In a recent briefing at the San Francisco offices of law firm SNR Denton, Hong-Phong Pho, the U.S. Commerce Department’s commerce desk officer for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, said shippers should approach the market with a strategic supply-chain goal.
BY PATRICK BURNSON
Published: March, 2011
“Companies that seek sharp and clear profit objectives from quarter to quarter will not do nearly as well as those that go in for the long haul and are prepared to gather and carefully analyze information,” he said.
The nonprofit California-Asia Business Council (Cal-Asia) held a breakfast briefing for American companies seeking to enter or expand existing operations in the Vietnam market. Steven Potash, a prominent Cal-Asia member, provided “Working Waterfront” with this account:
According to Pho, having a local partner who can help navigate the shoals, including dealing with lingering corruption, “will be critical.” He further advised that shippers contact the U.S. Commerce Department for assistance.
A good bit of shipping and port development has occurred in recent years and Pho said there is strong demand for additional shipping infrastructure and capacity. “Market need translates into real opportunity,” he said.
Vietnam’s economic growth has held up well, although there is a need for the government to balance that against inflationary pressures. He noted that since implementation of the recent bi-lateral accord, Vietnam’s exports to the United States have been strong. But the U.S. government is also committed to expanding the export of American goods to Vietnam, as well as services. Trademark and copyright protection are still issues with U.S. exporters, and Commerce Department strongly advises U.S. firms to register their marks in Vietnam for local protection.
One indication of consumer market growth in Vietnam, said Pho, is “teledensity,” meaning the concentration of telephone connectivity in the population, which has increased from four or five percent in recent years to more than 150 percent. (This reflects the fact that some people maintain more than one telephone.)
Cal-Asia’s Executive Director, Jeremy Potash, pointed out that the membership-based group strongly supported the post-war renewal of commercial relations with Vietnam and has taken several trade and investment delegations into that and other Asian markets. Through regular seminars and briefings, the group provides strategic contacts and market information for U.S. companies doing business in China and the rest of Asia. For further information, visit www.CalAsia.org or call 415-986-8808.
Two Books from Cal Maritime Professors
A pair of Cal Maritime professors have new publications to their credit. The offerings include a book from Professor Tuuli Messer-Bookman, Close Quarters: A Woman’s Guide to Living and Working in Masculine Environments, and a chapter contributed by Dr. Lui Hebron to the book China’s Energy Relations with the Developing World.
As the name implies, Close Quarters was written to help women work more smoothly, happily, and successfully in any profession where men and women are in close quarters—everything from law enforcement, firefighting and the maritime industry to construction, forestry, and the military. Messer-Bookman said her book challenges the politically correct, hair-trigger sensitivities some women hold regarding sexual harassment and discrimination. It also pays respect to women who have endured sometimes brutal harassment in order to blaze trails into male-dominated professions.
Captain Messer-Bookman worked as a ship’s officer for several years on commercial cargo ships, usually as the only woman aboard. A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, she earned her U.S. Coast Guard unlimited tonnage master’s license and sailed over 300,000 sea miles as a merchant marine officer. She then returned to school and earned her law degree at the USF School of Law. As a full professor at the California Maritime Academy, she teaches all aspects of navigation and U.S. Coast Guard license exam preparation for the Academy’s senior cadets. She also trains cadets in the Academy’s full-mission ship simulators. Captain Messer-Bookman has written for various maritime publications and is the author of the Master’s Handbook on Ship’s Business, now in its third edition.
She has worked as a maritime consultant and expert witness since 1998, and has testified in both state and federal courts. She and her husband live in Benicia and enjoy sailing regularly. Her newest book can be purchased through the publisher at www.schifferbooks.com, local booksellers, and numerous online retailers.
China’s Energy Relations with the Developing World, edited by Carrie Liu Currier and Manocher Dorraj, features input by experts in international relations and Chinese politics. The essays look at China’s expanding relations with the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and India; the security implications of China’s quest for energy resources; and its impact on relations with world powers such as the United States. The book also examines whether China’s competition for energy resources will foster cooperation or conflict with other energy-consuming great powers.
Dr. Hebron, a faculty member in Cal Maritime’s ABS School of Maritime Policy and Management and a published expert on Chinese history and foreign policy, contributed the second chapter of the book, which provides a general overview of the changing nature and conditions of Chinese external relations since the founding of the modern Chinese state on October 1, 1949.
More details and purchasing information can be found at www.continuumbooks.com.
