Founded in 1982, SAVICO was built on the principle that quality service has unlimited development possibilities. In the opinion of Nguyen Vinh Tho, SAVICO’s chairman, learning from the Japanese business model is a formula for success in many ways, and will continue to bring it closer to its target of international integration in the near future.

More than 25 years ago, Tho met with personnel in the office of the prime minister of Vietnam for a business discussion, and expressed his belief that the level of quality of service is a direct indication of the development of a country and its economy. He believed that Vietnam should concentrate on improvement in this area.

At that time, the concept of a service economy was still not widespread, but Tho felt strongly that: “salaries are not paid by the company, but by the customers”. Using this philosophy, he worked his way up from sales executive to chairman of the company, and he still lives by this concept

“When I was a student, I realized that Vietnamese companies did not have long histories like those in Japan,” recalls Tho. “Some Japanese companies have thrived for over 100 years. Having a sustainable corporation in Vietnam was my dream.”

“In 2011, we determined that our core business should be in autos and motorcycles,” he recalls. “We focused on enhancing our quality of service to our customers. Even when sales are low, we still improve our services, and this is how we have survived during ups and downs in the economy.” With its strong distribution network and valued after sales service, SAVICO is now a major partner for trusted Japanese companies such as Toyota and Yamaha.

The SAVICO system has been developed with close Japanese cooperation. “We admire the Japanese system of training and human resource development,” says Tho. “Working with Japanese corporations, we have learned patience, transparency and precision to reach success. In fact, most of the successful people at SAVICO have been trained by Toyota at some point in their career.”

Tho is optimistic about the future of SAVICO and Vietnam in general. “The next generation is highly educated and aware of Japanese ways of doing business; the way Vietnam approaches the world will be much easier than before,” he says proudly

He believes that SAVICO’s aspirations to develop and integrate internationally — in both developing and developed countries — will be realized soon: “We expect to be a partner for the business of service around the world. So we would like to confirm to all of our stakeholders that spreading the spirit of customer satisfaction is our target, and the source of our happiness.”

Source: http://info.japantimes.co.jp/international-reports/pdf/20140902-WER-Vietnam.pdf