MBA Group Visits to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City and the “Southern Key Economic Region” in particular, has become a popular destination for MBA student groups in recent years. About 40 groups visited in 2008.

Use our Online Company Directory and Weekly Update Emails

Use the AmCham Online Company Directory at no cost to become familiar with our 450+ companies. It is searchable by industry sector, or by company name, and has company description, contact information, and link to the company’s web site. Please use it to send an email directly to companies and executives and ask them to arrange a meeting for your group, arrange a briefing, or attend your event(s).

Use Announcements in our Weekly Update Emails to let AmCham companies know about your group’s visit. Every Monday or Tuesday, AmCham’s Weekly Update email goes out to over 1,000 representatives of more than 450 AmCham companies, plus over 3,000 readers in Vietnam, Asia-Pacific countries, and the USA. We welcome announcements that are of interest to members and associates and offer a service to include such announcements in the Weekly Update email. The cost is $ 150/week. For best results, announcements should appear at least three times, and about three to six weeks in advance of your visit.

Arrange for AmCham participation. For a fee of $ 250 we will provide a speaker or guest at your event, either a member of our Board of Governors or a member of the AmCham staff team to speak with your group in a meeting or participate in your event.

Background Information

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) is Vietnam’s economic and business hub, the largest and fastest growing city, with more than two-thirds of international flight arrivals and departures, 80 percent of container shipments, 75 percent of consumption of steel products, and together with neighboring provinces in “Southern Key Economic Region,” account for nearly 40 percent of Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product. The city center is 60 km (37 miles) from the Eastern Sea, with a population of about 5.6 million, or 6.7 million including the suburban and rural areas. The “greater metropolitan area,” which consists of Hồ Chí Minh City metro area, Thủ Dầu Một, Di An, Bien Hoa and surrounding towns, is 9 million people. By 2020, the population of the “Greater HCM City Metropolitan Area”, also known as the “Southern Key Economic Region” is projected to reach 20 million.

In addition to your visit to our web site, we average over 180,000 visitors and over 260,000 page-views per month at www.amchamvietnam.com. That’s more than 3,000,000 page views per year. It’s the highest ranked foreign business association web site in Vietnam according to www.alexa.com. It’s the online hub of over 1,000 representatives of more than 450 AmCham companies (including expatriate and local managers) in HCM City, and a key resource for readers in Vietnam, Singapore, India, and Japan, as well as the USA, who are looking for trade and investment opportunities, as well as travel and tourism.

Advance Preparation: Use the extensive resources on this web site

Click these links for answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), with additional links

Doing Business in Vietnam, Setting Up and Operating in Vietnam, Taxes in Vietnam, Employment Manual for Businesses in Vietnam,

Summary of Current Policy Issues for U.S. Businesses in Vietnam
AmCham’s objective is to promote trade and investment between Vietnam and the United States, in particular by working to improve business conditions. One of AmCham’s key activities is ” ... to represent the Association in putting forth proposals and measures to Vietnamese state managment authorities for the puprose of protecting the lawful rights and business of member businesses and contributing to the creation of a healthy business environment.”

Some current topics for discussion

Vietnam’s Policies toward Foreign Investment

UNCTAD Investment Policy Review of Vietnam
Key point: The proposed new policy would shift from promoting labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing FDI to promoting international investment in infrastructure (electric power, transportation & distributino, telecoms, etc.) and in services, to provide higher value-added to Vietnam’s economy, including higher-income jobs for Vietnamese.

OECD Policy Framework for Investment
Key point: The Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) is a tool, providing a checklist of important policy issues for consideration by any government interested in creating an environment that is attractive to all investors and in enhancing the development benefits of investment to society, especially the poor. Click the link to access the PFI Executive Summary, as well as an OECD-MPI PFI Assessment of Vietnam’s Investment Policies (62 pages, 14 Feb 2008) and Key Findings and a Roadmap for Future Reform (6 pages, 04 Mar 2008).

Dowload Presentations from AmCham Vietnam Events and Briefings

Click these links to download presentations in pdf or ppt files:
D&B / CIC Listed Public Companies Directory 2009
Port Tour: New Deepwater Ports for the Southern Key Economic Region
Outlook for Real Estate in HCM City
Consumer Trends in Vietnam 2008 (1,500+ downloads)
Asian Trends and Vietnam’s Consumer Future 2007 (5,000 downloads)

Don’t overlook the travel basics, which are on this FAQ page: Travel to Vietnam, and some basic business, culture, and history Background Reading for Visitors to Vietnam.

Please be aware that AmCham Vietnam in HCM City does not provide the following services:

1 – Organize an event on your behalf

2 – Arrange meetings on your behalf with AmCham membership or contact members on your behalf

You may wish to contact one of our Tourism companies to make arrangements for ground transportation, site visits, sight-seeing and shopping, etc. Please click on this link for a lisf of AmCham Companies in the Travel Agencies, Tour Operators Industry Sector.

Questions?

If you have any questions that were not answered above, please click on this link to send us an email.

Contact: Jessica Beeson Tocco, Program Director.