V V G  

Company Profile

V V G PROFILE 1994 TO PRESENT

1. BACKGROUND

   • Twenty-seven (27) years after completing law school, 24 years after leaving the US Army (Vietnam service 1970-71), I returned to Vietnam in January 1994, days before the American Embargo was lifted. I was there at that time and made the decision to form this company as V V G, a new enterprise that would allow me to work in  Vietnam.

   • After 24 years of international corporate business and law (litigation, mergers & acquisition, transaction law) where I was Division Counsel to a US$ 600 million operating unit of US$ 3 billion Ciba-Geigy, now Novartis, I formed V V G in March 1994 as an incorporated entity under the laws of the State of Georgia, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  

   • Always operating in Vietnam under a Business Cooperation Contract (BCC) with leading State owned companies providing legal and political support, since January 2002 we have been cooperating with INVESTCO, the southern branch of the Construction Company of Hanoi, now a joint stock company and one of the largest and most successful construction companies in Vietnam

   • We opened our regional office in Thailand in late 1999. Our Headquarters office address is in Atlanta, but all of our work is out of both Thailand and Vietnam.  I maintain residences and the company has offices and staff in both nations.  

   • But for me, V V G is staffed with domestic nationals; run as a cost effective, successful boutique with minimum staff (4 full time members in Vietnam and 5 full time members in Thailand). We associate with leading domestic companies when their expertise adds value to our work product. As needed, we hire and train domestic temporaries, up to 100 at a time, to meet requirements for manpower surge. Our temporary hires are always university graduates, most often they are also bilingual.  For Market Research work, our temporaries are usually Business School graduates or students.

   • Presently, and for over 15 years, we provide consultancy services both for (i) enterprise formation and (ii) a buying/sourcing needs.

1.   Industries to which we provide our serves include: Agriculture - Animal Husbandry - Aviation - Ceramics - Chemicals - Construction - Domestic Pet Supplies - Electronics - Entertainment - EPC Contractors   Fashion - Handicrafts - Hospitality - Hotels - Infrastructure Development - Lacquer - Lighting - Lubricants - Major Appliances - Mining - Natural Gas - Natural Rubber - Paper - Pharmaceuticals - Power Generation - Property Development - Textiles - Telecommunications - Tools - Veterinary Services

2.    Products we source include

• Antiques

• Buddha statues of stone and wood

• Ceramics – accessories, garden, home, tiles

• Bat Trang Pottery

• Celadon

• Glazed/unglazed fountains, pots, & saucers

• Terracotta

• Doors

• Solid  hardwoods, both panels and hand carved

• Plywood with veneers

• Furniture

• Bath and kitchen cabinets

• Carved Hardwood

• Inlaid Hardwood (Mother of Pearl, Egg Shells, soft wood)

• Garden (outdoor and patio)

• Lacquered Hardwood

• Rattan & Water Hyacinth

• Rustic Teak and Root

• Lacquer ware

• Accessories

• Floor and wall screens

• Furniture (fiberglass and/or wood base)

• Home Décor

• Seasonal Décor

• Metal Statues  - Auto Part Art, Brass & Bronze

• Paintings

• Plastic outdoor gear

• Stoneware – granite, jade, and marble

• Rocking & Hobby Horses

• Rosewood products, both furniture and accessories

• Teak Wood carved sculpture for walls

• Wicker products – accessories and furniture

• Bamboo

• Banana leaf

• Fern leaf

• Palm leaf

• Rattan

• Water hyacinth

• Wooden Indians, Cowboys, and characters

2. SIZE OF PROJECTS HANDLED
2. Consulting Services include (partial list) 

1.     The Cua Lap Resort; our own US$ 273 million five star resort development project was approved by the appropriate authorities and then transferred to others;

2.      ABB Randal; advice on the formation of a US$ 150 million LNG processing plant in Vung Tau, Vietnam; 

3.      Collier Shannon (now Kelley Dry - USA) market research services

4.      ITOCHU (Vietnam) market research services;

5.      Chiel Jedang (ROK) market research services

6.      Cathay Pacific (HK) market research services

7.      Dalat-Dankia Resort (Singapore) advice and guidance on a US$ 705 million resort

2. Buying/Sourcing Agency Services (a partial list)

1.   Custom ceramic “decanters” for an international South African client to provide up to 2 million decanters annually from Vietnam until 2015. We devoted years to first designing and sourcing before production started. Orders are shipped in full and multiple container loads.

2.   High-end Lacquerware, egg-shell inlaid & custom furniture, and accessories for America’s oldest (148 years) and largest Specialty store that sells from its single flagship store, from its 16 million (annual) print catalogs, and more recently over its website. Orders are purchased and shipped in full and multiple container loads.

3.   Garden (outdoor & patio) “white-wood” furniture, made of acacia, balau, rubber, and teak, bought only on full 40-ft container loads, and shipped to America and EU nations.

