Surviving during and after the Covid-19 pandemic is a concern for many enterprises. According to experts, it is important for enterprises to choose a suitable method of existence and development.

"Hibernate" or not?

According to statistics from Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), if the epidemic is serious, 50% of enterprises can only survive for half a year. Therefore, there are many ideas for the viewpoint that enterprises should "hibernate" to minimize damage at this time.

At the online exchange "How to survive the Covid-19 pandemic" taking place on the morning of April 13, concurring with the above view, Mr. Dang Hong Anh, President of Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thanh Thanh Cong Group, said that in difficult times, businesses need solutions to slow down, retest and search for plans and orientations for their units. However, "sleeping is dead, losing sleep is not good at all, so how to sleep?" is the problem businesses must think through thoroughly.

Of the same opinion, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, the thought of "hibernating" is good only for enterprises that have already accumulated, now is the time to reduce costs at least, maybe it's best to do nothing, because doing nothing still incurs losses.

"With enterprises unable to ‘hibernate’, they must change the form of business. The government has called for a change to digital technology for many years, but enterprises have never been so self-conscious as in this time. Thanks to that, many enterprises even have higher revenue, such as online enterprises,” Mr. Than said.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, Chairman of NextTech Group's Board of Directors, stopping the business for small and micro enterprises would have great consequences, because these enterprises would lack friction and fighting in the market, leading to negative thinking and limited views, causing them to miss new opportunities.

“Some garment enterprises, in a sad plight, produce masks and protective coveralls to export to markets in need. Without operating, they cannot detect business opportunities,” Mr. Binh said.

Not only that, he said that no one knows when businesses would stop hibernating because it is impossible to predict when the pandemic would end. Moreover, when hibernating, it would take more time to return to the old situation. Therefore, if enterprises were not operating, suppliers in the supply chain were affected.

Planning for "post-Covid-19"

Before the difficulties of enterprises in the Covid-19 epidemic, experts all agree that there is always happiness in the painting. This is a difficult time for enterprises, but they should not be discouraged. Part of the reason, experts and enterprises explain that the Government has intervened and had social security measures in time, resulting in less damage than other countries.

However, with these support packages, experts on the webchat said that enterprises should also consider and be careful, to not only overcome difficulties but also to sustain in the "post-Covid-19" period.

According to Mr. Dang Hong Anh, with small and medium enterprises, the capital accumulation foundation, conditions were not much, so in the epidemic, if companies did not plan a post-epidemic development, bank loans would become a burden for themselves, even affecting the bank. Good financial solutions would be rebounding, developing better, and rebalancing after the difficult period.

In particular, the experts emphasized the ability to take advantage of the opportunities from the business model transformation and digital transformation of enterprises. Mr. Nguyen Van Than said that not all enterprises had difficulties, for example, enterprises in games, network marketing or some restaurants were growing. Some restaurants even had higher revenue than before the epidemic. Many enterprises overcame well and dynamically changed to a different form, making Vietnam's business picture much better than other countries.

Representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam said that 70% of members of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises were transforming themselves using digital technology. This is a big push for the business community and the Government.

"Business owners should proactively "adapt" to the situation and find the right path for their enterprises, especially paying attention to grasping the State's policies to access to support and proactively lookfor new input and output markets,” Mr. Nguyen Van Than recommended.

Source: Customs News

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