HCMC OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BUSINESS SCHOOL MASTER IN MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (MMVCFB 6) NGÔ TH卯 VÂN QUNH MARKETING STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTING SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP – HCMC BRANCH THESIS TUTOR : Assoc. Pro. Dr. NGUYEN DONG PHONG MASTER IN MANAGEMENT THESIS Ho Chi Minh City 2007 WARRANT STATEMENT This is my original work. All data and results stated in the thesis are completely true. Ngô Th鵜 Vân Qunh i A A C C K K N N O O W W L L E E D D G G E E M M E E N N T T My deepest gratitude goes to my husband for his understanding, patience and support throughout the MBA program and especially during these last months of research and writing, when he had to take care of my kids and carry the family burden share of my parts. Special thanks to Associate Professor Doctor Nguyen Dong Phong, advisor of the research for his advice, guidance and encouragement throughout the research study Many thanks to the Open University – Solvay Business School program professors and officers, who have helped me with all their kindness and warmest assistance during the course. Many thanks to InvestConsult Group and to my colleagues who always support and give me valuable assistance and relevant data in the research. Many thanks to my colleagues at Vision & Associate and FISC and to clients of InvestConsult-HCM, who shared with me time and information for the relevant interviews. Finally, many thanks also to all the professors, participants, friends and specially to my loved, without them this research would not have been possible. ii T T A A B B L L E E O O F F C C O O N N T T E E N N T T S S CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENT (i) TABLE OF CONTENTS (ii) ABBREVIATIONS (viii) LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES (ix) INTRODUCTION 1. PROBLEM CONTEXT 1 2. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH STUDY 2 3. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF RESEARCH STUDY 2 4. METHODOLOGY 3 5. RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 4 6. STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY 5 CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW ON SERVICE MARKETING AND THE MARKET OF FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES IN VIETNAM 1.1 AN INTRODUCTION TO SERVICES 7 1.1.1 Definition of Service 7 1.1.2 Characteristics of services and their marketing implications 7 iii 1.1.3 Role of services in economy 9 1.1.4 Services in the development of enterprises 10 1.2 AN INTRODUCTION OF SERVICE MARKETING 11 1.3 FDI CONSULTANCY MARKET IN VIETNAM 14 1.3.1 FDI consultancy service providers 15 1.3.2 Sketching out consumers of FDI consultancy services in Vietnam 17 1.3.3 FDI statistics in Vietnam 19 1.4 EXPERIENCE OF SOME COMPANIES IN PROVIDING FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES IN VIETNAM 21 1.4.1 Success experience 21 1.4.2 Failing experience 22 1.4.3 Lesson learned from success and failing experience 23 SUMMARY 24 CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP – HCMC BRANCH AND ITS FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES 2.1 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP 26 2.1.1 Establishment history 26 2.1.2 Vision and mission 27 2.1.3 Organization structure 27 iv 2.2 MAIN SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP 28 2.2.1 Legal services 29 2.2.2 Intellectual property services 31 2.2.3. Investment project consultancy 33 2.2.4 Market research 34 2.3 FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT-HCM 35 2.3.1 Evaluation of the results on providing FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult-HCM for the last three years 35 2.3.1.1 Business results of InvestConsult-HCM for the last three years 35 2.3.1.2 Total new FDI projects to which InvestConsult-HCM rendered consultancy services for the last three years 37 2.3.1.3 Evaluation of clients on FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult-HCM 38 2.3.2 Process for implementing FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult -HCM 46 2.3.3 Marketing activities of InvestConsult-HCM to the FDI consultancy market 49 2.3.3.1Market survey 49 2.3.3.2 Promotion activities of InvestConsult-HCM 50 2.3.3.3Expanding channels to attract more potential clients 53 2.3.4 Marketing organization at InvestConsult-HCM 54 v 2.3.5 SWOT Analysis on InvestConsult-HCM 55 2.3.5.1 Strengths 56 2.3.5.2 Weakness 57 2.3.5.3 Opportunities 57 2.3.5.4 Threats 58 SUMMARY 59 CHAPTER 3 MARKETING STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP – HCMC BRANCH 3.1 DEVELOPMENT TREND OF THE FDI CONSULTANCY MARKET IN VIETNAM 61 3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT-HCM 63 3.3 MARKETING-MIX STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT-HCM 64 3.3.1 Products 64 3.3.1.1Product categorization 65 3.3.1.2 Branding and differentiation 66 3.3.2 Pricing 68 3.3.2.1 Flexible policy in pricing 68 3.3.2.2 Special considerations of FDI consultancy service pricing 69 vi 3.3.2.3 Relationship pricing 71 3.3.3 Place 72 3.3.3.1 Location 73 3.3.3.2 Channels 73 3.3.4 Promotion 75 3.3.4.1 Advertising 76 3.3.4.2 Personal selling 78 3.3.4.3 Sales promotion 80 3.3.4.4 Public Relations 81 3.3.4.5 The associate environment and the networking 81 3.3.5 People 84 3.3.5.1 Differing roles of people 84 3.3.5.2 Internal marketing 86 3.3.5.3 Training 87 3.3.6 Process 89 3.3.7 Physical evidence 90 3.4 SOME SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT-HCM 91 3.4.1 Marketing organization of InvestConsult-HCM 92 vii 3.4.2 Improving FDI promotion activities 95 3.4.3 Policy for human resource 96 SUMMARY 98 CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 4.1 CONCLUSION 100 4.