4.   Extra large garden pots and fountains, and table top ceramic pots, bought only in full container loads and shipped to America, EU nations, and South Africa

5.   Rattan baskets and furniture bought primarily in full container loads and shipped to America and South Africa.

6.A    Life-size wood statues of “Americana," generally Indians, cowboys, cartoon and similar designs bought primarily in full container loads and shipped to America and EU nations.

6.B     Life- and Larger-than Life size metal statues made from old automobile and motorcycle parts into the shapes of famous movie characters such Alien, Predator, 3CPO, Pinhead, as well as  animals to include dinosaurs, horses, dragons, dolphin, and sharks.  Shipped both individually and in full container loads.

7   Rattan and water hyacinth furniture, bought primarily in full container loads and shipped to America, EU nations, and nations formerly in the USSR

8.  Root, teak, and Chinese/Vietnamese style living-room and dining-room furniture, bought primarily for home use (including a Royal Family) in both traditional and custom, made-to-order designs.

9.   Custom products made to client's own designs in ceramics, lacquer, metal, wicker, & wood.  Clients include distributors of promotional products, retail outlets, and high-net-worth private collectors.

10. Rosewood and/or Teak, custom designed and hand-carved solid wood doors; bought primarily for consumers, as many as 24 at a time.

11. Dog toys and accessories for America’s largest distributor of these products where we have been retained to source products from Vietnam that until last year were made in China.

3. HOW WE CONDUCT BUSINESS

Clients come from the 30,000+ monthly readers of our web site that generate over 1,000 monthly inquires, and more recently both by word of mouth and from recommendations by existing clients.

3. Consulting Services – Market Research and Analysis and Feasibly Studies

• Receive or prepare a Request For Proposal (RFP) – consult with permanent managers and staff to find historical work, or determine de novo research parameters, geographical areas to cover, and temporary hires (if needed) to complete assignment.

• Search data base and resources to gather all relevant Secondary Data; translate as needed into English or local language, read, review, and collate Secondary Data.

• Consulting with client as needed, draft uniform questionnaire for Primary Field Research. Translate into both local dialect and language, and English.

• Using established and new resources, contact candidate Primary Research subjects for either individual interviews and/or focus group study. Subjects for Primary Research include (as appropriate to each project) Ministers and their staff; Department heads and their staff; Industry and Enterprise leaders and their staff, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and/or consumers.

• Hire temporary workers from existing pool of prior hires where possible, or new hires.  Most are business school graduates or students. Train the Field Staff to the project needs, and review both interview and translation techniques.

• Divide Field Researchers into teams, each with a Team Leader. Outfit teams with laptop computers and cell phones.

  • Team leader nightly reviews, translates, and transcribes Primary Research interviews, collates data, and transmits nightly all interviews and collated data. Errors found are corrected the same or next day.

  • Project Manager daily reviews, analyses, and collates all data received from Team Leaders. Errors found are corrected the same or next day.

• At conclusion of Field Research Project Manager and Team Leaders meet to review and discuss findings, inure all data that can be has been collected within the project’s parameters.

• Project Manager collects, copies, and sorts all Secondary Research Materials, collates results of Primary Research, and drafts Final Report for V V G Management Review.

• V V G Management re-writes as needed Final Report for submission.

• Fees are based on time and skills needed; fixed or by the hour.

5. Buying/Purchasing/Sourcing Services

   • Locate and research sources - using our data base and personal contacts established over 16 years in our region (Vietnam and Thailand), we maintain current contacts with hundreds of vendors from whom we select the best based on each client's needs. These are primarily cost, delivery time, and quality but also includes design innovation and novelty uses.

   • New product research - using our full time staff, we visit the leading manufacturers seeking out new sources, inspect current and new designs, take photos, and draw up comprehensive RFQs for client consideration and approval; RFQs are generally taken in person to competing factories for bids.

   • Escort clients to factories, showrooms, trade shows - make all travel arrangements; schedule all appointments; provide local business office services.

   • Work with vendors to insure they understand and comply with client manufacturing, packing, quality, and shipping requirements.

   • Order and inspect samples and production models, supervise their packing and shipping for client approval.

   • When in production, make at least weekly QC inspections of the manufacturing process; take photos and send weekly production reports. Larger orders have a full time V V G employee in the factory at all times during production runs.

   • Prepare and send weekly export reports that include photos of both defects found/corrected, and successes; along with our analysis of the production run and estimated time to completion.

   • Prior to delivery, conduct final QA inspection and accept/reject defects as each client's needs requires (from zero to as much as 5%); coordinate between shipping agents and vendors; monitor and supervise packing and loading.

   • Follow-up as may be needed after delivery both for product re-orders and as occasionally happens, latent defects.

   • Fees are charged as a percent of FOB factory cost or as we may otherwise agree with each client.

    SERVICES OFFERED

• Buying/sourcing agency,
• Enterprise formation, market research & analysis

   REVENUE SOURCE – 100% from client fees earned from our provided services.

Peter N. Sheridan    Send me your comments & suggestions
President & CEO
Vietnam Venture Group, Inc.
 

               Copyright © 1996-2009 Vietnam Venture Group Inc. All rights reserved. Sunday, 12 July 2009