental laws of Vietnam, only 75 people,

equivalent to 75%, considered it an unacceptable thing, a business ethics violation; 25 people thought: " Its acceptable because in doing business people can seize anopportunity. This result is caused by the fact that Vietnamese are not concerned with theenvironment that much, depending entirely on the law when assessing business ethics incompanies.

2.3. The intellectual property issue in Vietnam:

It is such a hot problem, not only in Vietnam but also in most of developingcountries. Violation of intellectual property in Vietnam has a variety of reasons:

Firstly, until the beginning of the twentieth century, Vietnam was a backwardagricultural country, there were no achievements in products required to be protected likeindustrial designs, inventions, and therefore, there were no regulations on intellectual

property rights. Moreover, as Vietnam is a country with a culture that values the communityhighly, Vietnamese did not have a tradition of protecting private property. In the feudal

period and even the pre-integrated period, researchers and artists earned their livings byreceiving a salary; the law did not refer to the intellectual property rights system, fees for anauthor were very low as they were thought to serve the community. This issue was only

taken seriously from 1991, when Vietnam signed the TRIPS agreement. However, as thetime for implementing this has been very short, only a little more than 10 years incomparison to the hundreds years of intellectual property protection rights history in theEuropean or American continents, the consciousness of the Vietnamese people aboutintellectual property rights is limited. One reason for this situation is economic. Forexample: Stories about young wizard Harry Potter of J.K. Rowling are very popular inVietnam. In August 2007, as children over the world, Vietnamese children were eager towait for the 7th volume - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But their parents could be ina big dilemma, if they wanted to respect intellectual properties. The cover price of anofficial copy of the J.K.Rowling book was $38 in Vietnam, against an annual average salaryof $600, and illegal copies have been offered everywhere with about $7!vi.

One way of violating intellectual property, which is quite popular in Vietnam is that acompany brands its product intentionally rather like one famous product brand to dodgelaw, making mistakes for consumers, for instance: a domestic company named their motorsas Hongda to imitate Honda, the very famous brand name from Japan. The result in thisquestion has confirmed this statement.

Answering for the question: "Give your opinion if a company brands its product


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like a famous one", only 16 people considered it as breaking the law, 37 considered itas violating business ethics and 47 thought it was acceptable because they were not exactlysimilar absolutely. What's more, of the 47 people that considered it as breaking the law,there were 3 out of 20 students, who were educated about this issue. As a result, it can beseen that intellectual property rights will be an unresolved problem in Vietnam for a long

time.

2.4. The relationship between employer and employee:

Recently, strikes became a serious problem in Vietnam. Statistics from 1995 up tonow have shown that there were more than 1,000 strikes, from big to small. Only in the firstquarter of 2007, there were 103 strikes in 14/64 provinces, cities with a population of62,700 or more taking turns having strikes. ng Nai is the province that had the most with35 strikes, followed by Bnh Dng with strikes, Ho Chi Minh City with 26 strikes. 98 out

of the 103 strikes were for economic reasons

vii.

The main reasons for the strikes can be listed per below:

- Unsatisfactory conditions in work environment, environmental pollution, unsafeand old equipment, and lack of worker safety conditions, no periodical health checks forworkers and occupational hazards and diseases are the main causes.

- Despite obeying rules of the law, the salary system is still low compared to theaverage level of the labors life. Therefore, workers feel dissatisfied with the work place and

disloyal to enterprises.- Inadequate knowledge of workers about the Labor Law

It was surprising that this situation happened not only in domestic private companies,which were regarded to have small capital and little knowledge about the law, but also inforeign invested companies, especially those from Taiwan and Korea. According to theInstitute of Workers and Trade Union, over the last years, 878 strikes have been staged inFDI enterprises, accounting for 70.7% of the total strikes in Vietnam. A typical case is astrike that happened on the morning of July 25 th 2007, at Linh Trung I export processing

zone (Thu Duc district, Ho Chi Minh City), by 1,300 workers of Danu Vina company (aKorean wholly owned company) due to the companys unreasonable policy. From July2007, the company gave a salary increase of VND 50,000, (about USD 3) for 1 to 5 yearworkers and VND 70,000, (less than USD 4) for 5 to 7 year workers. However, this policywas granted only for workers having contracts before July of the previous year. In addition,a monthly bonus for hard working workers of only VND 25,000 (equal to USD 1.5) wasgiven; much too low as the average meal cost VND 4,000 (equal to 25 US cent) and was ofvery bad quality. Thievery, cause by unsecured locks, and bad sanitation conditions in the

company made workers feel more concerned, upset and angry.


