Improving corporate culture at navigos group vietnam jsc, hanoi branch

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL PHAM THUY DUNG IMPROVING CORPORATE CULTURE AT NAVIGOS GROUP VIETNAM JSC, HANOI BRANCH Bachelor of Business Administration in English (E BBA) Thesis HANOI,[.]

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

BUSINESS SCHOOL

PHAM THUY DUNG

IMPROVING CORPORATE CULTURE AT NAVIGOS GROUP

VIETNAM JSC, HANOI BRANCH

Bachelor of Business Administration in English (E-BBA) Thesis

HANOI, 2019

NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY

BUSINESS SCHOOL

IMPROVING CORPORATE CULTURE AT NAVIGOS GROUP

VIETNAM JSC, HANOI BRANCH

Bachelor of Business Administration in English (E-BBA) Thesis

Doing this thesis was a great chance for me to learn and gain someprofessional development of analyzing and researching This work has been fullycompleted thanks to the help of many people I would love to show my deepestappreciation for their supports and helpful recommendations that contributed for

my writing in the thesis

First and foremost, a special thank I would like to give to M.A NguyenTuan Minh - my supervisor for his dedicated instructions, recommendations andencouragements during the writing process To be honest, I am definitely not able

to accomplish the thesis with the best result without his help

Second, I always appreciate and be grateful to all lecturers at EBBAProgram, Business School for providing the foundation of knowledge and usefullessons, which are extremely important to my future career Thank you all forcreating a wonderful study environment for us not only to learn but also developourselves and meet our beloved friends

Thirdly, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to my mentor andcolleagues for their careful guidance and supports from the first day at work untilthe end of my internship It was a challenging time but they were exceedinglywelcoming, helpful and offered me invaluable career advices to help me getthrough it

Last but not least, a big thank you to my family and friends, who arealways on my side, supporting and encouraging me to accomplish this thesis

Hanoi, December 2018 Pham Thuy Dung

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1 ABBREVIATIONS 5 LIST OF TABLES _6 LIST OF FIGURES 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION _10 1.1 Rationale _10 1.2 Research objectives 12 1.3 Research questions _12 1.4 Research methodology 12

1.4.1 Research process 121.4.2 Research scope _131.4.3 Data analysis _141.4.4 Data collection 14

1.5 Thesis structure _16 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND _17 2.1 Definition and importance of corporate culture 17

2.1.1 Culture 172.1.2 Corporate culture _172.1.3 The importance of corporate culture _182.1.4 Cultural roles of people in the organization _21

2.2 Dimensions of corporate culture _22

2.2.1 Power distance _222.2.2 Individualism versus collectivism _232.2.3 Masculinity versus femininity 232.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance 242.2.5 Short term versus long term orientation 242.2.6 Indulgence versus Restraint _25

2.2 Types of corporate culture 25

2.2.1 Deal and Kennedy _252.2.2 Fons Trompenaars _27

2.3 Factors assess corporate culture _30

2.3.1 Stephen P Robbins theory 302.3.2 The Cultural Orientation Indicator (COI) _302.3.3 Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) _322.3.4 Denison _33

CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW OF NAVIGOS GROUP VIETNAM JOINT STOCK COMPANY 37 3.1 Company history 37

3.1.1 Company profile 373.1.2 Navigos Group Vietnam Milestone _37

3.2 Business Sector _39 3.3 Human Resources information 40

3.3.1 Organizational structure 403.3.2  Demographics of employees 41

3.4 Financial Status of Navigos Group Vietnam Company _42 3.5 Current practices of corporate culture in Navigos Group Company_43

3.5.1 Architecture design 433.5.2 Ceremonies 433.5.3 Vision 443.5.4 Mission _443.5.5 Core Values 443.5.6 Dress Code 45

CHAPTER 4: ANALYZING THE CURRENT CORPORATE CULTURE

AT NAVIGOS GROUP VIETNAM JOINT STOCK COMPANY 46 4.1 Demographic information of respondents _46 4.2 Corporation culture analysis according to Denison’s Model 47

4.2.1 Detailed four traits analysis 484.2.2 Overall assessment 64

4.3 Summary of Findings 68

4.4.1 Strengths 684.4.2 Weaknesses 69

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE CORPORATE CULTURE AT NAVIGOS GROUP VIETNAM JSC _70 5.1 Recommendations to improve “Mission” trait 70 5.2 Recommendations to improve “Involvement” trait 71 5.3 Recommendations to improve “Consistency” trait 73 5.4 Recommendations to improve “Adaptability” trait 74 CONCLUSION 76 REFERENCES 77 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE 79 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS _84

ABBREVIATIONS JSC Joint Stock Company

HR Human Resources

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Number of employees according to age groups 42Table 4.1 Demographic information of survey respondents _46Table 4.2 Employee overall evaluation of Empowerment 48Table 4.3 Employee overall evaluation of Team Orientation 49Table 4.4 Employee overall evaluation of Capability Development _50Table 4.5 Overall assessment of Involvement trait 51Table 4.6 Employee overall evaluation of Coordination and Integration _52Table 4.7 Employee overall evaluation of Agreement _53Table 4.8 Employee overall evaluation of Core Values 54Table 4.9 Overall assessment of Consistency trait 55Table 4.10 Employee overall evaluation of Creating Changes _56Table 4.11 Employee overall evaluation of Customer Focus 57Table 4.12 Employee overall evaluation of Organizational Learning 58Table 4.13 Overall assessment of Adaptability trait _59Table 4.14 Employee overall evaluation of Strategic Direction and Intent 60Table 4.15 Employee overall evaluation of Goals and Objectives 61Table 4.16 Employee overall evaluation of Vision 62Table 4.17 Overall assessment of Mission trait _63Table 4.18 Overall assessment of corporate culture in Navigos 64

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Research Process _13Figure 2.1 Deal and Kennedy’s model _26Figure 2.2 Fons Trompenaars’s model _27Figure 2.3 Denison’s model 33Figure 3.1 Navigos Group Vietnam JSC’s logo 37Figure 3.2 Organizational structure of Navigos Group Vietnam JSC 40Figure 3.3 Navigos Company Gross Revenue and Net Profit 42Figure 4.1 Denison’s model in Navigos Group Vietnam JSC 67

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The corporate culture is formed and advanced in parallel with thedevelopment process of the organization It plays a crucial role in creatingcompetitive advantage, identity and sustainable development of everyorganization For employees, corporate culture makes each member understandtheir own values, gives them motivation to work and directs them toward acommon mission and vision to achieve goals Every big company can developsuccessfully based on the existence of a healthy and flexible culture

