4tma - le vuong nhat nghi

Ho Chi Minh City University of Education

Department of Business English

Internship ReportThe Importing Process of P Tech Co., Ltd.

Full name: Le Vuong Nhat Nghi

Student ID: K37.751.075

Class: 4TMA

Supervisor: Ms. Phan Thanh Bich Huyen

Date of internship: 26 January – 7 March

Date of submission: 20 March 2015

Internship Report Le Vuong Nhat Nghi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................2

SUPERVISOR’S REMARKS.............................................................................................3

LECTURER’S REMARKS.................................................................................................4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................5

INTERNSHIP REPORT.....................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................6

Purpose of Selecting the Topic.....................................................................................6

General Information of P tech......................................................................................6

JOB’S DESCRIPTIONS......................................................................................................7

ANALYSIS............................................................................................................................8

Literature Review.........................................................................................................8

The Importing Process of P Tech.................................................................................9

REFLECTION....................................................................................................................10

The Benefits and Challenges......................................................................................10

Reflection on the Academic Coursework...................................................................11

REFERENCES...................................................................................................................12

APPENDIX.........................................................................................................................13

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In order to complete a study report, sincere supervision, guidance of an expert, and

experienced professionals are required. First and foremost, I would like to express my

profound gratitude to my supervisor Ms. Phan Thanh Bich Huyen, HCMC University of

Pedagogy, for providing her important instructions, proper suggestions, and on top of

that, being greatly open to my questions.

Additionally, I would like to record my deepest gratitude towards P Tech Co., Ltd.,

especially its director – Mrs. Luong Xuan Lieu, for giving me this priceless opportunity

to become a part of the company. I also want to say thanks to Mr. Le Tran Van Thien

and all of the staff members at P Tech, who in spite of being extremely busy with their

duties, spared time to listen, guide, and keep me on the correct path.

Another person I would like to mention is Mr. Nguyen Do Hoang Tu, who is one of

my closest friends, my classmate, and luckily, my colleague at P Tech. Since our first

working day, he has helped me overcome numerous difficulties that I had confronted.

Last but not least, my deepest appreciation goes to my beloved family for their moral

support and encouragement throughout the internship’s duration and the preparation of

this report.

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SUPERVISOR’S REMARKS

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LECTURER’S REMARKS

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The following report contains information about the organization and my

responsibilities performed throughout the period of 26th January to 7th March 2015.

More than a simple record of tasks, the objective of this text is to reflect upon the

experiences gathered during the internship from the perspective of a fourth-year student

majoring in Business English. In addition to the reflections, a detailed analysis of the

company’s importing process, most notably the sales contracts and the Incoterms used,

is also included.

This report is divided into four main sections. The first section presents the

reasons behind the decision to choose the importing process as the topic, and it

continues with an overview of the organization itself. Then, I will merely summarize

my day-to-day activities, highlighting the most significant happenings at my workplace

in the second section of the report. Following this, the third section – analysis of the

importing process – will provide the reader an insider’s perspective on the topic.

Finally, the report concludes with my self-evaluation, which includes a comparison of

both my strengths and weaknesses. The numerous useful lessons I learned in the

classroom that I applied to the internship will also be discussed in this section, and it

will be accompanied by the career plan I wish to pursue upon my graduation.

I sincerely hope that my report, despite its many limitations, will provide helpful

reference material to anyone who holds an interest in the importing process and in the

food industry.

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INTRODUCTION

Purpose of Choosing This Topic

As far as I am aware of, a remarkably large number of my classmates selected

Human Resource Management as the main topic for their internship reports. However,

unlike many other students, I wanted to do something different. There are several

options on which a student can choose to focus, ranging from marketing, product

strategy, branding strategy, or the recruitment process. Although each topic has its own

strong points worthy of discussion, the process of importing itself seems to be the most

outstanding aspect of business at P Tech. Additionally, researching this topic will

enable me to receive a broader understanding about international transactions as a

general topic, as well as the importing process itself within a Vietnamese company.

Moreover, I would like to have a clearer understanding of the Incoterms used in real-life

sales contracts.

General Information of P Tech

Established in 2007 by Mrs. Luong Xuan Lieu, P Tech Co., Ltd. is an upstart

importing company. After the company’s relocation from Tan Binh District in 2014, P

Tech’s headquarters are currently situated at 436 Pham Thai Buong Street, Ward Tan

Phong, District 7, HCMC. The headquarters’ geographic connection with Nguyen Van

Linh Street is one of the business’s strong suits. As one of the main highways in Ho Chi

Minh City, this street enables the business to have easy access to many different ports

and warehouses, making it a convenient location for transporting and dispatching

commodities. Despite the fact that it has only been in business for less than ten years, P

Tech is now considered to be one of Vietnam’s leading distributors of food favoring and

food additives. In addition to this, the company also specializes in a wide range of

sausage casings, which maintains a distinctive market segment in the food industry. P

Tech trades with foreign business partners from around the world, varying from Asian

firms, such as Viskase (Philippines) and Qingdao Crown (China), to European

corporations, such as Laboratorio Fish and Tech (Spain) and Plantextrakt (Germany).