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To solve the problem, in 2007 the Workers and Trade Union Institute under the VietNam Confederation of Labor conducted a survey in localities that are home to many FDIenterprises, including Hanoi, HIM City, and the provinces of Dongnai, Binding, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong. The findings have shown that: in manyforeign direct investment (FDI) companies, workers still face low wages, long extra

working hours and a hard life. Up to 45 per cent of FDI companies, workers havecomplained about low wages; in nearly 16 per cent of the companies, workers weredissatisfied about their extra working hours. Long working hours and low wages, sometimeseven lower than in private and state owned companies, are the main part of the problem.Most FDI workers receive a low salary from VND 800,000 (USD 50) to VND 1,000,000(USD 62) a month. Thus, only 30 per cent of the workers in FDI companies can haveenough money to offset their daily living costs. To increase the monthly income foressential daily expenses, 42.5 per cent of the FDI workers have to work overtime, especiallythose working in garment and leather enterprises. In several garment enterprises, the rate ofwomen laborers working extra hours has reached 55%, many of them have to work 16hours/day, till falling down unconsciousviii. To solve the problem, the Institute has proposedintensifying inspections and imposing stiff penalties on companies violations of the laborcode, including failure to provide social and health insurance. The Institute also has calledfor amendments to laws on settlements of labor disputes and strikes to ensure that the strikesare legal and protect the interests of both employees and their employersix.

This problem must be solved soon to protect the benefits of workers, enhance theinvesting environment in Vietnam and attract more foreign investors. As the relationship

between employers and employees has been mentioned in the mass media in Vietnam, theanswers on this topic in our survey are quite positive. Vietnamese law prohibits employersfrom refusing to employ female workers that have children. Also, female workers that havechildren less than 3 years of age have the right to go to work 1 hour later than otheremployees and are not required to work overtime. However, in fact, this law is only obeyedin state owned companies while it is ignored in private and FDI companies. When beingasked for the opinion when "A company refused to recruit a female employee because shehad children and/or had a child under the age of 3 but forced her to work overtime ", 25% of

the respondents considered it as breaking the law, 67% of the respondents considered it asviolating business ethics, but 8% considered it all right because all workers have to workequally and that no one should be given preferential treatment. Thus, it can be understoodhere that despite some limitations in knowledge, most respondents have the correct view onthis problem.

2.5. The moral rights and duties between a company and its shareholders

This is a new matter in Vietnam as the Vietnamese stock market is still in infancy(less than 10 years old) so that the regulations on the accuracy of financial reports and

disclosed information of enterprises arent strictly controlled. Thus, recently manyenterprises have disclosed inaccurate information to gain profit and cause harm to investors.


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The first serious case was the false financial report on the joint stock report of BienHoa Confectionary Company (Bibica) in 2002 and the first 6 months of 2003. As Bibicawas one of the first 21 listed companies and the first listed company in the confectionaryindustry on the stock market, based on those false figures, Bibicas stock price rose veryquickly. But in fact, in an effort to improve its competitiveness on the market, Bibica

simultaneously launched a range of investment projects to expand production, launchingnew products (moon cake, layer cake, and built a second confectionary plant, etc.). As aresult, the companys debt to the bank increased. In addition, the rise of input materials

price, new staff in finance - accounting department drove the company into moredifficulties. In an effort to lure more investors to acquire new capital, the company issued aninaccurate financial report. When the fraud was discovered, shareholders found out thatBibica has suffered a VND 10.086 billion loss in 2002 (equivalent to USD 7,500,000),nearly double the number of VND 5.4 billion that the company executives had disclosed

publiclyx. Indispensably, the share price of Bibica fell drastically, leading shareholders tosuffer dramatic losses. In addition, Bibica faced penalties for breaching securitiesadministration laws by the State Securities Commission (SCC) and nearly went bankrupt.

However, as profits in the stock market were so appealing, similar cases stilloccurred. Thien Viet was a securities company established in early 2007 but it drew a lot ofattention from investors as Mr. Nguyen Trung Ha, chairman of Thien Viet was a DeputyDirector General of a top company in Vietnam and in its business registration license, Mr.Pham Kinh Luan, a prestigious expert in the finance field, was appointed Director Generalof Thien Viet. Consequently, though, Thien Viets stocks even remained unlisted but werestill sought after by investors. Interestingly, too, Thien Viets board of directors disclosedthat the company had signed a cooperation agreement with Goldman Sachs, a leadingfinance corporation in the USA (Thien Viet even showed the cooperation agreement withthe signatures of Goldman Sachs and Thien Viets Presidents to reporters), the price ofThien Viets stocks soared upwards, increasing much more that the listed price. However, afew days later, in the Thanhnien newspaper (a famous newspaper in Vietnam) an articleappeared, saying that Goldman Sachs denies any formal association with Thien Viet:

Edward Naylor, Corporate Communications Director of Goldman Sachs in Asia, in

his e-mails to Vietnamese press agencies, stated that Goldman Sachs just established aninformal exploratory dialogue with Thien Viet as we have done with other local securitiescompanies and has no formal association with this company.