Navigos Group Vietnam Joint Stock Company is one of the leadingcompanies regarding to recruitment, which has been existed for more than 15years To maintain its position today, the company focuses not only ondeveloping the services but also a strong corporate culture to create its ownidentity, which can help the company outperform the competitors However, theculture developing process is facing many problems

This thesis has three main objectives:

- Identify the suitable model and indicators to evaluate Navigos GroupVietnam JSC’s corporate culture

- Analyze and evaluate the current status of Navigos Group VietnamJSC’s corporate culture

- Propose recommendations to improve the corporate culture in NavigosGroup Vietnam JSC

To accomplish these objectives, the author used both the primary data andsecondary data The survey was done by 124 employees who are working inNavigos The author also had in-depth interviews with a director and anemployee in Navigos in order to have a deeper understanding about the corporateculture and the issues that Navigos is facing

After analyzing the current situation of corporate culture in Navigosthough Denison’s model, the author found out some strong points of Navigos’culture The company culture is stable and has a long-term focus Navigosfocuses more on internal culture with high investment in developing employees’skills and knowledges

On the other hand, Navigos is now engaging some serious problems Theculture of the company is too stable that lessens the flexibility of the organizationtoward the external environment The customers have not been put up as the top

concern of employees The company is also weak at the coordination andconnection between employees

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of Navigos’ corporate culture, theauthor suggested some recommendations to enhance the organizational culture atNavigos Group by improving the flexibility of the company and the cooperation

of employees as well as upholding employee’ capability development and settingclear directions and strategies

The author expected that this research could support Navigos GroupVietnam JSC to have a direct view into the strong and weak points of thecompany culture then propose some recommendations to enhance the currentsituation As a result, the company can have the ability to keep the high qualitylabor force and have a better organizational performance

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Every company has its own corporate culture no matter how big or smallthe company is It is the result of shared values, norms and philosophies thatoutstanding the unique characteristics of that organization among others Graves

(1986) stated that culture was “the one thing that distinguishes one firm from

another, gives it coherence and self-confidence and rationalizes the lives of those who work for it […] It is life-enhancing to be different, and safe to be similar, and culture is the concept that provides the means of accomplishing this compromise” A weak organizational culture company leads to uncertain and

ambiguous connection between employees and their organization’s benefits.Employees work for individual benefits and concentrate on their owndeterminations rather than organization’s aims and purposes In contrast, in anorganization with a strong culture, staffs work together to achieve mutual goals

of the company as well as their personal aims and benefits Therefore, a strongorganizational culture plays an important role in improving the companyperformance in different perspectives It enables the business to be successful andwork effectively because this culture guides staffs to do the right things - whatcreates the core distinctiveness of the organization that contributes to its visionsand values (Robbins and Judge, 2013)

Building and developing a successful corporate culture will bring greatadvantages to the company Firstly, corporate cultural identity is a significantmotivation of the organization in building trust and prestige for clients and themarket Customers get the information of the company by ways ofcommunications, public relations or advertisings however people and corporateculture are the key factors to enhance awareness of the company image andreputation Secondly, organizational culture is like a magnet, helping companiesappeal and retain high quality staffs People would prefer to work in anenvironment that is suitable to their personalities Thus, corporate culture is thedriving force for the HR management in attracting, using, developing andretaining talented staffs in order to successfully achieve the strategic objectives

of the organization Thirdly, corporate culture is an essential factor for theenterprise to develop longevity The fast growth in the size of the enterprise maycreate a risk of failure, especially occurring if the developing process is not built

by standards or backgrounds of awareness, behaviors Therefore, corporateculture creates an environment for all employees to join together to achieve theorganizational goals and objectives As a result, corporate culture helpsorganization to boost competitive position by creating the imprint inside the mind

of the outsiders, which helps the enterprise to develop sustainably

The importance of corporate culture is realized and appreciated by almostcompanies in the world as it leads to the success of every company Especiallyfor giant and famous companies namely Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Apple, Googleand Disney, it is impossible for them to be prosperous without strong corporatecultures On the other hand, the majority of companies in Vietnam focus onprofitability but they forget how to enhance their own cultures - the best way tosustain and develop their businesses in long term There are several changes inimproving organizational culture in some companies Nevertheless, the biggestproblem of these businesses is lacking of thorough understanding onorganizational culture so that it is hard for them to attain effective solutions toimprove their cultures or even apply them in superficial or wrong ways

As corporate culture affects the way the company responds to the changes

in demands of consumers and external environment, it is crucial to understandclearly about the culture According to the rapid changes of businessenvironment, the company must continuously predict the needs of the market andmake use of the organizational competences to adapt with the changes Navigoshas existed for a long time and now is facing difficulty responding to changesand encountering decline Moreover, Navigos is a Vietnamese company at firstwith the majority of employees are Vietnamese, but now it is taken over by aJapanese company As a result, there must be occur some conflicts between twodifferent cultures Additionally, Navigos main services are about humanresources, so the company has no unique and typical products to be stand-out andhard to imitate like other companies such as iPhone of Apple, home furnishingproducts of IKEA and so on The only way to distinguish from the others iscreating its own characteristics by a strong and impressive corporate culture.Therefore, it is necessary for them to find a new and better way to improvecompany culture that can catch up with the business trends and stand out fromthe crowd By analyzing the Navigos’s culture, it helps the managers to have adeeper understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of the company, toknow where to improve

In this research, the author mainly focused on Navigos Group’s currentstatus of corporate culture so as to indicate the strong and weak points of thisculture and give some recommendations to improve the weaknesses and keepdeveloping the strengths, which help to build a stronger corporate culture.Therefore, the author has chosen the topic: “Improving Corporate Culture atNavigos Group Vietnam JSC, Hanoi Branch”.

1.2 Research objectives

There are three main research objectives:

- Identify the suitable model and indicators to evaluate Navigos GroupVietnam JSC’s corporate culture

- Analyze and evaluate the current status of Navigos Group VietnamJSC’s corporate culture

- Propose recommendations to improve corporate culture in NavigosGroup Vietnam JSC

1.3 Research questions

The research questions for this thesis are:

- What are the suitable model and indicators to evaluate the corporateculture status at Navigos Group Vietnam JSC?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the corporate culture atNavigos Group Vietnam JSC?

- What are recommendations to improve the current situation ofcorporate culture at Navigos Group Vietnam JSC?

