The 'war' of taxis and gas stations in Japan and the problems that arise

Recent developments such as the taxi “war” or the first participation of a Japanese enterprise in the Vietnamese petroleum market are raising issues worth pondering, in the context of the Government’s efforts to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness.

The public is now closely following the developments after a “traditional” taxi company’s cars displayed banners protesting Uber and Grab. Contrary to the expectations of this taxi company, public opinion appears to support technology taxi companies. Even regulatory agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade believe that it is necessary to collect evidence to see whether hanging this banner violates fair competition or not?

There is no final conclusion, but the consensus is that although regulators may be confused, they cannot prevent the application of technology when it brings great benefits to consumers. Instead of preventing it, other businesses and regulators must adapt and catch up with new technology trends.

The taxi war is raging. Photo zing

There is an opinion that the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises is gradually weakening. But according to Dr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this is not necessarily correct. To be more precise, the long-standing limitations of Vietnamese enterprises are only more clearly revealed in the context of a deeply integrated economy and we are forced to compete fairly with foreign countries.

Competition is clearly getting stronger, not only for taxi companies. Recently, the first 100% foreign-invested gas station of Idemisu Q8 - a Japanese "giant" - was officially opened in Hanoi, with the advertisement of selling gasoline with accuracy to 0.01 liter.

Opening the plan to open many retail petrol stations under the IQ8 brand in Vietnam, this event also officially brought the domestic petrol retail market into a new competition, when there are not only domestic enterprises with each other.

In recent times, the Party and the Government have been extremely determined in improving the business environment and creating favorable conditions for enterprises. The 5th Central Conference issued Resolutions on private economic development and on perfecting economic institutions.

Recently, the Government has issued an action program to implement these Resolutions, continuing the Government's persistent efforts over the past years in building a modern, internationally integrated economic institution according to international standards.

In the action program to implement the Central Resolution 5 on private economic development, for the first time the Government requested research and development of a Project to comprehensively innovate state management in the economic field, according to the World Bank's national governance criteria, creating a breakthrough in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of state management.

Along with that are very specific solutions, the most notable of which is to continue reviewing, evaluating, and proposing to abolish at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the current business conditions in the field of management and administrative procedures, which are causing obstacles and difficulties for business investment activities of enterprises.

These can be said to be “gifts” of extremely practical significance for the business community right before Vietnam Entrepreneurs Day (October 13) this year. Looking further, as affirmed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on average there is no day that the Government and the Prime Minister do not work with businesses, on the topic of businesses.

The efforts of the Party, State and Government have brought about initial results when, according to recent assessments by international organizations such as the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organization, Vietnam's national competitiveness and business environment have improved significantly and moved up many ranks.

However, in order for the Vietnamese economy to develop strongly and make breakthroughs in the coming time, along with the efforts from the Government, it is also necessary to have the efforts of the enterprises themselves. In particular, the first thing that needs to be clearly defined is: Competition is the soul of the market economy. If we accept fair competition, many Vietnamese enterprises will certainly be dynamic and creative enough to win at home and reach out to the world market.

According to Ha Chinh/chinhphu.vn