The firm’s current marketing strategy emphasizes the importance of both great customer

service and high quality products. This approach to business has proven to achieve

exponential success.

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JOB’S DESCRIPTIONS

Because of my past internship experience from 20th October to 29th November

2014, I was fortunate enough to gain trust from the company and its staff.

Consequently, throughout the duration of this internship, my manager was willing to

make me as part of the delivery team; this awarded me an enormous amount of

responsibility, along with daily tasks, to accomplish. Under the close scrutiny and

guidance of Mr. Thien, the internship position I hold included inventory management

which was compulsory that I keep records of the goods coming in and out of the

warehouse every day using VNUNI, an efficient yet easy-to-use program developed by

a Vietnamese software developer. I also learned how to be more proficient in Microsoft

Excel. It was of utmost importance that I ensure that the inventories were always correct

and the company, as well as the delivery department to be exact, did not make any

mistakes that could lead to unfortunate property losses.

However, my work allocated then not only encapsulated my having to deal with

these complicated numbers. Because my manager strongly believed that I was capable

of being more productive, he allowed me to participate in the company’s intranet, which

is operated by Microsoft Outlook. I was tasked with having to distinguish the suppliers’

emails from the employees’, and this required me to put them into various folders under

different labels. As a result of me being able to access this internal network, I was given

the valuable opportunity of having a deeper look into the sales contracts, which is

among one of the most critical documents in the importing process. In addition to the

main activities listed above, whenever I was not working in the warehouse, I was

assigned to answer the telephone and then transfer the calls to the correct department. I

was also given the opportunity to work with a photocopier and a fax machine, as the

company had numerous documents that needed to be delegated and sent out to various

departments. In comparison to my previous internship, I was able to experience two

different working environments – an office and a warehouse – together with the

demands they entail.

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ANALYSIS

Literature Review

Importing is usually thought to be easier than exporting, and, to some extent, this

proves to be correct. There are numerous required customs, procedures, and standards

that the government establishes, and the importer is expected to follow. This is one of

the most vital aspects of shipping goods in any country, especially in the context of

Vietnam. It is of utmost importance for the importers to comply with the following steps

in the importing process:

Within the framework of their mutual agreement, the importer and the exporter

must establish a sales contract, with the method of payment usually being a

letter of credit (L/C). The importer asks his issuing bank to issue an L/C by

giving the bank some required documents (sales contracts, orders…) in favor of

the exporter.

The issuing bank issues an L/C as required and sends it to the advising bank in

the exporter’s country.

The advising bank sends the original L/C to the exporter for a check or an

amendment.

The exporter dispatches the goods and sends the shipping documents to his

advising bank. The advising bank then checks and sends this to the issuing bank.

The issuing bank checks the documents. He can agree or disagree to accept bill

of lading, then informs the importer, and asks for the payment.

The importer checks again, reviews the documents, and pays for the bank.

The exporter receives money from his advising bank.

In addition to this, the sales contract, one of the food industry’s key documents,

plays a vital role in the importing process, beginning from the first step. An

international sales contract is an agreement which contains the rights and obligations of

the parties from different countries, the remedies that would be expected if a breach of

contract occurred, and the general rules that apply equally to both parties. The terms of

these contracts are based on various sources: the international trade treaty, national

laws, and the international trade practices, which are the incoterms. The Incoterms are a

set of international rules for the interpretation of the most commonly used trade terms.

The Importing Process of P Tech

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The theoretical topics discussed in class regarding the importing process share

both similarities and differences in the context of my observations from the internship.

As an importer, P Tech seems to strictly comply with all the above steps throughout the

importing process. P Tech and its business partners conclude a sales contract involving

the approved method of payment and other terms in order to issue an L/C with the

intervention of the banks. Given the fact that they are in a long-term working

relationship, those terms need to be briefly discussed through emails. Then, P Tech’s

issuing bank - Vietcombank - issues an L/C, and sends it to the advising bank. The other

steps in the process are cautiously carried out so as to ensure that the payment and

goods will be received. In addition to this, when the container ship docks at the port, P

Tech will ask the commodity transit service to take care of the imported goods in order

to reduce transportation costs, as well as to guarantee that the related documents are

approved quickly.

Appendix A describes some of P Tech’s remarkable sales contracts, and it

illustrates some significant differences compared to the normal sales contracts I learned

in school. Basically, the contracts can be divided into four parts. The first part contains

the rules on the goods, and it encompasses delivery, price, payment conditions, and the

provided documents. The second part emphasizes the remedies of the importer if a non-

delivery of goods occurs, as well as the remedies of the exporter if non-payment within

an agreed timeframe occurs. The third part concretizes the rules on avoidance of

contract and damages, whereas the fourth part concretizes on the standard provisions.

