Recently, at the headquarters of the Department of Science and Technology of Ha Giang province, the Banking Academy in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology of Ha Giang province successfully organized a scientific workshop with the theme "Current situation and solutions to improve management capacity in enterprises and cooperatives in Ha Giang province". The workshop is within the framework of implementing the provincial-level scientific project in 2024.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Viet Dung - Director of the Institute of Banking Research, Banking Academy (Project Manager) said that in the current period, enterprises and cooperatives in Ha Giang province are facing many difficulties in development. This not only originates from the market, but also from the management capacity of the management team of enterprises and cooperatives, raising the urgent need for synchronous solutions to improve the management capacity of enterprises and cooperatives in the province.
Presenting at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Nhat Minh - a member of the research team, reported the preliminary results of the research project. The preliminary results show that businesses in Ha Giang province have a young, dynamic, professionally qualified and willing-to-learn workforce; have stable traditional customers, long-standing brands and high market demand (especially in the construction sector).
However, businesses in the province are still small in scale, lacking financial resources and management capacity to expand production and business, leading to failure to achieve the set profit targets; Digital transformation is still slow and inflexible, applying modern technology to management and operation is not really effective; Limitations in accessing new markets, lack of systematic marketing strategies. Regarding financial management capacity, there is a lack of strict financial control procedures, and the use of modern accounting tools is not popular.
According to Mr. Sen Thang Long, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Ha Giang province, currently, the majority of enterprises in the province are small, medium and micro enterprises. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many enterprises have stopped operating, but have not reported or completed dissolution procedures, which has led to difficulties for the Department in collecting statistics and providing support plans. In fact, the Department has supported many enterprises in terms of investment information and project information, however, in 2024, only about 25% of enterprises will work directly with the Department to connect and implement projects.
Agreeing with this view, Mr. Ho Nhu Thiem - Vice Chairman of the Ha Giang Provincial Business Association said that the current situation of enterprises in the province is mainly private enterprises (small and very small scale), the number is large but most of the enterprises are unemployed, not operating but cannot announce dissolution due to many procedural or financial problems, so enterprises are almost not interested in support for training and improving management capacity. The urgent problem that needs to be solved is to have plans to support capital and employment for enterprises to ensure immediate operations.
Ms. Lo Thi My - Chairwoman of the Ha Giang Province Cooperative Union - said that in reality, the operations of cooperatives as well as the provincial Cooperative Union still face many difficulties and limitations due to the lack of funding to implement activities to support member cooperatives, the low management level of the cooperative management team, lack of technology updates, and many cooperatives do not have specialized accountants, leading to difficulties in accessing credit sources. Representatives of the Cooperative Union also proposed support solutions from state management agencies such as capital support, training support to improve cooperative management capacity, mechanisms to attract knowledge, young workers, etc.
According to representatives of credit institutions in the province, in recent years, banks in the area have continuously launched preferential credit policy packages for enterprises and cooperatives (preferential loan program for small and medium enterprises 2024, preferential investment loans 2024, preferential loans for import-export enterprises,...) with relatively low interest rates from 4% -6%/year.
However, in reality, provincial enterprises and cooperatives find it difficult to access credit sources from banks, mainly due to the reasons from enterprises and cooperatives, such as: incomplete and inaccurate financial reports, unclear business plans, inadequate management team, lack of collateral, etc.
This requires the management team of enterprises and cooperatives to have a deep understanding of the role and principles of cooperative management; to proactively study and improve knowledge, skills and capacity of business management, proactively update and apply technology to cooperative management; to proactively develop and promulgate internal regulations and cooperative management structures, creating a unified and strong management mechanism.
The Department of Planning and Investment of Ha Giang province is currently coordinating with relevant units to implement capacity building programs for business owners, coordinating to support technology packages for businesses (over 2 billion/year) including support for equipment, software, digital transformation incentive packages, etc. At the same time, building software projects to support businesses in the province, including: support for learning about business governance models, support for fostering business governance capacity, support for building digital transformation plans at businesses, etc.
Along with proactively approaching and improving the management capacity of the enterprise and cooperative management team, the Departments, Boards/Sectors, and credit institutions in the province are always ready to accompany and support in providing solutions to improve management capacity and develop enterprise and cooperative activities, including: Implementing preferential credit packages with simple procedures, increasing loan limits for small and medium enterprises; Supporting enterprises in digital transformation: applying ERP, CRM and upgrading management technology; Strengthening brand building, promoting promotion through social networks and digital platforms; In-depth training on financial management, using modern accounting software; Building collective brands, supporting access to markets outside the province and internationally; Completing the legal framework, organizing regular dialogues between cooperatives and management agencies.
In his closing speech at the workshop, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Viet Dung thanked the valuable comments from scientists, experts, representatives of management agencies as well as enterprises and cooperatives. This will be the basis for the research team to continue researching and perfecting the topic to improve the management capacity and operational efficiency of enterprises and cooperatives in the province, contributing to promoting the economic growth of Ha Giang province in the coming time.