1.4 Research methodology

1.4.1 Research process

Research process is shown in the following figure:

Figure 1.1 Research Process

Source: The author’s design

1.4.2 Research scope

- Research object: the research aims at analyzing and improving NavigosGroup’s corporate culture

- Subjects of this research are 150 employees of Navigos Group

- Research location: the research was implemented at Navigos Group VietnamJSC in Hanoi Branch

Address: 125-127 Ba Trieu Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam

- Research Time: the research was carried out from 01/10/2018 to 29/12/2018+ Primary data: 10/2018

Analyze the current status ofcorporate culture at NavigosGroup Vietnam JSC

Recommendation to improvecorporate culture in NavigosGroup Vietnam JSC

External sources: Previous and related studies on the same journals, topic,textbooks and the Internet were trustworthy sources used to complete therationale and theoretical framework.

- Respondents: People who are working at Navigos Group Vietnam JSC

- Sample size: The company size was quite big so I sent to half employees

in the company Thus, the sample size for data analysis was 150 staffs; however,

26 answers sheet were invalid after being checked as deficient information.Therefore, the actual sample size was 124 staffs

- Sampling method: The most popular sampling method was conveniencesampling which was both time saving and money saving as well as convenient togather information in wide ranges The survey link (Google Form) was delivered

to 150 business emails of staffs, which could be chosen through the internal

networking system Because personal company email accounts of Navigos wereprovided for all the staffs at the first day at work, it was the fastest way to get theanswers The percentage of response was 82.67% which 124 staffs took part inand accomplished the survey.

- Questionnaire Design:

The questionnaire was based on the Denison Organizational CultureSurvey 60-item instrument was designed in this survey to display a simple butcomplete analysis of the company’s culture by assessing the underlying culturalcharacteristics and management practices that affected the performance of thebusiness

It included two parts: The first one collected the demographic information

of employees participating in the survey like age, gender, how long had theybeen working there and whether they were in managerial position or not Thesecond part was about the cultural questions that asked respondents to expresstheir opinions and perspectives about their previous companies and currentcompany culture by ranking the 5-point Likert scale statement

There were 36 questions for employees to assess from 1 point (stronglydisagree) to 5 point (strongly agree) in order to have a deeper understandingabout four traits of Denison’s model in Navigos, including Involvement,Consistency, Adaptability and Mission

- Measurement: The author applied Likert Scale ranging from 1 to 5

- Interview method: The author had face-to-face interviews with twoemployees in Navigos’s office in break time and took around 10 minutes

- Interview structure: The structure consisted of 8 questions, which wereabout the current status of the company culture and solutions to improve that

- Interviewees: The interviewees were 1 employee and 1 director in thecompany

+ Nguyen Ha Ly - Customer Experience Representative

+ Pham Thi Hoai Linh - Human Resources Director

1.5 Thesis structure

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Theoretical background

Chapter 3: Overview of Navigos Group Vietnam JSC

Chapter 4: Analyzing the current situation of corporate culture at Navigos GroupVietnam JSC

Chapter 5: Recommendations to improve corporate culture of Navigos GroupVietnam JSC

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Definition and importance of corporate culture

2.1.1 Culture

Culture has been defined in various ways There is no consensus amongsociologists and anthropologists about the meaning of culture Kroeber andKluckhohn (1952) stated that there were about 164 definitions of culturesregarding real life and the literature of social science Since the word “culture”was used for a number of purposes, there was a lot of controversy about itsdefinition (unesco.org, 2016)

In The Cambridge English Dictionary, culture is defined as "the way oflife, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at

a particular time” Hofstede (1980a, p 25) defined culture as “…the collectiveprogramming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human groupfrom another”

The British anthropologist Edward Tylor (1874) identified culture was the

“complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom andany other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” With

a more modern definition, it was “a society’s shared and socially transmittedideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience andgenerate behavior and are reflected in that behavior.”, said William A Haviland(2013) In general, culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relativelylarge group of people Culture is the way of life as it affects how people dressand behave It guides the use of language and rituals and is the foundation ofnorms and belief systems

2.1.2 Corporate culture

According to several researches on the Internet, regarding to the term

“culture”, there are lots of different opinions and perspectives It is hard to tellwhich is the best definition of corporate culture, however almost all of them areapproved

In “Business in context: An introduction to business and its environment”,written by David Needle (1989), corporate culture is the combination values ofmembers in the organization as well as a creation of many factors, includinghistory, product, technology, strategy, market, type of employees, management

style and national culture Corporate culture is the corporation’s visions, values,assumptions, systems, norms, beliefs, symbols, languages and habits.

Donnelly (1992) stated that corporate culture referred to the impact on theenvironment, which resulted from group norms, values, philosophy and informalactivities, meaning that corporate culture had the same characteristics as a societyculture

Corporate culture is the share of constant beliefs and values which aredeveloped along with the firm in a period of time (Gordon and Ditomaso, 1992).The definition takes the time factor to the whole picture It means that the culture

of the company would grow follow the time it has existed It can be concludedthat the more developing of the organizational culture, the harder it takes for theorganization to change

Robbins and Judge (2013) mentioned corporate culture as a system ofshared meaning created by employees that differentiated this company from theothers Corporate culture also refers to the common perceptions which employeesshare about their company It is same feelings of people about the values of theorganization or how the works are done

Every company has its own way of doing businesses which affects almostaspects of working life - from how long the coffee breaks are to how the productsand services are sold Therefore, in the broadest sense, organizational culturerefers to the underlying values, beliefs and principles that are shared by all themembers in the organization and served as a foundation for an organization’smanagement system It dominates organizational members’ emotions, thoughtsand ways of behaving in the process of pursuing and achieving common goalsand creates the identity of each business

2.1.3 The importance of corporate culture

Corporate culture is an invisible asset of every organization; however, ithas strong and positive impacts on the formulation and sustainable development.Corporate culture creates a unique characteristic of organization, which helps todistinguish between one business and another It is created by many factors:business philosophies, customs, rituals, habits, ways of training, education,legends, myths of some members of the organization The culture of a companyplays an important role in the organization performance It is not difficult for us

to realize that the specific style of the successful company often impresses theoutsiders when they think about or have a business with the company and

especially, it is the pride of every employee in that company whenever they talkabout it

