| Abstract | Today, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (enterprises with less than 300
employees) accounted for very large percentage of the total number of enterprises in the
world. According to Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City, up to
2012, in Vietnam, the number of SMEs is 98%, contributing more than 50% of the total
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Therefore, an increase of SMEs is very important. They
will become a driving force for the economic development of each country and the world.
During the recent global economic crisis, everyone is fully realized that the important role
of SMEs is to create jobs, maintain the dynamism of the labor market, or narrow the gap of
development between the local and the national. Furthermore, with the rapid development
of information technology and telecommunications, e-commerce and globalization trends,
more SMEs have played an important role in linking the global supply chain. However,
most SMEs in Vietnam have become vulnerable under the impact of the global economic
crisis.
After Vietnam has entered WTO, there has been was a significant growth in foreign direct
investment in Vietnam. This accession has brought many advantages and challenges for
Vietnamese companies in general and Sonacons Construction Joint Stock Company (SNC)
in particular. However, there is not only the competition between businesses to get the
market but also the competition between enterprises to attract the talent people for their
own business. One of the most challenges is that foreign companies with modern working
environment, advancement opportunities and higher wage have attracted a lot of talent
people, especially high level personnel. This trend has pushed Vietnamese companies into
crisis of shortage senior personnel. Besides, due to economic crisis, companies have faced
problems as well as get difficulty in production. So they must cut manpower to reduce the
management cost. However, all business always needs good people, though they are in the
circumstance which must tighten spending.
From the other side, due to economic crisis, there are a lot of talent people who will leave
their job immediately if they find a better job with higher salary or good environment.
Conversely, there are many senior personnel who do not want to take risks and change the
work. However, they cannot work efficiency as well as develop their capacity.
In summary, these problems have occurred in many Vietnamese companies, namely in
SNC. Given the aforesaid factors, plus the global economic woes, SNC have restructured
its organization for innovation. In the restructuring process, SNC has recruited and trained
more people for the new development. However, the most difficult problem is though it is
difficult to find good employees; it is even more difficult to keep them with the company.
Therefore, SNC aims to develop a strategic human resource management system to retain
talent people as well as develop good teams who are competent and committed for the
company. |