Expectations from centralised state capital management

From now on, the total assets of more than VND2.3 quadrillion (US$98.9 billion) will be centrally managed by a single entity instead of being distributed between various ministries, as was the case previously. This is the first time in Vietnam that a specialised agency has exercised the function of representing state ownership in groups and corporations in line with the international practice on corporate management. Moreover, the enterprises recently transferred to the committee are all critical enterprises to the Vietnamese economy. Therefore, there are huge expectations from the entire political system, society and market on the performance of the committee. Undertaking this monumental task, the committee must demonstrate renovations in thinking, management, administration and operation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in order to address their weaknesses and create a substantial difference in the performance of these enterprises in the future. To achieve that goal, the committee must be a professional and modern agency that pushes for bold reform to enhance the effectiveness of all SOEs. The centralised capital management mechanism needs to be accompanied by a modern supervisory mechanism in accordance with international standards. Currently the committee is employing an online management system in line with the standards of the OECD. This system connects with the enterprises under its management so that the committee can monitor all the operations of these enterprises around the clock, from production and productivity to capital, human resources and paying taxes. The system also has a set of indexes for supervising and assessing the health of… [Read full story]