First of all, a strong corporate culture helps the business retain talents andstrengthen the loyal of employees to the company Kerr and Slocum (1987)indicated the strong relationship between employee retention and organizationalvalues They advocated that the cultural values influenced the HR strategies,which included recruitment, rules, promotions, developments and system ofrewards That leads to vary levels of commitment and retention of employees tothe organization In the organization that appreciates employees for theircontributions to the business, employees would feel they belong to theorganization and be a part of it In the “Organizational culture and employeeretention” (1992), John E Sheridan stated that “organizations have cultures thatemphasize values of respect, security and teamwork for every member wouldfoster the loyalty and long-term commitment to the organization among allemployees” A positive corporate culture enables employees to be conscious oftheir roles and responsibilities in the organization, so that they will be devotedand work for the mutual goals and objectives of the company As a result, theyexperience high working spirits and positive attitudes toward the organization.Furthermore, a shared corporate culture supports connecting employees ofdifferent backgrounds, traditions and cultures Owning a common culture whenworking provides employees a sense of unity and understanding to the others,promotes better communications and lessens conflicts Additionally, this cultureencourages fairness by making sure that no employees are neglected and treatingthem equally Working in that culture makes them feel like home and be loved.Therefore, there is no reason for them to quit the job that leads to the lowpercentage of turnover rate When the turnover rate is low, the company can save

a huge amount of money as they do not have to spend money on recruitment,hiring and training Therefore, a strong organizational culture supports thecompanies in retaining dedicated and high quality employees and reducing HRexpenses

Secondly, a company with a strong corporate culture can get a positivereputation from customers as well as workers There is a direct connectionbetween corporate culture and corporate reputation, which is shown in the surveyconducted by Goldman Sachs (2012) The research findings revealed that 75% ofthe interviewed business leaders believed that corporate reputation wassignificantly driven by the company’s corporate culture The company external

reputation is determined to a very great extent by attitude and working culture oftheir employees Employees plays an important part in conveying company’score values and missions, especially when they have direct interactions withcustomers Their norms, beliefs and values, which are derived from theorganizational culture, affect the actions and the messages when they arecommunicating with the outsiders That determines the perceptions of peopletoward the company and the value of its products and services that contributes tothe customers Therefore, effective corporate culture and image managementbecome essential for every company to manage the reputation in a way thatprotect their integrity and credibility (Handelman, 2006) A company with greatreputation enables them to charge a higher price for products or services andincreases the company’s values in the external market Customers are more likely

to have businesses with a company that have a solid corporate reputation.Moreover, the company with strong corporate culture has a better reputationamong potential workers, that helps to attract skilled and talented employees forthe organization That potential staffs can be aware of the company by thecompany reputation itself or sometimes, it is through the word of mouth of theemployees that are working for the company “The best people, always want towork with the best companies, and the best people are the catalyst for creatingongoing business success”, said Peter Ashworth (2015) Talented employeeswant to do business with the best organizations because it suits with theirexpectations and values These people see the corporate culture as a strongdifferentiator by how the company does business rather than the product orservice alone

Lastly, the corporate culture impacts strongly on the employeeperformances Kandula (2006) indicated that “the key to good performance is astrong culture” A positive culture helps an average individual to obtain brilliantachievements while a negative culture may demotivate an outstanding employee

to underperform Deal and Kennedy (1982) advocated that if the organizationalculture was monitored effectively, the employees would be expected to performmaximally that led to the sustainable development of the organization Campbelland Stonehouse (1999) additionally emphasized on the high influence ofcorporate culture on employee motivation, attitudes of employees in theworkplace, employee productivity and efficiency, the quality of work, innovationand creativity in the organization Innovation is fundamental to the growth,wealth and success of the organization “Corporate culture is, above all, the most

important factor in driving innovation”, said Rajesh Chandy Corporate cultureencourages the process of innovation and creativity At the enterprise where have

a strong culture environment, the highest level of self-sufficiency is createdmeans that employees are encouraged to give ideas, initiatives These incentiveswill contribute to promote the creative dynamics of all members in the enterprise

as a foundation for the research and development process of the enterprise Onthe other hand, the success of employees at work will motivate them to stick withtheir company for a long time and be positive Besides, the improvement inattitude of employees working in a strong corporate culture can increaseproductivity Once employees work productively, the organizational financehealth of the organization will be improved and profits will rise Increasing inproductivity illustrates efficiency and effectiveness of the business Employeesbenefit from increases in productivity with higher salaries from employee benefitprograms Moreover, companies with cultures valuing the highest qualityencourages staffs for delivering services that meet high standards Excellentcultural standards create products or services with reputations for high quality

2.1.4 Cultural roles of people in the organization

Leaders and employees are the one who play a key role in creating anddeveloping a strong corporate culture

2.1.4.1 Cultural role of leaders:

Schein (2006) compared corporate culture and leadership as two sides of acoin John Kotter showed in “Corporate Culture and Performance” (1992) thatleadership was corporate culture creation The key mission of leadership is tobuild and strengthen the organizational culture Therefore, leaders are essential inbuilding and developing corporate culture They are the one who create thecorporate culture foundation by setting clear goals and routes so that everyonecan be aware of the role and influence of themselves with the company’s goals.Leaders form and nurture the environment and cultural standards Selectingpeople who are suitable for the cultural value system Leadership is an exampleand motivation for employees They are role models for all employees Managerscannot expect their employees to change their habits if they don’t become apioneer Therefore, if wanting a business to have a positive culture withexemplary employees, managers must become a typical “model” so people canlook at it to adjust their behavior and attitudes Leaders are people who changethe corporate culture

2.1.4.2 Cultural role of employees:

Founders play a critical role in setting the organizational culture, however,employees are the one who uphold and nurture it The beliefs and norms of anorganization form its culture which gives direction for all staffs The staffs arethe most valuable asset of an organization They contribute excellently towardsthe operation of an organization, which helps the organization to be successfuland long-term development The behaviors of the staffs form the organizationalculture in the working environment through the thinking processes andassumptions of the people in the company

2.2 Dimensions of corporate culture

Hofstede (1980) deciphered cultures by focusing on the distinctionbetween one culture and another Hofstede’s cultural definition asserts thatculture is a collective program of mind that distinguishes members of a groupfrom others Behavioral tendencies of members in a group are driven by culture

In the beginning, Hofstede categorizes cultures according to four sets ofcontrasting values: low and high uncertainty avoidance; low and high powerdistance; individualism and collectivism; masculinity and femininity Theframework of Culture Dimension had been extended to two more pairs of values:long-term and short-term orientation, and indulgence and self-restraint in 2010(Hofstede et al., 2010)

