Set up from a small production team, Ngoc Son Rattan and Bamboo Enterprise has experienced ups and downs like other bamboo and rattan production and business enterprises in Chuong My district, Hanoi. In the past years of construction and development, Ngoc Son has asserted its prestige and brand name in domestic and international markets with various high-quality products. These achievements result from constant efforts to study and apply advanced sciences and technologies to production and grasp good development opportunities to become a leading handicraft enterprise in Chuong My district.
When the enterprise was set up, the Vietnamese economy was still centrally run and self-subsidised. Only a few assigned State-run companies were allowed to do exporting and importing. The private sector was just formed and most enterprises had no production facilities because of a poor capital base. Ngoc Son Rattan and Bamboo Enterprise was no exception. Working offices, production facilities and warehouses had a total area of less than 100 square metres. Almost no labour safety or fire prevention standards were in place at that time because of poor infrastructure. The enterprise’s turnover was from VND1 billion to VND2 billion a year.
In 2003, Ngoc Son Rattan and Bamboo Enterprise built a 4,500-square metre factory on an 8,300-square metre campus in Chuc Son town, Chuong My district. Staffed by 100 employees, the new factory meets all requirements for labour safety and fire prevention. Despite economic slowdown, the enterprise still earned stable revenue of above VND200 billion in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Nguyen Duc Kien, owner of Ngoc Son, said as handicraft production and business is typically scattered in small scale units across handicraft villages in the country, to attract over 20,000 workers in many northern provinces, the enterprise must be prestigious. Or in other words, workers must trust the technical instructions and payment guarantee from such an enterprise.
He said workers are the invaluable property of the enterprise because they determine what the enterprise has. Therefore, the enterprise must ensure incomes and livelihoods for them and give them a sense of pride in working for Ngoc Son.
Speaking of development orientations of Ngoc Son Rattan and Bamboo Enterprise, he added that the Vietnamese handicraft industry was at first based on low-paid young labourer force to develop, but the Vietnamese economy is now getting better, with higher living standards of the people; the labour advantage is fading away. Therefore, maintaining and expanding export markets is a major challenge. To be successful, Ngoc Son Rattan and Bamboo Enterprise needs to study customer tastes to create new suitable designs and renovate production processes to reduce costs and apply IT to management to gain stronger foothold on the domestic and international markets.
Vietnamese
