Improving export forwarding activities by sea in vietnam in the context of international integration

Nội dung text: Improving export forwarding activities by sea in vietnam in the context of international integration

1. IMPROVING EXPORT FORWARDING ACTIVITIES BY SEA IN VIETNAM IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION Dr. Nguyen Viet Thang E-mail: Thangnv@utt.edu.vn Dr. Tran The Tuan E-mail: tuantt83@utt.edu.vn Dr. Nguyen Hung Cuong E-mail: cuongnh@utt.edu.vn University of Transport Technology MA. Dinh Thi Lan E-mail: landtl17.hua@gmail.com University Tan Trao Summary This research was carried out to analyze and provide some solutions to improve the performance of export forwarding activities by sea in Vietnam. In addition to the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the research investigated and interviewed managers and experts of the transport sector as well as corporate forwarders in Vietnam. The researching findings show that there are some factors affecting the export forwarding activities of corporate forwarders in Vietnam: (1) Preparation of goods, (2) customs procedures, (3) freight forwarding, and (4) liquidation. This is an important basis for the heads of corporate forwarders to develop their strategies to improve their export forwarding performance in Vietnam in the context of international integration. Keywords: export forwarding; by sea; corporate forwarders. 1. Rationale In the current open and profoundly integrated economy, enterprises have many options to circulate their goods. No matter what options they choose, they must ensure the performance of the shipping process inside and outside the country. Especially, in the context of global economic integration, the issue of import and export has become increasingly important for every country. No country stays out of it and Vietnam is among them. Vietnam is a developing country, and import and export play a more and more important role in reducing costs and improving the competitiveness of the economy. Therefore, right after Vietnam became a member of WTO in 81
2. particular and other free trade agreements such as FTA, AEC, etc., in general, it has had the necessary premises to step up its international trade. Some common points have been seen in some big cities in Vietnam, including economic, political and social dynamism, and notable of the cities are Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong City, Da Nang City, Quang Ninh Province, Quang Nam Province, etc. Associated with the growth rate of import and export turnover of the country from 20% to 25%, the trade in goods has grown rapidly, mainly goods transported by sea (about 80% of the total volume). This is an important prerequisite in the development of Vietnam's seaborne shipping industry in general and the seaborne shipping economy of major coastal cities in particular. The sea freight forwarding also has its own characteristics. Compared to other modes of transport, the seaway vouchers are of a very important position as they determine the decision of the importers and/or exporters to deliver or receive the goods as well as make payment. Therefore, throughout this research, we focus on improving the export forwarding activities by sea of forwarders in Vietnam via exploring, surveying and analyzing the data, hence proposing appropriate recommendations to help sea export forwarders improve their performance in the current context of international integration. 2. Theoretical basis and research model 2.1. Theoretical basis Freight forwarding has a lot of concepts about forwarders. Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Chau (1) said: "Forwarders are those who take care of the goods to be transported under consignment contracts and act for the sake of the consignees and they themselves are not carriers. Forwarders also undertake all works related to forwarding contracts such as: preservation, storage, transshipment, customs clearance, inspection, etc. ". Article 164 of Vietnam's Trade Law (8) says that a forwarder is a trader with a business registration certificate for goods forwarding services. A forwarder may be: a goods owner when the goods owner himself / herself undertakes the delivery and receipt of his or her goods; a ship owner when the ship owner on behalf of the goods owners performs the forwarding services; a goods agent, a loading or unloading company, a warehouse, a professional forwarder or any other person registering the business of freight forwarding services. From the above, the author can reach the following concept: "A forwarder is a person who works under consignment contracts with goods owners, acts for the interests of goods owners, sometimes carries out the transportation but is not necessarily a carrier. That person may have or may not have means of transport, may use, hire a carrier or directly participate in carriage. But that person signs freight consignment contracts with goods owners who are shippers or recipients, not carriers. He/she may do some other things within the consignment of the goods owners.” 82