2.2.1 Power distance

“The extent to which a society accepts the fact that power in institutionsand organizations is distributed unequally” (Hofstede, 1980b, p 45) is thedefinition of power distance That means it is not supposed for employees toshow disagreement with their boss and the involvement subordinates in thedecision-making process of superiors (Hofstede, 1980a; 2001) This dimensionmeasures the extent to which power inequality is accepted by members with lesspower

For a culture with high power distance, employees are usually fearful andreliant on their boss Therefore, they tend to be affected by personal feelingswhen working and making decisions In contrast, with low power distancecultures, managers act as the leaders who guide and share things as friends Theyallow their employees to express opinions, ideas contributing for the company.That flat structure makes the relationship between managers and staffs morefriendly and open

2.2.2 Individualism versus collectivism

Individualism - collectivism are “the degree to which people in a countryprefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups” (Hofstede, 1994, p.6) This dimension aims at the personal relationship within group

Individualism is the preference for social with loosely-knit framework thatindividuals are concentrate on taking care of themselves and immediate families.All they care are their goals, needs and interests They are independent andhardly be affected by others

On the other hand, Collectivism represents for tightly-knit frameworkwhere everyone can have the believe that their friends, relatives to care for them

in exchange for whole-hearted loyalty Behaviors as social norms which areestablished to maintain social harmony between members in a group They tend

to give up their personal interests for collective interest Individuals alwaysconsider the group achievement is important than their own goals as they arereliably and supportive

2.2.3 Masculinity versus femininity

Masculinity is “the extent to which the dominant values in society are

“masculine” - that is, assertiveness, the acquisition of money and things”(Hofstede, 1980b, p 46) and oppositely, femininity is defined as the dominance

of feminine values such as “preference friendly atmosphere, position security,physical conditions, cooperation” (Hofstede, 2001, p 281)

In the study of Hofstede, he presented a dimension that could make adistinction between two different forms of culture Masculinity represents forassertive and competitive while femininity is more affectionate, thoughtful andless competitive It refers to the traditional roles among two genders, males areusually considered to be more ambitious, powerful whereas caring, soft arereflected in the characteristics of female

Nevertheless, when applying masculinity and femininity aspect to analyzeorganizational culture, it helps researchers to tell apart attitude toward the jobs,relationships among cultures A job, which is challenging and have high rewards,recognition and appreciation from other people, is highly considered inmasculinity culture This culture forces people perform at full capacity and becompetitive when working and achieving goals On the contrary, femininityculture concentrates on relationship among co-workers in a company They want

jobs that are stable and have cooperation oriented They tend to take care of eachother and usually not be self-centered.

2.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance

The definition of uncertainty avoidance is “the extent to which a societyfeels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid thesesituations by providing greater career stability, establishing more formal rules,not tolerating deviant ideas and behaviors, and believing in absolute truths andthe attainment of expertise” (1980b, p 45) It should not be misunderstoodbetween uncertainty avoidance and risk avoidance – “it does not describe one’swillingness to take or avoid risk, but rather is associated with preferences forclear rules and guidance” (Hofstede, 2001, p 149) Uncertainty avoidancedimension refers to the tolerance of society towards ambiguity and uncertainty

In Risk Intelligence series, Sandeep Bhatnagar stated that a society withlow uncertainty avoidance maintains relaxed attitude which prefers practice thanrules and principles They have no problem with changeable environments alongwith trying to have less regulations as possible However, in high uncertaintyavoidance culture, people want to be safe and make sure things go right whenunusual circumstances happen by proceeding with careful planning andimplementing regulations, rules and laws

In a company with high uncertainty avoidance, regulations and policiesare established by the managers to avoid staffs from ambiguities Managers areproblem solvers and have ability to give detailed and correct guidance for allemployees On the other hand, managers normally set the policies andregulations only when urgent situations happen in order to control the highturnover rate of labor in organizations in low uncertainty avoidance culture

2.2.5 Short term versus long term orientation

According to Confucius, they are shown clearly in life such as unequalrelationships which exist among human to ensure stability Maintaining somelinks with the past and facing with the challenges of present and future arenecessary for ever society The society prioritizes two goals in a different way

People with long-term orientation are futuristic, dynamic mentality andprefer perseverance and persistence They care about future and often haverelationship order depending on status and observance of this order Countrieswith a long-term orientation tend to be pragmatic, modest and have more savings

According to the note of Hofstede in the book Culture’s Consequences(2001, 2nd ed p 359), short-term orientation culture often enhances the virtues ofpast and present, appreciates traditions and implements social obligations Peoplewith this orientation are usually comparatively static and more conventionalmentality They emphasis on saving face and personal steadiness Overall, eachorientation has its own strengths that contribute to improve the culture andorganization should choose orientation that suit their visions.

2.2.6 Indulgence versus Restraint

The sixth dimension of culture, which is discovered and described byHofstede and Michael Minkov, is relatively new, and thus comes with less data

It measures the freedom to chase the pleasure of life

Indulgence refers to a society that encourages satisfaction of human thatlinks to happy and relaxing lives People with high indulgence are optimistic andfocus on freedom and personal happiness They prioritize feedbacks, coaching,mentoring and prefer flexible working and work-life balance On the contrary, arestraint society that holds back the demands for gratification and controls itstrictly by social regulations and norms People who are high restraint are oftenpessimistic and more controlled with rigid behaviors

2.2 Types of corporate culture

2.2.1 Deal and Kennedy

The model of Deal and Kennedy (1982), relied on two main dimensions,proposed the greatest impact on organizational culture was the businessenvironment where it was operated Two aspects were the level of risk relatedwhen operating and the speed when the companies and staffs receive feedbacks

on the successful of strategies or not With the dimension “Feedback”, they used

a much broader term to indicate knowledge of the results as it took time todiscover whether the decision on the new product is right or not Theydiscriminated from fast and slow responses In addition, by dividing twodimensions into high and low, they created four different “generic” cultures

Figure 2.1 Deal and Kennedy’s model

Source: Terrence E Deal, Allan A Kennedy (1982), Corporate Cultures: Rites

and Rituals of Corporate Life

Tough-Guy, Macho: Adventurous individuals who receive quick

feedbacks about their decisions With that high risk characteristic, it is an nothing culture in which successful staffs are those who like excitement andhard-working to become stars The great examples of this type of culture aresports teams, advertising and entertainment industry This culture would not besuitable for teamwork as every member want to be the best and it is hard forthose who are less competitive to integrate The consequence of this is highturnover rate, which prevents cooperative culture and encourages individualism

all-or-Work hard/Play hard culture: This type is best suit for sales in

comparison with others Employees do not take much risks but the responses ontheir performance is immediate They must maintain a high energy level andalways be optimistic Interestingly, this culture appreciates the value of teamwork asthey know an individual cannot make a successful business This is based on theefforts of the team and everyone try to look for excellence Contests are usuallyorganized among employees because they motivate people to achieve more

Bet-your-company: In this culture, there are high risk decisions however

employees have to wait for years before they know if their actions really pay off.They focus on the long term and everything is in the need for planning,preparation and implementation in all the decision-making stages

Process: The degree of risk is low and the feedback speed is also slow.

