Removing 'bottlenecks' for cooperatives to break through

According to the National Steering Committee on Collective Economy, as of December 2024, the country had more than 33,335 cooperatives, an increase of 4.74% compared to 2023. However, products produced by cooperatives are often slow to sell and difficult to export due to lack of brand names. When introduced to the world market, cooperative products still do not meet the strict standards of many large markets. This requires more attention to improving the competitiveness of products produced by cooperatives.

Illustration photo.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Director of Alpha Industrial Joint Stock Company, the company's products are civil and industrial steel products, product lines that are facing fierce competition with similar products from large foreign corporations. He said that small and medium-sized cooperatives are currently facing a lot of pressure on capital and technology, so it is difficult to compete with imported products. Lack of capital also makes it difficult for many businesses to expand their scale and improve their competitiveness in the market.

In addition, the quality of human resources is also a challenge for cooperatives. The majority of human resources in cooperatives come from workers and farmers, without any professional or technical training. The knowledge they have is drawn from practical experience, so when working, they are all "amateur" managers, making decisions based on emotions.

Dr. Le Thai Ha, lecturer at RMIT University, commented that with the cooperative model, the biggest difficulties currently are procedural problems, as well as the transition from household and individual economies to cooperative economies because cooperative owners have not been fully trained in business.

Pursuant to the Law on Cooperatives No. 17/2023/QH15, dated June 20, 2023, Clause 7, Article 4, stipulates that a Cooperative is an organization with legal status voluntarily established by at least 5 official members, cooperating and assisting in production, business, and job creation to meet the common economic, cultural, and social needs of members, contributing to building a sustainable social community; implementing autonomous governance, self-responsibility, equality, and democracy.

However, in reality, cooperatives have not clearly distinguished the boundaries of "Co-owned Enterprises" as well as other regulations, leading to a slowdown in overall growth.

In fact, important decisions in many cooperatives are still collective. Many issues are not complicated, cooperative leaders can make decisions but still have to discuss them in many meetings, leading to delays in common decisions, losing opportunities for the cooperative.

In addition, financial resources and funds for cooperatives are very limited and difficult to approve, leading to the already slow technological transformation of cooperatives becoming even more "sluggish".

President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance Cao Xuan Thu Van speaks at the Insurance Workshop for Agricultural Cooperatives. (Photo: vca.org.vn)

Recently, at the Workshop "Discussing insurance solutions for agricultural production cooperatives in Quang Ninh", Ms. Cao Xuan Thu Van, President of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, said that this agency is coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to organize an exhibition of OCOP products of cooperatives, inviting international cooperative federations to participate in the exhibition and find consumption markets.

In this context, cooperatives are proactively seeking capital sources and promoting value chains, building cooperative models closely linked with businesses to solve product output problems.

Many cooperatives have developed training programs associated with specific projects, with domestic and foreign experts accompanying and transferring technology right at the facility.

Thus, a solid foundation to help cooperatives improve their competitiveness and rise in domestic and foreign markets will focus on key factors such as resources, overcoming institutional, financial, governance and chain linkage gaps.

Along with that, cooperatives also strive to closely cooperate with businesses and ministries and branches to find output for products, bring good revenue, and support production.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/go-nut-that-de-hop-tac-xa-but-pha-212787.html