3. From the theoretical foundation to the actual situation of export forwarding activities by sea of the enterprises in Vietnam in the current context of international economic integration, the process of forwarding includes: (1) Preparation before delivery; (2) customs declaration, (3) delivery, (4) post-delivery. 2.2. Research model Preparation of goods Efficiency of the Customs Liquidation export forwarding procedures process Forwarding Figure 1 The author summarizes on the basis of the forwarding process. Research hypotheses: - H1: The preparation of goods greatly affects export activities of the enterprises. - H2: Customs clearance affects the efficiency of the export process. If this stage is not done well, the goods will not be cleared, which greatly affects the reputation and costs of the enterprise. - H3: Organization of a freight forwarding system greatly affects the reputation of the enterprise. If the delivered goods are not of sufficient quality nor on time as agreed by both parties, the enterprise will lose a certain number of customers. - H4: The liquidation affects the financial performance which is the premise for long-term operation of the enterprise. 3. Research method This research is done through the following steps: Step 1: Based on the basic concepts and theories of forwarding and research results of other authors, the author used qualitative methods to conduct group 83
4. discussions and consultation of leading experts to select variables and groups of observed variables suitable to the topic (including 4 elements). Step 2: Based on 4 groups of factors, the author designed the questionnaire, made preliminary survey to eliminate the non-impact variables (including 23 observed variables) and preliminarily surveys 50 people, including: 10 business managers, 15 business owners, and 25 employees of forwarders in Vietnam. The survey results were used as inputs and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was used to test the scale. Step 3: After preliminary testing of the scale, no observed variable was excluded. Thus, the set of factors affecting the efficiency of export forwarding activities consists of 4 groups of factors with 23 observed variables redesigned for official investigation. The survey took place from May 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018 at the seaway forwarders operating in Vietnam according to the following process: making phone contacts for survey permission, sending questionnaires for interview, exchanging interview purposes, answering unclear interview issues with 300 tickets. The testing the official scale produced Cronbachs' Alpha coefficient of the 4 groups of factors with 23 observed variables of more than 0.6, so all scales were accepted. Step 4: When completing the survey and testing of the official scale, we conducted Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to minimize and summarize the data (Hoang Trong - Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc, 2008 (10)). This method is based on the factor extracting ratio (Eigenvalue), whereby only factors that have Eigenvalue of greater than 1 will be retained, and those that have Eigenvalue of less than 1 will have no better effect on summarizing information than an original variable, because after normalizing, each original variable has variance of 1. The method of extracting principal components and Varimax Procedure were used to minimize the number of variables with large coefficients at the same factor, increasing the ability to interpret factors. Step 5: Based on the results of analysis done at stage 4, we redefined the research model and set up research hypotheses for the model. The method of multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the model hypotheses, thereby considering the impact of these factors on the performance of export forwarders in Vietnam. 4. Research findings 4.1. Results of scale test Results of the official scale test (Table 1), Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was greater than 0.6 and the correlation coefficients of the total variables were of standards (> 0.3). Therefore, all scales were accepted and included in the next factor analysis. 84
5. Table 1: Scale test results Coding Components Cronbach's Alpha coefficient A Relationship 0.933 B Trademark 0.746 C Marketing capacity 0.744 D Research and development capacity 0.786 4.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Bartlett test (Table 2) with Sig. = .,000 <0.05; KMO coefficient = 0.756. Thus, the observed variables in the overall correlate with one another. Table 2: Bartlett's test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .723 Table Approx. Chi-Square 1594.560 3: Bartlett's Test of Df 190 Sphericity Sig. .000 Factor calculations Factor Details of observed variables 1 2 3 4 Simple packaging process for export .869 Fully-prepared relevant documents .843 Quick collection of goods .843 Clear and accurate codes and marks on the package .838 Strictly checked quality of goods .834 Simple customs clearance steps .832 Transportation done on schedule and right route .776 Complete and accurate set of documents .748 Scientific timing and line-up for loading documents .742 Reasonable shipping and handling costs .677 Reputable forwarder .677 Reasonable customs clearance costs .838 Staff available to monitor, supervise, grasp the number of .812 goods loaded on board Fast customs clearance time .784 Reasonable exchange rate policy .772 Employees of the company mastering customs operations .760 The importing party paying for the goods in accordance .786 with commitments Short liquidity processing time .750 The set of payment documents sent quickly .709 Convenient and fast liquidity by electronic means .679 85