Typically applied this culture are insurance companies, banks, governmentagencies and retailers There are no single transactions that affect the success ofthe organization and it takes time to know if the decision is right or not Due tolack of feedback immediately, employees feel very hard to evaluate what theydid so they have to focus on the way they work

2.2.2 Fons Trompenaars

When examining aspects of organizational culture, Trompenaars (1997)suggested using two ranges that distinguished between hierarchy and equity andexamined the orientation to the task and the person According to that, heidentified four different organizational cultures: incubator, guided missile, familyand Eiffel Tower In fact, organizational culture does not suit perfectly to any ofthese four dimensions, but grouping can be helpful in examining the basis of howpeople relate to the others, learn, change, be motivated, and resolve conflicts

Figure 2.2 Fons Trompenaars’s model

Source: Fons Trompenaars (1997), Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding

Diversity in Global Business

The family culture:

This culture emphasizes on person and hierarchy and is a power-orientedculture This dimension is like a family relationship Father, who takes over thehighest position, has lots of power, experience and control Employees are thechildren, who are the rookies with less knowledge, experience and have no power

in company The father is the one who decides what to do, who do it and what isthe benefit The company atmosphere is usually the respect of staffs to boss, theyoung to the old The close relationship between father and children helpsorganization to perform well and easier to resolve conflicts People with olderage are often get promotion to higher as they are believed to have moreexperienced

How do they think, learn and change: They highly consider the

development of people by coaching, training and mentoring Family cultureresponds quickly to the environment changes

Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts: Employees are motivated

by appreciation, compliment and respect rather than rewards or salary The father

is extremely important in having problem solving skill

The Eiffel Tower culture

Like the shape of Eiffel Tower, the company structure is also steep,symmetrical, widespread at bottom then get narrower to the top This culture isrole-oriented, which focuses on hierarchy and tasks Tasks are done as planned.The hierarchy in this culture would be: tasks are assigned and implemented byemployees, one supervisor will supervise the process and progress of these tasksthen one manager will control and direct the works of these supervisors Eachlayer has its own roles, tasks and benefits which are demonstrated clearly.Professional skills and qualifications are the best way to get promotion

How do they think, learn and change: Employees are in charge of their

own roles in the organization so that they have to acquire knowledge and skills tohave full capacity to complete their tasks or to be in higher positions To makesure employees fit the roles, these functions should be applied such as appraisalsystems, manpower planning, training schemes and assessment centers The ruleswill be changed if the culture cannot adapt with the environment

Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts: Bonus and promotion are

necessary to improve the motivation of employees if they are role-oriented as itwould be a reward for their hard-working and efforts It is not acceptable forconflict in this culture and considered to be irrational

The guided missile culture

This culture mainly focuses on the goals, targets and achievements Themembers in a team are not fix and they can come from different hierarchy levels.They work toward same goals and have to collaborate with the others tocomplete tasks

A leader in each group will be responsible for leading, supervising,supporting and connecting people The leader has to respect and treat othersfairly As a character like a project so the groups are formed temporary andrandomly based on the type of projects The important thing is how you perform,work with others and what you contribute to that project

How do they think, learn and change: They are conservative and hardly

change their minds for new ideas or changes They learn through practicalexperience instead of applying theories and focusing on problems than discipline.Normally, they are evaluated and appraised by peers more than by managers andsupervisors There are a lot of changes and having more goals, targets which maylead to the high turnover rate and lower the loyalty to the company

Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts: Employees are motivated

by the products, the outcomes that they made They will receive the reward andbonus according to their performance

The incubator culture

This culture represents for fulfillment of organizational members It is anincubator for self-expression and self-fulfillment It pushes people get out of theircomfort zones and be creative All employees can have changes to express theirideals, opinions that contribute to improve and innovate the services andproducts

The flat structure with few levels of hierarchy that helps to create closeand friendly relationship among employees The company with that culture typenormally have small size with under a hundred employees which makes it easier

to exchange the information

How do they think, learn and change: Change is often fast and

spontaneous when employees have deep understanding with the others

Motivating, rewarding and resolving conflicts: Motivation regularly

comes from individual’s enthusiasm with the job The way to solve conflictwould be sitting together then finding out the most possible solutions

2.3 Factors assess corporate culture

2.3.1 Stephen P Robbins theory

In “A Survey on Organizational Culture Based on Stephan Robbins’sTheory” (2012), the cultural organization is assessed based on these factors:Innovation, Risk taking, Leadership, Integration, Control, Reward system andCommunication patterns

Innovation and risk taking determines whether that organization is

willing to takes initiatives, innovations or not It is the ideas which create a newand different way to do businesses Innovation insists on risk taking as nobodycan forecast the initiative results It creates the fast adaptability of organization tothe market trend, which support to build strong culture

Leadership plays an important role in influencing the culture Leaders

have to be a powerful influence for employees to transform challenges toproductivity by sharing future visions Barkdoll (2006) supposed that all leaderstry to change the organizational culture to suit with their preferences Therefore,the organizational success is based on the strong leadership which has a long-term vision helping the company perform better

Integration is also necessary to improve culture when different parts in

the company work coordinately together and they work for the same goals

Control refers to the supervision of managers to employees Moreover, it

is the control of employees to their job like they are responsible for their job andhave the right to make decision

Reward system is a powerful support tool for the company to control

their employees It affects the way people works as the reward is a way ofencouraging employees to achieve more goals Employees know if they workhard, they can achieve somethings that is worthy for their efforts

Good communication between employees in the organization and also

the external environment is the key of organizational culture Communicatingeffectively connects both insiders and outsiders of the organizations Successfulcommunication is like a two-way street, which enable to exchange and shareinformation

2.3.2 The Cultural Orientation Indicator (COI)

The unique Cultural Orientation Indicator (COI) of Berlitz assesses 10elements of workplace culture based on questionnaire analysis of individual’s

perceptions and preferences in the work environment There are ten culturalindicators as listed below.