When asked about the cooperation agreement with the signatures of Goldman Sachsand Thien Viets Presidents that Thien Viet has shown to reporters, Mr. Naylor said that:Goldman Sachs sometimes sign similar agreements with private securities companieswhen the group discusses opportunities with them and these agreements could not be seenas the proof on wide ranging partnership.xi

In addition, Mr. Pham Kinh Luan said that he had not signed any working contractfor Thien Viet. As a consequence, Thien Viet paid stiff penalties to the HCM City Securities


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Trading Centre (HSTC) and the State Securities Commission for being dubious anddeceitful. Those who suffered the most here were investors, who were enticed by themisleading information released by Thien Viets board of directors.

However, these and other wrongdoings are likely to happen again as the law and the

awareness of Vietnamese businessmen about the stock market isnt complete. Difficulties orrisks are unavoidable in doing business. Under such conditions, prestigious companies haveto call for collaboration from shareholders in an effort to overcome their arduous time.Although this could be risky, companies could gain confidence in their investors and lessenthe risk of being abandoned, if false information was revealed. But in our survey, to respondto the question: When the production line of the company is damaged, causing productivityto decline, and after being revealed publicly, this information causes the companys stock

price to fall, what should the company do?, only 42% chose to inform all investors, 50%chose Keep the information undisclosed until the production line is repaired and 8%

chose: Not giving any report or information except when forced to do so.

Despite this result seeming optimistic because 92% of the respondents didnt intendto conceal information at least for a certain time, it should be considered as a shortcoming inthe awareness of Vietnamese enterprises.

Some measures for improving business ethics in Vietnam

Evaluation about business ethics reality in Vietnam

Due to time and information limitation, all the aspects of business ethics in Vietnamcould not be fully shown in this paper. However, through the above mentioned cases andsurvey findings, we can make some rough comments of business ethics in Vietnam asfollowing:

The knowledge of Vietnamese people in general and the businessmen in particularabout business ethics is very limited; most of them have equated business ethics as acompliance with the business rules. This misunderstanding has significantly narrowed theapplication of business ethics. Moreover, in the countries where law systems are not

complete and strict like Vietnam, such misunderstanding could prevent business ethicsawareness acting in practice.

Vietnameses sense of such fields as: Corporate social responsibility (CSR), Relationship between employers and employees, Moral rights and duties between acompany and its shareholders is relatively vague. It rather depended on business rulesinstead of responsibility to customers and society. A large part of interviewees still being

passive, perform their responsibility only when they are forced to do instead of acting forsocial interests.

The biggest weakness of Vietnamese sense of business ethics has been shown in thissurvey is the awareness about environment and intellectual property. The findings are also


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in line with the other findings of the United Nation and other organizations survey. In longterm, this could be a serious problem in order to ensure the Vietnams sustainabledevelopment.

However, the survey also reveals some positive signals about the perspective of

business ethics in Vietnam. Firstly, 100% of the respondents have heard about businessethics. Although their definition of business ethics is still vague, their concern of the matteris an encouraging fact. Another positive sign is the response of students group - most ofthem were first year students then have not been taught much in business - but theirresponses were more accurate than businessmen group. Most of students frequently heardabout business ethics (17/20), which is completely higher than the general rate (85% incomparison with 67%). The proportion of students in favor of the opinion that businessethics is to protect the rights of consumers is much higher the general rate (35% incomparison with 8%). To answer the question about the reaction of enterprises to the

fraudulent exchange by bad guys, none of the students agree with the choice Do nothing,because it is not the companys fault! in comparison with the general rate 8%. Respondingto the 6th question about the case that a foreign enterprise establishes its firm in Vietnam toavoiding the loose in the regulations on environment in Vietnam, no students (incomparison with the general rate 25 %) approve of the choice Its acceptable because indoing business people can seize an opportunity ".

