VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of Vietnamese were appointed as the chief executive
officers (CEO) of the multinational conglomerates in Vietnam in 2012, the year
of Dragon.
Vo Quang Hue, CEO of Robert Bosch Vietnam
The No.1 hired workers
Two important events took place in early July 2012 stirring up the high
technology community in Vietnam. On July 1, Siemens Vietnam announced the
appointment of Dr. Pham Thai Lai to the post of President and CEO. This was for
the first time, Siemens group appointed a Vietnamese to the position.
Just one day later, Vu Minh Tri was accredited to the post of CEO of Microsoft
Vietnam.
Prior to that, on May 16, 2012, Pham The Truong, also a Vietnamese, was
appointed as the CEO of SAP Vietnam, the first Vietnamese CEO in the history of
the group.
On the last days of 2012, Qualcomm designated Thieu Phuong Nam to the post of
regional CEO of Qualcomm in charge of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
In early January 2013, or the last days of the Year of Dragon, two important
pieces of news were announced. IBM decided to assign Vo Tan Long, who was then
the CEO of IBM Vietnam from November 2008 to January 2013, to take care for
special projects of IBM ASEAN, a move that recognizes the special contribution
of Long to IBM Vietnam after four years of working there.
Lenovo has officially appointed Nguyen Minh Son to the post of Lenovo Vietnam.
Son has also been well known in the business circle as he held the high ranking
management positions at IBM, Siemens and Samsungs before.
The year of Dragon was the time when a lot of Vietnamese were appointed as the
CEO of multinational groups. However, they are not the only top “hired workers”
in Vietnam. For the last many years, Pham Phu Ngoc Trai has been on the post of
President and CEO of PepsiCo South East Asia. Trai was one of the first
Vietnamese who were accredited to hold such an important position in a big
international group.
Than Trong Phuc is also a well-known name to Vietnamese. He spent 10 years
working as CEO for Intel Vietnam. He deserved the credit of obtaining the one
billion dollar chipset project for Intel Vietnam. After leaving Intel Vietnam,
Phuc has been working as the CEO of DFJV.
Dam Thu Thuy has been a famous name in the finance and banking sector. She spent
six years working as the CEO of ANZ Vietnam and now she is Deputy President of
ANZ Indochina.
Like many other Vietnamese CEOs, Vo Quang Hue, CEO of Robert Bosch Vietnam is
also a talented person, but unlike them, who have been in charge of market
development, Hue has been holding the important position in the manufacturing
sector.
How much Vietnamese character in being a CEO?
Hue said frankly, that it’s nearly impossible for those, 100 percent Vietnamese,
i.e. lives and studies in Vietnam, and never worked for foreign groups before,
to become a CEO of foreign companies in Vietnam.
Being Vietnamese is a great advantage to manage a company in Vietnam, but one
needs to think globally, have much experience and good business culture
foundation.
Hue himself spent 20 years living and working in Germany. Pham Thai Lai was born
in Vietnam, but he lived and worked in Europe for 30 years. Than Trong Phuc has
been known as a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese). Before taking the office at
Intel Vietnam, Phuc spent 14 years on working for the US Intel. Vu Minh Tri
graduated from a Vietnamese school, but he then studied further at a foreign
university and had much experience in his field.
Manh Ha