Environment shows individual perception and perspective which relate to

people, objects and concerns in their range of influences It is the commonrelationship between employees and their managers, organizations, whether theorganization encourages the development of the relationship, whether employeeswork with each other to achieve success or focus on individuals

Time is how people see the nature of time and how they utilize it It

differs between people who choose to concentrate on one thing at a time andpeople who prefer multi-focuses The other assesses people who view things inthe past, present or future

Action trait measures people tendency for “doing” or “being” In “doing

culture”, people are supposed to have personal opinions and eager to get to thepoint Tasks take over personal relationship in most cases Status is gained by theperformance and it will lose if you stop working While in “being” culture, status

is built into who a person is Relationship is more valuable than the tasks,especially saving faces They avoid disagreements and arguments

Communication shows how individuals express themselves, which

assesses the style of communications and preferences regarding to: context,direct versus indirect, expressive style, formality

Space illustrates how individuals separate physical and psychological

space Some people consider two spaces as private and defensive it withstrangers, while the others are more open for both aspects

Power shows how employees view differential power relationships They

value the equality between people or the hierarchy is respected in that culture.The hierarchy shows the importance of status in the company, the power distancebetween the superiors and inferiors

Individualism is how individuals define their identity They want to be

stand out from the crowd and focus on their personal goals or they want to work

in a cooperative environment where people support each other

Competitiveness affects how individuals are motivated, such as getting

ahead and fighting for their goals In other culture, they compete by collaboratingwith each other and pushing the larger enterprise move forward

Structure is how individuals react to changes, risks, ambiguities and

uncertainties This differs people who have a preference working within orderlyand rigid boundaries or people developing in flexible environments

Thinking shows how individual perception They are inductive thinkers

preferring short, straight statements or those like theoretical concepts andabstractions

The model however measures work style preferences and behaviors on anindividual rather than an institutional level

2.3.3 Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)

Cameron and Quinn (2006) developed the OCAI to assess organizationalculture There are six key characteristics of their corporate culture:

Dominant characteristics is the overall and main characteristics of the

organization It can be a very personal place and people love to share lots aboutthemselves In contrast, some organization can be dynamic where employees arewilling to get involved and take risks The result-oriented business would careabout how to accomplish the works so that employees in that organizations are socompetitive and achievement-oriented While other organization have a strictcontrols and structures Regulations and procedures direct what people behave

Organizational leadership factor shows how importance of leadership

role in building the corporate culture The leadership in the organization isgenerally considered to exemplify mentoring, facilitating, nurturing or exemplifyentrepreneurship, innovation, risk taking The leadership in the organizationprefers an aggressive, result focused or they prefer coordination, organizing orsmooth-running efficiency

Management of employees refers to the way employees are managed and

controlled in the organization There are four main ways namely: teamwork andparticipation; risk-taking and innovations; competitiveness and achievement;security of employment and stability in relationships

Organization glue is the relationship between people in the organization.

The way they work with each other based on loyalty and mutual trust People onthis organization usually highly committed to the company While in someorganizations, the glue holding the organization together is innovation anddevelopment Achievement and goal accomplishment are the things that connectpeople together in other case Conversely, some organizations consider theregulations and policies help organization run smoothly and binding people

Strategic emphases refer to which strategies organization want to follow

and focus on One organization focuses on the development of employeecapabilities The other organization emphases on creating changes Trying fornew ideas and opening for new opportunities are highly appreciated On the other

hand, some organizations want competitions and achievements by reachingtargets and winning in the market In contrast, there are organizations that preferlongevity and stability Efficiency, control and smooth operations are necessary

to them

Criteria of success is the view of organizations toward success Some

organizations define success on the basis of the development of human resources,teamwork, employee commitment and concern for people The otherorganizations care about creating the most distinctive and innovative products.They want to become product leaders and innovators The other organizationdefines success by leading in the marketplace and outperform the competitors.The others identify success by smooth scheduling and low cost of productions

2.3.4 Denison

Over the past decade, Dr Daniel Denison, a professor of OrganizationalBehavior at the University of Michigan Business School, has done variousstudies which examine the relationship between organizational culture andorganizational effectiveness In Corporate Culture and OrganizationalEffectiveness (1990), he discovered a strong relationship between four culturaltraits of organizations and the business performance of organizations This model

is used to assess organizational culture through four culture traits: Involvement,Consistency, Adaptability and Mission

Figure 2.3 Denison’s model

Source: Daniel Denison (1990), Corporate Culture and Organizational

Effectiveness

Each employee has a deep belief about the company, colleagues,customers, competitors and industry Culture of the organization is determined

by these beliefs, assumptions and associated behaviors The model shows thatcultural traits, managerial behaviors and organizational strategies linked to thebeliefs and assumptions about the organization and its environment

2.3.4.1 Involvement

Organizational cultures in this trait always encourage and supportinvolvement of employees and create a sense of responsibility and ownership.They want to be a part of the company and are aware of being responsible forcompleting the tasks and contributing to the same goals Involvement trait hasthree indices that are: “Empowerment”, “Team Orientation” and “CapabilityDevelopment”

Empowerment means that individuals have the authority, initiative, and

ability to manage their own works They have defined areas where employeescan make decisions and where they can’t Employees are about to be sharedinformation and take part in the decision-making process

Team Orientation: All employees are responsible and contribute their

efforts for the mutual goal of the team and they should be supportive and helpingeach other Teamwork is encouraged so that creative ideas are acclaimed andemployees support the others in accomplishing the work

      Capability Development: The organization investments in the

development of employees’ skills and knowledges so as to stay competitive andmeet the organization and environment demands It is practiced in different wayssuch as training and giving employees changes to new roles and responsibilities

2.3.4.2 Consistency

Consistency creates a “strong” culture by a system of beliefs, values andcommon symbols which are widely understood by employees within theorganization Control systems based on internal values can be a more effectivemean of achieving coordination and integration than external control systemswhich are based on clear rules and regulations They have highly dedicatedemployees, important center values, a distinct business model, internalmotivation, and a clear set of do’s and don’ts Thanks to that clear agreement onkey issues, it would be easier for the managers and their employees makedecisions more quickly It also helps employees to work effectively acrossorganization as they can share the same perspective even they are in different

parts of them company Indicators of Consistency are: “Coordination andIntegration”, “Core Value” and “Agreement”