However, answering the 7th question: When the production line of the company isdamaged, causing productivity to decline, and after being revealed publicly, this

information causes the companys stock price to fall, what should the company do?", 65%of the students in comparison with the general rate 45% agree that the firm needs to informits shareholders to appeal for their corporation to help the company overcome thedifficulty". But there are still 3 students (accounting for 15% compared with 8% in general)favors of the opinion that do not inform until it is obligatory". This result can take root inVietnams infant stock market, besides the respondents are first-year students with limitedknowledge about enterprises responsibility in this market. Similarly, in the 8th questionasking about the opinion on a firm refuses to hire female labors who have small childrenor offer extra-work for female workers who have children under 3 years old", 40% of the

students compared with 24% in general regard this as legal violation; however, 15%compared with 8% in general have the opposite opinion because every labor has theobligation to work equally. This results from the lack of knowledge about Labor law andthe habit of applying dogmatically the principles about sexual equality, which is popular inVietnam. Despite the low result of the survey about these two matters, we can see thestudents awareness about business ethics is obviously higher and more responsible than thegeneral result.

Even the sample is still small, the result of the student group, who will be

businessmen, can be considered as a positive signal about the awareness of Vietnamesebusinessmen in the future.


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3.2. Proposals for developing and completing business ethics in Vietnam

Although the findings about business ethics in Vietnam reveal some positive signals,the awareness of Vietnamese intellectuals and businessmen about business ethics still hassome seriously shortcomings. These shortcomings not only harm consumers, businessmen

and society but also cause a bad impact on enterprises image, bring about loss toenterprises and in the long term they would harm the national image in the world. To solvethese problems, the authors would like to raise some proposals as following:

Firstly, it is necessary to supplement and complete the Vietnams legal frame inorder to create a firm legal foundation for business ethics :

This is the prerequisite measure because law is the most obvious frame for businessethics. In Vietnam now it is necessary to complete the related Codes such as: InvestmentLaw, Labour Law, Enterprise law, Consumer protection Law on, Environment Law... An

important reason for the weakness of business ethics in Vietnam originates from theincompleteness in Vietnams laws. Complete and more rational regulations would prevententerprises from taking advantage on law slot to evade their ethic obligations. A typicalexample of the matter is Consumer Protection Law. Recently, in the seminar about Thereality of the legal performance of consumers protection and the orientation to constructConsumer Protection Law" held by theDepartment of Competition Control (The Ministry of

Industry and Commerce), Hank Baker the representative of Vietnam Star project)confirmed that Vietnamese consumers have not been ensured their rights when using goodsand services. Most of them could only rely on the sellers willingness while purchasing

products in the market. Mr. Baker said: If unfortunately we purchased a bad product, wecan only hope for taking back money. But there are so many bad sellers in the market. The

final consequence is that only consumers suffer the loss". One of the reasons is thatregulations protecting the rights of consumers in Vietnam have not been implementedeffectively. According to Ms.Vu Thi Bach Nga, Head of consumers Protection Section(Department of Competition Control), currently there are only two official legal normativedocuments concerning this issue : The Ordinance Consumers Protection Rights (1999) andDecree 55/2008/ND- CP on 24/4/2008 regulating to implement this ordinance.

However, Ms. Nga revealed that the regulations of this ordinance have not proved itseffectiveness in reality. The rights and obligations of consumers are being stipulated verygenerally. These regulations are only named" but have not yet deeply analyzed the featuresof those rights and obligations. For example, Article 8 of the Ordinance regulates that:Consumers are guaranteed about life, health and environment when using products,service.... but does not show, how this right could be performed in reality. What customersshould do to secure themselves? Furthermore, there are still many inadequacies in theregulation about rights and obligations of organizations, individuals in providing goods and

services. Consumer Protection Law also does not prescribe sanctions to tackle the violationof organizations and individuals doing business such as wrong balance, unfaithfulinformation about products and services... Ms. Nga analyzed that : Article 16 of the


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Ordinance stipulate organizations, individuals producing and doing business have to timely solve consumers claim about their own products, services when they do not follow theinformed standard, quality, quantity and price or the contract. However, the sequence,

procedure and legal consequences that organizations and individuals have to bear whenthey are against the requirements are not mentioned". In the seminar, the representative of

the Department of Competition Controlalso reckoned that the regulations about rights andobligations of consumers in current legal documents are still theoretical, lack of amechanism for their implementing. He also emphasized that these limitations have

prevented Vietnamese consumers from being best protected. Mr. Hank Baker also revealedhis anxiety that if the Law Amendment is still designed to focus on administrative

punishment as the old way, consumers would not be effectively protected. He also statedthat in Vietnams situation, it is necessary to build up an Association Law to enhance therole of Association in consumers protection. If these limitations are not adjusted, the rightsand interests of consumers would not be guaranteed, as Hank Baker admitted: I do not likebeing Vietnamese consumers"xii

