Businessman Do Cao Bao: Vietnamese enterprises must preserve their Vietnamese soul

Vietnamese enterprises must preserve the Vietnamese soul and culture. Illustration photo: Internet

Infosys is an Indian software services company with a revenue of 16 billion USD, a capitalization of 71.4 billion USD (top 5 software services companies with the largest capitalization in the world), with 82 offices and 123 software development centers across continents: America, Europe, Australia, Japan, China and the Middle East. Infosys's sales come from 97% of foreign markets (only 3% of sales from the domestic market), of which the European and American markets alone account for 84%.

Over the years, Infosys has spent more than 1.2 billion USD to acquire 16 IT companies in the US, Europe and Israel. A very international company like Infosys, 97% of its sales are in the international market, over 90% are customers in Europe, America, Japan, Australia, has acquired and of course is managing and operating 16 companies in the US, Europe, Israel, yet the top leader still asserts that "his company must be very Indian if he wants the world to respect him". That said, national culture plays a very important role and significance in the development of a company, even if that company goes Global to go global.

Sometimes I hear some of you wonder: “Why in Vietnam, the rate of people who study abroad in the West (studying abroad from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Western Europe) is not as successful as those who study abroad from Eastern Europe (what you mean is that studying abroad from countries with more developed economies and better institutions is not as successful as studying abroad from countries with lower economies and institutions and asking if the reason is due to the institutions)?

Personally, I think that the first generation of Vietnamese businessmen were mostly Eastern European educated (very few were Western educated), so it is understandable that the most successful businessmen are all Eastern European. However, the second, third, and fourth generation of businessmen are mostly Western educated and Vietnamese educated, and certainly the next generation of successful businessmen will mostly be Western educated and Vietnamese educated, it cannot be otherwise.

In my personal observation, the most successful Vietnamese businesses and entrepreneurs all have the same formula: Western technology and management, but very Vietnamese culture; and those businesses that also have Western culture (the founder brought it from the West when studying abroad), trying or showing that they are "very Western" are either not successful or only moderately successful.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Vietnamese businessmen who have successfully studied in the West up to now include Le Hong Minh - Chairman, CEO of VinaGame (studied in Australia), Nguyen Hoang Minh - CEO of FPT IS (studied in France), Le Hong Viet - former CTO of FPT, CEO of FPT Smart Cloud (studied in Australia), Tran Van Minh - CEO of Hybrid Technologies (studied in Japan, Hybrid is the first Vietnamese company to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange), Ta Son Tung and Phan The Dung - founder, Chairman and CEO of RikkeiSoft (studied in Japan, RikkeiSoft is a software company with 1,250 employees, 100% of sales from the Japanese market). The common point of these businessmen is that they are still very Vietnamese, still preserving Vietnamese culture and roots.

Since social networks became popular, we see too many Western-educated people (including those studying in the West and those studying in Vietnam) openly showing their Western fanaticism. They think that the West is good at everything, right at everything, and we are bad at everything, not only in technology and management but also in culture and behavior. Fortunately, among the successful businessmen I know, no one is so crazy about the West.

Citing Mr. Murthy's words to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam and the success story of Infosys in the international market, I want to send out the message that: If we want to be successful and respected, in any circumstance we must preserve Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese soul, Vietnamese roots. No matter where we go, where we are, or what we do, we must still be a very Vietnamese person, and our company must still be a very Vietnamese company.