Coordination and Integration: Staffs understand how their work affects

others - and how other works influence them even they are in differentdepartments or have different roles They are responsible for their works andensure that the works are coordinated and integrated to serve the entireorganization and achieve organizational goals

Agreement: When difficult problems and issues occur, it is important to

reach an agreement within people in the company by listening to all the ideas,getting different perspectives and find the best solution This includes underlyinglevel of agreement and the ability to neutralize differences as they occur

Core Values: Members in the organization have the same set of values

that create a sense of identity and clear set of expectations It helps employeesand bosses to make decisions and set priorities

2.3.4.3 Adaptability

Willingness to change and catch up with the market trends are highlyappreciated in this culture dimension Organization encourages new mindsets,ideas, innovations and creativities in the ways of working Employees are eager

to learn new things and share information with others That fast adaptability,implementation and response to the latest information updated from outside have

a strong and positive impact on organization’s effectiveness The indices of theAdaptability trait are: “Creating Change”, “Customer Focus” and

“Organizational Learning”

Creating Change: Changing is necessary for company to operate the

business effectively Company should understand thoroughly about the businessenvironment so that they can react quickly to new trends and predict changes inthe future They look for new ideas and do not mind to implement newapproaches

Customer Focus: Organizations understand the importance of customers

to the development of the business so they try to find out what customer needsthen change into innovative and suitable ways to meet the customer expectations

Organizational Learning: By receiving, translating and interpreting

signals from environment into good opportunities, the organization can gainknowledge, encourage innovation and development They can acquire moreknowledge from both successes and failures

2.3.4.4 Mission

Defining a meaningful long-term direction for the organization that tellsemployees why they are doing the work they do, and how the work they do eachday contributes to the “why” It provides a clear orientation and goal thatinfluence the behaviors and mindsets of people in the organization Identifyingthe mission contributes to both the short-term and long-term commitment to theorganization Every employee works for the same goal and mission of thecompany Indicators of the Mission Characteristics are: “Strategic Direction andIntent”, “Goals and Objectives” and “Vision”

        Strategic Direction and Intent: The clear strategic intentions show the

purpose of the organization and clarify how people can contribute and make themark in the industry Strategic Direction refers to the two to three year strategies

- high priorities established to operationalize the vision

Goals and Objectives: Specific goals and objectives, which are linked to

mission, vision and strategy, give people a clear direction in their work Goalsand Objectives are the short-term

Vision: The organization has a common expect of a future state It

expresses core values and captures the hearts and minds of people in theorganization, while providing guidance and direction Vision is the thing that youare finally trying to achieve

The cultural model of Denison is behaviorally based and was designedand created for business environment Especially, it is fast and easy to measureand be applied to all levels of the organization Denison Organizational CultureSurvey and the models have been used widely by over 500 organizations Thatshows the effective of this models can be widely implement to manyorganizations and that suit with the propose of assessing corporate cultures of thecompany Herzka and Turavoka (2010) said that Denison’s corporate cultureassessment model is the most ideal After studying carefully several frameworksabove, the author decided to apply the Denison’s model and DenisonOrganizational Culture Survey to analyze Navigos’ corporate culture as itsuitable with the characteristics of this organization

CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW OF NAVIGOS GROUP VIETNAM JOINT

STOCK COMPANY 3.1 Company history

3.1.1 Company profile

Business name: Navigos Group Vietnam Joint Stock Company

Chairman & CEO: Mr Gaku Echizenya

Headquarter: Floor 20, E.Town Central, 11 Doan Van Bo, Ward 12, District 4,

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hanoi branch office: 4th Floor, V Building, 125-127 Ba Trieu Street, Hai BaTrung District, Hanoi, Vietnam

3.1.2 Navigos Group Vietnam Milestone

2002: Jonah Levey founded VietnamWorks together with Sean Macdonald.VietnamWorks was operated by Navigos Group

2003: Navigos Search was established

2005: Navigos Group acquired Ersnt & Young’s Executive Search business,merging it into Navigos Search

2009: VietnamWorks became the first online recruitment website in Vietnam topartner with Yahoo! to provide career advice on Yahoo! Answer

2013: en-japan invests in Navigos Group and it became a member of en-japangroup

2016: The number of employees surpassed 400 people

2017: Navigos Group launched PRIMUS, the first career platform dedicated tothe “Top 1” level candidates, who are looking for management jobs withminimum salary of $3,000

Figure 3.1 Navigos Group Vietnam JSC’s logo

Source: The company website

Navigos Group Vietnam Joint Stock Company is the pioneer and leading

in Vietnam recruitment industry, specializes in Online Recruitment Services,Executive Search Services, HR Consulting, Aptitude Tests The group compriseswww.vietnamworks.com, an online recruitment website and Navigos Search, anexecutive search firm

In 2002, Navigos Group launched www.vietnamworks.com and it quicklybecame the first online recruitment portal in Vietnam market This launching hasimproved the traditional job search into the new method, met the onlinerecruitment trend in the world In its 16-year-history, Vietnamworks continuallybecomes the leading in online recruitment portal with its largest database ofVietnamese and foreign professionals; has reached more than 3 million registeredusers and served 13 thousand employers

In 2003, Navigos Search has released by Navigos Group, hence, broughtthe definition “executive search firm” to Vietnam market for the first time ever

In the meantime, Vietnam has been actively attracting the foreign directinvestment, Navigos Search has successfully helped recruit candidates forhundreds of international companies and global companies Till now, NavigosSearch has collaborated with thousands of companies and hundreds of candidates

at the middle and high level in Vietnam market The success of M&A withSenior Human Resource Consultants from Ernst & Young has brought NavigosSearch to become the leading in executive search firm based on its revenue andscale From the beginning, Navigos Search always serves the market as anincubator to train skilled consultants and helps to bring recruitment industry tothe next level

In 2013, en-japan, one of the leading recruitment company based in Japanannounced its investment to Navigos Group, officially increases its opportunities

to grow in Asian Pacific This helped Navigos Group obtain its constant valuesfrom the parent company, which becomes a global company with more than 30offices across the region It is now releasing to the market various onlinewebsites that meet recruitment demands such as www.japanworks.com, onlinerecruitment website for Japanese employers and candidates;www.topitworks.com, online recruitment website for IT industry In 2016,Navigos Group growth rate was more than 25% and for now, the companybecome one of the top recruitment companies in term of revenue, increased itsscale from 10 employees since 2002 up to 544 employees in 2018