3.2.2. Enhancing awareness of business ethics in Vietnam:

It should be conscious that not only businessmen and researchers but also the wholesociety need to be aware of business ethics, which requires a great deal involvement ofvarious propaganda channels. Firstly, media coverage should be involved to spreadknowledge of business ethics to public so that people would be able to protect themselves aswell as to control enterprises activities. Secondly, such state bodies as: Ministry of Industry

and Trade, VCCI (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Department of Planningand Investing in Provinces should participate in a process to popularize the knowledge. Thiscan be carried out in various ways such as organizing classes for entepreuners on businessethics; selecting to translate and publish some prestigious textbooks of this topic. It should

be noticed that books for businessmen should be concise and with many practical cases, asHandbook of business ethics". Thirdly, Universities and Colleges should supplement thesubject in their curriculum as an independent subject or supporting content in other subjectslike Human Resource Management or International Business... Because the copyright of

business textbooks used to be very expensive, we could rely on the assistance of some

foreign organizations to overcome it. An example is in March 2008, The Information Centerunder the Embassy of the United States has funded for the Youth Publishing House totranslate and publish the book " Business Ethics: A Manual For Managing A Responsible

Business In enterprise Emerging Market Economies "of Igor Y. Abramov, Kenneth W. AndDonald L. Johnson Evans, published by Diane Pub. Co. on May 2004, a highly evaluated

book within academic circle. It could be a good way to adapt in the future. Now there aremany organizations with prestigious reputation for business ethics, such as The

International Society of Business Economics and Ethics ISBEE, which was established in

1989, having headquarters in the United States, and used to organize the InternationalCongress on Business Ethics every four year. If we could cooperate with them to


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disseminate update and good quality materials about the issue, we could save a cost andprovide newest knowledge to Vietnamese people.

3.2.3. Encouraging enterprises to raise their business ethics:

We should be aware that like other social categories, there is no firm boundary for

morality, but people always should try to reach it. It is very difficult to control moralitybecause it exceeds rules compliance very far. Things are getting harder with business ethics,because in short-term business ethics compliance rarely present profits for enterprise, whilethis is the final purpose for all enterprises. Thus, authorities should be initiative inencouraging enterprises to engage themselves in practicing business ethics. For example,such national prizes for enterprises as Vietnam Golden Star or Golden Rose awards shouldtake the business ethics as one of criteria to be evaluated. To boost the effect, media could

publish articles to praise the enterprises. On the contrary, a heavy punishment should be

issued to enterprises who failed in conducting business ethics in their workplaces. Suchcases of enterprises, which forced their workers to work 16-20 hours per days incessantlyfor weeks till they were falling into a faint, but should pay a penalty of only some millionVND, must not be repeated. Or enterprises, which violate environment protection law by letout waste water into rivers causing series of dead fish, poisoning water for daily needs of

people in their surroundings, must be closed without delay.

Like culture, ethics in general and business ethics in particular are complicatedissues, which require more time and efforts to develop. As in other developing countries,which have just joined in globalization process, these issues such as business culture,

business ethics are still fledgling in Vietnam. It is known that in a coming time, Vietnamgovernment has a policy to upgrade people and entrepreneurs' recognition of internationaleconomic integration and globalization issues. Besides, Ministry of Education and Trainingrecommended Universities and Colleges to amend their curricular to match with globalstandards. With the favorable factors and long-standing tradition of ethics in Viet Nam, wecould expect that the consciousness of Vietnamese people of business ethics would beimproved soon in order to maintain a sustainable development in economy and improveliving standards in the country.

i Marcoux, A.M (2006), The concept of business in business ethics, Journal of private enterprise, April 1, 2006.ii Vickers, Mark R., Business Ethics and the HR Role: Past, Present, and Future, Human Resource Planning, January1, 2005.

iii Brenner, S. N. (1992), "Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions". Journal of Business Ethics, 11,391-399iv Phillip V. Lewis (1985), Defining 'Business Ethics': Like Nailing Jello to a Wall, Journal of Business Ethics 4(1985) 377-383. 0167-4544/85/.15v Ferrels and John Fraedrich , Business ethics- Ethical decision making and cases, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.


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vi Accountants face up to the moral maze, Ian Fraser, The Financial Times 2nd of January, 2008vii Dung Hieu, ng x khi xy ra nh cng, http://www.vneconomy.vn, 13/11/2007viii http://www.vnn.vn/xahoi/laodong/2005/11/512631/ix Laodong Newspaper No 76, www.laodong.com.vn 04/04/2007x 2002 Vietnam Investment Review Ltd

xi http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2007/03/670242/xii http://dantri.com.vn/kinhdoanh/Nguoi-tieu-dung-Viet-am-chiu-qua-nhieu-thiet-thoi/2008/6/236945.vip

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