According to Assoc. Duong Thi Lieu, Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Association for the Development of Corporate Culture, Director of the Institute of Business Culture, corporate culture is the source of great difference to the competitiveness of businesses, helping businesses developing the context of the current economic crisis.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Duong Thi Lieu 

Could you tell me how corporate cultureaffects the branding of businesses?

When it comes to corporate culture, people talk a lot about improving competitiveness, creating a dynamic working environment as well as helping business leaders to managebetter, leading businesses to develop sustainably in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. But the most important thing in corporate culture is the soul of the brand. It is the building of core values, creating trust for businesses, creating their own identities, creating uniqueness so that no enterprise is like any other.

In particular, in the Fourth IndustrialRevolution, businesses can apply the same technology, but the brands of businesses must make a difference, this needs a "deep layer" of corporate culture, which helps awaken the spirit of employees' beliefs and consensus, to become the source of creating unique, innovative products.

In the current crisis, what is the usefulnessof building corporate culture to help businesses survive?

The Covid-19 pandemic is very unpredictable, we cannot imagine why it led to remote work and social distancing in April. But if we view from the perspective of corporate culture, the pandemic has a positive result. For example, the promotion of digital technology has been accelerated, people gradually get used to and find theeffectivenessof working online. Especially, since the crisis, enterprises can check and verify whether their employees are really loyal to the enterprise.

It can be said that the Covid-19 pandemicis a measure of the relationship and real satisfaction between leaders and employees. Because in the crisis, employees can see the determination to maintain the jobs of the leaders, the leaders see the will to overcome difficulties with the enterprises of the employees. In order to create an effect and help to modify and better relationships in enterprises, because corporate culture needs ethical values ​​and beliefs, and the crisis will help people trust each other.

The financial resources of the business areaffected by the Covid-19 pandemic, should businesses invest more in corporate culture?

How to use financial resources for corporate culture development is confusing for the majority of Vietnamese businesses. Enterprises think that in the current context, businesses have to worry about paying employees, paying costs to operate, looking for partners. If income is difficult, there is no space to worry aboutcorporate culture. But in my opinion, corporate culture is not a qualitative issue, but corporate culture is everyday life. Culture is not something specific, that takes a lot of costs, but corporate culture is shown through the behavior between people in the same enterprise, corporate culture is belief and solidarity to do work together, overcome the crisis, and create financial resources for businesses.

Therefore, if it is said that investing in corporate culture, it is necessary to immediately cost how many percent and lose some percent of profits, that is not enough understanding of culture. Therefore, if businesses are properly aware of the corporate culture as I mentioned above, then just boldly invest in corporate culture, maybe lose a few percent of the total income of the enterprise, but in exchange for trust and loyalty, reinforcing the discipline of enterprises, from which there are good people working and creating good products, creating good finance, contributing to help businesses remain stable in the crisis. However, corporate culture is not something that can be built overnight, it requires businesses to persevere with a suitable plan for their development strategy.

Thank you!