We did two site visits today. The first was to an industrial park company named Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park. We walked in and were given a presentation explaining the significance of such a company in Vietnam. The importance of VSIP in Vietnam is extremely critical to the development of the country. The company is a joint venture between Vietnam and Singapore. It was originally launched in Singapore but because of the lack of land, they opened the industrial parks in Vietnam. They are an excellent resource for jobs (providing over 200,000), education, and overall development in Vietnam, replacing the empty impoverished areas with an actual productive area. The government supports these types of ventures because of the development it brings to the country. Therefore, with the growing views of globalization and foreign investment, the Communist government of Vietnam very much encourages businesses to come in and provide jobs to the Vietnamese citizens in these industrial parks.
We also visited II-VI, a semiconductor manufacturing company. This type of company was located inside VSIP’s industrial park, providing jobs to unskilled workers, all trained for their specific positions. They production company provides large quantities and specialized products with unique engineering principles, including laser solutions, photonics, and performance products. With this unique process comes the issue of protection of intellectual property, keeping the whole process secret from the workers and other outsiders in order to prevent copying. To do this, all research and development and material information is all kept within the United States, not sharing any with its Vietnamese workers. Also, with the low paying workers, it’s difficult to keep the employees for long periods of time. The company has to provide special benefits and an excellent work atmosphere to its employees, avoiding quitting and the time-consuming training process.