2025 General Shareholders’ Meeting The power of intelligence, creativity, and the board of directors’ flexible response capabilities to volatility

The year 2025 begins with new momentum, marking a new era for the country. Numerous revolutions are unfolding rapidly across public governance, laying the foundations for economic activity. Four breakthrough resolutions — referred to as the “pillar quartet” were successively issued over four months, ushering the nation into a new era:

1. Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW (Dec 22, 2024) by the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation.
2. Resolution No. 59-NQ/TW (Jan 24, 2025) on “International integration in the new context”.
3. Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW (Apr 30, 2025) on reforming the development and implementation of laws to meet national development requirements in the new era.
4. Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW (May 4, 2025) on the development of the private economy.

As emphasized by the General Secretary, “These four important resolutions of the Politburo will be the institutional pillars laying the foundation and driving Vietnam forward in the new era, realizing the vision of a prosperous, high-income Vietnam by 2045”. The speed of implementation is unprecedented — perhaps for the first time, the enterprise sector, once deemed more dynamic than public administration, now feels pressured to innovate more boldly to keep up with the national pace.

On a global scale, protectionist ideologies have been crystallized into tangible policy, such as the retaliatory tariff policy issued by the United States on April 2. While temporarily suspended for 90 days, all countries are facing a 10% increase on goods imported into the U.S. A new global trade order is emerging with fundamentally different characteristics, posing major implications for export-oriented industries like textiles and garments.

Simultaneously, geopolitical hotspots remain unresolved: the Russia-Ukraine conflict persists, new tensions are emerging in the Middle East, India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, and there are growing economic disputes between major players like the U.S.-EU, U.S.-China, and political instability in South Korea. With tariff policies in flux, business operations now face numerous new variables, making it nearly impossible to draft mid- to long-term plans. Even existing business strategies require reevaluation and adjustments.

In 2025, the Party Congress at all levels will take place in preparation for the 14th National Party Congress. As such, this year’s Shareholders’ Meetings — both at subsidiaries and at the Group level — have incorporated discussions on the Party’s new economic development policies and have started building preliminary action programs.

All shareholder meetings agreed that the past five years were exceptionally challenging for the world: a two-year pandemic, a transition from economic overheating to recession, and a global-scale tariff war initiated by the U.S. targeting 185 countries — arguably the largest and most widespread trade war since the early 20th century. Throughout the term, volatility was the norm, with only brief windows of market favorability in late 2021 and Q1 2022. The rest of the time was marked by instability and sharp price drops. The yarn sector was unprofitable for three consecutive years (2022–2024).

In this context, business operations were extremely difficult. Many subsidiaries faced confusion and a lack of direction. However, through close and flexible management and increasingly efficient operational mechanisms within the yarn and garment divisions, the entire Group’s enterprises weathered the storm, maintained stability, and remained effective. The Parent Company’s transformation from a passive, supervisory entity to an active leader — coordinating with subsidiaries based on transparent, comprehensive data, KPIs, benchmarking, and best practices — was seen as a key success factor.

Converting macroeconomic policy information into textile-specific forecasts — and most critically, into calculated, risk-aware business decisions — has become institutionalized and systematic. This has infused agility and vitality into a large, dispersed, multi-ownership organization.

From these meetings, three key lessons were broadly agreed upon for navigating volatile markets:

1. In the current and future phases, business leadership must originate from intelligence. Intellectual capital — though intangible — has and will increasingly outweigh tangible capital in its impact. Shareholding percentages will become less important than strategic direction. Businesses will attract talent and cohesion based on the quality of intellectual outputs. Soft power from intellect will gradually replace share-based authority. Future competitiveness hinges on systems of management, intellectual property, technological patents, and branding — the main strategic trends.
2. Past success does not guarantee future viability. Business models and product lines that once thrived are quickly outdated in today’s rapidly changing market. Competitors can match and outpace us in no time. Continuous innovation, client acquisition, market expansion, and testing of new products are essential for survival. Past achievements are merely foundations for more favorable future innovation, not substitutes for it.
3. Having capable personnel is critical to implementing new competitive requirements. Skilled human resources are the core solution.

Looking Ahead to 2025–2030: The Role of Boards of Directors and Chairpersons

The 2025–2030 period has been identified nationally as a time for high growth, over 8% in 2025 and exceeding 10% annually thereafter. The textile and garment sector is now the second-largest globally, with exports reaching USD 44 billion in 2024. To maintain 10% growth through 2030, the sector must surpass USD 73 billion in exports — a daunting and arguably unrealistic goal, especially amid rising protectionism.

However, with three million workers industry-wide and 150,000 under Vinatex — a 135-year-old institution — we cannot afford to fall behind or under-contribute to the nation’s objectives.

From a GDP calculation perspective, Vietnam uses three methods: production, income, and expenditure. For export-heavy sectors like textiles, which also rely on imported materials, the expenditure-based method highlights the importance of the trade surplus.

GDP = Final Consumption (households + government) + Capital Accumulation (fixed, inventory, rare assets) + Net Exports (exports – imports)

Thus, the textile sector contributes mainly through its trade surplus. If export turnover grows by 10% and the import ratio remains constant, the sector contributes 10% to GDP growth. However, this level of growth in exports is likely unachievable. Therefore, the only viable path is to reduce the import content in the product value.

In parallel, modernization and high-tech applications must boost labor productivity, generating higher wages and income-based GDP growth.

To reduce import content (% import value/export value), there are two key strategies:

1. Increase the domestic share of raw materials, reducing the import value directly.
2. Elevate product value through branding, design, and value-added services — increasing the denominator.

These strategies serve both economic and strategic objectives. They align perfectly with the goals of Resolution 57 and Resolution 59 of the Politburo.

Why Emphasize the Role of Boards and Chairpersons?

Under the 2020 Enterprise Law and corporate charters, the Board of Directors is the highest authority in a company, tasked with strategic planning on behalf of shareholders, beyond routine supervisory duties.

Before 2020, textile industry strategies were relatively stable. Vietnam’s competitive edge — abundant labor, low wages, and numerous FTAs — allowed for a clear path: market expansion, labor productivity, cost efficiency, and growth driven by sewing due to low investment requirements. These successes were largely delivered by executive teams, especially CEOs.

Today, the situation is different. With limited room for extensive growth and higher expectations, strategic priorities must shift toward investment, digitalization, automation, intangible asset development, innovation, green production, circular economy, and skilled human capital. These require more detailed direction from Boards — not vague guidelines, but concrete investment choices in branding, distribution, AI, and ERP software.

The Board’s strategic role is critical in building new value chains, moving beyond low-value manufacturing — the “bottom of the pyramid.”

Thus, the Board must evolve from a supervisory body to a strategic one, with new requirements in expertise. The Chairperson must be the catalyst of innovation, with vision, foresight, and the ability to assess business opportunities and risks. They must also encourage bold proposals from Board members and lead collective and personal accountability in high-risk strategic investments.

A new phase has begun — one of creativity, breakthrough, and quality growth. Just as national reform must begin at the top, so must corporate transformation. This responsibility must and will rest with the Board of Directors and its Chairperson. Building a bold, capable, visionary Board — unafraid to lead systemic change — is the key to corporate success in the coming era.