Giải pháp đào tạo nguồn nhân lực phục vụ chiến lược phát triển thương mại Tây Nguyên

Nội dung text: Giải pháp đào tạo nguồn nhân lực phục vụ chiến lược phát triển thương mại Tây Nguyên

1. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 TRAINING HUMAN RESOURCES TO IMPLEMENT TRADE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR TÂY NGUYÊN GIẢI PHÁP ĐÀO TẠO NGUỒN NHÂN LỰC PHỤC VỤ CHIẾN LƯỢC PHÁT TRIỂN THƯƠNG MẠI TÂY NGUYÊN Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Bich Loan Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Minh Nhan Thuongmai University Email: bichloandhtm@vcu.edu.vn Abstract Tây Nguyên (which means the region in English) holds a highly important economic position in regional and international trade exchange but its contributions to the national development still remain “modest”. Amid the requirements of the integration process, in order to develop and shorten the commercial gaps between Tây Nguyên and other regions in the country, synchronous measures should be taken. One of the key solutions is to strengthen the training of human resources so as to enhance the quality of administrators, entrepreneurs, and businessmen, etc. to meet the demand of trade development of the region. Keywords: Human resource training; Trade development strategies; Tây Nguyên. Tóm tắt Vùng Tây Nguyên có vị trí địa kinh tế đặc biệt quan trọng cho hoạt động giao thương khu vực và quốc tế. Tuy nhiên, hiện nay đóng góp của thương mại vùng Tây Nguyên vào sự phát triển của cả nước còn rất “khiêm tốn”. Trước yêu cầu của quá trình hội nhập, để phát triển, rút ngắn khoảng cách thương mại vùng Tây Nguyên với các vùng trong cả nước cần phải thực hiện đồng bộ các giải pháp. Một trong những giải pháp chìa khóa là tăng cường đào tạo nguồn nhân lực thương mại nhằm nâng cao chất lượng đội ngũ cán bộ quản lý, đội ngũ doanh nhân, thương nhân đáp ứng nhu cầu phát triển thương mại vùng Tây Nguyên. Từ khóa: Đào tạo nguồn nhân lực; Phát triển thương mại; Tây Nguyên. 1. Introduction Tây Nguyên - bordering Southern Laos and Northeast Cambodia, situated in the traffic networks connecting the Vietnam’s Central coasts and Southeast regions; possessing international border gates along the East-West economic corridor; located near deep seaports of the Central Coast - holds an important strategic position in the socio-economic development, national defense and security of Vietnam. Tây Nguyên trade always represents a crucial part in the national trading system. In recent years, the economic structure of the region has transformed towards increasing the proportion of industry and trade, service; the total goods circulation of the region has gone up in absolute figures but its ratio in the national value has not increased but even declined. This situation may be attributed to the backward, slow and scattered trading system of the region, unsustainable trading forms, especially the limited trading human resources. That the human resources of Tây Nguyên have not been able to meet the development demand results from the unplanned investment and the unprofessional training of human resources in the region as can be seen in the scattered training centers, inappropriate training forms, improper training contents, etc.). Therefore, the investigation into the situation so as to suggest solutions to training human resources in Tây Nguyên will help create core resources for Tây Nguyên to implement its trade development strategies amid the international integration context. 27
2. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 2. Research frames and methods 2.1. Research frames A study on human resource training to meet the development requirements of a trading sector/field of an economic area/region may be done from different approaches with the participation of different subjects. In this study, the research frame is identified as including (see Figure 1): (i) Bases to identify the needs for human resource training, including trade development plans and strategies. Trade development plans and strategies Demand for trading human resources Training subjects Training establishments - Group 1: Senior human - Vocational schools resources - Colleges Training forms - Group 2: Secondary Training contents - Universities; Research human resources Institutes - Group 3: Primary human - Enterprises providing resources training services TRAINING OF TRADE HUMAN RESOURCES Government; Central relevant agencies (Ministry of Education and Training; Ministry of Industry and Trade, etc.); Provincial People’s Committee; Local Departments, etc. Figure 1: Research frames for human resource training for trade (ii) Contents of human resource training: - Training subjects include groups of human resources for trade at different levels: senior, secondary and primary; - Training facilities include training establishments at different levels (vocational school, colleges, university) and organizations providing training services; - Training contents include components aimed to equip learners with knowledge, skills and professional qualities to work in trade; - Training forms are diverse and can be selected to be appropriate with each level, qualification, and training content. Some appropriate training forms for local trade human resources 28
3. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 are full-time training, cooperation training, school continuation training, professional improvement training, etc. (iii) Subjects creating mechanism, policies and conditions for training, including central and local state administrative agencies. 2.2. Research methods and data The study employed secondary data collected from various organizations and agencies, including Ministry of Industry and Trade; General Statistics Office; Industry and Trade Departments of provinces within the region, including Kon Tum, Gia Lai; Đắk Lắk; Đắk Nông; Lâm Đồng; Tây Nguyên University; Đà Lạt University, etc. These abundant data were combined with various methods of statistical, comparative, generalizing, expert, etc. to implement the contents of the research frame; analyze and evaluate the situation of training trade human resources in the region; on that basis propose fundamental solutions to strengthen the training of human resources to implement trade development strategies of Tây Nguyên so as to contribute to the socio-economic development of the region amid the international integration process. 3. Research findings 3.1. The positions of trade in the economic development of Tây Nguyên Tây Nguyên comprises of 5 provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lâm Đồng. In recent years, thanks to its inner strengths and the support from the Party and State, Tây Nguyên has made considerable progress and development. According to the Steering Committee for the region Region, the GRDP of Tây Nguyên provinces topped VND165,472 billion, up 8.09%; income per capita in 2017 averaged VND41.6 million, up 5.02% over 2016. The regional economic structure is transforming towards increasing the proportion of industry and services, decreasing the proportion of agriculture - forestry, of which agriculture – forestry – fishery increased by 5%, construction increased by nearly 11%, services increased by nearly 10%, GRDP structure is moving towards positive trends (decreasing the proportions of agriculture - forestry - fishery, increasing industry, construction, services). Table 1: Gross retail sales of goods calculated by real prices in Tây Nguyên provinces No. Provinces 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Tây Nguyên 103,187.6 120,061.1 137,032.2 148,719.2 165,677.2 1 Kon Tum 6,550.4 8,496.9 10,126.5 11,860.2 13,427.3 2 Gia Lai 21,249.9 28,663.5 36,265.1 40,718.8 46,739.3 3 Đắk Lắk 38,559.0 43,608.7 48,567.9 52,154.5 58,082.6 4 Đắk Nông 7,910.8 8,968.1 9,877.1 10,932.1 11,873.1 5 Lâm Đồng 28,917.5 30,323.9 32,195.6 33,053.6 35,554.9 Compared to the national 4.36 4.59 4.70 4.61 4.64 rates (%) Source: General Statistics Office (2018) A closer look at Tây Nguyên trade reveals that its GDP kept increasing over the years although it remains quite low in comparison with the national rate, it has still made considerable contributions to increasing goods circulations in the region. According to General Statistics Office, in 2016 the gross retail sales of goods and revenues of consumption services reached VND 165,677.2 billion (increasing by 11.40% over 2015), equivalent to 4.64% of the national value. The total goods circulations of the 29
4. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 region have increased in absolute figures but its ratio in the national value has not improved over the years but even declined. Among them, provinces with the highest goods circulation are Đắk Lắk, Gia Lai and Lâm Đồng and province with the lowest goods circulation is Đắk Nông (see Table 1). Moreover, the trading infrastructure of the entire region remains weak, backward and poor with unsustainable trade forms. By 2016, Tây Nguyên had a total of 374 traditional markets, 25 supermarkets, and 5 shopping centers – not a big change from 2012 (see Table 2). Table 2: Distribution of trade forms in provinces of Tây Nguyên Traditional markets Supermarkets Shopping centers Provinces 2012 2014 2016 2012 2014 2016 2012 2014 2016 Kon Tum 25 24 26 2 2 2 - - - Gia Lai 83 87 91 13 13 13 - - - Đắk Lắk 146 148 148 5 3 5 1 3 2 Đắk Nông 47 41 34 - - 2 - - - Lâm Đồng 67 69 75 5 5 3 - 2 1 Tây Nguyên 368 369 374 25 23 25 1 5 3 Source: General Statistics Office (2018) Traditional markets remain the most suitable and hold key positions in the region. The system of traditional markets has been invested, upgraded and rebuilt to promote their roles in goods circulations. However, the density of markets in population is still low (in the region: a commune/ward has an average of 0.51 market while the rate of the country is 1 market; most markets are Market class 3 – according to Trade Research Institute, Ministry of Industry and Trade). In urban areas, most markets are located along traffic routes or residential areas. In border areas or remote communes, markets are formed on the basis of goods exchange habits of the ethnic people. As for trading features of the markets: most markets trade in consumer goods to serve the consumption demand of local people, the number of markets gathering in certain market days is quite high. A few markets operate as wholesalers to distribute consumption and industrial goods to districts in the provinces, at the same time function as the collecting points of agricultural-forestry goods of the districts to wholesale to other provinces. Modern trade forms (such as supermarkets and shopping centers) are very “rare” in the region. Besides, border gate economic zones have been started and developed, contributing to socio- economic development of provinces in the region. The development of border gate economy has promoted the growth of some production and service areas, thereby creating new jobs, generating revenues for local budgets, increasing capital to invest in infrastructure, fostering production, accelerating urbanization of the border areas and enhancing people’s living standards. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (2017), the total export turnover of border gate economic zones reached USD13.5 billion in 2015, up 2.5 times of 2010 and 8 times of 2005; the average growth rate posted 25% in the 2006 – 2010 period, 20% in the 2011 – 2015 period, higher than the general import- export growth rate of the whole country in the same period; the total state budget collection from border gate economic zones was over VND 10,000 billion in 2015, up 2 times of 2010 (mostly concentrated in border gate economic zones near China). Tây Nguyên with border gate economic zones of Bờ Y (Ngọc Hồi, Kon Tum), Lệ Thanh (Gia Lai) has made certain progress as they have become quite big intermediate points between Laos and key economic areas of Vietnam but in fact, they have not yet met the expectations, nor fully exploited their potential and advantages when goods circulated over them remain quite low (trade turnover in 2013 only reached USD133 million). 30
5. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 The achievements in trade development of Tây Nguyên are recognizable but still remain modest in comparison with its potential and expectations. As judged by the Politburo, the implementation of socio-economic development goals of Tây Nguyên has not created important breakthroughs to lay the foundations for the rapid and sustainable development of the entire region and the region still remains the poorest and most disadvantaged region of the country. 3.2. The situation of human resource training for trade in Tây Nguyên An investigation into the situation of Tây Nguyên trade has revealed a lot of reasons for its low development, but the core reason is the limited quality of human resources for trade. This is the natural consequence of the unplanned investment and the unprofessional training of human resources in the region as can be seen in the scattered training centers, inappropriate training forms, improper training contents, etc.). Specifically: 3.2.1. Human resources training establishments By now, Tây Nguyên has a total of 108 vocational training establishments, including 6 technical colleges, 12 vocational high schools (with 4 private ones). Tây Nguyên provinces have 6 technical colleges (Lâm Đồng has 2 colleges, Đắk Lắk 2 colleges, Gia Lai 2 colleges while Kon Tum and Đắk Nông do not have any colleges). Besides, the region has 65 other training establishments including 1 university, 4 colleges, 12 vocational schools, 30 centers and 20 others (according to information from Steering Committee for Tây Nguyên Region). The lists of training establishments in the group of vocational schools and technical colleges reveal that these establishments are not evenly distributed across the region. Most of them focus on educating majors such as pedagogy, health care, culture – arts while only a few train technical and engineering. Specifically: - For the group of colleges, Tây Nguyên has pedagogical colleges (Đà Lạt Pedagogical College, Đăk Lăk Pedagogical College; Gia Lai Pedagogical College; Kon Tum Pedagogical College); other colleges include Đăk Lăk College of Culture and Arts; Lâm Đồng Medical College; Gia Lai Medical College; Kon Tum Technical and Economics College; Lâm Đồng Technical, Economics and Technology College; Bảo Lộc Technology and Economics College; - For the group of universities, Tây Nguyên is the region with the lowest number of universities in the country, especially Đắk Nông does not have any university. The entire region has Tây Nguyên University; Đà Lạt University; Branch of Hochiminh Forestry University in Gia Lai; Branch of Đông Á University (Đà Nẵng); Branch of Đà Nẵng University; Sub-division of National Administration and Politics Academy, etc. Therefore, the number of human resources trained within Tây Nguyên is much lower than the average level of the country. Minister of Education and Training Phùng Xuân Nhạ remarked that: “Education in Tây Nguyên reveals a lot of limitations such as the education scale increases rapidly but physical facilities do not meet the demand, which results in unsuitable educational performance. The rate of ethnic pupils is low; education administrators and teachers are poor in both quantity and quality; the infrastructure of schools is insufficient, etc.” Compared with the rates of the country, educational establishments in Tây Nguyên are limited in number, the structure of training majors is uneven, inappropriate and cannot meet the demand of the labor market. There are a few education establishments in economics. Economics faculties of these universities and colleges mainly focus on such majors as Business Administration, Accounting, Finance-Banking, etc. No university specializes in training trade major. This has resulted in big gaps in human resource training for trade in the region. 3.2.2. Human resources training forms Tây Nguyên has a population of 5.6 million people (accounting for 6% of the country’s population) of 47 ethnic groups, of whom about 37% are minor ethnic people. According to General Statistics Office (2016), Tây Nguyên has up to 86.9% untrained workers (compared to the national rate of 79.4%), of which Đắk Nông has the lowest proportion of trained workers at 8.7% (while the rate of 31
6. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 trained workers of the country is 20.6%). Established on the basis of the low-qualified labor force, it is unavoidable that the quality of the region’s human resources remains low. The subjects of human resources training for trade include people participating in trading sectors (retailers, traders, businessmen, staff in trade departments, trade officers, etc.) and those who will participate in trading sectors in the future (high school students, human resources from other sectors, etc.). Each training subject needs to have an appropriate training form. At present, the main training forms existing in Tây Nguyên include: Full-time training and school continuation training take place in economics - technical schools, colleges, and universities but the number remains fairly small. As analyzed above, there are a few economics training establishments in the region, there is no establishment specializing in training trade and business (teaching syllabus are somewhat related but the volume is small), therefore human resources trained for trade in the region is limited in both quantity and quality. School continuation training is designed for human resources who have been trained from vocational schools. This training form has contributed to raising the quality of human resources in the region. However, local educational establishments can just meet part of the demand for school continuation training from vocational school to colleges due to their limited facilities and teaching staff. Cooperation training has attracted the attention of Tây Nguyên provinces at all education levels: from college to university, part-time training, post-graduate