Do Thanh Tung, deputy director of Viet Duc Steel Pipe Factory, said joining the WTO will provide Vietnam with both advantages and disadvantages. Vietnamese enterprises will have more chances to penetrate overseas markets and overcome tariff and non-tariff barriers like the technical barrier or import quotas. In addition, enterprises will enjoy import tax cuts on materials.

However, Vietnamese enterprises will have to face a number of difficulties such as competing fiercely with other rivals from WTO member countries as opportunities will be equal in the domestic market.

Mr Tung added that Vietnamese enterprises will not only compete with rivals in overseas markets but also with those which are operating in Vietnam. Moreover, they will no longer receive any subsidies from the Government. Enterprises will have only six months to prepare everything to join the non-subsidised market when the country becomes a WTO member.

Regarding the distribution field, which took a long time to discuss during negotiations, Pham Dinh Doan, director general of Phu Thai Ltd Company said the annual turnover of foreign retail distributors likely to operate in Vietnam is triple or even five to seven times more than Vietnam’s GDP. Therefore, domestic enterprises’ capacity is not compatible with foreign rivals. In addition, the Vietnamese Government does not have any policies to support domestic distributors to compete with foreign rivals or to create conditions for them to access other resources.

Mr Doan affirmed that the distribution field plays a decisive role in industrial production. So far, Vietnam has devised certain policies to support domestic enterprises such as expanding tariff barriers or tax cuts. However, enterprises in the distribution field barely receive preferential treatment.

To prepare for the country’s joining WTO, Phu Thai Company has developed service systems according to international standards and plans to coordinate with domestic retail distributors in order to form a retail and distribution network at home. However, Mr Doan said enterprises still need support from the Government, not in terms of subsidies but through preferential policies for them to develop.

According to economic doctor Le Dang Doanh, when the country joins the WTO, enterprises will have to struggle with new opportunities and challenges. To survive and develop, enterprises have to realise the advantages and disadvantages or, in other words, "to know oneself is true progress". More than 90 percent of Vietnamese enterprises are small-or medium-sized so their weaknesses stem from limited small capital, poor experience and weak trademarks. However, Vietnamese people are industrious and skillful. Therefore, such firms should not directly compete against large enterprises but should instead access enterprises with less advantages. Moreover, enterprises should develop long-term strategies, and improve their competitive capacity to enable all Vietnamese businesses to stand firm in the integration process.