6. From the above results, it is seen that EFA model is consistent with the actual data with 4 groups of factors and can be used for multiple regression analysis. 4.3. Multiple linear regression analysis In order to determine, measure and evaluate the influence of factors on the satisfaction of respondents, I used the multiple linear regression method for 04 influencing factors obtained from the above EFA, including (1) preparation of goods; (2) registration of customs procedures; (3) delivery of goods; (4) liquidation, in which the dependent variable was the effectiveness of implementing the export forwarding process According to stepwise regression, the following results were obtained. This result gives the value R2 = 0.909; The R2 value indicates that the independent variables in the model can account for 90.9% of the variation of the dependent variables. Model 1 R .955a R Square .912 Adjusted R Square .909 Std. Error of the Estimate .245 R Square Change .912 F Change 330.026 Change Statistics df1 3 df2 96 Sig. F Change .000 Durbin-Watson 1.810 5. Conclusions and recommendations This research shows that there are 4 internal factors affecting the performance of corporate forwarders and the difference between the influence of each factor. According to the analysis results, the performance of craft villages in all scales is assessed by the respondents as to be at an average level. This is an important basis not only for the forwarders to review and reevaluate their development policies and improve operational efficiency; build and develop export forwarding in general and export forwarding by sea in particular in Vietnam. Therefrom, we propose some solutions as follows: - Completing the preparation of goods for export 86
7. The employees of the forwarders are green in implementing the export processes, which makes the preparation of goods difficult. The employees should pay more attention to preparing export-related documents to avoid difficulties in customs clearance. The forwarders also need to link with corporate producers to study the production processes in order to produce high quality products both in model and packaging to create prestige for the businesses. Providing support in capital and technology to create favorable conditions for production. - Completing customs clearance quickly In order for the customs declaration to take place quickly and accurately, the declarers need to be honest and have good qualifications, avoid fines and annoyances, avoid obstruction of customs clearance, affecting the delivery time and warehouse storage cost. Therefore, the employees of the forwarders need to have good relationship with customs agencies as well as officers to avoid harassment by export declaration procedures and the multiple inspections, which increases loading and unloading costs and storage time. Thanks to that, the goods are released quickly, ensuring prestige with customers. - Completing the liquidation stage If using T/T method, the forwarders should consider many factors of their partners, including whether the solvency of the partners is strong or not, whether the partners are reputable, fast or slow; when using T/T, the enterprises must be proactive about the relationship and establish the prestige of both partners. They must be creditable partners, have long-term relationships and the forwarders can control the risk levels in payment process of the goods. If the partners have long-term relationships with each other, the forwarders should use L/C less often because each L/C amendment is very expensive, not only for the buyer but also for the seller. However, if the partners are in the first cooperation, L/C is the most secure method to help the forwarders avoid risks in payment process. Choosing a reputable bank in payment is also a good solution for the forwarders. This is particular appropriate in the current context of profound international economic integration. References 1. Hoang Van Chau (2003), Transportation and forwarding of imports and exports, Science and Technology Publishing House. 2. Nguyen Hong Dam (2003), Transportation and forwarding in foreign trade, Transport Publishing House 3. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Ha Trong Quang (2013), Textbook of Research data processing with SPSS for windows, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry. 87
8. 4. Hoang Ngoc Nam (2009), Logistics in foreign trade of Vietnam, Master Thesis of the University of Economics - Vietnam National University, Hanoi. 5. Doan Thi Hong Van (2011), Textbook of Import and Export Management, HCMC General Publishing House. 6. Doan Thi Hong Van (2006), Logistics Administration, Statistical Publishing House 7. Dinh Ngoc Vien (2002), International freight forwarding, Transport Publishing House 8. National Assembly (2006), Trade Law, passed by the National Assembly on June 14, 2005. 9. The process of importation and exportation of goods by sea 10. Hoang Trong, Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc (2008), Research data analysis with Spss, part 1, part 2, Hong Duc Publishing House. 11. bang-duong-bien.aspx 12. Customs procedures for commercial imports and exports 13. 14. Forwarding of exports and imports by sea 15. duong-bien 16. Documents about import and export 17. 18. General Department of Vietnam Customs 19. 88