Booming growth through internal development

On the afternoon of May 7, 2021, the event “Rapid Growth Through Internal Strength Development,” organized by 1Office and HRD Academy, was held successfully, attracting a large audience of senior leaders and managers from major businesses and organizations in Vietnam.

In the context of the complex pandemic situation, to survive in the market, businesses have had to struggle to bear losses or even found themselves in a “hanging by a thread” situation when dealing with issues like personnel streamlining, workflow management, and financial-accounting management. So, how can one not only survive but also achieve rapid growth in this context while maintaining a competitive edge against other businesses? That is why the “Rapid Growth Through Internal Strength Development” seminar was created.

The seminar featured speakers who are leading experts in corporate governance in Vietnam: Mr. Le Viet Thang, CEO – Founder of 1Office, and Mr. Tran Bang Viet, Consultant at HRD Academy.

Mr. Tran Bang Viet shared:

At the seminar, Mr. Tran Bang Viet shared how to transform business models and hone internal strengths into a competitive advantage during the Covid-19 era. According to Mr. Tran Bang Viet, there are 3 problems businesses face during the Covid-19 era: Depleted capital, a distressed market, and sacrificed efficiency.

Besides industries related to healthcare, some pharmaceutical companies receiving government attention, and online sales or delivery businesses, the rest have all faced difficulties during this time. We are forced to reduce selling prices, offer commission discounts to collaborators and even buyers, and businesses have to change a series of processes and equip themselves with all sorts of additional things, causing a significant decrease in revenue.

“We can’t keep drowning in difficulties. Instead of sitting around complaining about these challenges, I would like to share the experiences of businesses that are more likely to succeed during the Covid-19 era.

Many businesses have succeeded, even achieving a 3-fold growth rate during this general economic downturn. Why is that? For some high-end products and services like aviation, watches, designer bags… items that are not essential or basic needs, how do we do business?

We have store chains, we have people, we have products, we have everything, so we must focus on the system to manage them. If possible, we should choose the model with the lowest possible cost, serve both near and far customers, take advantage of cheap labor, and leverage comparative advantages with core competencies to help the business succeed most easily.

When faced with survival, we are forced to make it happen.

Speed is a lesson from the pandemic and is the most important attribute of a business. There are 3 suggestions from this attribute: Rethinking the way of working (making quick decisions, establishing a new normal way of working); Thinking about the organization (a surprisingly flat organizational structure and a rapid response team); and Rethinking talent (flexible deployment of quality personnel, building capabilities for the future).

How long does it take for us to adjust a policy to fit the times? We have many layers of reporting, reports get lost, and by the time we get the information and results, we have already struggled a lot. To have a more convenient process system, there needs to be some kind of support to be resilient against all kinds of abnormal impacts from outside or inside.

About 15 years ago, a group of French companies and an American corporation had very good processes and methods… But China quickly “imitated” them, learned their processes, and called on the entire nation to change with the times. Their speed of change must be acknowledged as surprising. Just by heeding the call, they changed completely, caught up with the times, and regained their market position compared to both the US and Europe.

Regarding talent: The proportion of talented people in a business is very limited. If we know how to use talented people and let them shine in the right departments and battlegrounds, we can definitely create many benefits and even money.

The need for new business models: 

Two must-read books for businesses during this period: The Post-Corona World, which presents many principles of change in human behavior and personality, disruptions, new players, and new things from new names… and Model Business Shifts, which helps businesses shift and change to adopt the right mindset and take practical transformation steps.

6 business shift models: The severe shift; The stakeholder shifts, The digital shift, The platform shift, The exponential shift, The circular shift.

Building company capabilities has been a top concern since the Covid-19 pandemic: 53% of business leaders are investing in building employee capabilities to meet the new normal. Increasingly, among 1200 CEOs surveyed worldwide, they believe that the ability to learn is critically important to a company’s capabilities. People are a priceless resource, both cheap and expensive, but we must know how to use and treat them. Therefore, we need to know how to create a learning environment, develop learning people, and build a learning culture. If we fail to do that, we will fail. Depending on the specific situation, budget, region, and leadership vision, we will succeed!

Mr. Le Viet Thang: Sharing his experience on tripling annual growth.

2019-2020: 1Office nearly doubled its growth, and the number of customers increased by almost 2.5 times. This can be described as rapid growth. Without communication and support tools like Facebook and digital marketing, this would not have been possible. To increase revenue, you must diversify your products and services. From having only 3-4 products, 1Office now offers several dozen product packages.

Human resource growth rate: This relates to both quantity and professional expertise. In the beginning, 1Office only had 4 salespeople, but now we need 40. All departments in the company must participate in human resource growth, from building competency frameworks for positions and setting KPIs to training and even letting employees go. According to the 80/20 principle, you should eliminate all non-essential things; by focusing on the 20% of key tasks, you will achieve 80% of the results.

Policies: When 1Office had only a few products, it was simple. Later, with more products, we had to break down the numbers to analyze and create policies. However, you should only build simple policies. Base them on the principle of “rewarding contribution.” Don’t try to build overly detailed policies that cause talented people to leave while underperformers remain. Build truly simplified policies because you cannot anticipate all complex cases, and by the time you discover them, it will be too late.

Processes: Businesses without standardized processes are bound to be chaotic, so you must always standardize work, especially repetitive tasks involving different departments. The CEO must be directly involved in this task to have a comprehensive overview and understand how to ensure smooth business operations. Follow the approach of “build and iterate.” You must always have a mindset of continuous improvement. Without improvement, processes will become outdated or even cause fatigue and stress for employees.

You cannot grow quickly without standardized processes. For every 10 tasks, at least 7 need to be standardized. Therefore, optimally standardizing processes is essential for a business to achieve sustainable growth from within. Only with a solid foundation can you create a balanced position in the market.

Many customers asked the speaker practical questions about the real-world situations their businesses were facing in the context of Covid-19. Through this, the “Rapid Growth Through Internal Strength Development” event shared success stories about operating and developing businesses during periods of rapid growth, while also creating an opportunity for over 200 businesses and leaders to learn how to optimize business operations by developing internal strength.

The “Rapid Growth Through Internal Strength Development” event was a success. The organizers hope to have provided useful information to support the development of your business.