However, P Tech’s sales contracts are obviously brief and concise with the information

of both parties. They contain information concerning: products in terms of quantity,

price, and origin; port of shipment; payment conditions and the involved documents;

banking information; and the arbitrations which are International Arbitration and

Vietnam Chamber of Commerce for all disputes arising out of the contracts. Moreover,

there is one notable feature in the contract which is the Incoterm used in the description

of the product - CIF (Cost Insurance and Freight). Nowadays, most Vietnamese

importers use CIF or CPT (Carriage Paid To) terms, but keeping in mind the importer’s

best interest, FOB (Free On Board), should be used instead. Buying FOB has two major

benefits over CIF. This includes having better control of the freight and its cost, and the

obtainment of the information in a timely manner. CIF is a convenient way of shipping

since the importers have very small cargo or they are new kids on the block, especially

9


to avoid complicated details in handling freight. However, as number of CIF shipments

rises, more problems occur and costs increase.

REFLECTION

The Benefits and Challenges

Having outlined some of the most memorable events in the second section of

this report, I would like to critically delineate the benefits and challenges associated

with this particular internship opportunity. It is an undeniable fact that the advantages I

have gained from this internship are substantial. Besides the insights of the food

industry that it brought, it also helped build a good impression of my resume, which is

crucial considering how scarce job opportunities are nowadays. Moreover, working

contacts may prove to be of value in the near future, as it creates personal networking

activities. As a whole, it was a rather successful internship program without the

emergence of any unwanted incidents. The previous internship enabled me to become

accustomed to the pace of work company requires, and it also provided me with the

ability to gain more familiarity with Microsoft Outlook. As a result of the hands-on

training I receive, I learned to handle all the relating tasks with ease.

Nonetheless, there were still some minor challenges that I encountered at some

point of the internship. Due to my lack of products’ knowledge on the food industry

during the first few weeks, I was struggling with the scientific names of the goods (e.g.

Hydratech, Soypro and Fibrepro), as well as learning about their respective purposes.

Additionally, another problem arising in the office work was my ability to use

Microsoft Excel. I did complete the elementary course of computing in my freshman

year of university in which Excel was included, but it was four years ago. Since then, I

had very few occasions to interact with Excel and its formulas. Fortunately, it did not

take me a great amount of time to catch up with the program and then use it efficiently

as a powerful medium to keep track of the goods in the warehouse.

10


Reflection on the Academic Coursework

My internship successfully emphasized and concretized many of the topics

discussed in the International Business class lectured by Mr. Chau The Huu, which took

place in the previous semester. Of course, the first substantial topic of import – export

discussed in the course was brought to life as I got myself involved in various tasks

relating to it. All of the important information that I learned in school was still rather

fresh, and being able to apply them to real-life circumstances was even better. It was of

great timing that the school curriculum places this subject before the students start their

internship. Not forget to mention, with the help of the Commercial Correspondence

courses in which I had examined various sales contracts, invoices and knew how to

write them, I had no problem reading the documents handed over to me. Apart from the

professional format of these documents, the general definitions of Incoterms, and other

relating issues were also clearly demonstrated in these courses.

On the other hand, to be honest, besides the invaluable foundation knowledge

these courses had brought, they also had their own shortcomings. Due to the limitation

of time given in each course, I mostly learned the theories. There were only some

occasions where the lecturers gave examples taken from the course books, which were

usually of foreigner companies. I have to admit that those are the typical examples and

probably the most suitable ones for teaching purposes. However, I personally hope to

learn from the examples of both foreign and Vietnamese companies. This would enable

me to make comparisons afterwards, as it would provide me with various perspectives

on the different cultures within these working practices.

Once again, this internship program brought a life-time opportunity for me to

expose myself to the real working environment, and to unleash my potential for the very

first time. I wish to continue on working in the field of import-export, hopefully in a

foreign company so that I can experience the differences between the different business

cultures.

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REFERENCES

A., Ashley (1998). Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford

University Press

Charles, W. L. Hill (2007). International Business: Competing in the global

marketplace

Van, Doan Thi Hong (2008). Foreign Trade Management. Lao Dong Xa Hoi Press

Small Business Development Corporation. (n.d.). Importing: the 10 basis steps.

Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-in-wa/about-

sbdc/corporate-publications/small-business-briefs/importing-the-10-basic-steps/

W D., Adkins (n.d.). What is the difference between CIF & FOB?

Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-cif-fob-

39152.html

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http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-cif-fob-39152.html

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-cif-fob-39152.html

http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-in-wa/about-sbdc/corporate-publications/small-business-briefs/importing-the-10-basic-steps/

http://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-in-wa/about-sbdc/corporate-publications/small-business-briefs/importing-the-10-basic-steps/


APPENDIX A

The sales contract of P Tech

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4tma - le vuong nhat nghi

Documents