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 101 4.2.1 Having marketing approach to FDI attraction 101 4.2.2 Recognizing the role of consultancy companies in FDI attraction 102 4.2.3 Setting up a database system available to foreign investors and business community 103 4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NEXT STUDIES 103 ANNEX A SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 105 ANNEX B SURVEY RESULTS 111 REFERENCES 118 viii A A B B B B R R E E V V I I A A T T I I O O N N S S ASEAN Association of South East Asia Nations FDI Foreign Direct Investment GDP Gross Domestic Product HCMC Ho Chi Minh City Inco-HCM or InvestConsult-HCM InvestConsult Group – HCMC Branch MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment PR Public Relation SCCI State Committee of Co-operation and Investment (now MPI) SME Small and Medium Enterprises SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats USBTA US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement US or USA United States of America USD/ US Dollar Official Currency of the United States of America VDF Vietnam Development Forum WTO World Trade Organization [...]... Introduction of InvestConsult- HCM and its FDI consultancy services Chapter 3: Marketing strategy for FDI consultancy services of InvestConsultHCM Chapter 4: Conclusion and Recommendations Annexes 6 CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW ON SERVICE MARKETING AND THE MARKET OF FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES IN VIETNAM 1.1 An introduction to services 1.1.1 Definition of Service 1.1.2 Characteristics of services and their marketing. .. Group – HCMC Branch in FDI consultancy services - SWOT analysis on Investconsult Group – HCMC Branch Marketing- mix strategy for FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult Group – HCMC Branch Conclusion and Recommendations 5 6 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY The thesis includes the following key parts: Introduction Chapter 1: Overview on service marketing and the market of FDI consultancy services in Vietnam Chapter... valuable information on the issues in study 5 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK Objectives of study - Literature reviews on services and service marketing - Overview on FDI consultancy market in Vietnam - Success and failing experience of some FDI consultancy service providers in Vietnam - Introduction of Investconsult Group – HCMC Branch and its services - Current marketing activities of Investconsult Group – HCMC Branch. .. to introduce about InvestConsult- HCM, its services and to access the current marketing activities of the company on FDI consultancy services during the last three years Thirdly, to suggest the marketing- mix strategy for FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult- HCM based on using the literature on services marketing and understanding the internal/ external environment of the company Finally, to give... 2.3: FDI projects to which InvestConsult- HCM rendered consultancy services .37 Figure 2.4: Statistical record of clients’ statements of InvestConsult- HCM 39 Figure 2.5: Statistical record of clients’ level of satisfaction .42 Figure 2.6: Statistical record of elements encouraging clients to use InvestConsult- HCM s services 43 Figure 2.7: Statistic opinion of clients about InvestConsult- HCM s... on how to get more FDI inflow into Vietnam 3 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF RESEARCH STUDY This research will concentrate on the marketing strategy for FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult- HCM after Vietnam becomes the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by end 2006 InvestConsult Group is located in both the North and the South of Vietnam, with the head office and the InvestConsult Development... in Hanoi and the branch in HCMC This research will focus on the marketing activities of the HCMC Branch only 3 InvestConsult Group has provided a wide range of services to both foreign and local enterprises in Vietnam, with both pre-license and post-license administrative procedures and consulting This research focuses on the FDI consultancy services only, i.e consultancy services to foreign investors... implications 1.1.3 Role of services in economy 1.1.4 Services in the development of enterprises 1.2 An introduction of service marketing 1.3 FDI consultancy market in Vietnam 1.3.1 FDI consultancy service providers 1.3.2 Sketching out consumers of FDI consultancy services in Vietnam 1.3.3 FDI statistics in Vietnam 1.4 Experience of some companies in providing FDI consultancy services in Vietnam 1.4.1... clients about InvestConsult- HCM s personnel 44 Figure 2.8: Statistic opinion of clients on recommending InvestConsultHCM’s services to others 45 Figure 2.9: Process for a foreign investor to get an investment license for its project 47 Figure 2.10: Normal process for implementing FDI consultancy services 48 Figure 2.11: The current channels of InvestConsult- HCM 53 Figure 3.1: The... Figure 3.2: Suggestion on expansion of InvestConsult- HCM s channels 75 Figure 3.3: Statistic record of on clients’ request of further information 76 Table 3.1: Personal contact function in services .79 Figure 3.4: Employees influence on clients .85 Figure 3.5: Marketing position in InvestConsult- HCM .93 Figure 3.6: Organization chart (new) of InvestConsult- HCM 94 1 INTRODUCTION 1 PROBLEM . – HCMC Branch and its services - Current marketing activities of Investconsult Group – HCMC Branch in FDI consultancy services - SWOT analysis on Investconsult Group – HCMC Branch Marketing- mix. 3 MARKETING STRATEGY FOR FDI CONSULTANCY SERVICES OF INVESTCONSULT GROUP – HCMC BRANCH 3.1 DEVELOPMENT TREND OF THE FDI CONSULTANCY MARKET IN VIETNAM 61 3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY. consultancy services of InvestConsult- HCM 38 2.3.2 Process for implementing FDI consultancy services of InvestConsult -HCM 46 2.3.3 Marketing activities of InvestConsult- HCM to the FDI consultancy