training, etc. in some vocational schools, colleges, and centers for continuing education, etc. Part-time training has the advantages of being flexible, adaptable, time-saving (as learners do not have to move to central universities for study), suitable for people in remote areas and people working in authorized offices in communes, districts, enterprises who lack professional knowledge and standard training, etc. For post-graduate training, education establishments in the region have cooperated with some regional universities and universities of good reputation in the country such as Đà Nẵng University, Tây Nguyên University, Đà Lạt University but training mostly takes place in the provinces of Lâm Đồng, Kon Tum, Đắk Lắk. Professional improvement training is a training form applied for cadres, officers and state workers of provinces. This training form has created opportunities for human resources to update knowledge and skills which they lack to meet their work requirements. Professional improvement training is conducted by educational establishments or right in the Departments of Industry and Trade. A closer look at the list of professional improvement training classes of one education establishment reveals that this training form is quite monotonous in contents and low in organization frequency. In the websites of Departments of Industry and Trade of Tây Nguyên provinces in the 2016-2018 period, the information updated about professional improvement training classes is quite little although some training contents are quite new such as Đắc Lắc Department of Industry and Trade (4/2018) with the course on “Training Petrol and LPG Business”; Kon Tum Department of Industry and Trade (9/2017) with the course on ”Training Market Business and Development”; Gia Lai Department of Industry and Trade (9/2017) with the course on ”Training Knowledge of E-commerce”, etc. 3.2.3. Human resources training contents Inspired by the gaps in training majors, the researchers decided to investigate the training programs of Economics - Business Administration Faculty, Đà Lạt University; Economics Faculty, Tây Nguyên University and realized that: the training contents related to trade are very “modest” in the total syllabus. For example, the Published Commitments to Training Quality of Economics - Business Administration Major of Đà Lạt University sound quite general rather than specific (see Box 1), there is hardly knowledge on trade forms (traditional trade, modern trade, international trade, etc.); trade operational environment amid integration context, etc. Requirements for knowledge and skills are not clearly divided between majors and strongly driven by academic studies, theories so they are extensive rather than intensive. 32
7. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 Box 1: Requirements for graduates from Economics – Business Administration Major 1. Required knowledge, skills and foreign language competence - Having good ethics; - Having good attitudes to serve the society, having clear professional attitudes, being dedicated to work and high sense of responsibilities; - Having good command of fundamental knowledge of society and economy and specialized skills of business administration; - Having teamwork ability and social communication skills; - Having ability to update knowledge, improve qualifications to meet the work demand, having high sense of discipline 2. Expected work positions upon graduation Graduates are expected to find jobs in enterprises of all economic sectors; have ability to make business plans and strategies; be able to organize business activities and start up new businesses. Source: Đà Lạt University, Published Commitments to Training Quality The analysis indicates that there remain a lot of “gaps” in human resources training for trade in the region, these gaps are created not only by education establishments but also the combination of many social causes, including: Provinces and the entire region do not have human resource forecasts due to the lack of master plan on local and regional trade; The organization of human resources training is not scientific, practical and professional enough; Budget spending on human resources training in Tây Nguyên remains limited; Coordination among relevant forces in each province and the coordination between provinces in the region in human resources training seems loose, etc. 4. Suggested solutions and proposals 4.1. Some core contents in trade development strategies of Tây Nguyên Decision No. 936/QĐ-TTg dated 18 July 2012 by Prime Minister to approve “Socio-economic Master plan of the region” by 2020; Decision No. 6076/QĐ-BCT dated 15 October 2012 by Minister of Industry and Trade to approve “Plan to Develop Vietnam-Laos Border gate Markets by 2020”; Decision No. 6077/QĐ-BCT dated 15 October 2012 by Minister of Industry and Trade to approve “Plan to Develop Vietnam-Cambodia Border gate Markets by 2020”; Decision No. 6448/QĐ-BCT dated 26 June 2015 by Minister of Industry and Trade to approve “Plan to Develop Industry and Trade of Tây Nguyên by 2025, Vision by 2035”, etc. have identified the orientations and goals of trade development of the region. The major goals include: “Reaching the proportions of agriculture - industry - services in the economic structure by 2020 of 34.7%, 35% and 30.3% respectively. Developing trade, modernizing infrastructure to ensure convenient circulations of goods; building modern shopping centres and supermarkets in cities, towns, urban areas, border gate economic zones” and “building Tây Nguyên to be appropriate with the fast-growing market structure in the national cause of industrialization, modernization and international integration”. Accordingly, orientations to develop trade in Tây Nguyên by 2015, vision by 2035 focus on the following points: Developing domestic trade with the goals of increasing the gross retail sales of goods and services in Tây Nguyên by 21% - 22% a year in the 2015 - 2020 period and 20% - 21% a year in the 2021 - 2025 period. Domestic trade should be considered the backbone to promote agricultural and industrial production, the hub to transactions to promote border gate and regional trade. 33
8. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 Table 3: Scale of investment projects in goods trading by 2020 Markets Shopping Supermarkets Provincial Fair and No. Provinces centres Class Wholesale Class 1 Class 1,2 Exhibition Centres 1,2 1 Kon Tum 1 2 4 1 1 2 Gia Lai 1 3 1 1 1 3 Đắk Lắk 1 2 4 1 1 4 Đắk Nông - 2 3 1 1 5 Lâm Đồng 1 2 2 3 1 Tây Nguyên 4 11 14 7 5 Source: Decision No. 6448/QĐ-BCT dated 26 June 2015 by Minister of Industry and Trade The selected trading forms should be appropriate with the features of each residential area, maintaining the harmony between traditional and modern trade; between small and medium scale trade in rural, remote and mountainous areas and large-scale trade in serve for production, especially industrial production; between domestic economic sectors and foreign-invested economic sectors. It is also necessary to encourage and support enterprises to apply e-commerce, develop Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions; improve technical infrastructure, enhance the capacities to supply supporting services to develop transaction floors for agricultural products and minerals as input for industries in Tây Nguyên. Provinces and districts with high economic growth rate and urbanization paces should renew and upgrade their current markets (see Table 3). Big cities and industrial zones in the provinces and region should build markets class I and II (Kon Tum Shopping Centre market; Đăk Hà Shopping centre market; Ayun pa town market; An Khê town market; Buôn Hồ market; Đức Lập market; Lâm Hà district market, etc.), wholesale markets (Kon Tum agricultural wholesale market; Đăk Pơ grocery wholesale market, Gia Lai province; Tân Hòa wholesale market, Buôn Ma Thuột, Đăk Lăk province; Đức Trọng high-quality agriculture wholesale market, Lâm Đồng province), supermarkets class I and II (Đắk Tô supermarket; Pleiku city supermarket; supermarket in Gia Nghĩa commune; supermarket in Đà Lạt city), shopping centres class I and II; rebuild, upgrade traditional markets to be more civilized, modern with food safety and hygiene; improve the capacity of goods circulations, combine between developing modern trade and preserving traditional markets. Developing border trade in border gate economic zones, border gate markets in the framework of bilateral, regional and international economic cooperation with the goals of increasing export growth by 15% - 16.5% in the 2015 - 2020 period, 16% - 17.5% in the 2021 - 2025 period, import growth rate by 10% - 12% in the 2015 - 2020 period, 13.5% - 15% in the 2021 - 2025 period. It is necessary to foster exchange and transactions of goods over the border on the basis of increasing investment in infrastructure and facilitating trading activities in the border gates and border markets with Laos and Cambodia. By 2030, the region will have 10 border gates with 4 international border gates: Bờ Y (Kon Tum), Lệ Thanh (Gia Lai), Bu Prăng (Đắk Nông), Đắk Ruê (Đắk Lắk); 01 national border gate: Đắk Per (Đắk Nông); 05 supplementary border gates: Tà Bộp, Tà Dạt, Mô Rai, Hồ Le (Kon Tum), Sa Thầy (Gia Lai). It is planned to build pairs of border markets for people living along the border. Developing the infrastructure for border gate economic zones and trade infrastructure which focus on logistics, trade promotion, product advertising; investing in modern trade infrastructure in the centres of provinces, establishing 5 trade routes to connect trade activities in the region, between regions and support the development of production industries in the region: the trade route along Dung Quất - National Highway No.24 - Kon Tum (Bờ Y border gate economic zone); the trade route along Quy Nhơn - National Highway No. 19 - Gia Lai (Lệ Thanh border gate economic zone); the trade 34
9. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 route along Vũng Rô - National Highway No. 29 - Buôn Ma Thuột (Đăk Ruê border gate); the trade route along Hồ Chí Minh city - Bình Dương - Hồ Chí Minh national way- Đăk Nông (Bu Prăng border gate, Đăk Peur border gate). The Central region - Tây Nguyên will build 5 land ports in economic zones and along economic corridors. By 2025, 1 logistics centre will be built in Bảo Lộc city, Lâm Đồng province. Developing a system of trade fair - exhibition centres, trade promotion and information centres by building and upgrading fair - exhibition centres in the provinces of Đăk Lăk, Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Lâm Đồng to regional and inter-regional scales for Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia development triangle by 2035. The core and the subject of Tây Nguyên trade development strategies is the system of trading enterprises, including wholesale enterprises (consisting of general wholesales, specialized wholesales, purchasing cooperatives, logistics centres, etc.) and retail enterprises (consisting of shopping centres, small and medium supermarkets, general markets, specialized markets, rural markets, etc.) of all economic sectors. 