Hanoi (VNA) - Firms should attach greater attention to buildingtheir brands to enhance competitiveness in the context of rapid globalintegration as Vietnam has few globally-recognised brands.

A survey of more than 500 enterprises carried out by the Ministry of Industryand Trade found that only 20 percent of the firms invested in building theirbrand with most focusing on registering brands in Vietnam and ignoringregistration in international markets. Firms also paid little attention tomanaging and exploiting brands.

According to Le Tat Chien from the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnamunder the Ministry of Science and Technology, despite having a position in thedomestic market, many Vietnamese products were still struggling to expand inforeign markets because most firms still ignored brand promotion.

Deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Nguyen HuuNghia said firms still lacked solutions to build and manage their brands. Someenterprises had not really considered brand as a way to bring products toconsumers and some lacked awareness of the importance of brands, he said.

Mac Quoc Anh, Deputy President of the Hanoi Association of Small andMedium-Sized Enterprises, said that 90 percent of firms in Vietnam were of smalland medium scale, even micro-scale with limited financial capacity, making itdifficult for them to invest in developing brands.

Anh said firms expected more effective mechanisms and policies would beintroduced to protect domestic goods, adding that the legal framework alsoneeded improving to ensure a fair business environment for domestic andimported products.

Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu said the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade was developing a national brand project which would focus onbrand promotion for Vietnamese products via international media.

It was important that Vietnamese firms must be well aware of brand value andbuilding recognition for Vietnamese products, to create prestige and confidenceamong domestic and foreign consumers, said Vo Tri Thanh, Director of theInstitute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy.

According to Brand Finance, the Vietnamese national brand was valued at 247billion USD in 2019, 12 billion USD higher than 2018, ranking 42nd in theworld./.