Two thirds of businesses interviewed were optimistic about the economic outlook or generally stable compared to HI 23. However, in Vietnam optimism rose from 63% to 68%.
Generally, respondents expected to see weaker growth in H1 2024 and a stronger growth performance in H2 2024. This is in line with expectations of falling inflation and interest rates.
Fewer businesses globally expect expansion in non- domestic markets, however the APAC region was the only one with increased expectations, as signaled by 44% of the respondents.
Vietnam was one of the countries contributing to this increase in expectation and Vietnam was the third most ambitious country after India and Turkey.
In response to the question as to which senior leadership roles are responsible for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) 62.7 of the respondents in Vietnam said the CEO was the key leader engaged in this the 2nd highest globally, whilst other key positions were COO by 39.2% of respondents, HRO 17.6% and 4.9% included a diversity officer, this compared favourably with APAC responses which were 36.6%, 27.7%, 20.3% whilst the inclusion of a Diversity Officer at 4.9%in Vietnam was well below the average for APAC of 10.9%.
In terms of measurement of D and I, Vietnam again scored highly in APAC, particularly in the areas of % of female promotions 41% (3rd globally) vs 30.5% in AP, gender pay equality 53.3% AP 42.3% and Employee Promotor Score 46.7% compared to 28.6% across Asia Pacific.
In terms of expectations for exports Vietnam ranked 3rd globally with 65% [PTTU3] [UP4] [UP5] of respondents expecting an increase in exports over the next 12 months, up from 60% in H1 23, this compares well to AP, which recorded an average of 46% and 47% respectively.
Vietnam ranked number 2 globally when asked about the expectations of growth in revenue from non-domestic markets with 68% of respondents expecting an increase, an increase of 15 ppts from H1 and well above the average from AP of 43%.
Vietnam was also number 1 in terms of the expected increase in the number of countries they were expecting to sell to with 66% expecting an increase in the number of countries up from 52% in H1 and well above the 43% recorded for Asia Pacific.
Another stand out was investment in skills training with Vietnam ranking 2nd globally with 78% of respondents expecting to spend more om staff skills training compared to 52% across Asia Pacific.
Vietnamese companies in the survey expect to invest more on technology in the next 12 months compared to 59% in Asia Pacific.
When questioned about expectations for profitability in the next 12 months Vietnam ranked number 2 globally with 83% of respondents expecting an increase compared to 57% across Asia Pacific, similar to responses in H1 2023.
The top 5 challenges in Asia Pacific were recorded as economic uncertainty; energy costs; labour costs; availability of skilled labour; and regulation and red tape, whilst APAC business leaders generally were facing reduced demand leading to the push into new markets.
In terms of economic uncertainty 75% of Vietnamese respondents marked this as a key constraint to growth compared to 61% in Asia Pacific and 57% [UP10] [UP11] globally.
On the question of energy costs, as a constraint to growth, 49% of the Vietnamese respondents said this was a constraint compared to 56% in Asia Pacific and 52% globally.
Vietnam respondents seemed less concerned about labour costs with only 33% of respondents concerned about labour costs, acting as a constraint to growth compared to 55% in Asia Pacific and 51% globally.
Maybe a little surprisingly only 31% of Vietnamese respondents expected availability of skilled labour to act as a constraint to growth, compared to 51% in Asia Pacific and 50% globally, ranking Vietnam number 3 globally.
Again, maybe surprisingly on the question of whether regulation and red tape will act as a constraint to growth only 42% of respondents were in the affirmative a decrease of 4ppts over H1 23 and compared to 47% across Asia Pacific and globally.
The responses for Vietnam seem to certainly support the Government’s forecast of 6 to 6.5% GDP growth for 2024.
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