4.2. Some solutions to human resource training to meet the demand of trade development in the region In the socio-economic development strategies of Tây Nguyên in general and trade of Tây Nguyên in particular, the strategic keys of the region are “Enhancing education and training, attracting human resources to raise the quality of administrators, technical and business staff to meet the demand of trade development” and “Setting up and issuing policies on training and improving competence for basic-level administration staff; organizing short-term and long-term training courses for administration staff from wards, communes, districts to provide them with knowledge on socio- economic administration, program and project management, and skills of making and implementing plans”. These are both immediate and long-term solutions to meet the demand of the renewal cause. Fostering the training of human resources for trade in Tây Nguyên will make considerable contributions to these solutions and should be done on the following principles: Firstly, training human resources for trade in Tây Nguyên should be based on the demand for trade development in each province and the entire region to meet hte requirements of economic transition and industrialization and modernization process; Secondly, training human resources for trade in Tây Nguyên should be done comprehensively to create human resources with adequate knowledge, proficient skills, good attitudes, good wills and physical health, etc. so as to raise the core competence of the trade sectors; Thirdly, training human resources for trade in Tây Nguyên should ensure the close connection between high-quality training and appropriate use of human resources, create stable jobs in the trade sectors towards sustainable development. Fourthly, training human resources for trade in Tây Nguyên should take into consideration the typical features of local human resources with a majority of people coming from minor ethnic groups living in remote areas. Based on the situation of human resources training in Tây Nguyên and the key points in the region’s trade development strategies, the model of human resource training in the Highland should address the following questions: Who should be trained? Where should training take place? What should be trained? How should training be conducted? When should training take place? 4.2.1. Making appropriate investmnet in human resources training establishments in the region It is necessary to invest in to build and upgrade training establishments in Tây Nguyên at various academic levels (from vocational diploma to master and doctor degree) on the principles of developing majors or specialities that fit the trade development strategies of the region. The ratios of 35
10. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 training majors in training establishments should be determined on the basis of identifying the goals of economic structure transition of each province and the entire region. The solutions should be: Firstly, trade speciality or knowledge of trade should be added to training programs of some colleges and vocational schools of economics or economics - techniques in this region so that they can train human resources for trade. These establishments may include: Kon Tum Economics - Technical College; Lâm Đồng Economics - Technical College; Bảo Lộc Technology and Economics College; Tây Nguyên High-quality Vocation School for Ethnic People in Đắk Lắk, etc. What establishments to be chosen for training should be considered carefully. However, to do so, each training establishment should improve the quality of their teaching staff, infrastructure and especially training curriculum (this content will be further discussed in 2.2.3) so that they can master trade technology and intergrate to international trade. Secondly, it is necessary to expand the system of local universities; facilitate young people of ethnic groups in Tây Nguyên to study to improve their qualifications to participate in socio-economic development. Under the plan, 2020, the entire Tây Nguyên will need 7 universities, 14-15 colleges and 28 vocational schools. It is suggested to expand Tây Nguyên University, Sub-division of National Administration and Politics Academy, Tây Nguyên University of Transportation; upgrade Đắk Lắk University of Culture and Arts; Đà Lạt University, Branch of Đà Nẵng University, etc. Among these, universities with Economics major which take charge of training human resources for trade. In addition to improving infrastructure and facilities, region-standard universities in Tây Nguyên should pay attention to training teaching staff so that they can meet the training requirements (according to information from Economics - Business Administration Faculty, Đà Lạt University, at present the Faculty has 35 lecturers, of whom 1 has doctor degree, 31 master degrees and 3 bachelor degrees; Economics Faculty of Tây Nguyên University has 66 lecturers, of whom 10 have doctor degrees, 45 master degrees and 11 bachelor degrees). Thirdly, it is suggested to establish new universities in some provinces in the region in order to meet the practical training demand for human resources for trade in particular and human resources in general by upgrading colleges which meet the criteria; for example: establishing Gia Lai University on the basis of Branch of Hochiminh city University of Agriculture and Forestry in Gia Lai. However, it is necessary to have appropriate allocation of training establishments to avoid the situation where some provinces have so many universities while other are in serious lack. All these investment plans can only have effectiveness, which means can create high-quality “human resource products” if each training establishment can improve the quality of their teaching staff and education administrators, renew teaching methods, improve training infrastructure and facilities, standardizing training programs and materials, etc. 4.2.2. Diversifying human resources training forms appropriately with each training subject About subjects of human resources training: In order to guarantee sustainable development of Tây Nguyên trade development strategies, it is necessary to create trade human resources in 3 groups, including: Group 1, senior trade human resources - these human resources include administrators in state administration agencies for trade in provinces in Tây Nguyên ; lecturers in universities and colleges; scientists and researchers on local trade; senior managers at enterprises, administrators in bordergate economic zones, etc. Group 2: secondary trade human resources - these human resources include officers in Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces in Tây Nguyên ; business managers at enterprises, etc. Group 3: primary trade human resources - these human resources include cadres in charge of economics at district and town levels; cadres in charge of “trade promotion” in wards, communes, 36
11. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 border rural areas, etc.; trading staff in shopping centres, supermarkets, bordergate economic zones, etc; traders in markets, goods collectors (small traders, trade middemen); students and laborers, etc. About training forms: It is necessary to diversify diversify the levels and forms of training human resources for trade with high quality and appropriateness to each subject, specifically: - Full-time training: provide local young people coming from ethnic groups with fundamental and professional traning so as to provide good human resources for Tây Nguyên trade. This training form can only be effective if training establishments and learners have good and appropriate awareness of the roles of trade in regional economic development. - Cooperation training: this form is suitable for Tây Nguyên because as analyzed above, the supply of training services in this region remains limited, so it is necessary to promote and improve the quality of cooperation training with prestigious national-standard universities such as Thuongmai University, National Economics University, Foreign Trade University, etc. in part-time tertiary training; school continuation training for college students; post-graduate cooperation training so as to improve human resources for the region. Besides, it is necessary to seek and develop cooperation relationships with new reputable domestic and foreign partners such as research institutes, enterprises, experts in trade, non-governmental organizations, international universities, etc. to enhance the practical capacities, scientific competence, financial abilities in teaching, training and research. - In-site Training: should be applied for primary, vocational and college training to serve the demand for training sales staff, import-export staff or trading staff, etc. for shopping centres, supermarkets or border gate economic zones, administration staff in domestic and border markets, etc. This training format is effective because the training content is designed under the order of service users, appropriate with training subjects, time-saving and closely linked to the reality of work. - Theme-based training: suitable for human resources in Trade Departments of provinces, Economic departments at commune and district levels; market administration staff, managers of shopping centres and markets, etc. Training themes should be updated and linked to Tây Nguyên trade strategies; strengths and weaknesses of the regional trade; changes in trade policies in general and Tây Nguyên trade policies in particular; specific features of border gate economic zones; changes in trade environment, difficulties, challenges in each province and proposals; traditional and modern trade forms and appropriate choice, etc. Intensive themes not only provide information but also raise orientations for practical work. For trade human resources, these intensive themes will help them to do their “trade promotion” tasks better (in selecting partners, goods or negotiating) to businessmen, citizens, small traders. In intensive themes, besides the contents on trade, it is necessary to cover contents related to laws, orientations of the Party and State as Tây Nguyên is a region with strategic position to national defense and the gate to trade exchange of the East-West region of the whole country. 4.2.3. Building training frame for trade human resource to meet the development demand of Tây Nguyên Requirements for human resource in trade development of Tây Nguyên in the integration period are they should have strategic visions, comprehensive thoughts, expertise knowlege, fluent skills, strong wills, etc. Specifically: Knowlege: human resources should have general knowledge of trade strategies; fundamental and expertise knowledge of different trade forms (supermarkets, specialist boutiques, convenience stores, department stores, stocks, shopping centres, discount stores, catalogue-based selling, online selling, etc.); knowledge of business environment and changes in business environment; knowledge of products; knowledge of market, customers, trade and international integration; knowledge of business operation management, etc. 37
12. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 Table 4: Proposed training forms for trade human resources No. Requirements Levels Training contents Training subjects 1 Knowledge 1.1 Fundamental knowledge 1 High school Group 3 2 Vocational training Training levels 3 College Group 2 and 3 4 Under-graduate Group 1 and 2 5 Post-graduate Group 1 1 Basic communication Group 3 Foreign language 2 Communication face-to-face, via telephone and email Group 3 and 2 3 Communication and reading comprehension Group 2 and 1 1 Fundamental knowledge of trade Group 1, 2, 3 Professional 2 Expertise knowledge of trade Group 1, 2 knowledge 3 Advanced knowledge of trade Group 1 1 Knowledge of products Group 3 Knowledge of 2 Knowledge of product specifications and functions Group 2 1.2 products Knowledge of product specifications, functions and Group 1 3 trends 1 Knowledge of market, competitors, customers Group 3 Knowledge of 1.3 2 Awareness of market, competitors, customers Group 2 market 3 Understanding of market, competitors, customers Group 1 2 Skills Can present personal views Group 3 1 Can listen and catch information when communicating Group 3, 2 2.1 Communication Can listen to and present information clearly Group 2 2 Can adapt to different ways of communication Group 2 Can promote two-way communication Group 1 1 Know negotiation process Group 2 Can establish good relationships Group 1 2.2 Negotiation 2 Can identify and classify obligations Group 1 Can guarantee benefits for different parties Group 1 1 Can make mid-term and short-term plans Group 3 and 2 2.3 Planning Can make short-term, mid-term and long-term plans Group 2 and 1 2 Can work out measures to implement plans Group 1 1 Can use marketing tools Group 3 and 2 2.4 Marketing Can run PR on enterprises properly Group 2 and 1 2 Can use marketing tools effectively Group 1 1 Understand the operations of E-commerce Group 3 and 2 2 Understand and practice E-commerce operations Group 2 and 1 2.5 E-commerce Understand clearly and practice E-commerce operations Group 1 3 effectively 3 Attitude 3.1 Creative, active Group 2 3.2 Patient Group 3 Orders of priorities depend on each 3.3 Adventurous, decisive Group 1 group of human resources 3.4 Respectful to partners and laws All Groups 3.5 Political wills All Groups Source: Skills: include communication, negotiation, product PR, e-commerce, building and maintaining teamwork, practicing buying-selling operations, conducting customs procedures, etc. 38
13. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 Attitude: consist of professional; active, confident, dare to take risks; civilized behavior, aware of consumption culture, able to create customer trusts, honest; good political wills; respectful to laws and partners, etc. The criteria for each trade position and title vary, therefore human resource training frames should be designed suitably for each group of trade human resouces (senior, secondary and primary). For example, qualifications of head of divisions in Industry and Trade Department or director of trade centres should be under-graduate level or post-graduate level (level 4 or 5); qualifications of staff in economic departments at district level or sales staff are vocational level or college (level 2 or 3), etc. Competence frame of trade human resources is the basic orientation for training establishments to design their training modules suitable for each group of human resources (see Table 4). 4.3. Some proposals on creating mechanism for human resource training to serve trade development strategies in Tây Nguyên To the Government: it is necessary to have policies to ensure resources to implement projects and programs on training and education, on economic development along Vietnam – Laos, Vietnam – Cambodia corridors in Tây Nguyên which have been approved; implement incentive policies on salaries, education, accommodation, etc. to attract talented intellectual staff and trade officers to the region; attract investment and socialization in human resources training for trade in the region. To Ministry of Education and Training: the Ministry should direct universities, colleges and vocational schools to strictly follow the demand for human resources development in the region to arrange enrollments and training practically, effectively and appropriately with the region; collect opinions and ideas from relevant agencies on the demand for regular budgets, full-time personnel quota, investment in education and training infrastructure of mountainous provinces to submit to Prime Minister and the Government to investigate, revise, adjust and supplement new policies to be suitable with the real situation and requirements; coordinate with Ministries of Investment and Planning, Finance and local provinces in the region to research and build appropriate mechanism, policies in order to modernize infrastructure, improving teaching staff and training programs to develop high- quality human resources training centres to meet the human resources demand of socio-economic development in the region; also to perform the tasks of training technical-scientific staff for neighbor countries of Laos and Cambodia; coordinate with Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs to build up roadmaps and solutions to investment in vocational training in the region. To Ministries of Industry and Trade, Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry: pay attention to incentive policies to encourage trade human resources training in Tây Nguyên such as improving training establishments and training programs, etc. To People’ Committee of Provinces: forecast demand for human resources and periodically trade human resources development plans in accordance with development requirements of the region in each period; raise the awareness of trade administration agencies, enterprises and related subjects to implement administrative reforms and enhance the quality of human resources training; strengthen cooperation between levels and subjects in trade human resources training in provinces and the region; issue and perfect incentive policies on trade human resources training such as policies on investment, policies on economic transition, policies on budget allocation for trade human resources development, policies on labor market development, policies on attracting and retaining trade human resources to the region upon their graduation, etc. 5. Conclusion Enhancing the quality of trade human resources by training human resources sufficient in quantity and good in quality to successfully implement trade development strategies will help to promote trade growth rate sustainably in accordance with the goals of building Tây Nguyên to be the 39
14. Kỷ yếu Hội thảo quốc tế “Thương mại và phân phối” lần 1 năm 2018 Indochina trade centre in agricultural and forestry products, contributing to the cause of making Vietnam a modern industrialized country in the early time. REFERENCES 1. Ministry of Industry and Trade (2012), Decision No. 6076/QĐ-BCT dated 15 October 2012 to approve “Plan to Develop Vietnam-Laos Border gate Markets by 2020”; 2. Ministry of Industry and Trade (2012), Decision No. 6077/QĐ-BCT dated 15 October 2012 by Minister of Industry and Trade to approve “Plan to Develop Vietnam-Cambodia Border gate Markets by 2020; 3. Ministry of Industry and Trade (2015), Decision No. 6448/QĐ-BCT dated 26 June 2015 by to approve “Plan to Develop Industry and Trade of Tây Nguyên by 2025, Vision by 2035” 4. Đà Lạt University (2016), Published Commitments to Training Quality of Economics – Business Administration Major. 5. Prime Minister (2012), Decision No. 936/QĐ-TTg dated 18 July 2012 to approve “Socio-economic Master plan of the region” by 2020; 6. Websites: General Statistic Office, Departments of Industry and Trade of Provinces in Tây Nguyên 40